Free Republic

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. weapons experts have found 20 engines used in banned Iraqi missiles in a Jordan scrapyard along with other equipment that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction, an official said Wednesday. The discoveries were revealed to the U.N. Security Council by acting chief U.N. inspector Demetrius Perricos during in a closed-door briefing. The text was obtained by The Associated Press. The U.N. team was following up on an earlier discovery of a similar Al Samoud 2 engine in a scrapyard in the Dutch port of Rotterdam. Perricos said inspectors also want to check...

OS ANGELES, March 12 — At a time when toys, televisions and other products made in China are flooding into the United States, helping push the trade deficit to record levels, there is at least one American product for which China has a nearly insatiable demand — industrial junk. Sales of scrap metal to China have surged, with effects that are ricocheting across the American economy. Prices are soaring not just for scrap, but for metals in general. After years of surpluses that forced many steel makers into bankruptcy, supplies are so tight that contractors told a Congressional hearing in...

We won't scrap WMD stockpile unless Israel does, says Assad The Syrian president talks exclusively to Benedict Brogan in Damascus (Filed: 06/01/2004) Syria is entitled to defend itself by acquiring its own chemical and biological deterrent, President Bashar Assad said last night as he rejected American and British demands for concessions on weapons of mass destruction. In his first major statement since Libya's decision last month to scrap its nuclear and chemical programmes, he came closer than ever before to admitting that his country possessed stockpiles of WMD. Bashar Assad yesterday: 'It is natural for us to look for means...

Japan to help Russia scrap subs Russia's seas are bristling with submarines Japan has pledged to give its maritime neighbour Russia $6.7m to help scrap decommissioned nuclear-powered submarines. Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, who was present at the signing ceremony in the Russian port of Bolshoi Kamen, said the vessels from the Pacific Fleet were both an environmental and security threat. The Japanese money will go towards dismantling 42 submarines being taken out of service over 18 months in the Sea of Japan. Russia has a single recycling point, the Zvezda plant in Bolshoi Kamen, and US funds currently used to...

New York to scrap files on anti-war protesters By David Usborne 11 April 2003 Police in New York City have agreed to destroy records of the past political affiliations of people arrested over recent weeks in anti-war demonstrations. Constitutional scholars and civil libertarians have argued that demanding the data from detainees violated rights of protest and free speech. The row is a severe embarrassment to the police department, which has often been accused of violating constitutional rights. A spokesman said, however, that the Police Commissioner, Raymond Kelly, had been unaware that the data was being collected and had ordered that...