Barrett M 98B

Azerbaijan eyes aiding Israel against Iran

(Reuters) - Israel's "go-it-alone" option to attack Iran's nuclear sites has set the Middle East on edge and unsettled its main ally at the height of a U.S. presidential election campaign.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exudes impatience, saying Tehran is barely a year from a "red line" for atomic capacity. Many fellow Israelis, however, fear a unilateral strike, lacking U.S. forces, would fail against such a large and distant enemy.
But what if, even without Washington, Israel were not alone?
Azerbaijan, the oil-rich ex-Soviet republic on Iran's far northern border, has, say local sources with knowledge of its military policy, explored with Israel how Azeri air bases and spy drones might help Israeli jets pull off a long-range attack.


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Fighting spreads in Aleppo's walled city, Syrian cultural jewel

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Fires that gutted a vast mediaeval market have broken out in other areas of the Old City of Aleppo, a world heritage site, as rebels and government forces fight for the ancient heart of Syria's biggest city, opposition activists said on Monday.

The rebels last week announced a fresh attempt to seize the city, home of a large merchant class that had mostly remained loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, and appeared to have focused on the warren of alleyways that make up the walled Old City.

With government forces holding the large medieval citadel in the heart of the Old City, according to rebels, the fighting that has already claimed more than 30,000 lives across Syria seems certain to destroy more cultural treasures too.

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Iran unblocks Google email again after officials complain

(Reuters) - Iranian authorities have reopened access to Google Inc's email service a week after blocking it, a government official and Iranians said on Monday.
Iran maintains one of the world's largest Internet filters, blocking access to tens of thousands of websites on the grounds that they are criminal or immoral, but the block on Gmail had even prompted complaints in parliament.
"The council on Internet filtering communicated its order to the Telecommunications Ministry regarding the lifting of the ban on the Gmail service," Mohammad Reza Aghamiri, a member of the committee, told the Mehr news agency.


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Official: MRAPs made difference in wars

washington — Data collected from roadside explosions in Afghanistan and Iraq show troops in Mine Resistant Ambush Protected trucks are as much as 14 times more likely to survive the blast than those riding in Humvees, the Pentagon's No. 2 official told USA TODAY.

Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told the newspaper that the $47 billion spent on the armored trucks have saved lives, allowed troops to gain the upper hand, and will counter the threat from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Asia where they are being shifted.

Carter is scheduled to preside at a ceremony today at the Pentagon to honor those responsible for building and fielding the trucks. Vice President Biden, an early supporter of the truck when he was in the Senate, is also expected to attend.

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US Osprey military aircraft begin Okinawa base move

The Osprey is a hybrid aircraft that can take off like a helicopter

The US has begun the controversial deployment of Osprey military aircraft to the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, amid protests over the move.

The Ospreys arrived at a US base in western Japan in July, ahead of their deployment to Okinawa's Futenma airbase.
Six of the aircraft have now landed in Futenma, reports say.
Okinawa residents have opposed the move, citing safety fears following crashes in Morocco and Florida.
The Osprey is a hybrid military aircraft that has a rotor and can take off like a helicopter but flies like a plane. A total of 12 are to be stationed at Futenma airbase.

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Time Bomb: Military Ordnance In Gulf Poses Threat To Shipping, Says Texas A&M Prof

Millions of pounds of unexploded bombs and other military ordnance that were dumped decades ago in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as off the coasts of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, could now pose serious threats to shipping lanes and the 4,000 oil and gas rigs in the Gulf, warns two Texas A&M University oceanographers.
William Bryant and Neil Slowey, professors of oceanography who have more than 90 years of combined research experience in all of the Earth’s oceans, along with fellow researcher Mike Kemp of Washington, D.C., say millions of pounds of bombs are scattered over the Gulf of Mexico and also off the coasts of at least 16 states, from New Jersey to Hawaii.
Bryant says the discarded bombs are hardly a secret. “This has been well known for decades by many people in marine science and oceanography,” he explains.
He will give a presentation in San Juan, Puerto Rico Monday (Oct. 1) about the bombs to a group of oceanographers and marine scientists in a conference titled “International Dialogue on Underwater Munitions.”

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