Countries deploying growing number of nuclear weapons, international monitors warn

Nuclear states stepped up their production and deployment of the weapons last year, monitors said on Thursday, calling it a "concerning development" at a time of intensifying armed conflicts.

Nearly all of the nine nuclear-armed states - Russia, the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea - have started increasing their arsenals or have announced plans to do so, according to authors of the annual Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor report.