‘Worrying trend’: Post-Cold War drop in nukes could be over

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Swedish arms watchdog says the world’s stockpiles of nuclear weapons are expected to increase in coming years after declining since the end of the Cold War. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, says the decrease in recent decades seems about to be reversed, as all nine nuclear-armed countries are increasing or upgrading their arsenals. Wilfred Wan, the director of SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Program, says it is “a very worrying trend.” SIPRI’s report released Monday says the U.S. and Russia hold 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons. SIPRI says the other nuclear states are either developing or deploying new weapons systems, or have announced their intention to do so.