Moscow is preparing its first major defense contract with Saudi Arabia, the world's largest arms buyer that has traditionally spent its petrodollars on U.S.-made weapons. The deal is part of a strategy aimed at diversifying Russia's arms buyers away from China and India, Sergei Chemezov, general director of state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport, told reporters Wednesday.

There are so many odd and horrible ways to die in Russia that it's almost no surprise that the average Russian man isn't expected to see his 59th birthday. Men in Bangladesh live longer.

Joseph Farah says president is demanding Jewish nation commit suicide.--WorldNetDaily

Charles Smith writes about how the dangers of the modern battlefield has put unmanned systems at the forefront of warfare and inside wartorn Iraq.

Halliburton failed to notify officials nuclear shipment went missing.

Yesterday’s Gallup poll showing Bush approval at 57% had 9% more Republicans than Democrats. With this poll, Gallup appears to be firmly a propaganda arm of the White House and RNC.

Santorum legislation gives $10 million to groups opposing regime.

North Korea has demanded bilateral talks with the United States to defuse tension created by its announcement that it is a nuclear power, the communist state's U.N. envoy said in a South Korean newspaper interview published Friday.

Syria said on Thursday that U.S. officials should check the facts before making provocative remarks, commenting after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Syria this week of exporting terrorism.

Britain's intelligence agencies have been accused of helping America in a secret operation that is sending terror suspects to Middle Eastern countries where prisoners are routinely tortured and abused.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Thursday a sweeping set of rules aimed at forcing states to issue all adults federally approved electronic ID cards, including driver's licenses.

One theory why Pyongyang has picked this moment to take its bat home is that a White House emissary, Michael Green - the new National Security Council senior director for Asia - has just been touring Beijing and other skeptical Asian capitals; supposedly with proof that a uranium compound, UF6, found in Libya came from North Korea -Aidan Foster-Carter/Asia Times

In a recent column, I noted how Americans have lost numerous freedoms since George W. Bush became president.According to the Heritage Foundation, "The United States is tied for 12th place with Switzerland in the 2005 Index of Economic Freedom.The Heritage report also said, "Perhaps the greatest surprise in this year's index is the failure, for the first time, of the United States to make the top 10." However, this should not come as a surprise -Pastor Chuck Baldwin /NewsWithViews

The public's confidence in President George Bush's job performance and the United States' direction have slipped in the opening weeks of his second term, particularly among people 50 and older, according to a poll.Adults were evenly divided on Bush's job performance in January, but now 54% disapprove and 45% approve, the Associated Press poll says.The number who think the country is headed down the wrong track increased from 51% to 58% in the past month -Scotsman

A "limited hangout" is a partial confession, a mea culpa, if you will, that leaves the essence of a crime or covert reality hidden. If you want to see an excellent limited hang out at work, pick up a copy of the John Perkins' bestselling Confessions of an Economic Hit Man -Catherine Austin Fitts./AxisofLogic

Marxist rebels killed 17 Colombian soldiers in a battle in the jungles of northern Colombia on Wednesday in the deadliest attack on the armed forces in years, the army said.The FARC began as a peasant militia and has grown to 17,000 armed and uniformed fighters, thanks to funding from kidnapping ransoms and forced payments from the coca and cocaine trade

As normal in Venezuela's crime world, a new twist has emerged concerning the capture of dissident Army General Felipe Rodriguez, aka "The Crow" (El Cuervo).A report in El Universal indicates that Venezuelan security forces were tipped off about Rodriguez' return to Venezuela -VHeadline VE

The National Security Archive today posted the widely-debated, but previously unavailable, January 25, 2001, memo from counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke to national security advisor Condoleezza Rice - the first terrorism strategy paper of the Bush administration. The document was central to debates in the 9/11 hearings over the Bush administration's policies and actions on terrorism before September 11, 2001

To understand the possible reasons behind the sudden and seemingly coordinated Pakistani effort to raise the nuclear bogey in the United States, one must consider past Pakistani nuclear postures and their evolution, and set them against recent developments in the subcontinent -Kaushik Kapisthalam/Asia Times

It is now official: India has indicated to the United States that it is interested in purchasing advanced F-16 fighter jets for its air force, a move that has sent frissons throughout the establishments in India, the US and inevitably Pakistan -Siddharth Srivastava/Asia Times

Several U.S. senators, citing problems with the safety of Canada's cattle feed, backed legislation Thursday to extend the devastating beef ban.North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad's "resolution of disapproval" was endorsed by eight others as it was introduced, including senators from Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, South Dakota and New Mexico -Winnipeg Sun CA

The Bush administration is pressing the European Union to maintain the arms embargo imposed on China after the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing -Bill Gertz/Washington Times

The Federal Aviation Administration received repeated warnings in the months prior to Sept. 11, 2001, about al-Qaida and its desire to attack airlines, according to a previously undisclosed report by the commission that investigated the terror attacks.The report by the 9/11 commission that investigated the suicide airliner attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon detailed 52 such warnings given to FAA leaders from April to Sept. 10, 2001

A veteran civil rights lawyer was convicted Thursday of crossing the line by smuggling messages of violence from one of her jailed clients - a radical Egyptian sheik - to his terrorist disciples on the outside.The jury deliberated 13 days over the past month before convicting Lynne Stewart, 65, a firebrand, left-wing activist known for representing radicals and revolutionaries in her 30 years on the New York legal scene

The U.S. Senate approved a bill on Thursday that was sought by business to curb class action lawsuits and is part of President Bush's drive to overhaul the civil justice system.The bill would shift most class action suits from state to federal courts, historically less friendly toward such cases.Advocates said the measure would reduce lawyers' forum-shopping for state courts with track records of big settlements

Russia is ready, willing and able to complete the construction of Iran's nuclear plant following an agreement between the countries to return spent fuel rods to Moscow.

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in December but was still the second-highest monthly figure ever. And it lifted the deficit for 2004 to $617.7 billion -- a record that surpassed the previous all-time high, set in 2003, by nearly one-quarter.