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A tense standoff is underway in northeastern Somalia between pirates, Somali authorities, and Iran over a suspicious merchant vessel and its mysterious cargo. Hijacked late last month in the Gulf of Aden, the MV Iran Deyanat remains moored offshore in Somali waters and inaccessible for inspection. Its declared cargo consists of minerals and industrial products, however, Somali and regional officials directly involved in the negotiations over the ship and who spoke to The Long War Journal are convinced that it was heading to Eritrea to deliver small arms and chemical weapons to Somalia's Islamist insurgents.

Albania's government said on Friday it was looking into the sudden death of an arms industry figure who was helping prosecutors investigate a weapons sale to the United States and an explosion that killed 26 people. Television pictures showed businessman Kosta Trebicka, his head covered in blood, sprawled on his back on a dirt road in a remote area of eastern Albania, where he had been hunting. His off-road car was nearby, and appeared to be damaged.

Does anyone know how to contact arms dealers and munition supply companies?

MOSCOW: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may spend up to a billion dollars on Russian weapons in a trip to Moscow next week, said a Russian military-industrial source cited by news agency Interfax on Saturday. Chavez's shopping list could include three "Varshavianka" class electric-diesel submarines and 20 Tor-M1 ground-to-air missile systems worth around a billion dollars (630 million euros), the source added. "During the visit several contracts are likely to be signed for the delivery of arms and military technology to Caracas," the source told Interfax. "For a number of military contracts, all the details have already been settled, they are...

Despite renewed friction between Russia and the United States, the specter of open conflict has faded since the days of the Cold War. However, equipment designed by the two nations remains on opposite sides of 21st-century battlefields. This isn't surprising: America is the top vendor of major conventional weapons, and Russia ranks number two. Both countries share a legacy of making military equipment to counter the other's capabilities and a long history of parlaying arms sales into geopolitical influence. These deals, sanctioned by both national governments, are extensions of foreign policy. A resurgent Russia wants cash and international influence, while...

Imphal, May 4 (IANS) Authorities in Manipur, one of northeast India’s worst insurgency-hit states, have decided to arm villagers with weapons to enable them protect themselves from militants and control rebel activities, officials said Sunday. “The state cabinet has decided to train up to 500 villagers in the districts of Thoubal and Imphal West and provide them weapons after local residents rose in revolt against excesses committed by armed militants who have been killing civilians and extorting cash,” said Manipur Irrigation and Flood Control Minister N. Biren. A militant group March 24 killed three people - two teenaged girls and...

Youths 18 through 20 may now legally possess handguns under a state Supreme Court ruling issued this morning. The five-member court unanimously said the state law banning those under 21 from possessing handguns violated the state constitution. The justices upheld a lower court ruling that threw out a York County indictment on that charge against Berry Scott Bolin. The ruling mirrors a new state law that lowers the minimum age for S.C. residents to own a handgun to 18. Bolin was 19 when he was charged in connection with the February 2006 shooting death of Bobby Royce Hovis III, 19....

Short Arms And Legs Linked To Risk Of Dementia, Study Shows ScienceDaily (May 6, 2008) — People with shorter arms and legs may be at a higher risk for developing dementia later in life compared to people with longer arms and legs, according to a study published in the May 6, 2008, bonus issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers say the association between short limbs and dementia risk may be due to poor nutrition in early life, which can affect limb growth. Several studies have shown that early life environment plays an important...

The Manipur government has decided to provide arms and ammunition to the people of the state to defend themselves from militants. Official sources said in Imphal on Saturday that the state cabinet, presided over by Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh, discussed the issue on Friday night at a meeting, which lasted for over three hours. In the first phase, the people of Heirok and Chajing would be provided security by opening special posts, to be commanded by Special Police Officers. The people of Heirok in Thoubal district had been demanding arms, following the killing of three people by militants...

Zimbabwe arms ship heads home By Christopher Munnion in Johannesburg Last Updated: 2:38am BST 25/04/2008 A Chinese ship laden with weapons for Zimbabwe is heading home after being refused permission to dock in four African nations. Beijing said that the An Yue Jiang had been unable to fulfil its contract to deliver 77 tons of arms, including bullets, mortar bombs, grenades and assault rifles. Dock workers in South Africa refused to unload the ship, fearing that the weapons would be used by the Mugabe regime against opponents. The ship then spent a week stranded off the coast as Mozambique, Namibia...

