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Ukraine to set up register with U.S. funds to track radioactive material
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/041104/w110447.html

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukraine will set up a central register to track radioactive materials throughout the country in a U.S.-funded effort to prevent the materials from getting into the hands of terrorists, officials said Thursday.

A memorandum signed last week by Ukrainian and U.S. officials proposes $250,000 US in U.S. government funding to develop the Ukrainian State Register for Radiation Sources and train personnel.

The project should help Ukraine prevent terrorists from acquiring material for a so-called "dirty bomb," said Tetyana Kutuzova, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Nuclear Regulatory Committee.

"Our border service each year prevents a number of people who are attempting to cross the border with radiation sources that could be used for a dirty bomb," Kutuzova said.

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited a vast number of nuclear radiation sources - including substances intended for medical or other technical purposes and spent nuclear fuel. Most of the materials are unregistered.

The setting up of a central register will "play a critical role in consolidating and securing radiological sources," said Sheila Gwaltney, deputy chief of U.S. mission to Ukraine, in a statement.

Ukraine has no weapons grade nuclear material since its independence, having transferred some 1,300 nuclear warheads to Russia for decommissioning. Ukraine's last missile silo was destroyed two years ago. The country also runs five nuclear power plants, including now-defunct Chornobyl, site of the world's largest nuclear incident in 1986.

Earlier this year, Ukrainian authorities arrested several people for allegedly trying to purchase cesium-137, a highly radioactive material seen as a likely ingredient in a "dirty bomb." Earlier this year, they arrested a man trying to take half a kilogram of uranium into neighbouring Hungary.

Although the government has the State Register for Radiation Sources, the nationwide registration of radioactive materials became mandatory only this year.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, concerns have grown that terrorists might try to acquire material for a dirty bomb - a device that uses conventional explosives to scatter low-level radioactive material over wide areas. Instead of using highly enriched uranium or plutonium - which are kept under tight security and difficult to obtain - the radioactive components are usually lower-grade isotopes, such as those used in medicine or research.

The International Atomic Energy Agency - the UN nuclear watchdog - estimates as many as 110 countries do not have adequate controls over radioactive devices that could be used to build a dirty bomb.

Suspected Assassin May Have Links to Al-Qaida
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3715556

An Islamic radical suspected of shooting and slitting the throat of renowned Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh has been quizzed by police who suspect he has ties with al-Qaida.

The 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan suspect, identified only as Mohammed B, was arrested minutes after Van Gogh’s murder in an Amsterdam street. The suspect had a pistol in his pocket and was shot in the leg by police during a chase through a park.

Van Gogh had received death threats after the release of his latest film Submission which criticised the treatment of women in Islam.

Eight other suspects aged 19-27, believed to be Islamic fundamentalists plotting a terrorist attack, remain in custody, said prosecution spokeswoman Dop Kruimel.

The main suspected has a record of violent offences, and moved in a circle of radical Islamic fundamentalists, police said.

Kruimel said evidence retrieved from the crime scene and raids of five Amsterdam homes supported accusations of fundamentalism.

Van Gogh was shot several times with a pistol at close range, his throat was slit, and a five-page note was jammed to his chest with a second knife.

Dutch media reported it was written in Arabic and was a call for Jihad against non-Muslims. The attacker also reportedly had a testament in his pocket, indicating he anticipated being killed in the attack.

Investigations have not ruled out the possibility that Mohammed B has links to the Salafia Jihadia group, held responsible for a Casablanca bombing, or al-Qaida, she said.