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Katsuya Takahashi, a former Aum Supreme Truth cult member sought over the March 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway system, was arrested Friday in Tokyo after 17 years on the run.... The arrest of the last Aum member on a special wanted list marks a new chapter in the investigation of a series of crimes allegedly committed by the cult that shocked and horrified the nation, including sarin gas attacks in Tokyo and Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, and the sending of a parcel bomb addressed to the then Tokyo governor.

SNIPPET: "Fourteen years ago today Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas on the Tokyo subway." SNIPPET: "A final note - Aum Shinrikyo operatives, on the order of the cult's leader, underwent flight training in Florida. There is no evidence that they made any attempts to use this training. It is just an odd, disturbing coincidence."

Recent reports outlining what Time magazine has called the "untold story" of a cancelled al Qaeda plot against the New York subway system have excited considerable media hype and public consternation. The account is part of Ron Suskind's new book, The One Percent Doctrine, that was excerpted in the June 26 edition of Time. According to Suskind, al Qaeda developed a "revolutionary new WMD device" that would generate cyanide gas, and these weapons -- which he refers to as "mubtakkar" devices -- were to have been planted on subways by operatives who were in place and preparing to act in...

TOKYO — Like good daughters anywhere, Mayumi and Kaori Asahara worry about their father's declining health. They are alarmed that he looks so thin and won't see a doctor. They fret that he refuses to wear the new clothes they gave him to replace his fraying old ones. But they desperately need something back from their father too. They are seeking an explanation of why the man who taught them to cherish life, even that of an ant, could be a cult leader responsible for Japan's worst terrorist attack. "I need to ask my father directly what happened," said Kaori...

Odd News From the Russian Front I was glancing through Russian news sites today, and came across some odd stories. The oddest of all came from ---------------------------- Pocatello, Idaho : Meteorologist Scott Stevens , who is Weather Anchor for NBC News Channel 6 in Idaho, claims Japanese Yakuza gangsters used KGB-invented electromagnetic storm generators , broadcasting signals from ground-based microwave transmitters to create Hurricane Katrina, and to steer it into the Louisiana/Mississippi Gulf region. But-but----WHY ? It seems the Yakuza wanted to make a fortune in the Commodities Market, AND, while they were at it, pay back the United States...

AUM founder Asahara found guilty of all 13 charges TOKYO, Feb. 27, Kyodo - (EDS: UPDATING WITH INCLUSION OF 1995 SARIN GAS ATTACK, LAWYERS' STATEMENT) Shoko Asahara, the founder of the AUM Shinrikyo cult, is guilty of all 13 charges against him, including the 1995 sarin gassing on the Tokyo subway system, the Tokyo District Court ruled Friday. The guilty verdicts handed down against the 48-year-old guru boost the likelihood of a death penalty since any one of the cases carries a death penalty. Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, faced charges in 13 criminal cases that resulted...

Feb. 22, 2004 | TOKYO (AP) -- As guru of a doomsday cult, Shoko Asahara looked and sounded the part. Almost blind, his black beard flowing onto his chest, he claimed he could levitate, see into people's past lives and foretell the apocalypse. On Friday, a Japanese court will decide whether he also commanded his disciples to murder, most terrifyingly in the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway that killed 12 people, sickened thousands and alerted the world to the threat of terrorism by mass slaughter. Asahara faces the gallows if convicted of masterminding the subway deaths...

Blind AmbitionFrom the time he was a small child, Chizuo Matsumoto wanted only one thing, to be rich. It was quite an ambition considering his circumstances.Born in Kyushu, southern Japan in 1955, he was the fourth son of a poor weaver, who carved out a meager existence making Tatami, the closely-woven straw mats, traditionally used as flooring in Japanese homes.Ironically, the family was too poor to afford such luxuries, living as they did in a rough shack with earthen floors.Poverty wasn’t the only challenge the young Chizuo faced. Smitten at birth with infantile glaucoma, he was blind in his left...

Former AUM Shinrikyo linchpin Tomomasa Nakagawa indicted on 11 charges, including those related to the deadly sarin gassing on the Tokyo subway system and the murder of a lawyer’s family, was sentenced to death on Wednesday.Nakagawa was a medical school graduate and served as doctor to AUM Shinrikyo guru Shoko Asahara when he committed the murderous crimes upon the orders of the cult’s boss.Nakagawa had initially admitted to the 11 crimes but later denied most of the allegations, including the Tokyo gassing in March 1995 and another lethal attack using sarin gas in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture in June 1994.But the...

Feb 15, 2004 Japanese Authorities Raid Doomsday Cult Facilities Ahead of Guru's Verdict By Mari Yamaguchi/ Associated Press Writer TOKYO (AP) - Japanese agents raided key facilities of a doomsday cult Monday, searching for evidence of a terror plot before a verdict in the trial of the group's guru for a 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subways. About 200 investigators poured into the Tokyo headquarters and 10 other centers of the Aum Shinrikyo cult in the latest raid on the group, which now calls itself Aleph. Investigators did not immediately detain any suspects Monday. The raids come ahead...

Snip -------------------------------------- http://www.pnl.gov/chembio/emerge.htm In addition, naturally occurring outbreaks of disease can provide ammunition for use by biological weapons terrorists. For example, 40 members of the Aum cult are known to have traveled to Zaire during the most recent outbreak of Ebola. Although scientifically problematic, the successful culture of the hemorrhagic Ebola virus would constitute a formidable weapon in the hands of a group with a demonstrated willingness to use it. Snip -------------------------------------- Did Aum ever consider biological terrorism? Yes. According to the testimony of several cult members convicted in the 1995 attack, Aum had also experimented with biological warfare,...