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As they were boarding it in rough seas, around 8 p.m. local time, one SEAL got knocked off by high waves and a teammate went in after him. Both are missing. The team boarding the small boat was facing about a dozen crew members. The crew members, who were taken into custody, had no paperwork, which allowed a search of the vessel. The weapons were confiscated, and the boat was sunk, a routine procedure that usually involves blowing open holes in the hull.

The two Navy SEALs who went missing off the coast of Somalia last week were helping seize Iranian weapons bound for the Houthis, the US said in a statement on Tuesday. The Navy SEALs carried out a "complex boarding" of a dhow, operating out of the USS Lewis B. Puller and assisted by helicopters and unmanned aerial drones, CENTCOM said. (excerpt) Among what was seized were propulsion, guidance, and warheads for medium-range ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, as well as air-defense-associated components, it said. (excerpt) The Associated Press earlier reported, citing unnamed US officials, that the pair were climbing...

Turkish state TV: Turkish fighter jets have forced a Syrian passenger plane coming from Moscow to land at the Ankara airport. 2 hours ago

Turkey seized "objectionable cargo" aboard the Syrian passenger plane which it intercepted en route from Moscow to Damascus on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, according to an AFP report. "There is illegal cargo on the plane that should have been reported" in line with civil aviation regulations, Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency. "There are elements on board that can be considered objectionable," he added, without elaborating. The confiscated cargo might be missile parts, NTV news channel reported. The plane, carrying 35 passengers on board, would be allowed to leave soon, Davutoglu said. Meanwhile,...

A Camden, New Jersey corporation and its top officer have admitted illegally exporting Sparrow Missile parts to China after obtaining the parts as military surplus items from the U.S. Department of Defense and, instead of smelting them as required, sold them to a Chinese-owned company for export to China. Yesterday, State Metal Industries, Inc. (SMI), a Camden smelting facility specializing in the purchase of scrap metal and the production and sale of aluminum ingots, or bars from that scrap metal, along with its Vice President of Purchasing, Michael S. Dorfman, 44, of Richboro, Pa., each entered guilty pleas before U.S....

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 12 - In the weeks after Baghdad fell in April 2003, looters systematically dismantled and removed tons of machinery from Saddam Hussein's most important weapons installations, including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms, a senior Iraqi official said this week in the government's first extensive comments on the looting. The Iraqi official, Sami al-Araji, the deputy minister of industry, said it appeared that a highly organized operation had pinpointed specific plants in search of valuable equipment, some of which could be used for both military and civilian applications, and carted the machinery...

Coastguards swarm over N.Korea ship entering Japan TOKYO, July 17 (Reuters) - A North Korean cargo ship steamed into a port in northern Japan on Thursday under the watchful gaze of dozens of officials standing ready to inspect it. The 27,050-tonne Hwangkumsan arrived empty at Naoetsu port on the Japan Sea coast to collect a cargo of about 40 used cars. Shortly after it docked about 30 immigration, coast guard and customs officers boarded it for an inspection which officials said was on a scale "larger than usual." Japan tightened inspections of North Korean ships after a North Korean defector...