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A massive explosion has ripped through a region in China. (snip) The explosion was seen and heard in the industrial zone of Lijin, Dongying City of Shandong, just before 11.30pm local time.

VANITY POST: I have been trying recently to compile any articles of Arabs within the United States or Europe taking pictures of Nuclear Plants, Chemical Plants, large buildings.

NBC reporter Dana Lewis reporting live video from newly discovered PLO terrorist training camp that was discovered in Iraq. It has obstacle course, shooting range, pretty much looks like one of the familiar AlQaeda terrorist training camps. Dana Lewis also reports that this camp is close to the infamous pesticide site and that there are some of the same French pesticide drums (not the others suspected of containing the CW "Cocktail" mixture) at the PLO camp along with gas masks and chemical suits. They're not sure what to make of it and the officer in charge was hesitant to say...

FREEPORT — Port officials are looking into reports that al-Qaeda scouts may have sojourned into Freeport before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A story in the May 26 issue of Newsweek reported that in March 2001, the scouts came to Texas to “case a major port in Freeport, Texas,” as well as look at President Bush’s ranch in Crawford. The information came from the FBI, according to the story. “We’re seeing what that might mean,” said Pete Reixach, executive director of Port Freeport. “We’re trying to qualify the language in this article with the FBI and Homeland Security offices.”...

FREEPORT -- A security guard at a BASF Corp. chemical plant was shot in the shoulder after he approached a suspicious truck and talked to a man who said he had been taking pictures, authorities said. The guard's name was not released, but Freeport police said he was doing well at a Brazosport hospital following the Friday night shooting. The guard told police the gunman had bushy hair and a mustache and was was driving a white pickup with tinted windows and a black stripe. BASF spokeswoman Sharon Rogers said there was no indication the shooting was linked to terrorism....

A BASF security guard shot in the shoulder Friday night called a televised news conference Monday to deny the wound was self-inflicted. Robbie House, 43, of Angleton, appeared on television Monday saying FBI agents accused him of shooting himself. House, who was released from Brazosport Memorial Hospital on Monday, could not be reached for comment. Charles Johnson, the Houston attorney representing House, did not return calls seeking comment Monday night. FBI spokesman Bob Dogium said the agency has to explore every avenue. “God bless him, he can say whatever he wants to say,” Dogium said. “Is that what’s going on...

WASHINGTON – While FBI officials were dismissing terrorism in the shooting of a security guard at a chemical plant in Texas just hours after they were summoned to investigate, they weren't nearly so skeptical about the possibility last year. Robbie House, an unarmed security guard at the BASF plant in Freeport says he was shot by a Middle Eastern gunman after confronting him near an ammonia storage facility last week. Now House says the FBI doesn't believe his story and suggests he shot himself. Off the record, some law enforcement officials say they believe House's story and think he may...

HOMELAND INSECURITYTexas plant guard sticks to storyMan shot near port facility says FBI doesn't believe him Posted: January 28, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com The guard shot at a chemical plant near a Texas port is sticking to his story about a Mideast gunman, but he says the FBI doesn't believe him. The shooting in Freeport at a BASF ammonia depot occurred late Friday night in a muddy lot outside the plant. Robert House was working security when he said he noticed a suspect in a white pickup truck taking pictures of the facility's lights. House says when he confronted the...

FREEPORT — Police were looking for a man Friday night who they said shot a BASF security guard at the perimeter of the plant near FM 1495 and Highway 36. Freeport Police Chief Henrietta Gonzalez said the guard approached a suspicious truck about 9:20 p.m. and the man inside said he had been taking pictures. He then shot the guard in the shoulder area, Gonzalez said. “He was shot at point-blank range,” said Detective Sgt. Sue Dietrich. “You could see the powder burns.” Police did not release the guard’s name, but said he was doing well at Brazosport Memorial...

Chemical plants in New Jersey are specifically mentioned as potential terrorist targets in information obtained by intelligence agencies that was recently distributed to authorities here, officials said Wednesday.The intelligence mentions the chemical industry and New Jersey, but does not include known references to specific production facilities or geographic locations, two officials familiar with the intelligence reports said.State Attorney General Peter Harvey confirmed Wednesday that both state and local law enforcement agencies had been notified about the potential threat in areas where chemical production facilities are located."There are some enhanced security measures with regards to law enforcement at chemical plants and...

<p>Environmental extremists are exploiting the Sept. 11 attacks in their latest attempt to destroy the chemical industry. Sen. John Corzine (search), D-N.J., is aiding and abetting the eco-scoundrels under the guise of improving homeland security.</p> <p>The battleground is the debate over the security of chemical facilities, a controversy stoked by the Sept. 11 attacks. The Environmental Protection Agency (search) claims there are 123 chemical facilities (manufacturers, users and storage sites) where terrorist attacks could kill, in worst-case scenarios, more than 1 million people at each site. Death tolls of up to 100,000 are alleged for another 700 facilities.</p>

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) - A cloud of ammonia leaked from a chemical plant early Sunday, forcing tourists to evacuate eight hotels along the Gulf Coast. Authorities said it appeared someone had tried to steal the chemical, possibly to make illegal drugs. Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport was also shut down for seven hours, and several churches canceled or postponed Sunday services after police advised residents to stay indoors. A couple of emergency workers had to be treated but no other injuries were reported, police Sgt. Joseph Ashmore said. Anhydrous ammonia, used to make fertilizer, is highly explosive. Exposure irritates the skin and...

What did the FBI know of possible terrorist attacks before September 11? The CIA? The White House? President Bush's dog Spot? The media and Congress are demanding answers, and not without reason if the purpose is to try to ensure terrible mistakes aren't repeated.But what if you knew that for years now the same "J'accusers" have jammed their fingers in their ears to keep out the pleas from the FBI, the Justice Department, and other law enforcement-agencies that we must not provide what they've called "terrorist roadmaps" for the sabotage of chemical plants to any Tom, Timothy, or Osama...

<p>A month-long probe by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review into chemical plant security in Baltimore, Chicago and Houston found safeguards so lax that a potential terrorist can easily reach massive tanks of toxins that endanger millions of residents.</p> <p>The Trib's latest foray into 30 chemical factories, shippers and warehouses in three of America's largest cities buttresses a recent investigation into western Pennsylvania's unguarded toxic facilities: Seven months after the bloodiest terrorist attack in U.S. history, an intruder still has unfettered access to sensitive control rooms, train derailing levers, pipelines, wharves, tanker trucks and vats holding some of the deadliest poisons ever invented.</p>