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Al Qaeda terrorists have been left fearing the Black Death plague after it wiped out at least 40 insurgents at an Algerian training camp, it was reported today. The horror disease, which killed 25 million people in medieval Europe, is understood to have been found in a militant’s body dumped at a roadside. Terror group AQLIM (al Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb) was forced to turn its shelter in the Yakouren forests into mass graves and flee, it has been claimed. Now al Qaeda chiefs are said to fear the plague has been passed into other cells...

John McCain's Imprisonment in Vietnam: A True Tale of Heroism James Ray Have you ever heard the whole account of John McCain's imprisonment during the Vietnam War? Until recently, I was only aware of the general story; I didn't know the details. But I recently read a couple of pieces on McCain's capture, imprisonment and torture by the North Vietnamese, and it blew me away. Not since Ernest Shackleton's cursed journey to the South Pole have I heard a tale of such courage, mental toughness and physical endurance. The Young John McCain The Crash and Capture In October of 1967,...

A team of US scientists poring over the intestines of a tropical termite have a gut feeling that a breakthrough in the quest for cleaner, renewable petrol is in store. Tucked in the termite's nether regions, they say, is a treasure trove of enzymes that could make next-generation biofuels, replacing fossil fuels that are dirty, pricey or laden with geopolitical risk. Termites are typically a curse, inflicting billions of dollars in damage each year by munching through household timber with silent, relentless ease. But gene researchers say the hind gut of a species of Central American termite "harbour a...

The web is abuzz tonight with sinister warnings from someone the media says has taken command of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Should we be afraid ?

just breaking on foxnews unknown substance spilled out of package, garlic like smell... left a stain on the floor 20 people very ill.

Top U.S. disaster official Michael Brown, under fire over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, cited prior emergency-management experience in an official biography but his duties were “more like an intern,” Time magazine reported. Brown's biography on the Federal Emergency Management Agency Web site says he had once served as an "assistant city manager with emergency services oversight," and a White House news release in 2001 said Brown had worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., in the 1970s "overseeing the emergency-services division." However, a city spokeswoman told the magazine Brown had actually worked as "an assistant to the city...

Influenza pandemic 'could be avoided' By Roger Highfield, Science Editor (Filed: 04/08/2005) A global influenza outbreak with the potential to kill millions could be stopped in its tracks with concerted action and enough antiviral drugs for three million people. Britain would be "overwhelmed" if a deadly strain was allowed to reach its shores, said an author of one of two international studies published today in the journals Nature and Science. The World Health Organisation has given warning that the current outbreak of bird flu in the Far East could seed a human pandemic.However, for the first time it appears to...

The Army Medical Department Center and School’s newest multi-service course teaches its students the inner workings of a cutting-edge biological warfare identification device. The first formal Joint Biological Agent Identification and Diagnostic System Course, taught at nearby Brooks City-Base, started mid-July with 24 military and civilian students from military installations throughout the world. The students’ job titles range from microbiologists and medical laboratory technicians to preventive medicine and food inspection specialists. But while their uniforms and jobs may vary, all have something in common – JBAIDS. JBAIDS is the latest weapon in the race to identify biological warfare agents quickly...

FORT DETRICK, Md.(Army News Service, July 20, 2005) - Plasma, goats and plants may one day hold the key to protecting warfighters and the public from nerve agents. Boosting the amounts of an enzyme called butyrylcholinesterase, normally present in small quantities in blood plasma as detoxifiers, can interdict nerve agents when they enter the bloodstream so the nerve agents can't reach their targets. Knowing this, researchers for 20 years have been finding ways of producing large amounts of the enzyme they call a "bioscavenger." "The bioscavenger is being tested against all known nerve agents," said Col. Michelle Ross, deputy commander...

OCALA - New details emerged in court Tuesday about an Ocala man charged with illegal possession of ricin, a deadly toxin that can be used for bioterrorism. A search of Steven Michael Ekberg's home computer turned up terrorism-related materials, an FBI agent testified at a preliminary hearing in Ocala. Ekberg, 22, was arrested Jan. 13 and charged with illegal possession of ricin, a toxin with no known antidote and so lethal that an amount the size of pinhead can kill. FBI Special Agent Pamela Piersanti testified Tuesday that investigators seized Ekberg's computer at the time of his arrest. They found...

