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The United Arab Emirates is in serious discussions with Textron AirLand about buying the new Scorpion jet, sources told Defense Daily. The Scorpion, designed and built in Wichita, is in flight testing. The plane was designed to be an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance airplane with strike capabilities, Textron officials have said. But sources told Defense Daily that the UAE is considering the Scorpion for its aerobatic squadron Al Fursan, which flies the Alenia Aermacchi MB-339. A purchase for Al Fursan would be a first step in a larger relationship, the report said. Textron’s policy is not to comment about possible...

Textron AirLand's new military jet prototype, the twin-engine Scorpion, is breezing through the development phase and is now ready to make its international debut. With more than 105 hours of flight-testing on its prototype, the Wichita, Kansas-based company plans to send the Scorpion on its way on a multi-day, 4,700-nm flight from Wichita to RAF Fairford-Gloucestershire today. The prototype will be shown off to potential customers attending the Farnborough International Airshow and The Royal International Air Tattoo, both set to take place in the United Kingdom in the middle of this month. Textron AirLand president Bill Anderson said the airplane...

An underground black market and smuggling ring fuels the budding industry.KARACHI: The black scorpion is one of the most feared anthropods in the country, an animal that used to be killed on sight as a defence reflex. Now, there are people that hunt and capture the fearful animals; catch a few big ones and you are set for life. The black-market trade of black-and-yellow scorpions is at its peak in Sindh. Catching them is not an easy task; capturing a poisonous scorpion that often scurries away at the slightest of movements. People in the coastal belt of Sindh, however, still...

A dangerous scorpion shocked passengers as it nipped into a Tube station and tried to pinch a ride on a man’s bag.The man screamed when he saw it clinging to his bag at Victoria Underground station in central London. London Underground staff were quickly on hand after hearing the commotion, British Transport Police (BTP) said. They managed to capture the scorpion and placed it in a plastic lunchbox, which they pierced with air holes, while they called the police. Specialist wildlife crime officers from BTP went to the station to remove the creature, which had been put on a shelf...

Well done to Textron AirLand, which has completed the first flight of its (let’s be kind) “unique-looking” Scorpion light strike aircraft. Stephen Trimble’s report into the design’s 12 December debut reveals an expected unit cost of less than $20 million, discussions with at least two potential military customers, and the possibility of producing the aircraft in an unmanned configuration. Do we think the Scorpion will be a game-changer? Most likely not in the manned counter-insurgency segment: this is a model which could satisfy a niche requirement for most optimistically a small number of users. The prospect of a twin-jet unmanned...

Dr. Jim Olson is an internationally recognized thought leader in cancer drug discovery who has a lofty goal of being able to give hope to every child and family facing a diagnosis of inoperable brain cancer before he retires. To achieve his vision, he relies on community-driven funding and nature-inspired solutions. His team's track record of innovation includes the invention of Tumor Paint, a scorpion toxin based drug that makes cancer cells light up so that surgeons can distinguish cancer from normal tissue while operating. They also invented a way to test multiple different chemotherapy drugs in a patient's tumor...

PICTURES: Cessna parent Textron pushes new strike jet Ground testing is under way of an all-new jet-powered tactical strike aircraft designed to perform “lower-threat battlefield and homeland security missions” pitched at cash-strapped militaries across the globe. Cessna parent Textron has teamed with AirLand Enterprises, forming a joint venutre, Textron AirLand, to develop the Scorpion, with first flight anticipated later this year, it says. Textron Development work on the programme started in January 2012 with the aiming building the “world’s most affordable tactical jet aircraft”, says Textron chairman and chief executive Scott Donnelly. “We relied on commercial best practices to develop...

According to the Banner Poison and Drug information center, 2011 will set a record for scorpion stings. In 2010, the center logged 8,718 scorpion exposures. Doctors say the total for 2011 will be about 10,000. "This has been a record year for calls to the poison center for scorpion envenomations," said Dr. Frank LoVecchio, of the poison center. "We've seen about a 15 percent increase from last year." Pest control companies saw much the same. "Last year was the worst I'd seen in a number of years, and this year tops last year," said Andy Witcher, of Scorpion Tech Termite...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - An Oregon man got a big surprise on a commercial flight from Seattle to Anchorage, Alaska, when he was stung by a scorpion while sitting in his plane seat. Jeff Ellis of West Linn said he was trying to sleep on a red-eye Alaska Airlines flight June 17 when he felt something in his sleeve and tried to brush it away. He said he felt the crawling again, looked down and saw the culprit. "I picked my hand up and said, `Oh, my God. That's a scorpion,"' Ellis told KPTV.

