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Three senior figures in the Palestinian administration were among at least 56 people killed in suicide bomb attacks on three luxury hotels in Jordan, it was confirmed today. Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the terror group led by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, posted a statement on a website claiming responsibility for the three synchronised blasts which ripped through the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn in Amman, the capital of Jordan. Two suicide bombers, with explosives strapped to their bodies, struck at the Radisson and Grand Hyatt. The third attack was apparently a car bomb. Several arrests have been made this morning...

Afghanistan urgently needs to legalise its massive opium crop, which supplies most of the world's heroin, to avoid becoming a narco-state and to fund reconstruction, a think-tank said here. The recommendations were part of a study released by The Senlis Council at a conference in the Kabul to push for the destitute nation to legalise opium production and channel the crop into the manufacture of legal painkillers. Afghanistan produces about 87 percent of the world's supply of opium.The council, a Paris-based body of politicians, experts and academics, said the current policy of trying to eradicate the fields of poppies that...

GOA Denounces Gun Confiscations In New Orleans For Immediate Release September 9, 2005 Contact: Ellie McDaniel 703-321-8585 "Simply outrageous!" That was the reaction from Erich Pratt, Director of Communications for Gun Owners of America, after learning that the city of New Orleans had begun confiscating legally-owned firearms from New Orleans' residents. "By what authority can the mayor order these confiscations?" Pratt said. "You can't legitimately suspend the God-given rights of American citizens who have committed no crimes. "These confiscations will not make the people of New Orleans any safer. Privately owned firearms were the only thing which prevented good people...

The Mexican army has entered the United States for the first time since 1846. A military convoy crossed the Rio Grande into Texas Thursday to bring aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina. The unit is headed for San Antonio. The convoy is carrying water treatment plants, mobile kitchens and supplies to feed storm victims. The 45 green vehicles will apparently be used to provide water, meals and other help for hurricane survivors from the New Orleans area. A Mexican naval mission is sailing for New Orleans. Mexico says another convoy and another ship are ready to go. Back in 1846,...

Canada's cattle industry suffered another blow Thursday after American senators voted to quash the U.S. department of agriculture's policy to reopen the border to Canadian beef next week. Despite the Senate's 52-46 vote, the White House said U.S. President George W. Bush would veto the measure if it ever reaches his desk. Bush favours the reopening of the border. The U.S. banned Canadian cattle imports in May 2003 when mad cow disease was discovered in a Canadian cow. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said he was disappointed with the Senate vote. "Today's action undermines the U.S. efforts to promote science-based...

Cattle identification can't be ignored, veterinarians are being told this week at the Western Veterinary Conference in Nevada. Soon, packers won't buy cattle that don't have an electronic ear tag, feedlots won't buy cattle without the tags, and stockers won't buy calves without the tags, says Gary Wilson, New Concord, Ohio, co-chairman of the Cattle Industry Identification Working Group. "Eventually, no animals will be purchased unless they are identified. You have to know the source," Wilson said, speaking to a standing-room-only crowd of veterinarians from around the US this week. It goes all the way up and down the chain,...

To help prevent spread of the human form of mad cow disease, individuals who received a blood transfusion in France since 1980 should be barred from donating blood in the United States, a federal advisory panel recommended Tuesday. The members of the Food and Drug Administration's advisory committee said this would somewhat strengthen safeguards for the U.S. blood supply without significantly limiting the pool of potential donors. The panel voted 12-3 with one abstention. *snip*The panel acted as concerns are growing that the brain-wasting disease can be spread through transfusion. In Britain, two cases of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, as the...

U.S. officials want to see if the same technology that speeds cars through highway tolls and identifies lost pets can unclog border crossings without compromising security. Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson announced Tuesday that the government will begin testing radio frequency identification technology at this crossing (NOGALES) and four others by midsummer. Weeding out potential terrorists, drug dealers and other criminals from shoppers, truckers and tourists who regularly pass through border crossings takes time. The RFID technology is designed to reduce the wait while giving authorities more information on who's coming into the country and who's leaving. "We do not...

Justice authorities arrested a Moroccan man last month after receiving a tip-off that Islamic extremists were allegedly planning an attack on the Red Light District in Amsterdam, it was reported on Friday. The pizza-delivery courier allegedly conducted reconnaissance of the capital's prostitution zone while riding through the area during work hours on his scooter. He was arrested on 5 November. Newspaper De Telegraaf described him as a "radical Moroccan pizza deliverer". The National Detectives Unit was alerted to the supposed attack plan by three anonymous emails, the first of which was received on 14 September. Emails dated 27 September and 11 October gave further details of the...

A U.S. animal may have tested positive for mad cow disease and will be retested at a federal veterinary laboratory in Iowa for confirmation, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Friday. The USDA said animal health officials reported the first "inconclusive" test result for the brain-wasting disease since the government began using rapid test kits in June as part of a program to test more cattle. The faster test carries a greater risk of false positives. The USDA did not say whether the animal was a cow, steer or bull. The USDA's animal health laboratory in Ames, Iowa, will retest...

