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When experts from the US and the IAEA came upon blueprints for a 10-kiloton atomic bomb in the files of the Libyan weapons program earlier this year, they found themselves caught between gravity and pettiness. The discovery gave the experts a new appreciation of the audacity of the rogue nuclear network led by A. Q. Khan, a chief architect of Pakistan's bomb. Intelligence officials had watched Dr. Khan for years and suspected that he was trafficking in machinery for enriching uranium to make fuel for warheads. But the detailed design represented a new level of danger, particularly since the Libyans...

British warship intercepts Iraqi tanker A British warship has intercepted an Iraqi tanker smuggling oil in violation of UN sanctions, the British Embassy in Kuwait says. HMS Portland, operating in the northern Gulf, tracked and boarded the MV Devo which was found to be carrying 3,100 tons of illegal diesel oil. During the operation, a British Royal Marine detachment "encountered significant passive defences" such as hatches and doors welded shut, and barbed wire on the upper deck. An "exhaustive search" revealed incorrect documentation and the contraband oil, the embassy says. The embassy did not say what happened to the ship...

BAGHDAD: Iraq has protested to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan over what Baghdad called "piracy and provocative acts" by US and Australian naval units against Iraqi vessels in the Gulf, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry says. Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said in a letter to Mr Annan that the US and Australian naval units intercepted Iraqi vessels, interrogated their crews "and sometimes seized the ships and their crews for long periods". He urged Mr Annan to intervene to stop such activities. Giving examples, Mr Sabri said: "Two Australian military boats with 20 armed soldiers aboard attacked Iraq's al-Fida' ferry on June 28...

Jul 29, 2002 (Al-Bawaba via COMTEX) -- After an eight-year break, a U.S.-led naval coalition is resuming inspection of vessels in the northern Red Sea because United Nations sanctions against Iraq are being broken in the area, a U.S. Navy spokesman said Sunday. The decision is opposed by Jordan, which is Iraq's largest trading partner and which complained in the past that the monitoring hindered its trade, according to AP. Lt. Chris Davis, a spokesman with the Bahrain-based fifth Fleet, refused to elaborate on the nature of the "sanctions-busting." Coalition forces in the Persian Gulf region long have been trying...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- For the second time in a week, suspected al Qaeda members have been detained at sea after coalition warships stopped the boats carrying them, Pentagon officials said Thursday. In the latest incident, a French warship Wednesday night stopped a fast boat moving through the North Arabian Sea and detained two suspected al Qaeda members. They were transferred to the brig on the aircraft carrier USS George Washington for holding and initial questioning. Their identities are not known. The incident followed another Saturday in the same region, when a Canadian warship stopped a boat and detained two men....

EL AVIV — American and Israeli intelligence officials have concluded that Yasir Arafat has forged a new alliance with Iran that involves Iranian shipments of heavy weapons and millions of dollars to Palestinian groups that are waging guerrilla war against Israel.The partnership, officials said, was arranged in a clandestine meeting in Moscow last May between two top aides to Mr. Arafat and Iranian government officials. The meeting took place while Mr. Arafat was visiting President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, according to senior Israeli security officials who declined to describe the precise nature of their information.The new alignment is significant...

<p>JERUSALEM - Israel sank a ship off the Gaza Strip that was carrying arms to the Palestinians, The Post has learned.</p> <p>The ship was ferrying arms from the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon.</p> <p>It was sunk by the Israelis just days ago before it could reach the shores of Gaza.</p>

Syria on Wednesday demanded that Washington explain the U.S. Navy's search of two Syrian-registered merchant ships in its anti-terror campaign, blasting the operation as "an act of piracy". The U.S. Sixth Fleet on Sunday searched the ships, which it said had displayed "suspicious behaviour", off the coast of Cyprus, but later said it had found nothing suspicious on board. The issue of terror is a sore spot in relations between Damascus and Washington, which calls Syria a state sponsor of terrorism, and condemns Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrilla group and Palestinian militants who have Syrian backing. "The foreign ministry has summoned the ...