Growing threat' of bio-attack on coalition in Iraq CIA warns of insurgents' plans for germ warfare WASHINGTON - Insurgent networks across Iraq are increasingly trying to acquire and use toxic nerve gases, blister agents and germ weapons against coalition forces, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) says. Investigators said one group recruited scientists and sought to prepare poisons over seven months, before being dismantled in June. US officials say the threat is especially worrisome as leaders of the previously unknown group, which investigators dubbed the 'Al Abud network', were based in Fallujah in proximity to insurgents aligned with fugitive...

Douglas Brinkley is the William Ginsburg of the Kennedy death circus. Before the crash, the boyish, gap-toothed Brinkley was known primarily as a Michael Beschloss-in-waiting, a telegenic historian fielding calls from the cable news networks. Now the University of New Orleans professor has parlayed a contributing editorship at George and a friendship with Kennedy into a job as a necropublicist. Between Saturday and Tuesday, Brinkley appeared on MSNBC, Late Edition, Meet the Press, Good Morning America, Dateline, Today (twice), and NPR (twice). He also penned columns about his relationship with Kennedy for Newsweek and the New York Times, and was...

Kerry's bio is a bomb   Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry wants us to look at 4 months of his bio and judge him as a strong, capable, honest, trustworthy leader. What about the rest of John Kerry's bio? What about the 17 months after he returned from Vietnam? Months spent with folks like Hanoi Jane Fonda, Scott "The Assassin" Camil? Time spent at the Kansas City meeting of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, where they discussed assassinating U.S. Senators? It was called "The Phoenix Project", after a military op in Vietnam. Here's what Scott Camil, the instigator of...

Jamie Gorelick Partner 2445 M Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20037 Phone: 202-663-6500 Fax: 202-663-6363 Jamie.Gorelick@wilmer.com Jamie Gorelick's career has spanned the legal, policy, and corporate landscape. As one of Washington's best-known litigators she has represented corporations and individuals on a wide array of problems, particularly in the regulatory and enforcement arenas. She has particular experience in corporate governance and compliance, as well as internal corporate investigations and is the co-author of the leading treatise on the maintenance of corporate documents. Ms. Gorelick's leadership in the bar was recognized when she served as President of the District of Columbia Bar. In...

<p>A Florida company has announced plans to develop a service that would allow consumers to pay for merchandise using microchips implanted under their skin.</p> <p>Applied Digital Solutions CEO Scott Silverman said he believes the company's VeriChip -- a subdermal microchip that uses radio frequency signals to broadcast an identification number to a scanner -- could someday replace credit cards. Under Silverman's plan, rather than swiping a bank card to make purchases, micro-chipped customers would scan themselves using special readers.</p>

The following ARE exerpts... "...From Hercules' poisoned arrows to early germ warfare and attacks with scorpion bombs and red-hot sand, she contends, cultures around the world have grappled with the revulsion and justification of using these unconventional weapons ever since they began creating their own myths and recording their histories. Mayor has compiled a slew of examples in her new book, "Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World" (Overlook Press)..." "...The early dilemmas posed in mythic form would be recorded eventually in the annals of historians as combatants put their growing knowledge...

Why do Americans continue to remember their past? Maybe because it was a simpler and slower time. It was a time when truth was spoken. Men and women took their stand to give us the freedoms we now enjoy. God bless those who today do their duty around the world for freedom.With all the good things, there are things that do not make sense. We remember our past heroes, yet efforts are under way to change streets and schools named after such men as: George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.Let America not forget Jan. 19, 2004, the 197th anniversary of the...