CAMP WOLVERINE, KUWAIT -- Almost one year to the day after the first NFL-USO visit to the Middle East, a pair of NFL players touched down in Kuwait to begin a four-day tour of U.S. bases in Kuwait and Qatar. Marco Rivera of the Green Bay Packers and Brian Baldinger, who played for the Cowboys, Colts and Eagles during a 13-year career and currently works as an NFL analyst for FOX, were greeted by a wealth of warm receptions that exceeded the 110-degree heat. After checking into their Army base accommodations at Camp Wolverine, the duo set out for Camp...

Unfazed by a failed attempt to place Ronald Reagan's image on the dime, federal lawmakers plan to introduce today a flurry of competing bills placing the image of the 40th president of the United States, who died Saturday, on the 50-cent piece and the $20 bill. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R- Huntington Beach/Long Beach, who served as a Reagan speechwriter for seven years, said he will introduce legislation today replacing former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., will introduce legislation to place the likeness of Reagan on the half- dollar coin, replacing John F. Kennedy.

Applied Digital Solutions, Inc. announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, VeriChip Corporation, has entered into a memorandum of understanding ("MOU") with FN Manufacturing a leading gun manufacturer to develop a first in the world of firearms. The team's objective is an integrated User Authorization System for firearms using VeriChip RFID technology. Located in Columbia, South Carolina, this firearms manufacturer produces small arms for military and police forces, as well as the commercial market. The company is engaged in R&D efforts to study and develop various technologies (commonly referred to and understood in industry and the private sector as "smart...

Officially, Spain’s political parties cut short their election campaign three days before polling in deference to the agony and shock of the most brutal terrorist attack since the 9/11 assaults on New York and Washington. Thursday, March 11, three crowded commuter trains were blown up in Madrid, killing 199, injuring 1,400, and changing Spain overnight. In reality the campaign never stopped. By harping on the Basque terrorist movement ETA as the culprit of the outrage, the Aznar government hoped to drum up votes for the ruling PP – Popular Party’s bid for reelection on Sunday, March 14. It also left...

Global justice advocates are urging U.S.-based companies that profit from chocolate and gold sales on Valentine's Day to do more to help the people and the environment where the key ingredients for their goods are originally produced. A coalition of human rights and development groups, led by California-based Global Exchange, is meeting Friday with executives at the headquarters of M&M/Mars at the company's headquarters near Washington, D.C. to ask them to start selling Fair Trade-certified chocolate--so that West African cocoa farmers won't need to use abusive child labor to make an adequate living. The meeting is part of a national...

Legislation to create a national livestock identification system was introduced Thursday by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. Hagel's bill would give the secretary of agriculture the authority to implement a national animal identification system, which he said would be a positive step to increase confidence in U.S. livestock safety following the Dec. 23 discovery of the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United States. Hagel said the BSE incident emphasizes the need for a national identification system. He pointed to a recent comment made by Dr. Ron De Haven, USDA chief veterinary officer, who, in announcing that the...

<p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture has quietly declared an "extraordinary emergency" because of the discovery of a Holstein infected with mad cow disease in Washington state - a move that will give federal officials additional authority to quarantine herds and destroy cattle.</p>

OPEC's president on Tuesday appealed for high-flying oil markets to stabilize as signals grew that sustained price strength will make it hard for the cartel to enact an expected supply cut next month. U.S. crude has blazed to 10-month highs, topping $35 a barrel for the first time since the Iraq war, on fears that freezing U.S weather will strain crude oil stocks already at their lowest level since 1975. "We are calling on all parties involved in the oil markets to take an initiative to keep prices stable in the position that represents producers and consumers," said OPEC President...

Research suggests sick animals may not show symptoms Below the drumbeat of reassurances from government and the cattle industry that the meat supply remains safe despite this one case of mad cow disease, a small universe of scientists working on a family of related illnesses is finding disturbing evidence to the contrary. Several studies, including research at a government laboratory in Montana, continue to spark questions about human susceptibility not only to mad cow, but also to sister diseases such as chronic wasting disease, which mainly affects deer and elk, and scrapie, which infects sheep. Mice research and clusters of...

The University of Colorado topped the list of party schools in the nation, while Brigham Young University was "stone-cold sober," according to the latest Princeton Review's survey. The "Best 351 Colleges" survey is based on responses from more than 100,000 students at U.S. campuses. The review, which has no affiliation with Princeton University, has been conducting the study since 1992. Despite a six-year effort to curb binge drinking at the University of Colorado, the school ranked third in widespread use of marijuana, fourth in the prevalence of hard liquor consumption and 11th in the prevalence of beer usage, Princeton Review...