Obama to host nuclear security summit

US president Barack Obama is planning to host a nuclear security summit in Washington next March.

Mr Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Mark Lippert, said last night that the president announced the summit during a dinner with leaders of the world’s top industrial nations in Italy.

Mr Lippert said Mr Obama believed nuclear terrorism was the most immediate threat to US security and he wanted to address issues such as the break-up of black markets in nuclear materials and the detection and interception of materials in transit.

Mr Obama will send personal invitation letters to leaders of 25 to 30 nations when he returns to the US next week, Mr Lippert said.