WORLD NEWS

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Monday will open an unprecedented summit of 47 nations focused on global action to secure nuclear materials and keep them out of the hands of terrorists.

The White House says the final communiqué to be issued on Tuesday by the 47 nations attending the Nuclear Security Summit will formally recognize the serious threat posed by nuclear terrorism, endorse efforts to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials over a four year period and speak about what countries will do on the national and international level.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided not to participate in the summit after Jerusalem received information that Muslim states were planning to use the event to press for Israel to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iran and North Korea had not been invited in the summit due to their controversial nuclear program whereas British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will not attend the meeting because of election campaign