Free Republic

Bees are becoming buzz-worthy when it comes to smoothing out wrinkles. Bee venom in creams and lotions promises to fool the skin into thinking it’s been stung. The jury is still out on whether bee venom works, but using it could be dangerous for the two million Americans allergic to insect stings. Tanya Phillips takes great pains not to feel the pain of getting stung by her honey bees. "Bees don't like smoke, so this keeps them away from us," said Phillips as she squeezed a handheld smoker. Deep in southern Travis County the master beekeeper knows if she stays...

Al-Qaida terror plot foiled, say French police Jon Henley in Paris Monday January 12, 2004 The Guardian (UK) The French police are convinced that their country has escaped a planned chemical or biological attack by an Islamist cell linked to al-Qaida. An interior ministry official said evidence from Islamist militants arrested in the Lyon area last week made it "very plain" that an attack with the deadly botulism or ricin toxins was being actively prepared. The eight suspects arrested on Tuesday were mainly relatives of Menad Benchellali, the son of a radical imam in the Lyon suburb of Venisseux, who...

Containers packed with the deadly poison ricin may have been brought to Britain, according to a newspaper report. The Observer said French police had told their British counterparts that the chemical had been manufactured by an Islamic militant. French investigators have been trying to track down dozens of containers of ricin suspected to have been made in a makeshift laboratory in Lyon by Menad Benchellali. Benchellali was arrested during police raids 18 months ago. The ricin, which can kill in hours if inhaled, injected or ingested, is believed to have been stored in the form of a white powder in...