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Anthrax Scare Halts Work at Ford Plant in UK (The Recorder, 6/29/2006)

AN ANTHRAX scare halted work at the Ford plant.

Workers were evacuated, and the area cordoned off, when white powder was discovered on a trailer in a garage.

Experts in protective clothing arrived to investigate, and police, fire crews, and ambulances were called to the site at Thames Gateway, Dagenham.

A Ford worker told the Recorder: "There were four fire engines and four or five police cars. The area was blocked off.

"They evacuated a lot of people."

The powder turned out to be harmless.

Security Alert Issued After Hate Mail Containing Razorblades Sent to Synagogues and Jewish Organizations

UK--A security alert was issued to synagogues and Jewish organizations this week after hate mail with razor blades were sent to addresses in Cambridge and London.

In recent days, mail was sent to the synagogue in Cambridge and two to members of that community, whose telephone numbers were featured on the shul’s website. Another letter was sent to a leading Jewish organization in London.

The Community Security Trust’s Chief Executive Richard Benson, in a letter to the community, said the blades had been inserted in a way with the potential to cause injury. He urged organizations to handle all mail "with extreme caution" and to use a letter knife when opening envelopes or parcels. He added: "This is one of the main reasons we try to limit the amount of information which is attached to synagogue, school and organization websites."

Police in Barnet yesterday confirmed that one of the packages had been received in the Borough and that officers were liaising with their counterparts in Cambridge.

According to Cambridge police, a Mosque was also among the recipients of offensive messages in the past few weeks. Detective Sergeant Chris Wilson said: "An investigation is now underway to find where and from whom these letters originate. The letters received have been seized and are currently undergoing detailed forensic analysis.

"We are working closely with community leaders to reassure Cambridge's various communities that these crimes are being taken extremely seriously."

He added: "We deal robustly with crimes motivated by hate or prejudice, and the perpetrators of these offences can expect to be brought to justice."

While confirming that Jewish Care was not the London recipient, Richard Munns, the charity’s deputy director of operations, said: "We are concerned to hear of any concerted efforts to harm the Jewish community. We already have set [security] procedures in place to deal with post, as advised by CST. No additional measures have been taken since hearing this news."

Study Identifies Most Likely Targets of Mail Attacks (Security Park, 6/27/2006)

Government, Finance and Hi-tech companies are organizations most likely to be at risk from mail-based security attacks

A new study by Pitney Bowes Management Services (PBMS) has highlighted those industry sectors that receive a higher proportion of mail-based security attacks.

PBMS analyzed a representative sample of the secure mail facilities of organizations across the US and the UK to establish the sectors that receive most suspicious packages. Using a year’s worth of data on mail throughput and suspicious parcel investigation, an index of vulnerability was constructed amongst key sectors, revealing relative levels of suspicious letter or package receipt.

The resulting index figures showed that Government, Finance and Hi-tech companies stand out as those mainly at risk from attack through the mail – a scale leap ahead of any other sector studied and in particular well ahead of healthcare, legal and media/telecom. Evidently, organizations within these sectors that do not yet have secure facilities screening their mail need to act fast if they are not to face insupportable levels of risk.

Richard Thompson, Managing Director, Pitney Bowes Management Services, stated: "For organizations seeking to protect themselves, their employees and their finances, the accumulation of smaller and far less publicized threats actually poses far higher total risk than major acts of terrorism. These individual threats range across the actions of disgruntled employees, activist groups and straightforward criminality.

"None of the sectors studied, even if their vulnerability score is below average, should be complacent. The cost of closing a site because of attack – or even threat of attack – can result in huge financial penalties for businesses of every size.

"The ease with which a terrorist, a disgruntled customer, an activist group or a criminal can introduce threats to a company or government organization in the guise of an envelope or package, means that the post room is a critical point of vulnerability. At the same time, it can also be made into a highly controlled environment where mail is screened, threats identified and danger isolated and averted. Organizations must concentrate on addressing the points of potential attack that can be monitored and controlled in practicality."

Powerful Explosion Destroys Nursing Home Mailbox (WHDH TV News, 6/26/2006)

REVERE, Mass. -- Residents Sunday morning were literally shaken after a mailbox in front of a local nursing home was blown apart.

The explosion took place at Proctor Avenue and Adams Street in Revere around 12:30 a.m. Authorities estimate half a stick of dynamite was likely the size of the apparatus used.

No injuries have been reported.

