US approves $1.94 billion military sale to Norway

The US State Department on Tuesday approved the potential sale of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles and related equipment to Norway for an estimated $1.94 billion.

The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said it delivered the required certification notifying Congress of the possible sale.

Norway requested 300 AIM-120C-8 missiles and 20 missile guidance sections and other items to buy, the Pentagon said in a statement, adding the principal contractor will be RTX Corporation in Tucson, Arizona.

"The proposed sale will improve Norway’s capability to meet current and future threats by supplementing and replacing its AIM-120B AMRAAMs with the latest version of the AIM-120C.

"The newly acquired missiles will be used for ground-based air defense in the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) but may be subject to dual use with the F-35A," it added.

Norway requested 300 AIM-120C-8 missiles, 20 missile guidance sections, other items to buy, says Pentagon.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-approves-194-billion-military-sale-to-norway/3247178

Banana giant Chiquita found liable for funding Colombian terrorist group

June 12 (UPI) – After 17 years of litigation, banana producer Chiquita Brands International has been found liable for financing a Colombian paramilitary group that "murdered innocent victims."

A Florida jury in the civil case ordered Chiquita on Monday to pay $38.3 million to the families of eight victims of the paramilitary group United Self-Defense Groups Columbia, or AUC, which was designated a terrorist group by the United States and disbanded in 2006, according to Stanford University's Mapping Militants Project.

"Chiquita knowingly provided substantial assistance to the AUC to a degree sufficient to create a foreseeable risk of harm to others," the jury in the Southern District of Florida found.

EarthRights originally filed the case in July 2007, "accusing Chiquita of financing torture, war crimes and other human rights abuses."

"Chiquita made regular monthly payments, totaling more than $1.7 million to security forces controlled by AUC, a brutal paramilitary organization known for mass killing and designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. That designation made supporting the AUC a federal crime," EarthRights said in a statement.

Chiquita pleaded guilty to funding the group between 1997 and 2004, following an inquiry by the U.S. Justice Department, but had not compensated the families of those murdered. The company, which claimed the payments were "security services," settled with the Justice Department in 2007 and paid a $25 million fine for funding terrorism.

https://www.theolympian.com/news/business/article289202674.html