The International Atomic Energy Agency today outlined its highlights for 2016, ahead of its 60th anniversary year. These included a report on verification and monitoring in Iran, the entry into force of the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, response to the outbreak of the Zika crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the promotion of safe nuclear solutions towards sustainable development worldwide.

Japan and the UK will expand their existing collaboration in civil nuclear activities - including decommissioning, research and development, and nuclear new build - through a memorandum of cooperation signed yesterday in Tokyo.

The US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration has entered into follow-on cooperative agreements with three projects aimed at securing a domestic supply of molybdenum-99 without using highly enriched uranium. The latest funding completes the full $25 million NNSA contribution to each project.

Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom has signed a memorandum of cooperation in peaceful uses of atomic energy with two Japanese ministries. One key area of cooperation under the agreement will be post-accident recovery at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Wind and solar power are transforming the electricity industry, but not fast enough to put the world on track for the UNFCCC's Paris Agreement target to hold the global temperature increase well below 2°C, according to László Varró, chief economist of the International Energy Agency. This "climate stabilisation" target needs nuclear power to play a significant role in the low-carbon power mix, Varró told delegates at the Budapest Energy Summit yesterday.

United Innovation Corporation, a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Brazilian consultancy CK3 for the development, construction and operation of an irradiation centre in Brazil. The document was signed by the director-generals of the two companies, respectively, Denis Cherednichenko and Renato Cherkezian.

Hong Kong-based power company CLP Holdings Limited has won a bid to acquire a 17% stake in Yangjiang Nuclear Power Company Limited from China General Nuclear. The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2017.

A memorandum of understanding aimed at promoting cooperation on nuclear safety regulation was recently signed between South Korea's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy.

India is set to become an associate member of European particle physics research organisation CERN, subject to final approval by the Indian government. The move followed the signature of an agreement by CERN's director general and the chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).

Agneta Rising, director-general of the World Nuclear Association, has called on Conference of the Parties to make it clear that nuclear energy will be part of their response to succeed in action on climate change. "France, Sweden, Switzerland, and Canada's province of Ontario, have all achieved more than 80% low-carbon electricity generation by using nuclear energy in harmony with renewables," Rising said yesterday at a press conference hosted by the Russian delegation to the UNFCCC COP 22 climate change conference in Marrakesh.

As climate talks continue in Marrakesh, thousands of local and regional leaders from across the world have called on governments at all levels to uphold and go beyond the commitments made in Paris last year, the European Committee of the Regions - the EU's assembly of local and regional representatives - said today. The 22nd Conference of the Parties began in the Moroccan city last week and ends on 18 November.

The prime ministers of India and Japan have welcomed the signature today of a nuclear cooperation agreement between the two countries. Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe said the agreement reflects a new level of mutual confidence and strategic partnership for clean energy, economic development and a peaceful and secure world.