A man was seen running from the area. The suspect at this time has not been caught. State police, bomb squad specialists and postal authorities are still investigating

White Powder Triggers Evacuation at Federal Immigration Offices in Chicago (Chicago Tribune, 6/20/2006)

Chicago, IL--About 100 people were evacuated Monday from a downtown federal building that houses Citizenship and Immigration Services offices after a suspicious white substance, which turned out to be powdered sugar, was found in a mailroom.

The building at 10 W. Jackson Blvd. was evacuated about 11:30 a.m. after the substance was found in a box, Fire Department spokesman Kevin MacGregor said. Employees were allowed back into the building about 12:15 p.m.

Fire Department hazardous materials crews quickly determined that the substance was powdered sugar, the department said.

The building houses the Chicago district office of the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to the agency's Web site.

Colombian Police Deactivate Parcel-Bomb Intended for Lawmaker (VOA News, 6/17/2006)

Colombian police have deactivated a parcel bomb delivered to the home of a lawmaker allied with President Alvaro Uribe.

Authorities say the package resembled a book and was sent to Armando Benedetti's home Thursday night. Benedetti and his aides called police when they noticed something suspicious about the package, which contained an incendiary substance.

Investigators announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons who sent the package.

The incident happened one day after a similar package was sent to a man with the same name as former Defense Minister Rafael Pardo.

Suspicious Package Causes Mail Bomb Scare at Albany Company (AP, 6/17/2006)

GREEN ISLAND, N.Y. A suspicious package containing two pipe-like devices evacuated a building in the Albany region yesterday.

A hazmat team and the New York State Police Bomb Squad responded after the package was delivered around 10 a-m to Long Island Pipe in Green Island, just north of Albany.

Police said the package contained pipe-like devices with what appeared to be wires attached to them.

Authorities evacuated the building and closed off the street while they examined the device.

The road was re-opened after police determined it was not an explosive.

House Bomb Injures California Court Bailiff (Sacramento Bee, 6/17/2006)

Sacramento, CA--A bomb crashed through the window of a bungalow where a sheriff's deputy slept early Friday, exploded and set off a wide-ranging investigation into whether the attack was random, misdirected or meant for the young peace officer.

Police did not release the name of the deputy, but sources within the county's criminal justice system identified him as Jesse A. Davis, who worked as a Sacramento Superior Court bailiff at the downtown courthouse.

Davis, 25, sustained shrapnel injuries to one leg, but was alert and talking moments after the attack, officials said.

His home on the border of Oak Park is six blocks from

Post Office Evacuated After Suspicious Package Found (NBC5 News, 6/15/2006)

GARLAND, Texas -- A post office in Garland was evacuated Thursday morning after a suspicious package was found by a postal worker.

Garland firefighters arrived at the post office at about 6:30 a.m. on the 3200 block of Saturn Road after the employee noticed the package was sizzling and smoking.

Firefighters on the scene decided to call out the bomb squad, who planned to use a robot to remove the package. Additionally, the health department was called in to take air samples to determine if there was any airborne risk.

Before destroying the small package, Capt. Jeff Tokar of the Garland Fire Department said officials were trying to contact the NY-based sender and the Garland recipient to determine the contents of the package.

Tokar said the package was about the size of a small fire extinguisher, which it turned out to be.

Tokar said that officials took every precaution to protect the public since the contents of the package was unknown.

Terror Mail Attack Practiced at Marine Corps Base (The Daily News, 6/14/2006)

Jacksonville, NC--Sirens blared as firefighters in full gear stalked outside the Camp Lejeune post office Tuesday as Douglas Davis recalled last year’s mail scare.

A package with no return address arrived at the post office, leaking powder, explained Davis, an antiterrorism officer at Lejeune. Inside were pictures of a Pakistani family.

Emergency responders thankfully learned the powder was nothing more than spices a mother ordered for her Marine. The pictures were placed in the box accidentally, a mistake by the company.

It was a close call, a reminder how easily the dust could have been something else, something far more malignant.

"We know it could really happen," said Davis, minutes before Marines covered in unknown powder and blood scurried from the post office, screaming for help.

The Marines were actually fine, just actors in an invented tragedy, fiction uncomfortably close to reality.

The manufactured scare was the first salvo of a three-day exercise intending to test and train Lejeune’s emergency personnel and their response to security breaches, terrorist attacks, hostage situations and a number of other disaster scenarios.

