Hiroshima urges leaders to abolish nuclear weapons on 81st A-bomb anniv.

HIROSHIMA - Hiroshima on Thursday urged world leaders to abolish nuclear weapons amid rising global tensions, as the city marked the 81st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing, lamenting their use as "tools of intimidation" in military conflicts and how "imperious actions by major powers" violate international law.

"Downplaying the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and accepting the use of force to pursue one's own prosperity risk cycles of violent retaliation that could ultimately result in another Hiroshima or Nagasaki," Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said in the Peace Declaration read during the annual memorial ceremony.