Hiroshima Japan

France on Saturday carried out its most powerful nuclear test of the year, exploding a device in the South Pacific equal in force to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, New Zealand officials said. The test took place at Muroroa Atoll in French Polynesia. Officials estimated the blast's yield at 20 kilotons, the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT. The U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, also had an explosive force of 20 kilotons.

The Soviet Union staged an underground nuclear explosion Sunday on the steppes of Central Asia to improve Soviet military technology, the official Tass news agency said. Tass said the explosive yield ranged from 20 to 150 kilotons. The U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945 had a yield of 20 kilotons, equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT.

Twenty-six demonstrators marking the 43rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, were arrested Saturday at a civil disobedience ceremony outside the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. They were booked for trespassing and released. They could serve six months in jail and pay $1,000 fines if given maximum sentences, police said. Police had been told in advance of the group's plan to cross the property line in front of the base.

The Soviet Union on Sunday conducted two underground nuclear explosions, the fifth and sixth such blasts since it abandoned its unilateral moratorium on testing in February. The official Tass news agency said the tests were carried out in the Perm region of the Ural mountains. Each test had a yield of up to 20 kilotons, Tass said. It said the blasts were conducted "in the interests of the national economy" but gave no other details.

The City Council calls it a peace park, but the planned tribute to an antiwar activist is creating conflict. The council approved funding for the $93,000 downtown park. The city plans to build a Wall of Consequence there that will include debris from attacks on civilians around the world, including the World Trade Center; Hiroshima, Japan; and the Alfred B. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.