Training with such elaborate simulations is a necessary precaution in this day and age, especially on a military base like Lejeune, said Davis, the exercise’s director.

"There’s no way we can scan every piece of mail or every vehicle that comes on base," he said, "so we have to be ready to respond. (Emergency personal) have been training really hard, and we want to put all that training into an exercise."

Davis, who is directing the exercise, kicked it off with a phone call to emergency personnel. He pretended to be a corporal sorting mail in the post office when a nearby package burst and ejected a whitish powder.

Panic ensued, and at least eight people were injured during the retreat from the Post Office. Outside, firefighters and paramedics set up a triage station and emergency showers. Some climbed into blue chemical suits, preparing to enter the post office and investigate the source of the hysteria.

Then the first casualties staggered from the building, two Marines, covered in powder.

"Help!" one yelled, clutching a wound on his arm. "Help us!"

"Stay where you are," a firefighter called back. "Help is on the way."

Emergency workers eventually convinced the frazzled victims to kneel down on the ground as officials prepared a decontamination pool. The victims were washed and taken to triage, where paramedics assessed their conditions.

The post office scenario continued later that day at a branch aboard Camp Johnson. The overall drill, which took six months of planning, will run through Thursday and pit emergency services against a number of other daunting situations. Sometime today, a harmful chemical agent is going to infiltrate the Holcomb Boulevard Water Treatment Plant. And on Thursday, exercise participants will stage a military school hostage scenario.

The variety of challenges will give emergency officials the chance to test all facets of their response procedures, from practice using their equipment to communication and what to do when things go wrong.

For example, parts of a decontamination tent broke Tuesday while emergency workers were setting it up. They were forced to adapt to the situation.

Davis said he has no idea how likely a terrorist attack at Lejeune would be, but each bit of training gets the system that much more prepared for the real thing if it does happen.

"When it comes to a terrorist attack, that’s why we train: You never know," he said. "We can’t train for everything, but we’ll try."

Powder-Filled Envelopes Deliver Anthrax Scares in Jerusalem (Jerusalem Post, 6/15/2006)

Two more national institutions became the latest targets Wednesday in a spate of incidents in which envelopes containing a suspicious white powder raised alarm among employees, who feared that the substance could be laced with anthrax.

Both the Bank of Israel's Jerusalem office and the Tel Aviv offices of Army Radio received such envelopes on Wednesday. Both envelopes were sent to the Biological Sciences Laboratories in Petah Tikva. Police sources said that they expected to receive conclusive answers as to the chemical makeup of the powder within two days.

While not confirming that this week's incidents were related, senior police officers confirmed the seeming similarity and said that they were "aware of the general situation."

A Tel Aviv Police District spokesman said that his district was responsible for gathering the evidence related to the multiple incidents, and that, should the need arise, it would take the lead role in any criminal investigation into the sending of the envelopes.

Immediately after an administrative worker at Army Radio opened the envelope, which arrived with a computer-printed address label, he noticed the white powder that spilled out. Concerned that the powder could be a dangerous substance, workers contacted the police. Police bomb squads arrived on the scene, evacuated the office, and called in special biohazard teams from the Environment Ministry to take samples of the substance for testing.

A similar scene was repeated at the Bank of Israel, where an envelope containing white powder was detected during a preliminary screening process that all mail undergoes. Once again, specialists from the Environment Ministry were called in to take samples and dispose of the envelope.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem was partially evacuated after a suspicious envelope was found during a routine mail check. Following an X-ray scan of the envelope, a police sapper was called to the scene. Also on Wednesday, envelopes containing white powder were received at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. A day earlier, an envelope with a similar substance was discovered mailed to Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus.

Private companies, including Mei Eden in Bnei Brak and Elbit in Haifa, have also received similar envelopes since the beginning of the week.

Politicians Sequestered During Anthrax Scare at Parliament

Bewildered and indignant MPs and peers are milling around the courtyards of Westminster after a man hurled a packet of white powder in Central Lobby, one of the few parts of the parliamentary precincts where the public has access.

The heavy iron gates were slammed and locked. No pedestrians or cars were allowed in or out.

Ex-MP Tony Benn cheerfully used the chance to wander around chatting to old pals.

But Labour MP Anne Clwyd was unhappy. "I was going to a Welsh party at Number Ten," she said.

My colleague David Wooding, dressed in black tie and DJ was due to take his wife, Pat, for dinner.

