Act now on nukes or face terror threat: Obama

US President Barack Obama has urged fellow world leaders to secure atomic bomb materials or face the real threat of nuclear terrorism.

Spurred on by Ukraine’s agreement to surrender its enriched uranium by 2012, Obama told a 47-nation summit in Washington action must be taken to stop extremist groups obtaining nuclear weapons.

“Two decades after the end of the Cold War, we face a cruel irony of history — the risk of a nuclear confrontation between nations has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up,” Obama said.

Some progress has already been made. Mexico on Tuesday agreed with the US and Canada to destroy its existing stocks of highly-enriched uranium.

The process will be overseen by the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

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