Countries pledge to adopt nuclear guidelines into law

THE HAGUE, (AP):

President Barack Obama hailed a "fundamental shift" in international efforts to fight nuclear terrorism as 35 countries pledged yesterday to turn guidelines on nuclear security into national laws.

At the close of a two-day summit, the group also agreed to open up their security procedures to independent review, a further step toward creating an international legal framework to thwart nuclear terrorism.

The move is a joint initiative sponsored by host country the Netherlands, along with past summit hosts the United States and South Korea.

"I believe this is essential to the security of the entire world," Obama said at a press conference wrapping up the summit.

more still needs to be done

He added that more still needs to be done: "Given the catastrophic consequences of even a single attack, we cannot be complacent."

All 53 countries that participated in the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague agreed yesterday to keep looking for ways to ensure that nuclear material doesn't fall into the hands of terrorists.

But the pledge to adopt nuclear guidelines into law and undergo external checks was endorsed by just 35 nations, including France, Britain, Canada, Japan, Israel and the three summit hosts. Notably absent from that agreement were Russia, China, India and Pakistan.

North Korea and Iran didn't even attend.