She arrived at the main gates in full evening dress, wearting a feather boa, only to be told to wait in a nearby cafe until the emrgency was over. But police were making no exceptions.

"We're taking no chances," said a burly sergeant in New Palace Yard a few minutes ago. "If it turns out to be something nasty, we will be locked in for hours and hours and hours."

Security chiefs are on crisis alert after tip-offs about chemical attacks which led to the arrest and shooting of two brothers in Forest Gate, East London, last Friday.

The fear of a possible anthrax attack meant that everyone inside Central Lobby had to be locked inside, in case they spread the disease.

"A few years ago we would have shrugged it off as a nutter," said a uniformed policeman. "But we can't take any risks these days. "Nobody leaves the precincts, nobody is allowed in."

But the clearest sign that this was not a real crisis was that MPs continued to debate tax credits and chat about volunteers and carers without being told to clear the Chamber.

The all-clear came after less than an hour.

6 June 2006, Sentinel

Norwegian Red Cross Head Receives White Powder Hoax in Mail

Thorvald Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian Foreign Minister who's now president of the Norwegian Red Cross, has become the latest to receive some suspicious white power in his mailbox. Stoltenberg and his wife Karin found the envelope in their post when they came home from a holiday trip over the weekend.

"I figure it's just some prankster who wants to create a stir who's doing this," Karin Stoltenberg told news bureau NTB.

There have been four other cases of white powder being mailed to Norwegians in the past few weeks. Tests ruled out initial fears that someone was sending anthrax through the postal system.

The white powder sent to the Stoltenbergs, who are the parents of current Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, was immediately sent to the national public health institute for tests. Police said they were following normal investigative routines in such cases.

30 May 2006, Aftenposten

Full Extent of Animal Rights Threats Against Oxford Lab Revealed

Contractors working on the new animal labs on South Parks Road have been stalked and spied on by animal rights activists, it has emerged. The Oxford Student has learnt that on thirteen separate incidents in the past five months, intimidation of individuals has been reported. Workers on site have been approached and harassed for details of the companies they work for, and a number of contractors have been pursued at night and photographed by activists in order to reveal their identities.

In one case in January, police intercepted a known activist who had stalked a contractor in a car for four miles. The revelations came in a written witness statement to the High Court of Justice, seen by this newspaper, during the hearing of an application by Oxford University for an extension to their existing injunction against animal rights protesters.

The contract manager for Oxford University, said, "It is clear that animal rights activists are taking considerable steps to find out who the contractors are and I fear that if and when they do so a massive campaign of criminal damage may be directed at them." The contract manager said that all firms and suppliers were already working in fear of being identified.

Firms who had been identified by activists had all suffered a campaign of intimidation, Mr Justice Holland, presiding judge, was told. Property belonging to Oxford Architects was vandalised, and the director of Monarch Freight was targeted at his home by extremists. In February, SPEAK, an animal rights group opposing the Oxford labs, published on its website details of a company which supplied a crane to the lab site.

The court was told that within the animal rights activists who were protesting against the animals labs was a hardcore terrorist core. Charles Flint QC, lawyer for the University, said, "There can be no dispute whatsoever that the ALF is a criminal and terrorist organisation and there are persons unknown who have taken action in the name of the ALF against the university.

Lawyers for the University said that the statement by Robin Webb, spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front and a defendant in the case, that student accommodation was a justifiable target for action was a "clear threat" against students. In 1998 Webb was caught on camera showing an undercover journalist how to build a bomb. Flint said, "The evidence presents an overwhelming picture of real distress, alarm and harassment.

The High Court will today rule on the University’s request for an extension to the existing injunction. Representatives of the University argued that the increasingly extreme actions of activists necessitated harsher restrictions on protest. The University is aiming to extend the exclusion zone to cover an area of four square miles around the site of the £20million research labs, which will include all of South Parks Road, Mansfield Road and St Cross Road.

The University’s restrictions have angered groups opposed to the lab. John Curtin, animal rights protester, said in court, "The full weight of the law is being used against us. This whole campaign is to stop people from standing outside that site with banners. That is what they don’t want."

Lab contractors quit over fears of harassment

Two contractors have pulled out of work for the University due to fears of becoming a target for animal rights extremists. A steel company, who The Oxford Student has decided not to name for security reasons, has withdrawn from the tendering process. In a letter to the University the company explained that they had pulled out so they could "sleep easily at night".