An hourlong phone call Monday afternoon with the U.S. Army Surgeon General's Office brought little closure to the parents of fallen soldier Spc. Joshua Neusche. Mark and Cynthia Neusche said they spoke with Col. Robert DeFraites, the office's senior preventive-medicine specialist. Throughout the conversation, the couple hoped to learn what exactly killed their oldest boy on July 12. That answer never came. "We didn't find out as much as we'd like to," Mark Neusche said after the teleconference at Fort Leonard Wood. "We learned a lot of stuff is still pending." Josh Neusche — a Missouri National Guardsman with the...

<p>Democrats tempted to make a partisan issue out of the quality of U.S. intelligence prior to the Iraq war are setting themselves up for a question they don't want to answer: How many secret bioweapons labs are too many?</p> <p>Saddam had at least two.</p>

Yahoo! News   Fri, May 30, 2003 Hunt for Iraqi Weapons Shifting Gears 47 minutes ago By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - A large new U.S. team heading into Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction will shift its focus away from areas identified as suspicious sites before the war, the Army general heading the effort said Friday. Instead, the searchers will focus on areas where documents, interviews with Iraqis and other new clues suggest biological or chemical weapons could be hidden, Maj. Gen. Keith Dayton said. Dayton leaves Monday for Baghdad, where he will head the...

By Sunday morning, Chicago will be in the early stages of a mock terror attack as officials use an imaginary cloud of pneumonic plague to test whether the area is prepared to handle the real thing. According to a scripted scenario, the disaster will unfold over coming days and reach a crescendo on Thursday, when emergency workers will be swamped with made-up disasters, including a plane crash at Midway Airport, a building collapse and a panicked citizenry elbowing for medicine to treat the plague.

New High Tech Weapons And Advanced SystemsMay Debut In A Conflict With Iraq   Last updated Oct. 15, 2002 View Standard Version   Introduction The quick implementation of systems and networks that are geared towards near-instantaneous decision-making and rapid response has had a dramatic impact on U.S. war fighting doctrine since combat operations began in Afghanistan in October 2001. Testing of several weapons and systems in development has aggressively continued throughout this year. Some of the brightest engineers and technicians in the defense industry are working with the Department of Defense to accelerate promising weapons and systems to an...

Just breaking! On Fox now.

I'm TV deprived, anybody watching MSNBC? Somebody just called and told me he had died, but from a pulmonary embolism. Anybody got news?

Embassy staff flee SARS outbreak From correspondents in Washington04apr03 THE US has authorised the departure of non-essential personnel and their families from the US Embassy in Beijing and from five consular offices in China as a result of the SARS outbreak. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has killed about 80 people in Asia and Canada. The US State Department said today it had agreed the withdrawal of diplomatic staff from affected areas. It said the move was "due to the risks posed by SARS, the uncertainties of how it is spread, and concerns over our ability to obtain suitable...

British Dossier Says Iraq Has 'Military Plans' for Use of WMD The International Programs office of the U.S. Department of State conducts, develops and distributes Public Diplomacy materials in support of U.S. foreign policy objectives. Among its products and services are topical Web sites, a daily press service (the Washington File), publications, a speakers service, and overseas information resource centers. IRAQ'S WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTIONTHE ASSESSMENT OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Under Saddam Hussein Iraq developed chemical and biological weapons, acquired missiles allowing it to attack neighbouring countries with these weapons and persistently tried to develop a nuclear bomb....

What Gaul! 27 February 2003 The French President's words in Brussels have caused the most serious friction for years in Paris-Warsaw relations and the largest eruption of anti-French comments in Poland. At a press conference following the European Union's extraordinary summit devoted to the Iraq crisis Feb. 17, Jacques Chirac criticized the pro-American policy pursued by Central European EU candidate countries. "They lost a good opportunity to be quiet... they acted somewhat recklessly, did not demonstrate good manners... their behavior was infantile," said Chirac, adding that this might obstruct the ratification of the Accession Treaty, as "European public opinion" in...

