A Police firearms officer displays a homemade four-barrelled shotgun, part of the arsenal of weapons handed in to the Greater Manchester Police force during it's gun amnesty, in Manchester, northern England November 9, 2006. During the month amnesty 430 weapons and 2500 rounds of ammunition were given up to the police, 264 were air weapons or replica guns. REUTERS/Phil Noble (BRITAIN) 

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives to open the new Hexham Hospital in Northumberland, northern England, January 22, 2004. Blair faces the toughest moments of his premiership next week as rebels in his party prepare to vote down plans for university tuition fees and Judge Lord Hutton releases his report into the suicide of a British weapons expert. REUTERS/Ian Hodgson IH/SB/WS 

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair leaves after opening the new Hexham Hospital in Northumberland, northern England, January 22, 2004. Blair faces the toughest moments of his premiership next week as rebels in his party prepare to vote down plans for university tuition fees and Judge Lord Hutton releases his report into the suicide of a British weapons expert. REUTERS/Ian Hodgson IH/SB/WS 

- PHOTO TAKEN 22OCT03 - Members of the Polish Special Forces "GROM", SBS unit train in the Baltic Sea off the coast in northern Poland, October 22, 2003. [The unit was the only active Polish military presence during the U.S.-led war to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein this year.] Picture taken October 22, 2003. 

A pilot surveys a line of F/A-18 Hornet fighter/attack aircraft aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise in the northern Gulf December 18. The U.S. carried out their second night of bombing over Iraq following the expulsion of United Nations weapons inspectors.

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Leila Khaled (L), a Palestinian activist who hijacked a plane in the 1970s to highlight the plight of Palestinians, gestures during a rally to protest against U.S. air strikes in Iraq December 18. The U.S. carried out a second night of bombing over Iraq following the obstruction of United Nations weapons inspectors earlier in the week.

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Indonesian soldiers guard the U.S. embassy in capital Jakarta on December 18 following the U.S.-led air strikes against Iraq. Indonesia, the world's most populous Moslem country, has urged for an end to the strikes and called for a return to peaceful negotiations over the problem of Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction.

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Indonesian soldiers guard the U.S. embassy in Jakarta December 18 following the U.S.-led air strikes against Iraq. Indonesia, the world's most populous Moslem country, has urged for an end to the strikes and called for a return to peaceful negotiations over the problem of Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction.

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Secretary General Kofi Annan (L) arrives at the Security Council at the U.N. in New York December 16 with special advisor John Ruggie for closed-door consultations on looming Iraq crisis. Richard Butler, the U.N.'s chief weapons inspector, has accused Iraq of breaking its promise to cooperate fully with his teams, raising the specter of a military confrontation between Baghdad and the United States.

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Secretary General Kofi Annan (L) arrives at the Security Council at the U.N. in New York December 16 with Kieran Prendergast, the U.N.'s undersecretary-general for political affairs, for closed-door consultations on the looming Iraq crisis. Richard Butler, the U.N.'s chief weapons inspector, has accused Iraq of breaking its promise to cooperate fully with his teams, raising the specter of a military confrontation between Baghdad and the United States.

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U.S. soldiers holds weapons as they secure their embassy in Sarajevo during a protest of Bosnian Moslem refugees December 16. The protestors, refugees from the once U.N. safe zone protesting against last week's conviction of four Moslems by a Bosnian Serb court, broke a police cordon outside the embassy in the centre of the Bosnian capital, forcing embassy security guards to flee inside the building. More than 50 countries opened talks yesterday during third annual meeting of the Peace Implementation Council in Madrid, aimed at shoring up the Bosnian peace process.

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Foreign Secretary Robin Cook makes his way into his car following television interviews in London December 16. Cook emphasised his concern that Saddam Hussein was not allowing the UN weapons inspectors the access that was previously agreed upon and did not rule out the possibility of air strikes.

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An unidentified UN weapons inspector tests the pressure in his vehicles tire before seting off from the UN headquarters for a daily inspection December 11. Iraq accused U.N. weapons inspectors of trying to create a new crisis last Wednesday when the inspectors tried to carry out a "provocative" inspection at a building in Baghdad belonging to the ruling Baath party. Chief UN arms inspector Richard Buttler said Iraq blocked a UN arms team trying to carry out an inspection in Baghdad and that this was "very serious".