The letter went on to explain that workers and shareholders feared intimidation by a "well-organized and devious group of people who will stop at nothing to register their misguided opinions by harassment towards people and damage to property". The decision "has not been taken lightly", the company wrote. Recent events had "led to discussion at board level culminating in consensus to withdraw" The Oxford Student has also learnt that a second contractor has also withdrawn this week.

Lawyers for the University said that the company also cited pressure from animal rights activists. The steel company said it took the decision to withdraw from work for the new research laboratories after animal rights activists targeted shareholders in the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. They also cited the case of the desecration of the grave of an old woman whose family ran a guinea pig farm in Staffordshire.

The two companies are not the first to pull out due to concerns over harassment by animal rights groups. At least four contractors have already withdrawn their services within the past year. Work on the lab was halted in June 2004 when Montpellier, a building firm working on the new laboratory, pulled out amid claims of intimidation by animal rights extremists. A University spokesperson refused to comment on the latest withdrawals.

25 May 2006, The Oxford Student

Families Linked to Animal Research Live With Constant Terror of Hate Mail, Death Threats, Hoax Bombs, and Attacks

UK--The large picture windows of the converted farmhouse that Lucy Chisholm shares with her husband and eight-year-old daughter make the most of the vast expanse of sky stretching above fields and low hedgerows.

But it is not hard to imagine how it would feel in the dead of night when, right outside those windows, there is a gang of animal rights extremists who have repeatedly threatened to kill you. "You think of terrorists as people with guns," Mrs Chisholm - who has requested that her real name not be used for fear of reprisals - told The Independent on Sunday. "These people do as much harm to you mentally as they would if they were pointing a weapon."

The family spoke out to cast a light on the torment suffered by those whose partners work in research involving animals. Across the UK, scores of families have been targeted by animal rights extremists and, despite changes in the law aimed at preventing the worst attacks; the targets still live in the shadow of frequent siege.

For the Chisholms, it started three years ago with some letters, a few polite, many abusive. Then came hate mail, death threats, noisy night protests, and eventually a hoax explosive which took the bomb squad four hours to dismantle.

The target was Mrs Chisholm's husband, who works for a Japanese company which had used the controversial animal testing firm Huntingdon Life Sciences. But it is Mrs Chisholm, 40, and her daughter who have borne the brunt of the hate campaign. The tactics the extremists employed were ruthless. On a holiday in France, they took a phone call from Mr Chisholm's firm. A letter had arrived alleging he was a pedophile. "I was shocked" she said. "It's a horrible thing to call anyone, worse than a murderer. Even then, I didn't realize the enormity of it."

There were further claims, this time that her husband was a killer, painted in 3ft-high letters, on the lanes along which she drove her daughter to school. "It was the day after that I started not to sleep. You worry about what they are going to do next."

Her husband hired a security guard, and installed CCTV and a panic button connected to the local police station. But the attacks kept coming.

Mrs Chisholm was in the house with her daughter and another child when the extremists struck again. "It was horrendous.They had thrown paint over the guard's car. They had thrown glass bottles filled with paint at the house, they had covered my daughter's toys in thick, red emulsion paint. The dogs were covered in it. That was the end of me. I slowly went to pieces. I was scared of everything."

Eventually, she was forced to leave the job she loved, working with deaf children. After nine months of continual harassment, the attacks began to ease off. But the family still receive silent phone calls and threatening letters.

One weekend last month, Nicki Smith and her family were preparing for another spell in the firing line at their home a couple of hundred miles away from the Chisholms. Visitors had been cancelled, the dogs and horses were inside, the security cameras around the farmhouse were running. She, her husband and two children were steeling themselves for the latest anti-vivisection protest, which would take place a few hundred yards from their home. "You go into shut-down mode," said Mrs Smith, 49, who also requested that her real name not be used."

She and her family are deemed targets because her husband runs a company linked to animal laboratories. The attacks have destroyed normal family life.

Karen Gardner, a mother of three children aged 12, 10 and three, from Wiltshire, knows exactly the kind of pressures the Smiths and Chisholms have endured. A former communications officer for pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline, Ms Gardner, 44, became the victim of animal rights extremists when she was eight months pregnant with her first child. She has since changed jobs. The family suffered death threats, paint attacks and - like the others - a bomb hoax. The tide may be turning, however. Ms Gardner believes that the stealing of Gladys Hammond's remains from her grave in Staffordshire, has changed public opinion of animal rights activists. "It horrified people," she said.

