A U.S. Air Force tilt-rotor aircraft crashed in southeastern Afghanistan, killing three service members and one government contractor, NATO said Friday.
Other personnel aboard were injured and were taken to a military base for treatment, NATO said.
The CV-22 Osprey went down about 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, NATO said. The cause of the crash was under investigation.
The Osprey takes off and lands as a helicopter, but its engines roll forward in flight, allowing it to fly faster than a standard helicopter.
A Zabul government spokesman, Mohhamed Jahn Rasuliyar, confirmed the crash and casualty figure.
A Taliban spokesman had earlier claimed militants shot down the aircraft, part of a pattern of the insurgents making such claims to promote their cause of driving foreign forces from the country.
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Chile has handed over weapons-grade uranium to the US.
With U.S. President Barack Obama shifting his nuclear nonproliferation strategy to rogue states and terrorists, Chile has become an example of how small countries can play a big part in making the world safer.
Vast amounts of highly enriched uranium, or HEU, is being stored in relatively insecure locations around the world. Just 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of it — the size of a grapefruit — could create a mushroom cloud of radioactivity and devastate an entire city if detonated.
At a nonproliferation summit Monday in Washington, Obama will encourage leaders from 47 countries to work with the U.S. to secure and remove HEU from reactors, as Chile finally did last month.
"We are happy to see it go," Fernando Lopez of the Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission told The Associated Press, which exclusively witnessed the secret transfer of the material from reactors near Santiago to the United States.
"Countries normally don't want to be loaded with waste from other countries," Lopez acknowledged. "To put it in a safe place is valuable for everybody."
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There's a new US-Brazil defense treaty.
The United States and Brazil may sign a new agreement as early as Monday meant to bolster military ties, despite tensions over Iran and signs a U.S. firm might lose a major Brazilian defense contract.
Pentagon officials acknowledged on Wednesday a new defense cooperation agreement with Brazil was being worked on and could be signed as early as next week. Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said he hoped it could happen on Monday.
"I'm trying to agree with Secretary Gates to sign this accord in Washington on Monday," Jobim said in Brasilia, referring to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
A diplomatic source familiar with the document described the accord as partly symbolic. Jobim said it was an umbrella agreement meant to facilitate future defense negotiations.
Still, it would be the first of its kind in more than 30 years, taking the place of an agreement that Brazil's then-military dictatorship withdrew from in 1977, said the diplomatic source, who declined to be identified.
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Moscow is formalizing their support of South Ossetia.
Moscow and Tskhinvali signed on April 7 an agreement according to which Russia will operate military base in the breakaway region for 49 years.
According to the agreement, signed by Russia’s Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Defense Minister of breakaway region Yuri Tanayev, the military base will protect “sovereignty and security of South Ossetia” and “to counter acts of armed attacks by international terrorist formations.”
A similar agreement on operation of a military base in Abkhazia was signed between Moscow and Sokhumi in February, 2010.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry said that such agreements “signed between the occupant country and the proxy regime created” by Russia “has no legal effects and is invalid.”
“Instead of carrying out its international obligations, Russia strengthens military presence on the occupied territories of Georgia and tries to place the process of creation of military bases for its occupation troops within ‘quasi legitimate’ frames,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry’s statement reads.
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Pakistan is buying anti-air / anti-missile(?) systems from Italy.
Pakistan will test-fire in July the Spada 2000 air defense system acquired from MBDA Italia, a source at the firm said April 7.
The Spada test-firing will follow the delivery of the first of ten Spada batteries ordered by Pakistan for 415 million euros in 2007. Antonio Perfetti, CEO of MBDA Italia, said that delivery of the battery was currently underway.
All 10 batteries are due for delivery by 2013, and further orders from Pakistan could follow, Perfetti said. MBDA Italia is the Finmeccanica-owned Italian operation within the European missile house MBDA.
"We have identified 95 percent of the offset arrangements on the Spada contract," said Perfetti, who added that offset was less than the full value of the contract. "A facility has already been set aside for munition assembly and other firms have been given work commitments."
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The UK is leading international naval exercises with the HMS Ark Royal.
British Royal Navy's flagship aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal will join French submarine FS Perle and US destroyer USS Barry to lead a series of international naval exercises in the North and West Atlantic between May and August.
The ship set sail from Portsmouth on Tuesday and will head the international task group – 'Auriga 2010' – to carry out the exercises, the UK Ministry of Defence said.
Portsmouth-based Type 42 destroyer HMS Liverpool will leave on May 10 to join the task group, it said.
Other ships taking part in the drill include Royal Navy's Type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland and Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Fort George.
They will be supported by an amphibious force comprising Devonport-based HMS Ocean and Royal Fleet Auxiliary Largs Bay, together with Royal Marines from 3 Commando Brigade and RN helicopters, the MoD said.
By: Brant
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