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Bo Xilai's wife 'was in the room when Neil Heywood was poisoned' Bo Xilai's's wife Gu Kailai, accused of murdering the British businessman Neil Heywood, confessed to police that she was in the room when he was poisoned, according to an account given to American diplomats. By Damien McElroy, Malcolm Moore in Beijing 9:00PM BST 24 Apr 2012 Wang Lijun, the former chief of police in Chongqing, told US officials that Gu Kailai had confessed that she was responsible for the killing with the words: "I did it." Mr Wang gave his account of her alleged confession to diplomats at...

US President Barack Obama was told of the alleged murder of British businessman Neil Heywood before foreign secretary William Hague. The president was briefed about the 41-year-old's suspected poisoning within hours of Chinese police chief Wang Lijun walking into a US consulate to tell officials he was murdered. The decision to inform the President so soon after the killing of a British citizen overseas so soon after it happened was described as 'almost unprecedented'. John Tkacik, who worked for the US state department in China for 20 years told The Sunday Telegraph: 'This was a very high official with extraordinary...

The British businessman whose murder has sparked political upheaval in China was poisoned after he threatened to expose a plan by a Chinese leader's wife to move money abroad, two sources with knowledge of the police investigation said. It was the first time a specific motive has been revealed for Neil Heywood's murder last November, a death which ended Chinese leader Bo Xilai's hopes of emerging as a top central figure and threw off balance the Communist Party's looming leadership succession.

New York Republican Rep. Peter King had harsh words for Sen. Ted Cruz on Tuesday, as his home state votes on presidential candidates. “In case anybody gets confused, I’m not endorsing Ted Cruz. I hate Ted Cruz, and I think I’ll take cyanide if he got the nomination,” King told MSNBC. King previously slammed Cruz for his criticism of “New York values,” calling for any New Yorkers who vote for him to have their head examined. “I think you’re going to see Donald Trump scoring a big victory tonight,” he said....

'I hate Ted Cruz' If Ted Cruz and Rand Paul had a congressional arch enemy, you can bet that it would be ruddy-faced New York Representative Pete King (R). King has been a consistent “wacko-bird hater” for a few years now, and (unlike others) his anger has only grown as time passes. We’re sure King was relieved when Rand Paul dropped out of the 2016 race, but as the field winnowed he was still faced with a pesky Ted Cruz problem. Just in case you were laboring under the delusion that he would fall in line should Cruz become the...

ALBANY -- The spiritual leader of an Albany mosque repeatedly called a phone number in Syria that an FBI report indicates had been used to gather terrorist intelligence for Osama bin Laden, according to classified documents unsealed late Tuesday in U.S. District Court. The FBI report, which was based on information from a confidential informant, was among several once-secret documents that federal authorities say raise questions about Yassin Aref's connections to terrorist organizations across the Middle East. Aref, 35, a Kurdish refugee who moved to Albany with his family in 1999, is in jail without bond while awaiting trial on...

The story behind the chemical explosion that rocked China’s Tianjin port last Wednesday continues to evolve amid fears that the public could be at risk from the hundreds of tonnes of sodium cyanide stored at the facility. More specifically, Monday’s heightened concerns were related to the possibility that rain could interact with the water soluble chemical, releasing deadly hydrogen cyanide gas into the air. "First rain expected today or tonight. Avoid ALL contact with skin," a text message purported to have originated at the US Embassy in Beijing read. The Embassy would later deny the message’s authenticity, perhaps at the...

Tianjin Blasts: Rains Could Turn Sodium Cyanide into Deadly Hydrogen Cyanide Gas By Mugdha Variyar | Updated: August 17, 2015 10:58 IST The woes for residents in China's Tianjin port city are far from over following the deadly explosion last week as the exposed sodium cyanide has the potential to release the lethal hydrogen cyanide if it rains in the region. Sodium cyanide, which is in a solid state in a powder form, releases the deadly hydrogen cyanide when it comes in contact with water, and environmental experts have raised an alarm of this happening as storms approaching the region...

