The United States has begun talks with Russia and a United Nations arms control committee about strengthening Internet security and limiting military use of cyberspace. Officials familiar with the talks said the Obama administration realized that more nations were developing cyberweapons and that a new approach was needed to blunt an international arms race.

After a long spell of barely disguised animosity, American and Chinese military chiefs are seeking to put their relations on a more cordial footing, in line with ties between their civilian bosses but experts caution not to expect too much from China in terms of transparency about their military affairs.

Russia and other countries are continuing to expand their chemical weapon arsenal despite being signatories to the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention. A new report highlights the weaknesses in the existing treaty by showing how it fails to cover research into non-lethal chemical weapons or newer chemical compounds (ex. binary weapons) that weren't conceived of at the time of the treaty.

A robotics expert, a physicist, a bioethicist and a philosopher have founded the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) to monitor the development of autonomous weapons and to campaign for the preventative arms control – like the regulations that govern nuclear and biological weapons – to be applied to robots.

The authors suggest that a ban on ballistic missile tests could "enhance global security by increasing decision-making time, removing the threat of accidental missile launch, and having an immediate positive impact on the most volatile areas of emerging international arms competition."

The United States and Russia are locked in a fundamental dispute over how to counter the growing threat of cyberwar attacks that could wreak havoc on computer systems and the Internet with Russia pushing for a ban on cyberwar tools and the U.S. arguing for treating the problem as a law enforcement issue.

After almost a decade of deadlock, the United Nations Conference on Disarmament last week approved a working group to negotiate a treaty banning the production of fissionable material for nuclear weapons and another to discuss preventing an arms race in outer space.

Russia called on Saturday for a successor agreement with the United States to replace the START-1 strategic nuclear arms reduction pact, saying this was a priority in 'resetting' their relations as Washington has urged.

Russia accused the United States on Friday of trying to weaken a landmark nuclear arms-control pact set to expire next year by removing limits on long-range missiles and bombers and demanding instead that a new agreement cover only warheads.