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An Iraqi soldier looks at a UN weapons inspectors vehicle driving off the UN headquarters for their daily inspection December 11. Iraq accused U.N. weapons inspectors of trying to create a new crisis last Wednesday when the inspectors tried to carry out a "provocative" inspection at a building in Baghdad belonging to the ruling Baath party. Chief UN arms inspector Richard Buttler said Iraq blocked a UN arms team trying to carry out an inspection in Baghdad and that this was "very serious".

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U.S. Special envoy William Perry (L) confers with Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura at the Ministry's Iikura House in Tokyo December 10. Perry voiced concern that a nuclear pact with North Korea could be scrapped due to its refusal to allow inspections of a suspected nuclear facility, Japanese officials said. Perry arrived in Tokyo December 9 for talks on issues including the 1994 nuclear deal between the United States and North Korea under which Pyongyang pledged to scrap its suspected atomic weapons programme in return for free fuel and safer nuclear reactors.

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A group of UN weapons inspectors walk to their vehicles to start their daily inspection December 10. Iraq accused U.N. weapons inspectors of trying to create a new crisis on Wednesday when the inspectors tried to carry out a "provocative" inspection at a building in Baghdad belonging to the ruling Baath party. Chief UN arms inspector Richard Buttler said Iraq blocked a UN arms team trying to carry out an inspection in Baghdad and that this was "very serious".

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A convoy of UN vehicles with weapons inspectors leave UN headquarters for their daily inspection December 10. Iraq accused U.N. weapons inspectors of trying to create a new crisis on Wednesday when the inspectors tried to carry out a "provocative" inspection at a building in Baghdad belonging to the ruling Baath party. Chief UN arms inspector Richard Buttler said Iraq blocked a UN arms team trying to carry out an inspection in Baghdad and that this was "very serious".

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A UN weapons inspector pulls a trolley with a box towards his jeep as he prepares for his daily inspection December 10. Iraq accused U.N. weapons inspectors of trying to create a new crisis on Wednesday when the inspectors tried to carry out a "provocative" inspection at a building in Baghdad belonging to the ruling Baath party. Chief UN arms inspector Richard Buttler said Iraq blocked a UN arms team trying to carry out an inspection in Baghdad and that this was "very serious".

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An Iraqi soldier looks at a UN weapons inspectors vehicle driving off the UN headquarters for their daily inspection December 10. Iraq accused U.N. weapons inspectors of trying to create a new crisis on Wednesday when the inspectors tried to carry out a "provocative" inspection at a building in Baghdad belonging to the ruling Baath party. Chief UN arms inspector Richard Buttler said Iraq blocked a UN arms team trying to carry out an inspection in Baghdad and that this was "very serious".

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Palestinians cover their ears as Fatah activists fire their weapons in the air during an Intifada anniversary rally December 9. Clashes between stone-throwing Palestinians and Israeli troops broke out in several locations today, including Bethlehem and Nablus as Palestinians marked the anniversary of the "Intifada", or Palestinian uprising, which broke out in the Gaza Strip on December 9, 1987.

Date changed as this outbreak marks 11th anniversary of Intifada
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Former Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds pauses during an interview in Mexico City November 18. Reynolds called on politicians on both sides of the Northern Ireland sectarian divide to end their dispute over arms decommissioning and resume the peace process he helped begin five years ago. Reynolds said that the decommissioning of weapons had never been a precondition to the Good Friday Anglo-Irish agreement and that Unionists were wrong to insist on it. Reynolds is in Mexico on a private visit.

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Iraqi Vice President Thaha Yassin Ramadan (L) prays alongside Interior Minister Mohammed Zemam Abul-Razzaqk (R) during a ceremony for 'Baghdad Day' November 15. A day after launching and then aborting a raid on Baghdad, U.S. President Bill Clinton reiterated his determination to bomb Iraq if it did not stick to promises to allow unconditional weapons inspections.

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British ambassador to the United Nations Jeremy Greenstock, in left photo, and acting United States ambassador to the U.N. Peter Burleigh arrives for Security Council consultations on the Iraq crisis November 14. Iraqi U.N. ambassador Nizar Hamdoon had earlier brought a letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan offering to allow U.N. weapons inspectors to resume their work. The letter will be considered at the Security Council consultations.

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Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations Nizar Hamdoon (R) and Secretary General Kofi Annan as they arrived at the United Nations in New York before Security Council consultations on the Iraq crisis on November 14. Hamdoon had earlier brought a letter to Annan offering to allow U.N. weapons inspectors to resume their work. The letter will be considered at the Security Council consultations.

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U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said November 13 that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must publicly rescind his decision to halt work by U.N. weapons inspectors in order to end the current crisis with the United States. The U.S. buildup of military forces in the region continues.

