Arms Sales

The United States and Zimbabwe united briefly Friday against the world to oppose creating a treaty that would control international sales of arms. In a United Nations General Assembly vote, 147 of its 192 members voted in favor of creating a global treaty that would impose rules on the import, export and transfer of weapons among nations. Only the U.S., long an opponent of such a treaty, and Zimbabwe voted against the idea.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to sign an arms deal during his upcoming visit to Brazil that could help this country build Latin America's first nuclear-propelled submarine, the government's official news agency said Saturday. The French president is scheduled to arrive in Rio de Janeiro on Monday for a Brazil-European Union summit. He is the current president of the European Union's council.

A Russian businessman dubbed the "Merchant of Death" sought Monday to prevent his extradition to the United States, telling a court here that he was not involved in a scheme to sell weapons to Colombian rebels. Viktor Bout, a former Soviet air force officer, has long been linked to some of Africa's most notorious conflicts, allegedly supplying arms to former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor and Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi.

France signed multibillion-dollar arms deals Tuesday to sell Brazil 50 military helicopters and five submarines, including one nuclear-powered vessel. French President Nicolas Sarkozy joined his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, at a news conference at a hotel fronting Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach to announce the deals, whose value could exceed $11 billion.

Republic of Georgia authorities, aided by the CIA, set up a sting last summer that led to the arrest of a Russian who tried to sell a small amount of bomb-grade uranium in a plastic bag in his jacket pocket, U.S. and Georgian officials said. The operation, which neither government has publicized, represents one of the most serious cases of smuggling of nuclear material in recent years, according to analysts and officials.

U.S. defense and intelligence officials sought Sunday to bolster the charge that Iran was providing arms to Shiite Muslim militants in Iraq, displaying munitions and weapons fragments that they said constituted evidence that Tehran was contributing to Iraq's violence. They also alleged that a group under the command of Iran's supreme leader was behind the smuggling of weapons across the Iran-Iraq border. The briefing, held under unusually secretive circumstances, featured three U.S.

Diversified industrial manufacturer ITT Corp. has agreed to pay a $100-million penalty for illegally sending classified night-vision technology used by the U.S. military to China, Singapore and Britain, the Justice Department said Tuesday. According to a written plea agreement to be filed today in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, Va., ITT will plead guilty to two felony counts: export of defense articles without a license and omission of statements of material facts in arms export reports.

French prosecutors have requested that 42 people, including the son of late French President Francois Mitterrand, stand trial for suspected roles in illegal arms sales to Angola during the African nation's civil war, judicial officials said Wednesday. A magistrate will decide whether to proceed with a trial.

A French judge has ordered 42 people, including a son of late President Francois Mitterrand, to stand trial over a $790-million scandal involving arms sales to Angola, judicial officials said. Arms traders Pierre Falcone, a Frenchman, and Israeli national Arkady Gaydamak are accused of paying a network of political contacts to favor their activities in the African country. Both will be tried in absentia; both deny wrongdoing. Falcone is accused of selling arms to Angola in 1993 and 1994.

The Bush administration told Congress on Friday of plans to sell Iraq about 400 million rounds of small-arms ammunition, 170,000 grenades, demolition explosives and other military gear and services valued at as much as $508 million. "This proposed sale directly supports the Iraqi government and serves the interests of the Iraqi people and the U.S.