US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has accepted the resignations of the US Air Force's top military and civilian leaders, holding them to account in a historic Pentagon shake-up after nuclear missile warhead fuses were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan.

Mr Gates announced at a news conference that he had accepted the resignations of Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne - a highly unusual double firing.

Mr Gates cited two embarrassing incidents in the past year. In one, a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown across the US without anyone realising nuclear weapons were on board.

Full story at the Press Association. 

It's the same old story I guess... Temporarily lose some nuclear weapons and everyone overreacts... I mean, it's not like National Security was at risk or anything... Oh, hang on a minute...