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Something is definitely up on the OBL front. We have the article out of Britain, the reports of stepped-up action in Pakistan/Afghanistan, the Rummy visit and now this interesting article out of Australia

BIN LADEN 'HANDED TO US IF CAUGHT'

From correspondents in Islamabad, Pakistan

February 24, 2004

PAKISTAN today indicated it would hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States if he was caught on its soil.

The comment from Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri followed a British newspaper report that bin Laden, the head of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, was cornered in a remote part of northern Pakistan.

Kasuri said an amnesty offered by President Pervez Musharraf, where foreigners surrendering in Pakistan will not be handed over to any power, would not apply to bin Laden.

If "somebody had committed a crime against the United States that is separate issue", he said.

Bin Laden is wanted in the United States for a series of terrorist acts including the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Musharraf last week asked foreign militants fleeing from Afghanistan into Pakistan's autonomous tribal belt to "disarm and surrender", and offered assurances that they would not be handed over to any other country.

Pakistan, a key US ally in war against terrorism, has arrested more than 500 al-Qaeda suspects who fled Afghanistan in the wake of US led attacks which ousted the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001.

Kasuri said Pakistan in the past handed over some key al-Qaeda operatives to the United States after it provided evidence against them.

Britain's Sunday Express newspaper quoted a US intelligence source as saying bin Laden was "boxed in" in an area 16 kms square "north of the town of Khanozai and the city of Quetta".

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8775211%5E1702,00.html

POISONING, ZOO ANIMALS - BRAZIL (SAO PAULO)

What's killing the animals at the Sao Paulo zoo? 'Serial animal killer'
suspected

Police are investigating a spate of unusual cases of apparent death by
poisoning at the Sao Paulo Zoo, one of the world's largest, where 10
animals including an elephant have dropped dead in a 2-week period.

"We can't explain what's happening," said biologist Fatima Roberti, a
spokeswoman for the zoo. "We are letting the police sift through the clues."

What police know so far, according to Antonio Carlos Silveira of the Sao
Paulo Civil Police Laboratory, is that 3 chimpanzees, 3 tapirs, 3 camels,
and an elephant were found dead between 24 Jan and 6 Feb 2004. "These were
apparently unnatural deaths," said Silveira. "These animals just dropped
dead suddenly."

Police probed for motives among the zoo's 370 staff members and at first
speculated about a possible "serial animal killer" spreading poison in
animal cages after entering the zoo as an ordinary visitor. But the current
focus is on a more mundane cause -- rat poison. Silveira said police lab
specialists have taken samples of food found in the cages of the dead
animals for chemical tests. They are also in the process of conducting
detailed necropsies of all 10 of the dead animals.

"On Tuesday, the police experts found traces of 3 different rat poisons in
the cages of the dead animals," said Silveira. "We are now comparing those
traces to the viscera of the animals and to poisons used in 300 rat traps
spread all over the zoo."

The theory being tested, Silveira said, is that rats spread small amounts
of the poisons by defecating and urinating in the animal cages before dying
of poisoning themselves.

However, even confirmation of that theory could lead to a further mystery.
According to Roberti, in preliminary necropsies some of the dead animals
showed traces of a deadly poison called sodium fluoroacetate, a substance
used in powerful rat poisons that are banned in Brazil. If sodium
fluoroacetate were found to be the culprit, police would still have to find
out who placed the banned substance in the zoo's rat traps, Silveira said.

"In principle, it takes about 10 days to conclude all the tests we've
ordered, but we're speeding that up," Silveira said. Meanwhile, staff are
keeping a 24-hour watch over the zoo's 3200 animals in hopes of fingering
the "animal serial killer," if there is one.

[According to the Brazilian press of Sun 22 Feb 2004, there are at least 13
suspicious deaths, plus 8 porcupines, 4 of which were found dead on
Saturday. Since the end of January 2004 the following animals have died
over a period of days: 1 elephant, 1 orangutan, 3 chimpanzees (out of 4), 4
camels (leaving an orphan juvenile), 3 tapirs, and a European bison calf.
The rodenticides sodium fluoroacetate and dicumarin have been implicated;
they are used in 300 rat traps spread around the zoo. -

[Sodium fluoroacetate is also known as 1080. It is rapidly absorbed from
the gastrointestinal tract. The oral route is the most important in cases
of poisoning. Dust formulations are easily absorbed by inhalation, which is
not usual in poisoning cases. 1080 is not readily absorbed through intact
skin, but it also may be absorbed in the case of cuts or dermatitis.

1080 blocks the Krebs cycle by the formation of fluorocitric acid, which
inhibits aconitase and results in the accumulation of citric acid. The
fluorocitric acid is itself highly toxic, and therefore sodium
fluoroacetate can cause secondary poisoning, i.e., poisoning in an organism
which has consumed a part of an organism already poisoned. Although it can
be excreted through the urine as fluorocitrate salts, this excretion is not
enough to save the individual. 1080 produces convulsions, involuntary
urination, and vomiting. In animals capable of vomiting the stomach is
quite empty and testing for 1080 must be done on the vomited stomach
contents. There is no treatment for 1080 poisoning. Euthanasia is
recommended as the kindest treatment. The convulsions, lack of ability to
move air, the extreme muscle rigidity, are all painful.

If this is a serial killer, let us hope the perpetrator is quickly caught.