The world risked a catastrophe from nuclear terrorism, US president Barack Obama warned yesterday as he hosted a 47-nation security summit in Washington.
After years in which leaders such as former US president George W. Bush and Tony Blair, former British prime minister, routinely warned of terrorists laying their hands on weapons of mass destruction, Mr Obama's summit is the highest profile attempt to counter that risk.
“Nuclear materials that could be sold or stolen and fashioned into a nuclear weapon exist in dozens of nations,” Mr Obama said in welcoming the other leaders gathered round a gigantic conference table. “Just the smallest amount of plutonium – about the size of an apple – could kill and injure hundreds of thousands of innocent people.”