Arms Sale | featured news

The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the first-ever treaty on global arms trade that seeks to regulate the $70 billion international trade in conventional arms ranging from light weapons to battle tanks and warships.

Giuseppe Orsi of the the Italian state-controlled defense group Finmeccanica was arrested in an investigation centered on the sale of helicopters to the Indian government.

U.S. sales of warplanes, anti-missile systems and other costly weapons to China's and North Korea's neighbors appear set for significant growth amid regional security jitters.

The huge number, triple that of 2010, was largely driven by sales to Persian Gulf nations looking to shore up their defenses against Iran.

Delegates from around the world gather in New York on Monday for the start of month-long U.N.-hosted negotiations to hammer out the first-ever binding treaty to regulate the global weapons market, valued at more than $60 billion a year.

Shift in stance comes after former Obama aide is confirmed to top Asia Pentagon post by Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Obama administration on Thursday announced an arms deal with Saudi Arabia valued at nearly $30 billion, an agreement that will send 84 F-15 fighter jets and assorted weaponry to the kingdom.

The United States lost a hard-fought competition to supply a new generation of fighter jets to India, which has listed two European manufacturers as the finalists for an order estimated to be worth $10 billion.

Saying he wants to spend more time with his family, Timothy Roemer expects to leave his post in New Delhi in June. There is speculation that the move is linked to India's decision to exclude 2 US companies from an $11-billion fighter-jet deal.

The United States plans to sell up to $60 billion worth of military aircraft to Saudi Arabia, the State Department announced on Wednesday in a move designed to shore up a region overshadowed by Iran.