Global: US approved $40-billion in 2009 private arms sales

The US government approved $40-billion in worldwide private arms sales in 2009, including more than $7-billion to Mideast and North African nations that are struggling with political upheaval, according to newly released government figures. From 2008 to 2009, the US authorised increasing sales of military shipments to the now-toppled Egyptian government of Hosni Mubarak and the embattled kingdom of Bahrain.