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U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must publicly rescind his decision to halt work by U.N. weapons inspectors in order to end the current crisis with the United States November 13. The U.S. buildup of military forces in the region continues.

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Iraqi men gesture during Friday prayers at the Seik Abib al-Kader mosque in Baghdad November 6. An Iraqi newspaper said that millions of Iraqis were receiving arms training to thwart any U.S. military action to force Iraq to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors.

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Iraqi childern hold empty pots at the Seik Abib al-Kader mosque in Baghdad November 6 as they wait for food to be distributed by worshippers attending Friday prayers. An Iraqi newspaper said that millions of Iraqis were receiving arms training to thwart any U.S. military action to force Iraq to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors.

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U.N. weapons inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) leave their headquarters in Baghdad November 5. Iraq showed no signs of reversing its decision to halt cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors despite threats of military action by the United States and Britain.

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U.N. weapons inspector from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) leave their headquarters in Baghdad November 4 for inspections. Iraq announced last Saturday it was ceasing what little cooperation it maintained with U.N. weapons teams after an August 5 announcement barring all intrusive inspections, such as spot searches of suspect sites with little advance notice.

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U.N. weapons inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) leave their headquarters in Baghdad November 3 to carry out inspections. Iraq announced on Saturday that it was halting all cooperation with the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) inspectors and monitors until the Security council reviewed the lifting on sanctions and removed UNSCOM Chairman Richard Butler.

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An Islamist green flag, gas canisters and gun powders for making bombs are displayed in a police department in Istanbul November 2. Turkish police said on Monday they had foiled plans by militant Islamists to crash a light aircraft on to the mausoleum of secular state founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in central Ankara.

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Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan speaks to members of the press as he arrives at the Baghdad International Fair November 1. Iraq rejected a United Nations Security Council statement condemning its decision to halt cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors, and said it would not back down.

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An Iraqi man (L) from the National Monitering Commitee talks with a member of the International Atomic Energy group at UNSCOM headquarters November 1. Iraq rejected a United Nations Security Council statement condemning its decision to halt cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors, and said it would not back down.

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An employee for the Swedish company "Celcus" demonstrates this CeCots multi-functional weapons control console at their stand at the EURONAVAL 98 International Naval Forces Equipment exhibition at Le Bourget October 26. The exhibition opens its doors today and runs until October 30.

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Senior U.S. arms control official John Holum gestures during a press conference at the United Nations in Geneva October 6. Holum said that Iraq could easily reconstitute biological and chemical weapon capabilities and expressed hope that UNSCOM would resume inspections soon there.

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A Palestinian boy stands next to a poster of a man holding automatic weapons during a Hamas rally in the Gaza Strip September 23. Thousand of supporters attended the rally in memory of Imad and Adel Awadallah, of the Hamas military wing, who were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Hebron earlier this month. Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin said his movement was determined to avenge the killing of the two men. aj/Photo by Ahmed Jadallah.

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Peruvian police show September 9 weapons confiscated after the capture of nine suspected Tupac Amaru rebels in the biggest blow to the lefist guerilla movement since the April 1997 military raid on the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima. The government said the capture had led to the breaking up of the guerrilla movement's principal jungle column.

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Regional governor Alexander Lebed (C) listens as U.S.President Bill Clinton addresses the audience during Clinton's meeting with Russian regional and legislative leaders September 2. Lebed said to reporters after the meeting on Wednesday: " The situation is worse than in 1917...Now we have huge stockpiles of poorly guarded nuclear weapons.

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President Clinton speaks at a meeting on education initiatives at Herndon Elementary School in suburban Virginia, August 31. The president, who visited the school before leaving for a two-day summit with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, urged Russia to pursue market reforms, saying a return to a Soviet-style command economy was bound to fail, and that a Russia in disarray could put its nuclear weapons on the world market. Teacher Martha Bell and parent Tracy Lewis are at right.

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Argentine army chief Gen. Martin Balza adjusts his glasses as he faces a congressional commission August 27 which is investigating illegal arms sales of Argentina to Ecuador in 1995 during its war with Peru, and to Croatia in violation of United Nations embargo. Balza said his force had nothing to do with illegal sales and dismissed as unfounded media reports that weapons had disappeared from Argentina and later ended up in Croatia.

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A group of young Sudanese boys, dressed in military fatigues, chant anti-American slogans at the site of a bombed pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum August 27. The United States attacked the plant in the city on August 20, saying it was involved in chemical weapons production and had links with Osama Bin Laden, accused of being behind the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

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United States ambassador Bill Richardson speaks to reporters after chief United Nations weapons inspector Richard Butler briefed the Security Council at the United Nations in New York August 6 on the breakdown of his talks with Iraq earlier this week. Following the briefing the Security Council called Iraq's actions in halting cooperation with Butler's inspection team "totally unacceptable".