THE TERROR GROUPS

In the UK, it is estimated that 2,500 animal rights activists are ready to take the law into their hands at any time, with a hardcore of 250 capable of carrying out major arson attacks. Extremist groups known to operate in this country include the following:

The Animal Liberation Front: A militant group which is the hub for Britain's animal rights activists. Formed in the UK in the 1970s, it has since spread to the US. Its tactics include arson, use of explosives and physical intimidation.

The Animal Rights Militia: An extreme offshoot of the ALF formed in the 1980s, it desecrated the grave of an elderly relative of one of the owners of a guinea pig farm. Police recovered Gladys Hammond's remains earlier this month and four activists have been jailed for their part in what the judge called a "campaign of terror".

Gateway to Hell: This group has dedicated itself to a violent campaign against companies that it holds responsible for the transportation of live animals for laboratory research.

The Justice Department: Another extension of the ALF, it has been behind attacks on companies involved in the live export trade

29 May 2006, The Independent

Pharmaceutical Official Takes Hard Line Regarding "Terrorist" Mail Campaign Against Stockholders

SIR Christopher Gent does not mince his words when describing the animal rights extremists who are waging a hate mail campaign against drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline's small shareholders.

'Terrorists,' he calls them, without hesitation. This is a man whose job as chairman of Europe's largest drugs group requires diplomacy by the shovel load.

But after two weeks in which the company has been the renewed target of militant activists, he is in no mood to sugarcoat his views. 'I think the extremists aren't necessarily pro-animals - they are in fact anti-humans,' he says.

It is not the first time in Gent's two-year tenure at GSK that the fundamentalist wing of the antivivisection lobby has turned its sights on the group.

But in the past it has been able to hush up the all-too-frequent incidents of intimidation, figuring - probably rightly - that in doing so it is starving the extremists of the oxygen of publicity.

This time the issue exploded unexpectedly and very publicly. Targeting retail investors - with letters demanding they sell their shares - got the movement the headlines it craves, though it failed to shake the share price.

If GSK was caught out, it very quickly recovered the initiative. The company branched into a relatively untested area of civil law to get an injunction against the perpetrators, members of a little-known group calling itself the Campaign Against Huntingdon Life Sciences.

It has also finessed normal company rules which insist shareholder names should be made available to the public to give some 3,000 small investors anonymity from the activists.

Even without the renewed offensive of the extremists, it has been a turbulent few months for Gent.

An unseemly boardroom spat at his former employer Vodafone saw him resign the honorary title of life president in March.

He has always denied agitating behind the scenes to oust Arun Sarin, the boss of the telecoms group.

It was a sour end to what had been a glorious tenure at Vodafone - a group he built up to dominate the world of mobile phones, but which is currently struggling with the legacy of that rapid expansion.

I am told politely but firmly that Sir Christopher will not be answering questions on Vodafone. So we can only guess what happened behind the scenes at the company's headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire.

If this and the recent trouble at GSK have affected him, then he is not bearing any visible scars. His demeanour is cheery and upbeat. As always he is impeccably turned out in a pinstriped suit with his habitual braces.

GSK's crime in the eyes of the animal rights lobby is that it uses the services of Huntingdon Life Sciences, a controversial animal testing labs that was almost hounded out of existence several years ago.

HLS was the subject of a television documentary, which filmed widespread abuse and caught on camera a worker hitting a beagle.

That was in 1997. Under new management, HLS has cleaned up its act and Gent has no qualms about using the firm to carry out tests.

GSK has pioneered alternative means of testing such as computer modelling and the use of human tissue. But Gent insists animal experiments remain vital to research and in some cases are required by law.

'Let's be honest - we have to use animals in testing and HLS is a very important part of the supply side to a number of companies,' Gent explains.

'GSK has been more upfront than some about animal testing. We are now very vigilant in maintaining the highest standards - but it is not something to be complacent about.

'I don't think you can drop a firm for the transgressions of one or two bad employees so long as you are satisfied they have returned to their previous high standards.' He is critical of the banks and suppliers that deserted HLS when the threats started. 'People who are involved in legitimate activities deserve to be protected from those who would seek to intimidate them.

I commend the government for doing that,' Gent says.

Tony Blair has thrown his weight behind a clampdown on the extreme wing of the antivivisection brigade. The government has introduced the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act and, in a public show of solidarity, the Prime Minister put his name to a petition that backs animal testing.

