Obama to hold nuclear weapons summit

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PRAGUE, April 5 (AP): President Barack Obama says he will convene a global summit by year's end to discuss the protection, reduction and eventual elimination of nuclear weapons.
Obama outlined his comprehensive strategy on reducing the spread and existence of nuclear weapons in Prague.
His speech was billed as the centerpiece speech of his eight-day European trip. But it was overshadowed by nuclear-armed North Korea's alarming launch of a long-range rocket the West says could carry missiles. That launch happened just hours earlier.
Obama's arms control coordinator Gary Samore acknowledges it is not possible now to eliminate global nuclear arsenals. But he says Obama intends to take practical steps to demonstrate seriousness about the goal and to give the US extra leverage in opposing nuclear programmes in North Korea and Iran.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama said the US will proceed with development of a missile defence system in Europe as long as there is an Iranian threat of nuclear weapons.
He said that if that threat is removed, "The driving force for missile defence in Europe will be removed."
In his speech before cheering crowds in historic Prague, Obama said the US will present Iran with "a clear choice" to cease its nuclear and ballistic missile activity or face increased isolation and a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
"Let me be clear: Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to Iran's neighbors and our allies," the president said. "As long as the threat from Iran persists, we intend to go forward with a missile defence system that is cost-effective and proven."