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Here is some more information posted at It's Happening today:

Friday, February 20, 2004
Nine terror cells threaten flights at Ben-Gurion

Nine terror cells threaten flights at Ben-Gurion
Security sources reveal: Some attempts were prevented in early stages,
others shortly before implementation.
Ben Kaspit Maariv 20 February 2004
maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=3296
Palestinian terrorist organizations have been making great efforts to attack
flights at Ben Gurion Airport. To date, the Israeli security services have
prevented nine attempts to down flights taking-off or landing at the
airport.

These attempts are behind Israel's insistence on building an extension of
the counter-terrorism barrier that is designed to protect the airport from
the east and prevent shoulder-fired missiles or other weapons from being
aimed at flights, similar to the Al Qaeda attempt to down an Arkia flight in
Kenya.

Security officials predict that a successful attack or even an attempt that
reaches the final stages would have a devastating affect on the Israeli
economy by paralyzing civil aviation and halting incoming tourism. Their
information indicates that some Palestinian organizations, especially the
Palestinian Authority, are also aware of this. Therefore, they are also
interested in preventing an attack on civil aviation for fear that if would
lead to total escalation of tensions in the region.

Israel explained to the American delegation, which came to inspect security
at Ben-Gurion, that the threats on flights come mostly from the Hezbollah
and Iranian-influenced opposition groups. Israel and the United States
disagree about the need for extending the barrier near the airport. Israel
claims that there is a real risk to civil aviation while the Americans
disagree and consider the risk to be minimal. A senior IDF officer who
accompanied the delegation discounted the American calculation by explaining
that they consider the risk to a specific flight while Israel calculated the
overall risk to all flights.

http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=19864

The "just peachy' category:

EBOLA VIRUS, LABORATORY ACCIDENT - USA (MARYLAND)

Ebola Virus Laboratory Accident; Patient Symptom-free

A civilian scientist at Fort Detrick remained free of Ebola symptoms on Thu
18 Feb 2004, 8 days after accidentally grazing her hand with a needle while
injecting mice infected with a weakened form of the deadly virus, the Army
said. The unidentified researcher is in a biosafety containment care suite
known as "the slammer" that was last used for patient care in 1985,
spokeswoman Caree Vander Linden said. The 2-bed suite, rated BSL-4, the
highest biosafety level, is at the U.S. Army Institute of Infectious
Diseases at Fort Detrick, about 45 miles northwest of Washington DC. Based
on preliminary lab tests, officials said they believe the risk of Ebola
infection is low.

Ebola hemorrhagic fever has an incubation period ranging from 2 days to 21
days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is a
severe, often-fatal disease in humans and nonhuman primates that has
appeared sporadically since its initial recognition in 1976.

The patient was doing postdoctoral virology work at USAMRIID, where she has
worked as a National Research Council fellow since June 2002, Vander Linden
said. She grazed her hand on 11 Feb 2004 while studying potential
treatments for Ebola, the Army said. The mice she was treating were
infected 2 days earlier with a low dose of the weakened virus, the Army
said. Vander Linden said the woman slept at home the night of the accident
and entered the suite on 12 Feb 2004 for a stay of up to 30 days. "We
concluded on the evening this occurred that she needed some time to get her
personal things together," she said. "Due to the incubation period, there
was no risk to the community."

The suite is called the slammer because the metal door to a shower that
must be used before leaving the area makes a loud noise when it's closed,
Vander Linden said. She said the woman wears scrubs inside the chamber and
is tended by nurses wearing gowns, gloves, surgical masks, and face
shields. Her food goes in on trays, Vander Linden said. The containment
consists of 2 hospital-like rooms each 180 square feet and a
300-square-foot treatment room. The air is exchanged up to 15 times an hour
and is filtered coming in and going out, leaving it cleaner than when it
entered, Fort Detrick spokesman Charles Dasey said. Vander Linden said the
suite was last used for patient care in 1985, for observation of a lab
worker after a possible finger puncture while working with the virus that
causes Argentine hemorrhagic fever. No illness resulted.

The biggest USA Ebola exposure incident occurred at a primate facility in
Reston, Virginia, in 1989. 4 people were exposed to the virus but did not
get sick. [However, this was a different strain that is not as virulent as
the African strain being used for vaccine development. - Mod.JW]

Ebola's onset is abrupt and characterized by fever, headache, joint and
muscle aches, sore throat, and weakness, followed by diarrhea, vomiting,
and stomach pain. A rash, red eyes, hiccups, and internal and external
bleeding may be seen in some patients, according to the CDC.

[Byline: David Dishneau]
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/health/wire/sns-ap-ebola

AVIAN INFLUENZA, H7 SEROTYPE, POULTRY - CANADA (BRITISH COLUMBIA)

Source: Canadian Press [edited]

An outbreak of avian influenza has been discovered in British Columbia,
Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew confirmed Thursday. The outbreak, on an
undisclosed chicken farm on the B.C.'s Lower Mainland, has been caused by an
H7 influenza subtype, which is not the form of avian influenza ravaging
poultry stocks in Asia. "It's isolated at this time. There's no link with
human health at this moment," Pettigrew said.