The police have reportedly been given an extra GBP466m to protect the industry. It is a huge figure when you consider that the violent faction of the animal rights movement probably numbers less than 40.

Gent thinks the threat warrants the outlay. In simple terms, legitimate companies should be allowed to go about their business lawfully, he says. The 'terrorists' may also damage the economy if not stopped, as firms will look to set up labs outside Britain to avoid the problem.

For now GSK remains committed to the UK, though it has made no secret of the fact that it is setting up research centres in India and Singapore. But could we one day see research and development outsourced to India if the animal rights threat does not subside?

'In so far as this becomes a difficult place to do research, then it would be a worry,' Gent says.

'But we have not reached that point yet. The actions that have occurred over the past couple of years in terms of improved legislation will be very helpful to stopping the trend [towards violence].' And after two years with GSK - the last 12 months as chairman - he is becoming a rather convincing corporate salesman.

He has a lot to sell. The company, which two years ago had nothing coming through its development pipeline, is about to see a flood of new products coming on to the market in the next 18 months.

They include Cervarix, a blockbuster vaccine against cervical cancer, as well as Tykerb, a rival to Herceptin, Rotarix, for acute diarrhoea and an inoculation against bird flu.

Chief executive Jean-Pierre Garnier, whom Gent calls a 'superstar', transformed the group after the merger of Glaxo and SmithKline in 2001 along with the departing head of research, Tachi Yamada.

Rather than feed a giant bureaucratic research and development machine, GSK made the controversial decision to divide the company into centres of excellence and make them compete for the cash.

Contrary to expectations, it appears to have worked. It has meant the merger can be legitimately termed a success, when for a while it looked almost certain to fail.

'It took some time to deliver. JP called it crossing the desert because there was a dearth of new drugs coming through,' Gent says.

'The most exciting thing about the next 18 months is when we file, register and launch drugs. The possible pipelines in the vaccines and the core pharma business mean GSK looks to be in pretty good shape in the future.' Gent's job while all of this is taking place is to find the next boss.

Garnier is being allowed to stay on until May 2008 - rather than going in October 2007 when he is 60 - so that he can usher in the new line-up of drugs and take his bow at the agm.

On the surface it would seem a simple task. He has to choose one of a number of talented insiders and ensure the handover is seamless. But the City is littered with cases of mishandled succession plans, where those overlooked for promotion have promptly quit.

Will he give us a clue who will be stepping into Garnier's shoes?

Gent grins cheekily as if he is about to give me the inside line and then completely fudges the answer.

'We will keep our eye on the outside world but we have got the strength available on our bench to find a new leader from within,' he says. This is chairman Gent, the consummate diplomat, back in character

25 May 2006, the Daily Mail

Threat Letter With Razorblade Sent to Japanese Minister of Economy

Police have started investigations in response to a report that a letter of extortion was recently sent to the home of Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshihiro Nikai, it was learned Monday.

The letter, received by Sunday, urged Nikai to kill himself, claiming that he "sold" his own country. A 4-centimeter razor blade was in the envelope, along with the letter.

A secretary of Nikai reported the incident to the police Monday morning.

23 May 2006, Mainichi Daily News

Disgruntled Employee Sends Suspicious Package to Former Employer

Police said a disgruntled employee who was recently fired closed down part of the Loop on Tuesday after sending a suspicious package to his former employers.

Chicago police said John Ratcliff, 29, was picked up at a friend's apartment on North Dearborn. He was charged Wednesday with telephone harassment, which is a misdemeanor.

Police said that Ratcliff, a disgruntled former employee, sent a suspicious package to the human resources director at his former company.

The package was destroyed by bomb technicians after they found wires and a cell phone inside.

NBC5's Amy Jacobson reported that the man left his name and address on the box, which was destroyed by the Chicago Police Department's Bomb and Arson Squad.

Authorities received the report of a suspicious package at 200 S. Wacker just after 4 p.m., according police officials. The package arrived by mail.

As a precaution, Wacker Drive was closed between Adams and Jackson streets. The Sears Tower SkyDeck was also closed as a precaution, and those who worked inside 200 S. Wacker were not permitted to leave.

"A lot of us decided to walk down the stairway, by the time we got down to the bottom, they weren't letting us leave," said Katrina Kelley, who works in the building. "So they were kindly holding us in the basement."

Workers in the Sears Tower weren't allowed to leave, either, Jacobson reported.

"I couldn't get out on Wacker," said Linette Swain. "I had to walk four blocks around, and my car is stuck in the middle of it."

