Russia Blocks Adoption at UN of Nuclear Disarmament Text

Russia on Friday prevented the adoption of a joint declaration following a four-week UN conference on a nuclear disarmament treaty, with Moscow denouncing what it said were "political" aspects of the text. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which 191 signatories review every five years, aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote complete disarmament and promote cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The nations have been gathered at UN headquarters in New York since August 1 participating in a month of negotiations, including a final session that was postponed for several hours on Friday. In the end, the conference's president, Gustavo Zlauvinen of Argentina, said it was "not in a position to achieve agreement" after Russia took issue with the text. Russian representative Igor Vishnevetsky said the draft final text, which was more than 30 pages long, lacked "balance." "Our delegation has one key objection on some paragraphs which are blatantly political in nature," he said, adding that Russia was not the only country to take issue with the text. According to sources close to the negotiations, Russia was opposed in particular to paragraphs concerning the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, which is occupied by the Russian military.

The latest draft text had expressed "grave concern" over military activities around Ukrainian power plants, including Zaporizhzhia, as well as over Ukraine's loss of control of such sites and the negative impact on safety. The signatories discussed a number of other hot-button topics during the conference, including Iran's nuclear program and North Korean nuclear tests. At the last review conference in 2015, the parties were also unable to reach an agreement on substantive issues. At the opening of this year's conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world faced "a nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War."

"Today, humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation," Guterres said.

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Russia blocks adoption of nuclear disarmament text at UN

Moscow denounced what it said were "political" aspects of the text, which expressed "grave concern" over military activities around Ukrainian power plants, including Zaporizhzhia.

The NPT, reviewed by signatories every five years, aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote complete disarmament and promote cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. (AP)

Russia has prevented the adoption of a joint declaration on nuclear disarmament at the United Nations following a four-week conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The 191 signatories of the treaty have been gathered at UN headquarters in New York since August 1 participating in a month of negotiations, including a final session that was postponed for several hours on Friday. In the end, the conference's president, Gustavo Zlauvinen of Argentina, said it was "not in a position to achieve agreement" after Russia took issue with the text. Russian representative Igor Vishnevetsky said the draft final text, which was more than 30 pages long, lacked "balance." "Our delegation has one key objection on some paragraphs which are blatantly political in nature," he said, adding that Russia was not the only country to take issue with the text. According to sources close to the negotiations, Russia was opposed in particular to paragraphs concerning the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, which is occupied by the Russian military. READ MORE: Zelenskyy on I-Day: Ukraine reborn, vows to fight until end [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISkxLg6vbBo[/embed] 'Nuclear annihilation' The NPT, reviewed by signatories every five years, aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote complete disarmament and promote cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The latest draft text had expressed "grave concern" over military activities around Ukrainian power plants, including Zaporizhzhia, as well as over Ukraine's loss of control of such sites and the negative impact on safety. The signatories discussed a number of other hot-button topics during the conference, including Iran's nuclear programme and North Korean nuclear tests. At the last review conference in 2015, the parties were also unable to reach an agreement on substantive issues. At the opening of this year's conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world faced "a nuclear danger not seen since the height of the Cold War." "Today, humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation," Guterres said. READ MORE: Putin warns of Ukraine nuclear plant 'catastrophe', calls for inspection [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWtwajQBsOk[/embed] Source: AFP

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Psychologist: School shooter didn't get consistent treatment

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A psychologist who treated Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz when he was 8 years old testified Wednesday that Cruz was a “peculiar child” who had many behavioral and developmental issues but his widowed mother seemed overwhelmed and wasn’t consistent in her discipline or in getting him treatment.

Frederick Kravitz said he began treating Cruz in 2007 on a referral from Cruz's psychiatrist with Lynda Cruz telling him her adopted son suffered from anxiety and nervousness and had trouble controlling his temper. But she also said he was friendly and got along fine with his peers — claims that a neighbor, preschool teachers and an elementary school special education counselor have testified were not true.

Kravitz said that while he suggested weekly sessions for Cruz, his mother only brought him 15 times over a 13-month span, a decade before he murdered 17 people at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018.

He said that was a major issue — Lynda Cruz would agree that her son needed more consistent treatment and she needed to be more consistent in her discipline of him and his younger half-brother, Zachary, but did not follow through. She was 57, depressed from her husband's sudden 2003 death and dealing with two “tumultuous” young children, he said.

They would yell, throw tantrums and break furnishings, he said.

“They raised it to an art form," Kravitz said. “Nikolas was easily set off and Zachary seemed to derive some pleasure from pushing Nikolas’ buttons.”

That would set off their mother, something both boys seemed to enjoy.

“She lost her cool frequently and backed down to the boys frequently, which only made the problems worse," he said. He said he tried to work with her, but she felt embarrassed by her sons' behavior and felt people were judging her.

Cruz's attorneys are in Day 3 of their defense, hoping to persuade his jury to sentence him to life without parole instead of death. Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to 17 counts of first-degree murder and the trial, which began July 18, is only to determine his sentence.

The defense is trying to overcome the prosecution’s case, which featured surveillance video of Cruz, then 19, mowing down students and staff with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle as he stalked a three-story building for seven minutes, photos of the aftermath and a jury visit to the building.

For Cruz to receive a death sentence, the jury must be unanimous. If one juror votes for life, that will be his sentence.

The defense has focused on the mental and emotional problems Cruz exhibited from his earliest days. Testimony has shown that his birth mother was a street prostitute who abused cocaine and alcohol and as a toddler he was developmentally delayed, often violent towards other children and teased and bullied for his small stature, unusual appearance and odd behavior. When he was 8, he acted like a 6-year-old, at best, Kravitz said.

“He stood out like a sore thumb," he said.

Steven Schusler, who lived across the street from the Cruzes from 2009 to 2015, said that when Nikolas Cruz was 10, his landlord called Cruz “the weird one” to his face, causing the boy “to curl up” like a salted snail. He once saw Cruz running around the house with an air gun, his limbs flailing wildly — a move he demonstrated for the jury.

Kravitz said Cruz had a fear of abandonment because of his father's death and his adoption and had an active “bad imagination.”

“He was extremely fearful his mother would forget to pick him up (at school) and he would be stuck there,” Kravitz said, even though that never happened.

He said Cruz had some signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder — for example, he always had to have exactly eight chicken nuggets.

He said he asked Cruz what his three wishes would be.

“Pokemon, a dog and more Pokemon,” Kravitz said.

Lynda Cruz died in November 2017, about four months before the shooting.

Under cross-examination, Kravitz conceded that Cruz's mother did get him further psychiatric and psychological treatment and might have been reluctant to keep her son's appointments with him because of the $87 per visit copay her insurance required.

Prosecutor Jeff Marcus asked Kravitz is there was anything about Cruz when he was 8 that would have indicated he would eventually commit mass murder. He said no.

“I've worked with some other very damaged kids and certainly to the best of my knowledge none of them have ever acted out like this,” Kravitz said.

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