Nuclear weapons worldwide data

This BBC article lists countries with nuclear weapons and how many they have.

Total world nuclear warheads are estimated be 20,000. Many however are not operational.

Only about one quarter or 5,000 of the total are operational. Countries are secretive about how many nuclear weapons they have. Israel officially does not even admit it has any.

The Federation of American Scientists has made estimates of stockpiles of each nuclear country based on information that is available.

Russia has the largest stockpile with 2,430 operational weapons and an estimated 10,000 in all. The U.S. has 1,950 that are operational with a total of 8,500.

In comparison to the U.S. and Russia other countries have relatively few nuclear warheads. France has 290 operational and 300 stockpiled. China is said to have 0 operational but 240 stockpiled.. The UK 160 operational and 225 stockpiled.. Israel has 0 operational but about 80 stockpiled.

Pakistan has 0 operational but between 90 and 110 stockpiled. India also has 0 operational but about 80to 100 stockpiled. The two countries are about equal in stockpiles.

Finally North Korea has 0 operational and less than 10 stockpiled. Obviously there is a huge task ahead if nuclear weapons are to be eliminated. No doubt Russia and the U.S. could both eliminate some of their stockpiles without endangering any power balance.

French and German leaders support financial transactions tax

For some time French president Sarkozy has supported a financial transactions tax. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has now also expressed her support for such a tax.
 Great Britain however is against such a tax unless it is global in scope. This is not likely as the U.S. opposes the tax.
 Merkel said:“Personally, I’m in favor of thinking about such a tax in the euro zone,” Merkel said. “Germany and France both equally view the financial transaction tax as a correct response.” Last September the European Commission suggested the tax rate be .1 per cent on all bond and equity trades and .o1 per on derivative trades. The Commission calculated the tax would raise 71 billion dollars a year.
 Sarkozy has even suggested that he might be willing to go it alone and impose the tax on France even if others do not join. The French financial establishment is opposed to the tax claiming that it would make France less competitive. For more see this article.