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Austrian sniper rifles that were exported to Iran have been discovered in the hands of Iraqi terrorists, The Daily Telegraph has learned. More than 100 of the.50 calibre weapons, capable of penetrating body armour, have been discovered by American troops during raids The guns were part of a shipment of 800 rifles that the Austrian company, Steyr-Mannlicher, exported legally to Iran last year. The sale was condemned in Washington and London because officials were worried that the weapons would be used by insurgents against British and American troops. Within 45 days of the first HS50 Steyr Mannlicher rifles arriving in...

Iran Threatens To Use Oil As Weapon In Nuclear Row March 11, 2006 -- Iran's interior minister, Hojatoleslam Mustafa Pur-Mohammadi, has made a veiled threat to disrupt world oil supplies if the UN Security Council imposes sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. The Iranian state news agency IRNA quotes the minister as saying that, if the nuclear case is politicized, the international community would be harmed more than Iran. He noted that Iran is rich in energy resources, and has control of "the most sensitive energy route of the world" -- a reference to the Straits of Hormuz in...

WASHINGTON - Iran has replaced Iraq as the country Americans consider to be their greatest enemy, according to a Gallup Poll. Canada and Great Britain were ranked as America's best friends. The percentage of Americans with a positive view of France and Germany has moved up sharply since 2003, the poll said, when the two allies challenged President Bush's Iraq policy. Thirty-one percent of Americans gave the nod to Iran as the worst enemy in polling of 1,002 adults between Feb. 6-9. This represented an increase from 14 percent last year, and appeared to reflect growing American concern over the...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- The American media stood up and took notice when an improvised explosive device grievously injured an ABC News crew Sunday. In Iraq, and throughout the military, there is sympathy and concern for anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt, but there is also this question: "Why do you think this is such a huge story?" wrote an officer stationed in Baqubah, Iraq, Monday via e-mail. "It's a bit stunning to us over here how absolutely dominant the story is on every network and front page. I mean, you'd think we lost the entire 1st Marine...

Washington, DC—Senator Jack Reed today joined former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and former Secretary of Defense William Perry in a press conference for the release of the report “The US Military: Under Strain and at Risk.” The report is a damning analysis of the effects of Bush Administration policies on our nation’s military.By failing to adequately plan for post-conflict Iraq, failing to send enough forces to accomplish the mission with an acceptable level of risk, and failing to adequately equip the Americans sent into harm’s way, the Bush Administration has put our ground troops under enormous strain that, if...

It seems like a common pattern lately. A mainstream media outlet publishes a bombshell story, and within days, the whole thing unravels quicker than a cheap sweater swarmed by kittens. Such is beginning to look like the case for The New York Times’ eavesdropping controversy, which is showing a lot of wear and tear for its age. Wednesday wasn’t a very good day for the ongoing health of this story, or for members of the media hoping that the recent revelations concerning National Security Agency espionage tactics could lead to impeachment proceedings against President Bush.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday that Pyongyang planned to start developing light water reactors for nuclear energy. The news service also repeated a threat to resume work on a pair of graphite-moderated reactors, which experts say would be able to produce a significant amount of material for atomic weapons. Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Tomohiko Taniguchi says such moves would make pointless further six-party negotiations on the North's weapons programs, hosted by China and also involving the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia. "It is going to be suicidal for North Korea to pursue that course....

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — The 101st Airborne Division (search) on Thursday reactivated a historic unit whose actions during World War II and Vietnam were the subject of the book "Band of Brothers." (search) The 506th Regimental Combat Team — also known as the "Currahees," a Cherokee Indian word meaning "stands alone" — returned to the division just as its soldiers were completing final preparations to return to Iraq.

"In my opinion, freedom of speech seems to be a politically sensitive issue. A lot of policy matters are behind it." So observed Houlin Zhao, the man who wants to control the greatest forum for free expression in history.Zhao, a director of the U.N.'s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and a former senior Chinese-government official, is a leader in the United Nations's effort to supplant the United States government in the supervision of the Internet. At a series of conferences called the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), held under the aegis of the ITU, and set to culminate in...

My son tonight came to me and asked me what happened on 09/11. He's getting older now. He's no longer a toddler but a young boy. He and I went on the web and brought up several web sites and viewed the photos of that day four years ago. As he looked at the pictures he asked me if people are still sad for what happened on that day. I told him I was. After we got done with the looking at the photos and talking about it we were walking upstairs and in the middle of the hall he...

In a speech to the legislature on 21 August, newly installed Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad laid out his plans for the next four years, and legislators then began debating the men Ahmadinejad proposed as cabinet ministers one week earlier.