An Oregon passenger heading to Alaska said he was stung by a scorpion on the plane. Jeff Ellis of West Linn said he was trying to sleep on a red-eye Alaska Airlines flight June 17 when he felt something in his sleeve and tried to brush it away. He said he felt the crawling again, looked down and saw the culprit. Ellis says he grabbed the scorpion with a napkin, but not before it stung him on the elbow. He says it caused a burning sensation. "I kinda tried to go back to sleep and then I felt it on...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man got a big surprise on a commercial flight from Seattle to Anchorage, Alaska, when he was stung by a scorpion while sitting in his plane seat. Jeff Ellis of West Linn said he was trying to sleep on a red-eye Alaska Airlines flight June 17 when he felt something in his sleeve and tried to brush it away. He said he felt the crawling again, looked down and saw the culprit. "I picked my hand up and said, 'Oh, my God. That's a scorpion,'" Ellis told KPTV. He said he grabbed the scorpion...

ASPEN, Colo.- A couple in the Aspen, Colo., area say they found a bark scorpion in their house, hundreds of miles from and thousands of feet above its proper habitat. Stanley Coriat says his wife was leaving the laundry room of their Summit Vista, Colo., home two weeks ago when she spotted a light brown scorpion trying to leave with her, The Aspen Times reported Sunday. It was a bark scorpion, the most venomous of the species. The range of the small bark scorpion is the Sonoran Desert and the desert Southwest. Coriat told Eagle County health and human services...

It was only earlier this month that a Miami-Dade fire station was named the busiest in the nation. Now we are learning that the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Antivenom Unit is one of the most respected in the world. On Saturday, after a 3-year-old girl in Iraq was bitten by a saw-scaled viper, American military officials placed a call to Capt. Ernie Jillson, head of the antivenom unit as well as a military reservist. Jillson, who was tending to his lawn in Davie, consulted with doctors and told them that because their patient was a small girl they needed to administer...

Here is a video report on a Southwest Airlines Flight from Arizona to Indiana where a man was stung by a scorpion that fell down out of an overhead luggage compartment. The man described the sting as being "like 40-50 bees at the same time in one place." . . . . . (Watch Video)

Forty-four-year-old Douglas Herbstsommer of Gilbert, Ariz., wasn't seriously injured Sunday when he was stung by a venomous Arizona bark scorpion while going through his luggage.

The Arizona bark scorpion may be small, but its sting delivers a neurotoxin that can kill or render critically ill a young child. A study in the May 14 New England Journal of Medicine finds that an antivenom drug commonly used in Mexico for such stings neutralizes the toxin, eliminates symptoms and reduces the need for sedation in children who have been stung. More than 200 children in Arizona and a handful in New Mexico become critically ill from Arizona bark scorpion stings each year, but there is no U.S.–approved remedy for the stings. Children are rushed to intensive care...

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Erick Turcios-Lazo, also known as “Scorpion,” age 22, was sentenced today to 120 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Turcios-Lazo was found guilty on Jan. 22, 2009. Dana J. Boente, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema. Turcios-Lazo was indicted on Sept. 18, 2008, by a federal grand jury on conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering charges. The jury trial began...

You know those guys on the Food Network? The ones who get all puffed up about eating live baby octopus or sautéed crickets? Well, they've got nothing on the crowd, 35 strong, who recently dared to dine at Bardo Edibles + Elixirs in Norfolk. The reservation book was filled for Bardo's Bizarre Foods Dinner, a mid-March event that had a waiting list. Edward Storey, the restaurant's new executive chef, had searched the planet (via the Internet) for edible oddities and spent the day skewering, simmering and slicing the bugs, scorpions and sexual organs of cows. "This is going to be...

PATTAYA, Thailand (Reuters Life!) - Thailand’s “Scorpion Queen” set a new world record on Saturday after living with thousands of deadly scorpions in a glass room for 33 days, beating her previous record by one day...

The Hunt for American al Qaeda The United States is turning up the heat in the hunt for the California boy turned al Qaeda operative, Adam Gadahn, who has been charged with treason and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. If caught and convicted, Gadahn could face the death penalty. The State Department along with the Department of Diplomatic Security announced the beginning of a publicity campaign in Afghanistan urging locals to provide any information on Gadahn's whereabouts, with a reward if the information leads to his capture. Radio advertisements with information concerning the $1 million reward have...