Weapons

Credit Johnny Depp and his pirate pals. Or thank Viggo Mortensen and the inhabitants of Middle-earth, or all those lightsaber-wielding Jedis. But the bottom line is that even after the advent of more advanced weaponry, swords are simply cool. Enter the Academy of Arms. Barely 2 months old, the nonprofit "Knightly Martial Arts" school is already offering instruction on three different forms of swordplay: English Broadsword, German Longsword and Italian Longsword. Known to historical re-enactors and Renaissance Faire performers everywhere, these are not the namby-pamby instruments used by the glove-smacking, satisfaction-demanding dandies of the 18th century.

SEOUL - Perhaps it is merely basic human desire to keep up with the neighbors, but an increasing number of South Koreans are saying that they want nuclear weapons too. Even in Japan, a country still traumatized by the legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there is a debate about the once-taboo topic of nuclear weapons. The mere fact that the bomb is being discussed as a policy option shows how North Korea's nuclear program could trigger a new arms race in East Asia, unraveling decades of nonproliferation efforts.

Mitt Romney on the stump, singles at the bar, car salesmen on the lot: All sorts of people are practicing the art of persuasion, with varying degrees of success. We like to think that we make our own decisions, that we're in control. But we're all open to persuasion by others, says Robert Cialdini, professor emeritus of psychology at Arizona State University and author of "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. " Humans have been testing their own trial-and-error persuasion techniques forever, Cialdini says.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Friday condemned Russia's delivery of advanced antiship missiles to Syria and its buildup of warships in the eastern Mediterranean, arguing that the Kremlin's escalating support for its longtime ally in Damascus could prolong the civil war. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Russia's military moves would "embolden" Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces and extend the suffering in...

A 5-pound missile the size of a loaf of French bread is being quietly tested in the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles as the military searches for more deadly and far more precise robotic weapons for modern warfare. In the next month or so, researchers at the Naval Air Warfare Center at China Lake expect to test a 2-foot-long Spike missile that is about a "quarter of the size of the next smallest on the planet," said Steve Felix, the missile project's manager.

Actress Shannon Lucio has just overpowered two rogue cops using everything from a pants belt to a shard of glass. She applied the "one mind, many weapons" technique taught to her by former Marine Sgt. Jon Barton, who was watching the action unfold as the cameras rolled inside a former shoe warehouse in North Hollywood on Sunday night. Barton trained Lucio, who plays a CIA-trained assassin in an indie action feature called "Insert," in various combat techniques and the proper way to fire handguns.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court refused to halt routine strip-searches of new jail inmates, including those arrested for minor offenses, saying the need to screen out weapons and drugs outweighed the right to privacy. The 5-4 majority ruled it would be "unworkable" to require guards - who at large county jails must screen hundreds of new inmates - to spare those who may not appear dangerous. The decision is a defeat for civil liberties groups and a New Jersey man who was strip-searched twice after he was stopped on a highway and taken to jail, where he spent six days, over an unpaid fine that he had already paid.

West Germany is scrambling to prepare for an impending invasion from the East on a scale that North Atlantic Treaty Organization war games never dared to imagine. On Wednesday, the entire 90,000-strong East German Volksarmee will join forces with the West German Bundeswehr in a military merger of former foes.

Re "Syrians report use of cluster bombs," Oct. 15 The article accurately describes the heinous nature of cluster bombs and their long-lived capacity to maim and injure people. Mainly civilians. Often children. Really, who would think up and manufacture such a weapon? You cite the Convention of Cluster Munitions, which bans their use, and note that Syria, unlike 100 other countries, has not signed it. You neglected to mention that the United States has also not signed the treaty (along with our friends China, Russia, India, Israel and Pakistan)

SABHA, Libya - Abdallah takes out his pistol and hands it to a friend. He says he is in good company, so he does not need it. Dressed in military camouflage gear and scarves, Abdallah and his six Libyan Tuareg companions sit under a tree that provides scant protection from the Saharan sun in southern Libya. They have been smuggling munitions to Tuareg insurgents in northern Mali for much of the last eight months. "We know the desert; there is nobody who can stop us," says one of the men, Omar.

WASHINGTON - President Obama on Thursday ruled out unilateral U.S. military action in Syria even if proof emerges that Syrian forces have used lethal chemical weapons. "This is … an international problem," Obama said at a White House news conference with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "It's not going to be something that the United States does by itself. And I don't think anybody in the region would think that U.S. unilateral actions … would bring about a better outcome.

