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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Experts said on Saturday they were worried by a leaked report that describes an outbreak of smallpox in the Soviet Union -- one they say may point to the testing of a smallpox biological weapon.Seven people became ill in the 1971 outbreak and three died of what appeared to be the more fatal, and more rare, hemorrhagic form of the infection, said Dr. Alan Zelicoff of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, one of the authors of the report."Someone has successfully disseminated smallpox as an aerosol," Zelicoff said in an interview."It has been talked about and it...

<p>ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) -- Pakistan's president traded angry accusations with his Indian counterpart Tuesday and then said having atomic weapons implies they might be used -- stoking fears the conflict over Kashmir will explode into full-scale war.</p> <p>Efforts by Russia, China and other nations failed to get Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to hold face-to-face talks Tuesday.</p>

The circle of peace activists had just lit their candles when the yelling started. “Why do you want peace?” one man screamed, approaching the group as they held hands around a guitarist. “You are not good Indians. We should go to war and teach Pakistan a lesson.” While foreigners are packing up and leaving India, scared off by the prospect of a nuclear war, Indian peace campaigners are trying to convince their fellow citizens that a danger really exists. Evening revellers watched in bemusement and, in some cases, anger as the activists held banners and passed out anti-nuclear leaflets in...

India and Pakistan toned down the rhetoric yesterday in the bitter Kashmir dispute that has fuelled international fears of the world's first nuclear war.But the Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, continued to reject proposals for a direct meeting with the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, to defuse the crisis, despite the presence of both leaders at a regional summit in central Asia.Mr Vajpayee ruled out face- to-face talks with General Musharraf until India obtained proof that Pakistan had stopped incursions into the Indian-controlled portion of the disputed territory of Kashmir.The two leaders have been under international pressure to back away...

Saudi pressure on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, including a personal message from Crown Prince Abdullah, to end the terror strikes of Palestinian suicide bombers in order to bring about a cease-fire, which will then lead to an international conference on the Saudi-Arab peace proposal, has failed. The outcome is that the Saudis cannot uphold their part of the agreement reached by Abdullah and U.S. President George W. Bush. It is also clear to the Saudis that the movement that Arafat heads, Fatah, and its military wing, are directly linked to the terrorism. In other words, Arafat is involved. Moreover,...

<p>But there are two problems with that model. When guns were freely available, England had an astonishingly low level of violent crime. A government study for the years 1890-1892, for example, found only three handgun homicides, an average of one a year, in a population of 30 million. In 1904 there were only four armed robberies in London, then the largest city in the world. One century and many gun laws later, the British Broadcasting Corp. reports that England's firearms restrictions and 1997 ban on handguns ''have had little impact in the criminal underworld.'' Guns are virtually outlawed, and, as the old slogan predicted, only outlaws have guns. And what is worse, they are increasingly ready to use them.</p>

India rejected calls to engage Pakistan in talks over Kashmir, as Islamabad announced the recall of troops on foreign duty and Britain warned confrontation between the bitter rivals could escalate into nuclear war.Fears of all-out warfare, meanwhile, wiped another 1.9 percent off the Bombay Stock Exchange, while Pakistan's main bourse remained shut Thursday to avert further heavy losses posted over the past four days.On the frontlines, fierce artillery battles between Indian and Pakistani soldiers again raged in Kashmir, leaving at least another five people dead and several wounded on both sides.Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told a press conference...

Third of three partsThe U.S and Western European media covered the Jenin "Massacre That Wasn't" in radically different ways over the past month. The American media came out way on top and the European media, especially state-run broadcasting outlets, came out by far the losers. This was not an anticipated outcome on either side of the Atlantic. It was, in fact, a further humiliation for Western European governments and left-leaning media leaders. They were already reeling from the humiliations of seeing a virtual fascist make the last two in France's presidential election and the assassination of radical political leader Pim...

Second of three partsMost of the major press and broadcasting outlets in Western Europe uncritically gobbled up the Jenin Massacre Myth with self-indulgent abandon. Their record contrasted particularly unfavorably -- and even, it might be argued, contemptibly -- with the remarkable balance and restraint the U.S. broadcast and print media showed after Sept. 11. The mega-terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center towers and mauled the Pentagon killed around 3,000 Americans in New York City and Washington. Yet U.S. media coverage and reaction was remarkable for its balance and restraint. There was no effort to scapegoat the Muslim population...

