Hassan Rouhani has given his first news conference since being declared as Iran’s new President-elect, vowing to continue to enrich uranium and so putting him on a collision course with Western powers.

The Government is to proceed with plans to sell some or all of its one-third shareholding in the uranium enrichment company Urenco. The stake is expected to fetch an estimated £3bn – valuing the whole company at £9bn.

The Government today said it would proceed with plans to sell some or all of its one-third shareholding in uranium enrichment company Urenco. The stake is expected to fetch an estimated £3 billion.

Ban Ki-Moon urges restraint as Pyongyang announces plan to reopen nuclear reactor

World powers are expected to offer Iran limited sanctions relief today if it agrees to halt its most sensitive nuclear work, in a new attempt to resolve a dispute that threatens to trigger another war in the Middle East.

The prospect of a successful conclusion to the talks on Iran's nuclear programme that start in Kazakhstan tomorrow was never high. Despite tentatively positive noises from both Tehran and Washington in recent months, decades of stalemate can hardly inspire optimism. And the latest developments leave the likelihood of a deal slimmer than ever.

It is good news that Tehran has agreed to resume talks with the major world powers on its nuclear programme later this month. Dialogue between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany broke down in Moscow last June in an atmosphere of frustration and anger. Now, with the second Obama administration in place, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, has said he hopes for progress when the talks convene in Kazakhstan.

France defends allies but calls for troops to be kept 'under control' amid latest allegations

Iran has reached another milestone in its nuclear program, UN inspectors reported Friday, saying the country has completed work on an underground factory for making enriched uranium. Western officials fear that the heavily fortified facility could someday be used to make a nuclear bomb.

Britain today issued a renewed appeal for countries to come together and combat the threat of a nuclear terrorist attack.

When international diplomacy starts to sound like the set up for a 90s Sean Connery movie, you know there's trouble. The New York Times is in a tizz over Putin's decision to end a twenty year long relationship with the United States that saw American experts assist in cleaning up Russia's nuclear and chemical weapons sites left over from the cold war. Now, says an editorial, "the world must watch as Russia’s unsecured weapons and materials remain a temptation for terrorists of all varieties to buy or steal for use in future attacks".

The UN nuclear watchdog pressed Iran yesterday to address suspicions about nuclear-bomb research in the Islamic state, pursuing diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute before any possible military action by Israel or the United States.

BHP Billiton has delayed its planned $20bn (£13bn) Olympic Dam copper expansion and said no major projects would be approved in the year to June 2013, as it battles escalating capital costs.