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Secretary General Kofi Annan speaks to reporters after chief United Nations weapons inspector Richard Butler briefed the Security Council August 6 on the breakdown of his talks with Iraq earlier this week. Following the briefing the Security Council called Iraq's actions in halting cooperation with Butler's inspection team "totally unacceptable".

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Chief United Nations weapons inspector Richard Butler (L) leaves the Security Council August 6 after briefing members on the breakdown of his talks with Iraq earlier this week. Following the briefing the Security Council called Iraq's actions in halting cooperation with Butler's inspection team "totally unacceptable". Charles Duelfer, an aide to Butler, is at right.

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United Nations chief arms inspector Richard Butler (L) meets with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan at the United Nations in New York August 5. Iraq has handed the U.N. office in Baghdad a document with its decision to suspended cooperation with U.N. weapons teams.

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A Nicaraguan special forces officer places an RPG rocket-propelled grenade in a line with other ordnance which was found in a farm in Veracruz, 18 km south of Managua, on July 29. Over 600 RPG-7 grenades, 24 sticks of TNT explosive, and countless stabilizing fins for 85mm mortar rockets were found in the arms cache. An official spokesman for the Nicaraguan police said they suspected the weapons used to belong to Salvadorean guerrillas.

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A Federal Bureau of Investigation agent loads his automatic weapon as he and other agents continue their search in the Nantahala Mountains near Andrews, North Carolina, July 25 for bombing fugitive Eric Robert Rudolph. The search is centered near an abandoned silver mine where caves and old mine shafts interconnect.

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An urban militia fighter of the Cuban-inspired National Liberation Army (ELN) crouches in the streets of Colombia's main oil-refining town, Barrancabermeja, during a gun battle with police June 21. The city, a traditional rebel powerbase, has seen a wave of recent right-wing death squad violence and guerrilla commanders say civilians are clamoring for weapons to defend themselves against future paramilitary incursions.

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Secretary General Kofi Annan (L) and the United Nations chief weapons inspector Richard Butler head to their seats at the start of a meeting at the U.N. in New York June 23. Butler is scheduled to brief the Security Council June 24 on evidence that traces of VX nerve gas were found in Iraqi Scud missile warheads.

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Secretary General Kofi Annan (L) and the United Nations chief weapons inspector Richard Butler speak at the start of a meeting at the U.N. in New York June 23. Butler is scheduled to brief the Security Council June 24 on evidence that traces of VX nerve gas were found in Iraqi Scud missile warheads.

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Newly mobilized militamen brandishing their weapons move towards the frontline near Zalambessa, in the Northern Tigray Province of Ethiopia June 8. Ethiopia and Eritrea remained on a war footing with slim hopes that a new peace initiative would emerge from Africa's annual summit.

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A munitions manufacturer makes a final check on a 155mm artillery round at the Artillery Ammunition Production Plant for the Thai Army in central Lopburi province June 4. The Thai Army, who recently gained the certificate of international standard for production of ammunition and motar bombs, said that it will try to export its weapons to help boost the country's flagging economy.

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A worker pulls a cart loaded with 155mm artillery cartridges at an Artillery Ammunitions Production Plant for the Thai Army in central Lopburi province June 4. The Thai Army, who recently gained the certificate of international standard for production of ammunition and motar bombs, said that it will try to export its weapons to help boost the country's flagging economy.

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Indonesian environmental activists stage a protest in front of the U.S embassy in Jakarta June 4 to protest what they called the U.S.'s government double standard attitude in dealing with nuclear issues. They said the U.S. condemned India and Pakistan's nuclear tests, but did not do anything to stop Israel from developing its nuclear weapons.

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Colonel Siddhiporn Tubtieng, Director of the Artillery Ammunitions Production Plant for the Thai Army shows June 4 some of the munitions produced by his plant in central Lopburi province. The Thai Army, who recently gained the certificate of international standard for production of ammunition and motar bombs, said that it will try to export its weapons to help boost the country's flagging economy.

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Policital activists, some masked to represent Indian nuclear weapons, shout slogans against Pakistan's nuclear tests near Pakistan's high-commission in New Delhi June 3. The activists later presented five infant-feeding bottles of milk to the high commission and a memorandum saying Pakistan should first drink milk and grow up, then talk to India.

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