<p>By Associated Press, 3/17/2003 22:55 MEXICO CITY (AP) President Vicente Fox said Monday he ''regrets'' the Iraq conflict appeared headed for war but insisted that Mexico's opposition to military action would not strain important relations with Washington.</p> <p>''Mexico reiterates its support for the multilateral route to solve conflicts and regrets the path to war,'' Fox said in a statement to the Mexican people broadcast on the presidential channel and carried live on some media outlets.</p>

this story was taken from www.inq7.net URL: http://www.inq7.net/wnw/2002/sep/19/text/wnw_6-1-p.htm French court orders Nazi war criminal freed Posted:9:01 PM (Manila Time) | Sept. 18, 2002 Agence France-Presse PARIS ? A French appeals court on Wednesday ruled that 92-year-old Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon be freed from prison on the grounds of poor health, his lawyers said. Under the terms of his release, which was expected imminently, Papon must remain at home and seek court authorization to travel, lawyer Jean-Marc Varaut said, but insisted: "It is not right to call it house arrest." France's only surviving convict from World War II, Papon has...

Human shields warned over Iraq 14feb03 AUSTRALIANS planning to become human shields in Iraq were foolish and might not be able to be evacuated if war broke out, a senior foreign affairs official has said. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned its ability to help any Australian civilian wanting to leave Iraq during military conflict was very limited. "These people are, frankly, quite foolish for putting themselves in this position," Rod Smith, assistant secretary of DFAT's consular branch, said in response to a question from Labor's John Faulkner at a senate estimates committee. "If there was an...

<p>BEIJING, China -- Chinese and Hong Kong authorities are on the alert as a mystery illness sweeps through southern China.</p> <p>The pneumonia-like sickness has so far killed at least five people and hospitalized around 300, with panicked Chinese flocking to pharmacies to stock up on medicines.</p>

SYDNEY (Reuters) - More than 700 women posed nude on Saturday to protest against Australia's likely involvement in a potential war against Iraq. Lying naked end to end on a grassy knoll in the Australian beach town of Byron Bay, they formed a heart around the words "No War" for an aerial photograph. Australia has sent troops and approved fighter jet deployments to join U.S. and British forces in the Gulf preparing for a possible war in Iraq, but has yet to publicly commit itself to joining any military action in Iraq, whether U.N.-approved or U.S.-led. The women, ranging...

France foils possible terror attack By Elizabeth BryantUnited Press International From the International Desk Published 12/17/2002 12:43 PM PARIS, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Three men arrested in the Paris region may have been plotting a biological or chemical attack, France's Interior Minister said Tuesday. "This is not a small affair," Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told the National Assembly. "This is serious. When one finds people who have this material we do well to arrest them." Police seized empty containers, vials of suspicious-looking fluids and powders and an outfit designed for protection against chemical and biological risks, Sarkozy said, adding that...

Issue 4.11 - Nov 1996 BioWar Wake-up call! Some of the world's farthest-out, cutting-edge, and high-technodazzle biotech thinking is now being done not by scientists and academics, but by the military. By Ed Regis On May 9 1996, by email, I received an invitation to attend a biotechnology workshop at the Army War College. The combination did not add up - not immediately. The biotech industry, after all, was engaged mainly in making new drugs or making old ones by new methods: you fiddled with the genes of certain microorganisms and tricked them into producing insulin, human growth hormone,...

SAFE Citizen Brief #2: Biological Weapons Threats Citizen Briefing Biological Weapons TechnologyWhat are Biological Agents? Biological Agents are microorganisms, or toxins derived from them, which cause disease in humans, animals or plants, or which cause the deterioration of material. Biological agents are naturally occurring microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi) or toxins. Agents can cause disease and death in a target population. Agents can also attack the food supply and/or materiel of a nation. Most biological weapons consist of living organisms (toxins are the exception) and, thus, can replicate once disseminated. Can Biological Agents easily be made into weapons? Yes. A...

Senator Seeks Terrorist-Virus Probe Thu Sep 12, 6:42 PM ET By DAVID GRAM, Associated Press Writer MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Sen. Patrick Leahy ( news, bio, voting record) urged Thursday that the government explore the possibility of a terrorist link to an outbreak of West Nile virus ( news - web sites) that has killed 54 people this year. "I think we have to ask ourselves: Is it coincidence that we're seeing such an increase in West Nile virus or is that something that's being tested as a biological weapon against us?" said Leahy, who is chairman of the Senate...