Tianjin: Chemical warfare teams race to clear deadly sodium cyanide amid fears rain could generate new toxic gas cloud Tianjin: Chemical warfare teams race to clear deadly sodium cyanide amid fears rain could generate new toxic gas cloud Chinese soldiers including chemical warfare specialists are racing to clear hazardous materials at the Tianjin blast site ahead of forecast rain which could generate new clouds of toxic ... most of them fire fighters, state … ABC Online · 7 minutes ago

Tianjin blasts: police order mass evacuations amid further explosions Everyone within three kilometres of blast site in China urged to get out as death toll rises to 85 and firefighters battle blazes for a third day Fergus Ryan in Tianjin Saturday 15 August 2015 06.29 BST Armed police are evacuating everyone within 3km of the Tianjin blast site as seven to eight explosions raised fears of yet more casualties on Saturday, Beijing News has reported. Hundreds of evacuees housed at a temporary shelter in a nearby primary school for the homeless were also being moved away, Beijing News reported. Fires...

More than 200 nuclear and biochemical experts from the Chinese military have been sent to the port city of Tianjin after two huge explosions killed at least 50 people. A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency's Beijing environmental emergency response centre has also gone to the area.

An elite team of military personnel, who entered the warehouse in Tianjin to remove 700 tonnes of sodium cyanide, have found that the toxic chemical has leaked into underground drain water. Sodium cyanide has now also been detected in the sewage water, personnel from the Environment Protection Bureau told The Beijing News.

A letter sent to the White House has tested positive for cyanide. The Secret Service, to make certain, has sent the letter out again to confirm that it indeed has come in contact with the deadly poison. The letter was received Monday at the White House Mail Screening Center and chemical testing today showed that it contained cyanide. This is a breaking news story and we'll update as more information becomes available.

Ali Saleh Kahlah al Marri, an admitted former al Qaeda operative, has been released from a American jail and permitted to return home to Qatar. No formal statement has been released yet by either government, but it is being reported that al Marri's release was the result of a bilateral agreement between the Qatari and American governments. According to the US Bureau of Prisons, a prisoner with the same name and estimated age (ID number 12194-026) was freed on Friday. Additionally, a source from al Marri's family told the Qatari press he was recently released and arrived in Doha Saturday....

APNewsAlert MEXICO CITY Seventy drums of sodium cyanide found dumped in central Mexico, officials say.

TYLER - Three people face sentencing as early as next month for their involvement in the stockpiling of chemical weapons in East Texas, which some authorities believe may have been part of a domestic terrorism plot. William Krar, 62, of Noonday, pleaded guilty in November to one count of possessing a dangerous chemical weapon after investigators discovered the components needed to make lethal cyanide gas at a storage facility he rented with his common-law wife, Judith Bruey. Bruey, 54, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess illegal weapons. Edward Feltus, 56, of New Jersey, has pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting...

Cyanide killed hospital employee, official saysPITTSBURGH (AP) — A University of Pittsburgh Medical Center employee found dead at work earlier this month was killed by cyanide poisoning, but the medical examiner who made the determination Friday said it's too soon to know whether the death was a suicide, a homicide or an accident.

Poachers kill 300 Zimbabwe elephants with cyanide • Cyanide has been used to kill 300 elephants in Zimbabwe's biggest nature reserve - three times the original estimate - as new photos show the scale of the slaughter Poachers in Zimbabwe have killed more than 300 elephants and countless other safari animals by cyanide poisoning, The Telegraph has learned. The full extent of the devastation wreaked in Hwange, the country's largest national park, has been revealed by legitimate hunters who discovered what conservationists say is the worst single massacre in southern Africa for 25 years. Pictures taken by the hunters, which...

The supramolecule mimics the structure of haemoglobin (below) with iron(III) at it's centre © Wiley-VCHJapanese researchers have created a supramolecule that binds to cyanide ions in a similar way to the blood protein haemoglobin. This could pave the way for faster, more effective cyanide antidotes.The effects of cyanide poisoning are well known to fans of spy stories and murder mysteries. It rapidly shuts down respiration, and high doses can kill in a matter of minutes. Every year, industrial accidents result in several cases of cyanide poisoning, and there is growing concern that it could be used in a terrorist...

The two-step method to detect cyanide. (A) Adding a chemosensor to a blood sample, followed by extracting the purple chemosensor–cyano complex from the sample. (B) Washing the column with water The colour of cyanide poisoning is purple, according to researchers in Switzerland who have developed a method that enables them to quickly detect blood cyanide levels through a simple colour change. Cyanide poisoning as a result of smoke inhalation can have serious or fatal consequences unless an antidote is rapidly administered. Current methods for determining cyanide poisoning, including microdiffusion, microdistillation and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry detection, can take up to an...