H7 avian influenza is the form of the virus that was discovered in poultry
flocks in Delaware and live bird markets in New Jersey, USA, last week. The
subtype sweeping through Asia is a high-pathogenicity H5N1 virus. [The
strains in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are not quite the same strain,
although both are considered to be low-pathogenicity. - Mod.TG]

It is not currently known whether the strain in the British Columbia
outbreak is of low or high pathogenicity. High-pathogenicity influenza
viruses kill virtually all chickens they infect.

"If it's low-pathogenicity, this happens quite often in chicken flocks,"
said influenza expert Dr. Danuta Skowronski of the British Columbia Centre
for Disease Control. "The question is, is it the low-pathogenicity [virus]
as in the USA, or could it be a high-pathogenicity [strain] such as was
found in the Netherlands [in 2003]? That information is still pending. But
it's certainly not H5N1, which was my greatest concern."

An Agriculture Canada official said virus samples are currently being
tested, and full subtype information will be available Fri 20 Feb 2004.

GASTROINTESTINAL ILLNESS - RUSSIA (VLADIVOSTOK): REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

27 students with unknown intestinal infection hospitalized

27 students from the Vladivostok University of Economy and Service were hospitalized. According to The Deputy Chief of the Public Health Administration of Vladivostok, Alla Lahtikova, students were hospitalized because of an {{{unknown infection.}}}

According to physicians, the students are in serious condition. Laboratory tests are being carried out, and the results of the tests will be ready in 3-5 days. The university is currently under quarantine until 24 Feb 2004, and officials of the State Epidemiological Surveillance Center will carry out an investigation.

MUMPS - UK (SCOTLAND)

Scotland: Alarming Rise in Mumps Among Teenagers in Glasgow

The city of Glasgow is at the centre of an alarming rise in mumps
among teenagers. Confirmed cases of the disease in Scotland have
soared to 49 since 1 Dec 2003 -- almost double the tally of 26 cases
for the rest of 2003. And 71 percent of these cases were in Glasgow.

A report by the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental
Health (SCIEH) said 35 of the 49 cases were within the Greater
Glasgow NHS board area, with others in areas adjacent to Greater
Glasgow. The potentially-fatal disease can cause meningitis,
inflammation of the brain, and infertility in boys.

Dr Claire Bramley of the SCIEH said: "Like the rest of the UK, we are
seeing cases of mumps in older teenagers and young adults [90 percent
of the cases were in the 16-24 year age group - Mod.CP]. The virus
has come into circulation and is infecting those who have not been
vaccinated. You could describe it as an outbreak -- certainly in
Glasgow. We encourage as many people as possible to take their
children for vaccination."

Experts said there had been outbreaks elsewhere in the UK, and there
was no specific reason why it had spread to Scotland. Dr Syed Ahmed,
consultant in public health at Greater Glasgow Health Board, said the
latest cases were a worrying development. He said: "This is very much
higher than normal, as we usually have only one or 2 confirmed cases
in a year."

From Freeper friend LindaSOG {{Canteen}}

check your PBS listings:

Face to Face

Last night I taped a television show called Face to Face for broadcast Sunday morning (or maybe the following Sunday, they sometimes move shows around in response to events). This is a local show, produced by our friend Roger Conant, which appears on Channel 2, the public TV station in the Twin Cities, at 10:30 on Sunday morning.

There are two permanent hosts, one liberal and one conservative, and two guests, also one liberal and one conservative. Buck Humphrey, who is involved in the Kerry campaign in Minnesota, was the liberal guest last night. Our topic was the credibility of politicians. The focus was mostly on President Bush, but I got in a few shots at Kerry also.

I think the show will be pretty good, although, in these half-hour formats, there's a limit to how much you can do.

{{{ I tried to work in two or three facts that many people don't know--like the cyanide block found in the al Qaeda safe house in Baghdad}}} and President Bush's 1972 Air National Guard evaluation. If you're in the Twin Cities, and aren't in church at 10:30 on Sunday, it's probably worth checking out.

John H. Hinderaker

Mr. Hindraker is a lawyer with a Minneapolis law firm. For the past ten years Mr. Hinderaker has written with Institute fellow Scott Johnson on public policy issues including income inequality, income taxes, campaign finance reform, affirmative action, welfare reform, and race in the criminal justice system. Their articles have appeared in National Review, The American Enterprise, American Experiment Quarterly, and newspapers from Florida to California.

Mr. Hinderaker lives with his family in Apple Valley, Minnesota.

Saddam's Ambassador to al Qaeda
The Weekly Standard ^ | March 1, 2004 | Jonathan Schanzer
Posted on 02/20/2004 11:01:42 PM CST by RWR8189

An Iraqi prisoner details Saddam's links to Osama bin Laden's terror network.

A RECENTLY INTERCEPTED MESSAGE from Iraq-based terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi asking the al Qaeda leadership for reinforcements reignited the debate over al Qaeda ties with Saddam Hussein's fallen Baath regime. William Safire of the New York Times called the message a "smoking gun," while the University of Michigan's Juan Cole says that Safire "offers not even one document to prove" the Saddam-al Qaeda nexus. What you are about to read bears directly on that debate. It is based on a recent interview with Abdul Rahman al-Shamari, who served in Saddam's secret police, the Mukhabarat, from 1997 to 2002, and is currently sitting in a Kurdish prison. Al-Shamari says that he worked for a man who was Saddam's envoy to al Qaeda.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1082512/posts