A Brief History Of: Ponzi Schemes

The prospect of chemical and biological warfare in this age of anthrax scares and WMD can feel — like the threat of nuclear Armageddon before it — like a uniquely modern terror. But a British archaeologist’s recent find offers a reminder that chemical weapons are nothing new — in fact, they are nearly 2,000 years old.

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Why Chemical Warfare Is Ancient History

The prospect of chemical and biological warfare in this age of anthrax scares and WMD can feel — like the threat of nuclear Armageddon before it — like a uniquely modern terror. But a British archaeologist’s recent find offers a reminder that chemical weapons are nothing new — in fact, they are nearly 2,000 years old. Simon James, a researcher at the University of Leicester in the U.K., claims to have found the first physical evidence of chemical weaponry, dating from a battle fought in A.D

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CNN exclusive: Secret files reveal NIU killer’s past

A former student who killed five people at Northern Illinois University last Valentine’s Day had been drummed out of the Army for hiding his psychiatric history and expressed admiration for famous murderers, CNN has learned. Steven Kazmierczak was known as “strange Steve” to roommates, studied the Virginia Tech and Columbine massacres and idolized the sadistic killer in the “Saw” horror films, according to documents from the year-long investigation into the NIU killings. The still-unreleased police file on the shootings, which also left 18 students wounded, shows that 27-year-old Kazmierczak had been hospitalized several times as a teenager for psychiatric issues and had a history of suicide attempts

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9/11 widow apparently on Buffalo flight

Friends, relatives and acquaintances were shocked to hear news reports that Beverly Eckert, the widow of a September 11 victim, was aboard the Continental flight to Buffalo, New York, that crashed Thursday night. “I am horribly saddened by this news,” said Valerie Lucznikowska, a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Lucznikowska said she, Eckert and another woman traveled to Washington last Friday for a meeting between 9/11 family members and President Barack Obama

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Rights groups: Pentagon sought Geneva Convention loopholes

The Bush Pentagon tried to find loopholes in the Geneva Conventions for its "ghost detainee" program in Iraq and to delay the release of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to avoid bad press, three human rights groups contend. Pentagon documents discuss CIA and Pentagon detention activities earlier this decade and indicate coordination between agencies in hiding internees from the Red Cross.

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Stimulus Deal Shows Reach — and Limits — of Obama’s Power

Moving at lightning speed and, even more unexpectedly, ahead of their President’s Day deadline, House and Senate negotiators agreed on the details of a $789 billion stimulus package barely 30 hours after Senate passed their version. In the process, they handed President Barack Obama his first major legislative victory, though the deliberations that led up to its passage highlighted the enormous challenges Obama will face in more complicated endeavors like healthcare, entitlement and energy reform

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