Low Earth Orbit

The Israel Air Force successfully tested an unmanned aerial vehicle platform capable of firing missiles or anti-tank munitions at ground targets.

Palestinian sources said the unidentified UAV has been used during the current “Days of Pentinence” military operation in the northern Gaza Strip targeting Hamas operatiaves and others involved in the recent rash of Kassam rocket attacks.

So far, the sources said, the UAV was responsible for the death of 40 Palestinians over the last week. They said the UAV was used to locate and target Palestinian combatants in the Jabalya refugee camp, the focus of Kassam-class short-range missile production.

The sources said the UAV was capable of targeting and destroying moving vehicles.

Iraqi insurgents from Fallujah are in intense negotiations with the country’s interim government to hand over control of the city to Iraqi troops, in hopes of averting a bloody military battle for the city of 300,000 that has become a haven for foreign guerrillas and a symbol of the limits of Baghdad’s authority, according to representatives of both sides.

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The talks apparently gained momentum Wednesday after the mujaheddin shura — or council of holy warriors — that now governs Fallujah voted overwhelmingly to accept the broad terms demanded by Iraq’s government. By a vote of 10 to 2, the council agreed to eject foreign fighters, turn over all heavy weapons, dismantle checkpoints and allow the Iraqi National Guard to enter the city.

SADDAM HUSSEIN believed he could avoid the Iraq war with a bribery strategy targeting Jacques Chirac, the President of France, according to devastating documents released last night.

Memos from Iraqi intelligence officials, recovered by American and British inspectors, show the dictator was told as early as May 2002 that France - having been granted oil contracts - would veto any American plans for war.

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Although they [ISG, the Iraq Survey Group] found no evidence that Saddam had made any WMD since 1992, they found documents which showed the “guiding theme” of his regime was to be able to start making them again with as short a lead time as possible.”

Saddam was convinced that the UN sanctions - which stopped him acquiring weapons - were on the brink of collapse and he bankrolled several foreign activists who were campaigning for their abolition. He personally approved every one.

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Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister, told the ISG that the “primary motive for French co-operation” was to secure lucrative oil deals when UN sanctions were lifted. Total, the French oil giant, had been promised exploration rights.