Iran, Russia arm Sudan, group says

Iran and Russia joined China and nine other nations as direct weapons suppliers for Sudan after a UN embargo was imposed in 2004, a human rights group said yesterday. China's position as Khartoum's top arms supplier has long been criticized by rights activists and Western governments. In a report dismissed by Sudan, the Human Rights First said it used public databases to compile data on weapons transfers to Sudan. (Reuters)

BAGHDAD - An American soldier was killed yesterday by gunfire in western Baghdad, the US military said, the first US combat death in the capital in two weeks. The military said the soldier, whose name was not released, was wounded when gunmen fired on a patrol late in the afternoon. (AP)

SAN JUAN - Omar strengthened into a hurricane late last night and drenched islands in the southeastern Caribbean, blowing off a school's roof in Aruba as it menaced US islands. Authorities issued a hurricane warning for the US Virgin Islands as well as Puerto Rico's Vieques and Culebra islands. Omar was a Category 1 hurricane with 75 miles per hour winds, and the US National Hurricane Center projected it to continue to gain strength. The storm could deliver a direct blow to the Virgin Islands tomorrow. (AP)

CAIRO - Saudi Arabia beheaded two men yesterday, the latest executions in a country where use of the death penalty has risen sharply in recent years, Amnesty International said. The executions, of a Filipino and a Saudi, bring the total number of people beheaded in the kingdom this year to 72. (AP)