First of three partsThe U.S. and Western European media coverage of the Battle of Jenin last month raises troubling and far-reaching questions about the reliability of the modern mass media and press in conflict situations. And the answers to them are both complex and surprising. After the Israeli Army attacked the West Bank Palestinian city of Jenin on April 2, the Western European media fell for the "Massacre Myth" in Jenin in a big way. Even though the final Palestinian Authority figure acknowledged only 56 dead in Jenin, media coverage in major Western European nations gave credence to early claims...

Nothing is more basic than Basic Combat Training. Basic to the ways of war. Basic to national security. Basic to the very survival of the United States. So how come Fort Jackson, the single largest producer of Basic grunts, male and female, is under the command of a general who piled up more friendly fire casualties than anyone else in Desert Storm?The Victory Tower looms up like a gallows, its timbers and planks cutting off the sun. It's a huge thing, three stories high, girdled with ropes and rope bridges, and fitted out with ladders. Next to it rises an...

Senator Hillary Clinton has gained about 30 pounds since being in office. President Clinton says he doesn’t mind - because this way he can hear her coming. - Conan, May 21 Do you have Star-Wars fever? It’s one of those things where you try to hold back then when it gets here you can’t help yourself. Here’s an example, President Clinton has Star-Wars fever, he was up at his house in Chappaqua and was using the force on an intern. - Letterman, May 21 Democrats are upset with the Republicans for selling a photo of President Bush on Sept. 11...

<p>WASHINGTON  — It comes in fragments of conversations, snippets of technical data, whispers from foreign agents, and boasts of audacious schemes. Most of it means nothing. Some of it means everything.</p> <p>In the summer of 2001, the river of information flowing into Washington about possible security threats was cresting.</p>

Despite flimsy evidence British papers jumped the gun to apportion blame when a West Bank refugee camp was attacked, says Sharon Sadeh. As a result, the reputation of the press has been damaged. Reporting from a battlefield has always been a risky, uncertain and frustrating business, all the more so when the dominant military forces are hostile and often non-cooperative. And yet, skimming through the pages of the British and US mainstream papers over the past month might leave even the least inquisitive reader baffled: how couldreputable correspondents produce such different accounts of the Israeli assault on the refugee camp...

When I write a screenplay, I start out with an agenda. I decide who my hero is first and who is the villain. Then I fashion scenes to build my dramatic case and make it believable. That is, I believe, exactly what occurred with regard to at least two reporters, Sheila MacVicar of CNN and Tom Miller of the Los Angeles Times, on Tuesday, April 16 in the Jenin refugee camp. I was there. I saw everything they saw, I heard everything they heard, I smelled everything they did not smell. And the truth is there was no smell of...

<p>A Fatah leaflet distributed in Jenin over the week accused Arafat's economic advisor Muhamed Rashid and Gaza Preventative Security Force boss Muhamed Dahlan of conspiring with Israel to replace Arafat and cancel the UN fact-finding. Fatah leadership in Jenin called on Arafat to reign [sic] in his aides.</p>

US National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice said today that the "current direction of the Palestinians" does not allow for the establishment of a Palestinian state." Speaking to television interviewers, she specified that the problem lies with Yasser Arafat and his leadership. Amidst increasing calls even within the PA for changes and improvements, PA Cabinet members Nabil Amar submitted his resignation yesterday. Amar explained that Arafat had rejected his demand for "deep reforms" in the Cabinet and the PA's security organs.

<p>In Jenin, where the British press, United Nations representatives and "human rights" groups have been throwing around charges of a massacre, the Israeli Defense Forces say "the Palestinians have begun moving bodies buried in the cemetery next to the government hospital prior to operation 'Defensive Shield' into a 'mass grave' of casualties of the operation--facing the old cemetery." The IDF charges the Palestinians with other "false manipulations" to make the carnage seem worse than it was. Hmm, maybe James Randi should be on the U.N. investigating team.</p>

<p>AMBON, Indonesia--For violent religious conflict--especially between Muslims and non-Muslims--the world's attention is directed at the Mideast and the threats emanating from al Qaeda.</p> <p>But this archipelago nation has its own share of bloody discord, and like other countries facing such trouble it is attempting its version of a peace process, with mixed results so far.</p>

Jenin refugee camp, West Bank --- High atop a mountain of rubble, in the twisted metal and concrete ruins of a Palestinian neighborhood, three flags flutter defiantly. The black flag represents the militant group Islamic Jihad. The green flag is that of the fellow Islamic group Hamas. The third banner proclaims, in Arabic "God is great." The symbolism is powerful. This is a Palestinian ground zero after Israel's monthlong military push through Palestinian-controlled territory in the West Bank. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers and an unknown but larger number of Palestinians were killed last month in a 10-day siege of the camp....