Free Republic

Trees and wildflowers blossom during all four seasons in Kunming, which is known as The City of Eternal Spring because of its year-round mild temperatures. However, it is also home to something much less natural: a laboratory where scientists have been creating monkey embryos with a mutated gene so that, when born, they will age unusually fast. Such experiments are done to study human diseases such as autism, cancer, Alzheimer's and muscular dystrophy.

Rats or Humans? Inside Saddam's Extermination Plant(August 29, 2002)This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/ He was introduced as director of research and development at Falluja, one of the remote factories where the United States claims Saddam Hussein could be making chemical and biological weapons. Asked if he had worked on any of Saddam's chemical weapons programs, Dr Mohammed Frah played a straight bat: "In the early 1980s I worked for five years on the chemical and biological programs at Al-Muthanna." This is the name of a critical centre in Saddam's weapons program - a huge pesticide complex that produced...

U.S. Alleges North Korea Is Misusing Aid for Poor Probe Says U.N. Money Was Spent on Property Overseas By Glenn Kessler and Colum Lynch Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, June 9, 2007; Page A11 About $3 million in United Nations money intended to help impoverished North Koreans was diverted by the Pyongyang government toward the purchase of property in France, the United Kingdom and Canada, according to a confidential State Department account of witness reports and internal business records. Millions more, the department reported, went to a North Korean institution linked to a bank alleged to handle arms deals. The...

<p>A former analyst for the Pentagon’s intelligence service provided China with highly classified information prior to the loss of a major electronic spying operation against Beijing, The Washington Times has learned. The loss of the National Security Agency’s eavesdropping operation hampered U.S. efforts to track China’s covert arms sales to nations such as Iran, Syria and Pakistan, Bush administration officials said.</p>

Cyprus halts Syria-bound ship A ship suspected of carrying illicit cargo from North Korea to Syria has been impounded by port authorities in Cyprus and its crew arrested while police search the cargo, the head of maritime security at the port of Limassol said on Thursday. "It was stopped because it was initially suspected of carrying weapons for Syria ... We had information from Interpol and action was taken on it," Fokas Riris, head of port facility security in Limassol said by telephone from Cyprus. "All 15 crew have been arrested and are being questioned by police, all government agencies...

Sea Launch Delivers Koreasat 5 Satellite to Orbit Tuesday August 22, 1:48 am ET LONG BEACH, Calif., Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Sea Launch Company today successfully delivered the Koreasat 5 communications satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). Early data indicate the spacecraft is accurately positioned and in excellent condition. ADVERTISEMENT A Zenit-3SL vehicle lifted off at 8:27 pm PDT (03:27 GMT, Aug. 22) from the Odyssey Launch Platform, positioned at 154 degrees West Longitude in the equatorial Pacific. All systems performed nominally throughout flight. The Block DM upper stage inserted the 4,448 kg (9,806 lb) Spacebus 4000 C1 platform to...

Border guards seized a British lorry on its way to make a delivery to the Iranian military - after discovering it was packed with radioactive material that could be used to build a dirty bomb. The lorry set off from Kent on its way to Tehran but was stopped by officials at a checkpoint on Bulgaria's northernborder with Romania after a scanner indicated radiation levels 200 times above normal. The lorry was impounded and the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NPA) was called out. On board they found ten lead-lined boxes addressed to the Iranian Ministry of Defence. Inside each box...

N.Korea provides nuclear aid to Iran -intel reports By Louis Charbonneau Wed Jul 6, 9:18 AM ET Recent intelligence reports accuse North Korea of secretly helping Iran develop its nuclear program, raising fresh concerns about Pyongyang's nuclear proliferation and Tehran's atomic intentions. The United States and the European Union fear Iran is using its nuclear energy program as a front to develop nuclear weapons and have called on Iran to cease all sensitive atomic work. Tehran says its program is peaceful and refuses to give up its sovereign right to a full atomic program. "In the late 1990s, cooperation began...

BRITAIN is facing an increasingly acrimonious argument with America over military exports to China after the Communist party pledged yesterday to push through legislation allowing for war with Taiwan. Washington fears its sailors and pilots could face weapons guided by European technology in a battle over Taiwan, which split from China in 1949 and is a thriving democracy. One example cited by American analysts is a micro-satellite developed by Surrey University’s commercial arm which will give China increased ability to survey the Taiwan Straits and enhance knowledge that could be used to wage war in space. The firm, Surrey Satellite...

The challenge for any country clandestinely seeking to become a nuclear power is how to acquire enough fissile material for such weapons. Most countries begin by starting a commercial nuclear program, a right to which any state that has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is entitled. The commercial program can then provide a cover for engaging in so-called dual-use activities, which can have either peaceful or military uses. In Part 2 of our series on the crisis over Iran's nuclear program, looks at the progress Tehran is believed to have made along two separate routes to making a nuclear...

French connection armed Saddam By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES The United States stood by for years as supposed allies helped its enemies obtain the world's most dangerous weapons, reveals Bill Gertz, defense and national security reporter for The Washington Times, in the new book "Treachery" (Crown Forum). In this excerpt, he details France's persistence in arming Saddam Hussein. First of three excerpts New intelligence revealing how long France continued to supply and arm Saddam Hussein's regime infuriated U.S. officials as the nation prepared for military action against Iraq. The intelligence reports showing French assistance to Saddam ongoing in the...

The United Nations has determined that Saddam Hussein shipped weapons of mass destruction components as well as medium-range ballistic missiles before, during and after the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003. The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission briefed the Security Council on new findings that could help trace the whereabouts of Saddam's missile and WMD program. The briefing contained satellite photographs that demonstrated the speed with which Saddam dismantled his missile and WMD sites before and during the war. Council members were shown photographs of a ballistic missile site outside Baghdad in May 2003, and then saw a satellite...

WASHINGTONThey never learn. Remember, a couple of years ago, the scandals about the way corporate giants like Hughes Electronics and Loral Space, led by big Democratic contributors, sold secret U.S. satellite technology to Chinese aerospace companies and semiconductor manufacturers? Remember how right-wingers like me got all worked up about our shortsighted government and venal executives placing the interests of international trade over the needs of national defense? I am ashamed to report that the Bush administration is getting ready to let our ever-hungry multinationals do the same thing. This time, however, it would all be legalized. If current legislation (Senate...

EVERY HILL A THRILL: The Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area attracts increasingly large crowds of off-roaders seeking roller-coaster-style excitement on the near-vertical drifts of the largest dunes in North America.Land battle heats up dunes By Daniel B. Wood GLAMIS, CALIF. – When they look out across the largest sand dunes in North America, Jeneiene and Daniel Patterson see paradise. The 45-by-15-mile sprawl of granulated humps is a botanical Eden. Ironwood, smoke trees, and desert buckwheat provide a happy, if hot, habitat for flitting songbirds, darting lizards, stalking puma, and lumbering tortoises. "This is a biological wonderland," says Mr. Patterson, a...

Arbil - The Iraqi authorities have diverted the largest portion of their civilian land transport fleet to military purposes, eyewitnesses said. They said Transport and Communications Minister Ahmad Murtadha recently supervised an exercise involving 500 heavy trucks at one of Baghdad's main car parks. The witnesses said the exercise conducted to train drivers on how to assist the armed forces once the United States launches air and missile strikes against Iraq. Washington has made the change of government in Baghdad part of its foreign policy priorities. Iraq has responded by large-scale mobilization. Following a briefing in the park, the trucks...