Annan urges nations away from nuclear temptation

AT A time of growing nuclear tensions in the world, UN secretary general Kofi Annan yesterday urged non-weapons states like Iran to step back from the nuclear temptation.

He also urged the US and Russia to cut back more sharply on their arsenals.

All must work toward "a world of reduced nuclear threat and, ultimately, a world free of nuclear weapons", he said as he opened a month-long conference reviewing how well the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) is keeping the lid on man's most terrible weapons.