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By Region: Europe

Syrian Rebels Claim Regime is Sending Chemical Arms to Borders

(Global Security Newswire) Syrian opposition forces on Tuesday claimed the Assad regime was transporting chemical arms to the nation’s borders, one day after Damascus warned it was prepared to use the weapons of mass destruction against foreign aggressors. The Free Syrian Army said the effort was aimed at coercing foreign nations into staying out of Read More »

July 24, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Biological Weapons, and International
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WHO offers some guidance on risky H5N1 studies

(CIDRAP) The World Health Organization (WHO) has offered some brief, general guidance on safety and security in research on laboratory-modified H5N1 viruses, mainly stressing that researchers should follow existing guidelines and gain authorization from their governments. The one-page guidance document, posted recently on the WHO Web site, was prompted by the recent controversy over the Read More »

July 24, 2012
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, Public Health, and Research
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Insight: Assad chemical weapons plans blocked by Moscow

(Reuters) – Increasingly under pressure by rebels intent on unseating him, Bashar al-Assad has considered using chemical weapons against his enemies but Washington and Moscow have formed an unlikely alliance to force him to abandon such plans. Analysts and diplomats across the region and beyond do not doubt that the Assad government, recoiling from a Read More »

July 24, 2012
| Filed under Europe, Middle East, North America, Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, and International
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UN, OIE call for more controls on rinderpest virus

(AFP) ROME — The UN’s food agency and the OIE called on countries on Monday to comply with a 2011 global moratorium and destroy potentially dangerous rinderpest virus samples or put them into safe storage. The deadly animal virus, which caused cattle plague, was the second viral disease in history to be wiped out after Read More »

July 24, 2012
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, and Policy & Initiatives
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CIA joins the hunt for Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons

(The Telegraph) With the days and weeks of the Syrian government appearing numbered, the Central Intelligence Agency is scrambling to get a handle on the locations of the country’s chemical and biological weapons, while assessing the composition, loyalties, and background of the rebel groups poised to take power in the event President Bashar al-Assad falls.