Former US judge Sandra Day O'Connor died on Friday at the age of 93. She was the first woman to join the US Supreme Court and was considered a voice of moderation.
In 1981, former Republican President Ronald Reagan chose her to serve on the Supreme Court before she retired in 2006 to help her husband, John O'Connor, who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and died in 2009.
After O'Connor, 5 more female judges were appointed to the Supreme Court, 4 of whom are still in office, which is a record number for women in this institution.
O'Connor announced in 2018 that she was leaving public life to face "dementia, most likely Alzheimer's disease."
The Supreme Court said in a statement that O'Connor died on Friday morning in Phoenix, the capital of the state of Arizona (southwest), explaining that death "was caused by complications associated with advanced dementia, most likely Alzheimer's, and a respiratory disease."
Throughout her quarter-century on the Supreme Court, O'Connor was known for her centrist and pragmatic positions.
In 2009, Democratic President Barack Obama awarded her the Medal of Freedom, the highest American civilian award.
Washington: We have no technical need to resume nuclear testing
The US administration announced that the United States has no technical need to resume nuclear testing.
The US Deputy Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security, Jill Hruby, said in a statement to the US magazine "Arms Control Today" that the directors of the three US national laboratories submit annual reports that include their assessments of whether there is a need to resume underground nuclear explosions to test US nuclear weapons.
She added: "We have been carrying out these assessments for approximately 27 years. And every year we come to the conclusion that there is no technical necessity to conduct experiments related to nuclear explosions."
She stressed: "We are convinced that our arsenal is characterized by the safety and security required."
At the same time, the Deputy Minister of Energy confirmed that the United States is modernizing its nuclear testing field in Nevada.
She explained that work is underway to dig new tunnels in the field, and that modernizing the field’s infrastructure is linked to the increase in the volume of work underway in it.
She added that the United States understands the concern felt by Russia and other countries regarding the work in the experimental field in Nevada, but Washington is not preparing to conduct underground experiments.
It is noteworthy that the United States has conducted 33 experiments without a nuclear chain reaction at the testing range in Nevada since 1992, according to official data.