Tag Archives: weaponry

Seoul, South Korea | AFP |  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un discussed strengthening his country’s military capability with top military officials, state media reported Sunday, with Pyongyang’s end-of-year deadline for the US to offer concessions approaching. The North promised an ominous “Christmas gift” earlier this month if Washington does …

  Moscow, Russia | AFP | More than a hundred Russian schoolchildren were taught to assemble AK-47s in a Moscow park on Saturday as the country this weekend celebrates the centenary of the birth of Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the legendary rifle. On Sunday, the 100th anniversary of Kalashinkov’s birth …

Lucerne, Switzerland | AFP | Switzerland, where gun culture has deep roots, has managed to avoid the charged national debates over firearm ownership that have consumed other countries. But in a state where compulsory military service means many are comfortable around weapons, voters might, in a May referendum, push back …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday inaugurated the first arms fair organised in Cairo, with hundreds of companies exhibiting. Sisi cut the ribbon along with French Defence Minister Florence Parly to open Egypt Defence Expo (EDEX 2018), held on the outskirts of the capital. …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Despite long-standing restrictions, new weapons have continued to reach South Sudan’s battlefields, often via neighbouring countries, a detailed report by an arms monitoring group said Thursday. A four-year investigation, by London-based Conflict Armament Research (CAR), into the supply of weapons that have helped keep South …

Washington, United States | AFP | The US Air Force will this summer begin testing a laser that will be mounted on an F-15 warplane, an official said Monday. The Pentagon last year awarded a $26 million contract to Lockheed Martin for a laser program called SHiELD (Self-protect High Energy …

Paris, France | AFP | Two dozen countries agreed Tuesday to push for sanctions against perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria, with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson saying Russia “ultimately bears responsibility” for such strikes. Twenty-four nations approved a new “partnership against impunity” for the use of chemical weapons, just …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The United Nations is set to host the first-ever talks on the use of autonomous weapons, but those hoping for a ban on the machines dubbed killer robots will be disappointed, the ambassador leading the discussions said Friday. More than 100 artificial intelligence entrepreneurs led by …

Beijing, China | AFP | China responded to US President Donald Trump’s apocalyptic “fire and fury” threat against North Korea by pointedly warning on Wednesday against any rhetoric that could inflame tensions over Pyongyang’s weapons programmes. Calling the situation on the Korean Peninsula “complicated and sensitive”, China’s foreign ministry issued a …

Washington, United States | AFP |  The US military is preparing to conduct another test of a missile-intercept system in Alaska, the Pentagon said Monday, amid continued tensions with North Korea over its ballistic missile program. Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said a routine test of the Terminal High …