Outrage. That's what we should feel over the Syrian government's slaughter of more than 70,000 of its own people and its use of chemical weapons. And outrage is what we should feel over the international community's total impotence. Despite nearly irrefutable intelligence regarding Syrian use of chemical weapons, which the Obama administration acknowledges, the White House persists in setting a burden of proof that is impossible to achieve in practical terms and is designed to allow the U.S. to avoid military involvement in Syria almost at all costs.

JERUSALEM - With three airstrikes against Syria since January, Israel has inserted itself forcefully into the "Arab Spring's" most intractable conflict, heightening fears that Syria's civil war could spiral into a regional conflagration. The bombings of targets near the Syrian capital - including two strikes in a 48-hour period beginning Friday - represent a risk-laden strategy based on the calculation that retaliatory attacks against Israel by Syria or its allies are unlikely. Still the bombings inevitably raised the specter of a broader regional war in the heart of the volatile Middle East.

SACRAMENTO - The state will send dozens of new agents into California neighborhoods this summer to confiscate nearly 40,000 handguns and assault rifles from people barred by law from owning firearms, officials said Wednesday. The plan received the green light Wednesday, when Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation providing $24 million to clear the backlog of weapons known to be in the hands of about 20,000 people who acquired them legally. They were later disqualified because of criminal convictions, restraining orders or serious mental illness.

WASHINGTON - The White House is considering providing weapons to the Syrian rebels, officials said Tuesday, but no decision is imminent and President Obama seemed to soften his public threats to the Syrian government over its alleged use of chemical weapons. A decision to supply weapons would mark a reversal for the Obama administration, which has resisted repeated proposals to deepen its involvement in Syria's 2-year-old conflict, which, according to the United Nations, has killed more than 70,000 people, mostly civilians.

 BEIRUT -- A top Syrian official on Friday denied U.S. and Western charges that Syria has deployed chemical weapons against rebels fighting to overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad.  “The U.S.-British and Western allegations in general on that issue do not have any credibility,” Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoubi told Russian television during a visit to Moscow, Syria's close ally. The denial comes after U.S. officials said Thursday for the first time that it was likely that Syria had used chemical weapons on a small scale, though definitive proof was still lacking.

The gig: Alton D. Romig Jr., 58, is "chief skunk" at Lockheed Martin Corp.'s famed Skunk Works secretive weapons development facility in Palmdale. It's one of the most coveted jobs in aerospace. For more than 70 years, workers at the shadowy site have designed and built the world's most innovative military aircraft, including the U-2 spy plane, SR-71 Blackbird and F-117 stealth fighter. About 2,000 people work on 600 programs at Skunk Works, which got its nickname in 1943 at its original Burbank headquarters that was located next to a manufacturing plant that produced a strong odor.

OK, aside from that ? ESPN's Chris Mullin , on the Boston Celtics: "You know the key to their team? There's too many keys. "The opposing team comes in and says, we're going to shut down [ Rajon ] Rondo and KG [ Kevin Garnett ] and then Paul Pierce and Ray Allen explode. Shaquille O'Neal is a great fit. [ Glen ] 'Big Baby' Davis is wonderful.... "The biggest thing is Kevin Garnett's health has improved drastically and he's back where he was two years ago. " Letdown II Sam Smith of bulls.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - U.S. intelligence agencies now believe that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime has used chemical weapons in its struggle to hold onto power, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday. Hagel said that the White House sent a letter to members of Congress on Thursday morning disclosing that intelligence agencies had made that assessment, which followed a series of similar conclusions reached by Britain, France and most recently Israel. “The U.S. intelligence community assesses with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin,” Hagel told reporters in Abu Dhabi, where he was wrapping up a weeklong Mideast trip that has been dominated by questions over Syria's alleged chemical weapons use. A day earlier, Hagel said that U.S. intelligence agencies were studying the issue and would not rush to make a determination.

Syria is believed to have a large stockpile of chemical weapons. U.S. intelligence agencies now suspect that Syrian President Bashar Assad's government has used small amounts of these chemicals against rebels fighting to unseat him, an assessment shared by Britain, France and, most recently, Israel. So what is known about Syria's chemical weapons? A report citing Turkish, Arab and Western intelligence agencies estimated that Syria has about 1,000 tons of chemical weapons stored at about 50 sites, mostly in the north of the country.