Arms Sales

China and Russia have supplied weapons and aircraft to Sudan that have been used in deadly attacks against civilians in Darfur in violation of a U.N. arms embargo, Amnesty International charged in a report Tuesday. The report cites witnesses who said they saw Russian-made aircraft and helicopter gunships used in bombing raids and traced spent cartridges in raided villages to new Kalashnikov assault rifles.

THEY DON'T CALL US the sole superpower for nothing. Paul Wolfowitz might be looking for a new job right now, but the term he used to describe the pervasiveness of U.S. power back when he was a mere deputy secretary of Defense -- hyperpower -- still fits the bill. Consider some of the areas in which the United States is still No. 1: * First in weapons sales: Since 2001, U.S. global military sales have totaled $10 billion to $13 billion.

The founder of an anti-gang organization known as No Guns, once funded by the city of Los Angeles, was arrested Thursday and charged with selling firearms to federal undercover officers. Hector "Big Weasel" Marroquin, 51, was arrested at his home in the 8000 block of 6th Street in Downey, said Susan Raichel, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. He was charged with the sale of an assault rifle, a machine gun, two pistols and two silencers, Raichel said.

It's been decades since Gen. Vang Pao saw combat, but many in the sizable Hmong community here still reverently refer to him as "the General." Straining to explain to outsiders how shaken they were by Tuesday headlines, some likened Pao to a wise uncle, a godfather, to Colin Powell, even Abraham Lincoln.

A former National Guard lieutenant colonel and Hmong leaders met in March with California Highway Patrol officials to try to get law enforcement training for participants in an alleged plot to overthrow the Laotian government, according to court records. The CHP acknowledged Tuesday that retired Lt. Col. Harrison Ulrich Jack and Hmong community leaders toured the sprawling West Sacramento training academy as part of what the agency saw as an effort to boost the hiring of Asian Americans.

An alleged international arms dealer accused of arming militants from Iraq to Nicaragua for decades has been arrested on U.S. charges of conspiring to supply Colombian rebels with millions of dollars' worth of weapons, federal authorities said Friday. Monzer Kassar of Marbella, Spain, and codefendants Tareq Mousa Ghazi and Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy were arrested Thursday as they prepared to complete a transaction to pay for the weapons, federal officials said.

Britain and the United States signed a treaty to cut red tape on arms deals and improve compatibility of military equipment. The agreement was approved by President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair during a videoconference call on the day Blair held his last Cabinet meeting, less than a week before he leaves office. The treaty, subject to approval by the U.S. Senate, would allow the nations' armed forces to more easily share technology, information and expertise, Blair's office said.

Oxnard police shut down a tobacco shop this week and arrested its owner on suspicion of selling illegal weapons and operating illegal video-style slot machines at the store. Tobacco King owner Paul Kwon, 63, of Chatsworth was arrested about 3 p.m. Thursday at his business in the 800 block of Ventura Road, said David Keith, spokesman for the Police Department. A tip from a neighborhood resident alerted police to the activity at the smoke shop, Keith said.

The Bush administration will announce next week a series of arms deals worth at least $20 billion to Saudi Arabia and five other oil-rich Persian Gulf states, as well as new 10-year military aid packages to Israel and Egypt, a move to shore up allies in the Middle East and counter Iran's rising influence, U.S. officials said Friday. The military assistance agreements would provide $30 billion in new U.S. aid to Israel and $13 billion to Egypt over 10 years, the officials said.

In a break from traditional Israeli opposition to U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that his country understood Washington's plan to supply state-of-the-art weapons to Riyadh as a counterweight to Iranian influence. Aware of Israel's sensitivity about arms sales in the region, the United States is also offering a sharp increase in military aid to Israel and has assured it that it will retain a fighting edge over its neighbors, he added.