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Unedited television script

Just one week after the news that the European missile defence shield was shelved, the Guardian leads with this story – “Obama ready to slash US nuclear arsenal”. Obama has already stated his goal to eventually abolish nuclear weapons altogether. It appears he has now directed the Pentagon to review nuclear doctrine. The review will be completed by the end of the year.

The Guardian reveals that this could see the number of nuclear weapons fall to hundreds as opposed to thousands. Doctrine could be redrafted to narrow the range of conditions under which the US would use nuclear weapons.What’s more instead of developing a new generation of nuclear weapons, ways would be explored of safeguarding the current range of weapons.

This Thursday, Obama is chairing a meeting of the UN Security Council. It is aimed at winning consensus on a new grand bargain – radical nuclear disarmament in exchange for wider global efforts to prevent further proliferation. Moscow’s response will be closely watched. Will they agree to a tougher stance on Iran in exchange for last week’s shelving of the missile shield? As for reducing its own arsenal, Medvedev said yesterday that the chances were “quite high” that both the US and Russia would sign a deal later this year to reduce their respective arsenals to 1,500 warheads.

However, largely on French insistence it seems, the Security Council is not set to completely embrace the call for abolishing nuclear weapons. A watered down aim is more likely – ‘creating the conditions or a world without nuclear weapons’.

David Milliband writes in the Guardian today that failure to win consensus on this issue would be disastrous. He said “get it right and we will increase global security and pave the way for a world without nuclear weapons.”

The Guardian has started a new blog by Julian Borger on global security and disarmament. He says the next few months look like being a turning point in nuclear history. “We could be on the brink of a new wave of proliferation.”

A very quick look at two front pages in the Italian press this morning - this photo is on a lot of the papers. Both Corriere della Serra and Il Giornale feature photos of Simone Valenta, a two year old boy (who I incorrectly identified as a girl). His father was one of the six Italian paratroopers killed in Kabul last week. The image of Simone greeting her father’s coffin ‘moved Italy’ as Corriere della Serra says.

Two stories in the Jerusalem Post - Russian President Medvedev claims he has been assured by Israeli officials that they have no plan to strike Iran. There are reports that Israeli President Shimon Perez told MEdvedev as much earlier this month.

On a lighter note, the paper’s front page says the Simpson’s are to visit Israel next year! What’s more Sacha Baron Cohen – the man behind Borat and Bruno – is to play the role of a pushy Israeli tour guide. Watch out for Homer’s antics. America’s most loved couch potato will be struck down with “Jerusalem Syndrome”, believing he is the Messiah!

Finally, a story in the International Herald Tribune, “After pig cull, trash buries Cairo.” The Egyptian government killed all of the country’s pigs this spring in a misguided plan to combat swine flu. Cairo’s pigs used to eat a lots of the city’s organic waste. “Now they’re gone and the rotting food is piling up on the streets of Cairo,” the paper says.

Cairo’s rubbish collection works informally. A community of Egyptian Christians known as “zabaleen” had collected much of the trash for over half a century. They sold the recyclables and fed the organic waste to their pigs. Referring to the government, one zabaleen said, “They killed the pigs so now let them clean the city.” The cull has been widely criticised as an unnecessary measure which lacked foresight.