US world top military spender

[The Northerner]

According to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), US military expenditure soared to a record high last year.

1,531 billion dollars (1,244 billion Euros) was spent globally in 2009 in the military sector, a 5.9 percent rise from 2008 and a 49 percent jump from 2000, the institute said.

The United States remains by far the top military spender, dishing out 661 billion dollars to the industry in 2009, or a whopping 43 percent of the total global military expenditure.

The report says Washington spent 47 billion dollars more on its military in 2009 than the year before.

The institute said 65 percent of countries for which data was available had hiked their military spending.

The report also estimates that the world's 8 nuclear-armed states have more than 8-thousand operational atomic warheads. It specifies the countries as the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, India, Pakistan and Israel.

SIPRI estimated that the top military spenders of 2009 are as follows: USA $661 billion, China $100 billion, France $64 billion, UK $58 billion, Russia $53 billion, Japan $52 billion, Germany $46 billion, Saudi Arabia $41 billion, India $36 billion and Italy $36 billion.

The SIPRI report also says that almost 2-thousand atomic warheads are kept on high alert, meaning they can be launched in minutes.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=128720§ionid=3510203

[Scuba]

1. But no $$ for teachers, nurses, etc.