Free Republic

A pair of Chinese diplomats, AWOL from their Los Angeles consulate, sped through a Los Alamos National Laboratory security checkpoint in February. A lab spokesman declined to speculate Monday on what the diplomats were trying to do, although a Washington newspaper quoted unnamed U.S. government officials as saying the incident may have been intended as a test of LANL's security system. In any case, the Chinese diplomats witnessed firsthand a speedy reaction by the laboratory's armed guard force. "We have assets that are deployed and will pursue and halt any vehicle that fails to stop at a checkpoint," LANL spokesman...

Russian rocket explosion may have been deliberate The head of Russia's space agency say an explosion which brought down a rocket just after launch may have been malicious. One soldier died and a multi-million pound scientific satellite was lost during the incident earlier this month. Yuri Koptev said the explosion was caused by an unidentified object in the fuel line. He said investigators are considering "malicious intent" among other possibilities. The Soyuz-U rocket blew up within seconds of liftoff October 15 from the northern Plesetsk launch pad. It was carrying a Foton-M satellite containing scientific experiments from several countries, including...

Monday, 22 April, 2002, 18:40 GMT 19:40 UKTunisia says Djerba blast was deliberate Tunisia has confirmed that an explosion which killed at least 16 people, including 11 German tourists, was deliberate. An official statement said the driver of a fuel lorry which blew up outside the Ghriba synagogue on the resort island of Djerba was responsible. It was "a premeditated crime perpetrated by a Tunisian, Nizar Ben Mohamed Nasr Nawar, with the aid of one of his relatives resident in Tunisia," the statement read. Nawar, a 24-year-old resident of the French city of Lyon, is believed to have died in...