The following is a summary of a book review of a book that is no longer published, and is hard to obtain. It was written by the head of the Nuclear development program in Iraq, and describes in detail how they developed both Atomic weapons and Hydrogen Weapons. It describes the techniques and delivery systems, and applications for terror. A special areea of most interest is how Saddam planned to use them with Terrorists, and how he planned in 1991 to have the parts smuggled into the USA and assembled by sleeper cells. Saddam's Bombmaker: The Terrifying Inside Story of...

http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=13033 Sunday, August 4, 2002 Saddam plans biological weapons for Palestinians Whitehall dossier says Saddam plans biological weapons for Palestinians Michael Evans, defence editor Time of London 3 August 2002 SADDAM HUSSEIN is suspected of planning to arm a Palestinian terrorist group with biological weapons to attack either American or Israeli targets. A Whitehall dossier containing a detailed assessment of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programme, which has been circulated to the Prime Minister and other senior Cabinet ministers, is understood to focus on Iraq's biological weapons capability. Details of the dossier came to light as the United Nations...

This page sponsored in part by:       Hazardous Materials/WMD Related Articles and Research 23:30EDT - 16 May 2002Unusual Haz-Mat Being Reported in YonkersYONKERS, NY (Emergencynet News) -- Early and preliminary reports are coming in with regard to some sort of unusual Haz-Mat incident in Yonkers, NY. Few official details are currently available, but there would appear to be six people injured, with two reported in critical condition. EMS sources said that those stricken were taken to St. Joseph's Medical Center, which was closed to the public for a period of time. EmergencyNet News has learned that a building...

Published SaturdayMay 18, 2002Pentagon to cut back anthrax program   WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon wants to abandon its policy of anthrax vaccinations for all troops and limit shots to those at the highest risk, officials said Friday. A planned announcement of the new policy two weeks ago was delayed because of questions about how much vaccine U.S. civilians might need in case of a bioterrorist attack. In trying to rebuild a program hobbled for two years by a drug shortage, officials are considering such issues as intelligence assessments, dosing requirements and other national- security considerations, said Jim Turner, the...

CUBA: POSSIBLE THREAT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES THROUGH NON-CONVENTIONAL MILITARY METHODS SEPTEMBER 1999 Biological warfare A generation ago, biological weapons were called germ-warfare weapons. Biological weapons are very different from chemical weapons. A chemical weapon is a poison that kills upon contact with the skin. Bioweapons are microorganisms, bacteria or viruses, that invade the body, multiply inside it, and destroy it. Bioweapons can be used as strategic weapons. That is, they are incredibly powerful and dangerous. They can kill huge numbers of people if they are used properly, and their effects are not limited to one...

Pentagon training bees to swarm into action By Andrew Buncombe in Washington 14 May 2002 The Pentagon is preparing a sting operation with a difference – training ordinary bees to smell out explosives, drugs and even to help clear minefields. For the past three years government-funded scientists have been doing tests, training bees to detect materials other than pollen. Officials hope that they could be used as apian sniffer dogs, swarming into action when required. In two tests last year, bees were able to detect two trucks tainted with explosives. Scientists say the bees are at least as sensitive to...

  Title:   Japanese Scientist Makes Frog Eyes   Summary:     TOKYO (AP) -- Professor Makoto Asashima is surrounded in his tiny laboratory by shelves cluttered with bottles of chemicals. Test tubes whirl in centrifuges while technicians pore over data at their desks. Source:  AP Online Date:  03/24/2002 12:05 Price:  Free Document Size:  Very Short (0834 words) Document ID:  EB20020324670000025 Author(s):  SCOTT STODDARD, Associated Press Writer       Japanese Scientist Makes Frog Eyes Story Filed: Sunday, March 24, 2002 12:05 PM EST TOKYO (AP) -- Professor Makoto Asashima is surrounded in his tiny laboratory by shelves cluttered with bottles of chemicals. Test tubes...