No weapon is more important to tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan than the carbine rifle. And for well over a decade, the military has relied on one company, Colt Defense of Hartford, Conn., to make the M4s they trust with their lives. Now, as Congress considers spending millions more on the guns, this exclusive arrangement is being criticized as a bad deal for American forces as well as taxpayers, according to interviews and research conducted by The Associated Press. "What we have is a fat contractor in Colt who's gotten very rich off our wars...

Customs probe reveals sanctions-busting sales of arms, missile technology and nuclear components Investigators have identified a number of British arms dealers trading with Tehran, triggering alarm among government officials who fear Iran's nuclear programme may be receiving significant support from UK sources. The probe by customs officers suggests that at least seven Britons have been defying sanctions by supplying the Iranian air force, its elite Revolutionary Guard Corps, and even the country's controversial nuclear ambitions. Officials say they are perturbed by the number of British dealers who appear to be trading with Tehran, despite a third round of restrictions being...

Mugabe regime ordered 77 tonnes of Chinese arms three days AFTER disputed electionsBy IAN EVANS and WILLIAM LOWTHER - More by this author » Last updated at 21:33pm on 18th April 2008  A huge cargo of Chinese guns and ammunition sits marooned aboard a ship off South Africa. It would have been used to arm the tyrant Robert Mugabe's thugs in Zimbabwe. But dockers in South African port of Durban won't unload the 77 tons of mortars, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons. Scroll down for more...Danger cargo: The ship is believed to be carrying 77 tonnes of...

"...The agreements and multi-billion contracts signed during the visit were fully consistent with the interests of both countries, he said.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Washington’s favorite Latin American bete noir after Fidel Castro, unsettled Washington again last year by negotiating a $1 billion deal with Moscow to purchase a number of 636-model Varshavianka-class (NATO designation “Kilo”) diesel electric submarines (Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostei, April 4). Various Russian and Venezuelan media reports say that the initial delivery will consist of three to four boats with an eventual nine submarines from Russia. President Chavez is reportedly traveling to Moscow next month for the inauguration of Russia’s new president, Dmitry Medvedev, and while there will sign an agreement for the delivery of the first...

A pizza delivery driver who shot an alleged armed robber in Des Moines last week said he's receiving support from the community. James Spiers III fired multiple shots at a man who allegedly put a gun to his head after Spiers delivered a pizza to an apartment complex. The suspect, Kenneth Jimmerson, was arrested after he called for help. Jimmerson, who suffered at least three gunshot wounds, is charged with first-degree robbery. His finance, Melanie Stout, who police believe called in the pizza order, is charged with conspiracy. Spiers, who works for Pizza Hut, has a valid handgun permit. He...

D.C. firearms ban can't negate constitutional right Does the Constitution grant individuals the right to bear arms, or is that right reserved exclusively for members of a "well-regulated militia"? After 69 years of silence on the Second Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court took up that question Monday in the historic case of District of Columbia v. Heller, a challenge to the District of Columbia's ban on all functional firearms. "The Supreme Court heard arguments about whether or not the Second Amendment actually means anything," said Alan Gura, my co-counsel in the case ... Does it protect a collective right of...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court gets to write on a blank slate when it takes up the meaning of the Second Amendment "right to keep and bear arms" and the District of Columbia's ban on handguns. The nine justices have said almost nothing about gun rights, and their predecessors have likewise given no definitive answer to whether the Constitution protects an individual's right to own guns or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia. The case that will be argued Tuesday is among the most closely watched of the term, drawing 68 briefs from...

BANGKOK, Thailand - The U.S. is seeking the extradition of a suspected Russian arms dealer dubbed the "Merchant of Death," but for now he will remain in Thailand, where authorities are investigating if he used the country as a base to negotiate a weapons deal with terrorists, officials said Friday. Viktor Bout, a 41-year-old whose dealings reportedly inspired a 2005 movie about the illicit arms trade, is accused of running weapons to al-Qaida, the Taliban and parties involved in bloody conflicts across Africa. He was arrested at a Bangkok hotel after a four-month sting operation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement...

BRUSSELS (AFP)--E.U. parliamentarians urged the European Union Wednesday to step up pressure on China to end its arms exports to African nations whose leaders are deemed responsible for wide human rights violations. The lawmakers, in a report adopted by the European Parliament's development committee, urged the 27 nation bloc to uphold its arms embargo against China, citing notably Beijing's role in Sudan and Zimbabwe. "As partners of Africa, both the E.U. and China together must find a more responsible approach to the international arms trade," Fiona Hall, a U.K. member of the assembly's Liberal Democrats group, said in a statement.