23 May 2006, WMAC News

Anthrax Threat Mail Campaign in Norway

Oslo, Norway--More mysterious white powder arrives in the post. Several persons in Oslo received envelopes with white powder in their mail over the weekend, setting off new anthrax alarms. On Monday, another packet with white power arrived at a company in Trondheim.

Police have collected the unsolicited and mysterious mail, and alerted local health authorities. Recipients were offered immediate medical treatment, in case the power turned out to be anthrax.

The initial targets of the envelopes with white powder were households from Oslo's fashionable west side to the southeast. The households contained older residents, from age 56 to age 85.

Police were looking for links between the letters, which may be an attempt to spread fears of anthrax poisoning. Similar mail containing white power was sent around the world after the terrorist attacks on the US in 2001, but most incidents turned out to be a hoax.

22 May 2006, Aftenposten

Anti-Abortionists Bombard MP With Hate Mail and Death Threats

An MP who called for Parliament to debate abortion limits has been bombarded with hate mail and death threats, forcing him to take stringent new security precautions.

Dr Evan Harris has been told by senior police officers to take measures to protect his staff after receiving piles of abusive messages from anti-abortion activists. The former hospital doctor was sent the abuse after calling for a "review" of abortion limits.

In a House of Commons debate, the Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon called for the latest scientific evidence on the viability of premature babies, to be debated by MPs. He also said there was a case for very early abortions to be made more easily available.

The MP, who comes from a Jewish family, was sent dozens of abusive messages, including some comparing him to "Dr Mengele" and accusing him of being "a murderer". Others said "Satan is awaiting your demise" and "You must be afraid of dying".

Anti-abortion groups singled out Dr Harris after he called for a parliamentary inquiry into the 24-week limit. He said MPs should discuss the issue in the wake of developments in science on when children can survive outside the womb.

Anti-abortion groups including the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) reacted angrily to the MP's intervention. The UK Lifeleague, another anti-abortion campaign group, also criticised the MP in a briefing paper.

However, both SPUC and the UK Lifeleague unreservedly condemned the abusive messages and said they would not have been sent by their supporters.

Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: "What all of us want to see is a rational debate. This is an issue that people get inflamed about, but in our experience it doesn't go further than that. In Britain it has not yet become like America."

An MP who called for Parliament to debate abortion limits has been bombarded with hate mail and death threats, forcing him to take stringent new security precautions.

Dr Evan Harris has been told by senior police officers to take measures to protect his staff after receiving piles of abusive messages from anti-abortion activists. The former hospital doctor was sent the abuse after calling for a "review" of abortion limits.

In a House of Commons debate, the Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon called for the latest scientific evidence on the viability of premature babies, to be debated by MPs. He also said there was a case for very early abortions to be made more easily available.

The MP, who comes from a Jewish family, was sent dozens of abusive messages, including some comparing him to "Dr Mengele" and accusing him of being "a murderer". Others said "Satan is awaiting your demise" and "You must be afraid of dying".

Anti-abortion groups singled out Dr Harris after he called for a parliamentary inquiry into the 24-week limit. He said MPs should discuss the issue in the wake of developments in science on when children can survive outside the womb.

Anti-abortion groups including the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) reacted angrily to the MP's intervention. The UK Lifeleague, another anti-abortion campaign group, also criticised the MP in a briefing paper.

However, both SPUC and the UK Lifeleague unreservedly condemned the abusive messages and said they would not have been sent by their supporters.

Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said: "What all of us want to see is a rational debate. This is an issue that people get inflamed about, but in our experience it doesn't go further than that. In Britain it has not yet become like America."

23 May 2006, The Independent

Animal Rights Extremists Plan Terror Training Camp

British animal rights activists are planning to use a training camp next month to export their violent tactics to Europe and beyond.

The AR2006 camp will be held in an undisclosed location on the weekend of June 23 and will feature classes in potentially lethal physical techniques that are described as "self-defence".

The police National Extremism Technical Co-ordination Unit (NETCU), which investigates animal rights extremism, is aware of the event.

The camp is advertised on animal activist websites but police say there is little they can do against a private meeting of individuals.

"The UK is the center for this kind of activism," said a spokesman for the pressure group Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC). "Everyone around the world looks to us for inspiration."

The group has held camps in Britain for the past two years but this is the first when the focus will be on attracting foreign activists who will carry the message of violence around the world.

The SHAC spokesman said that the group would pay to fly people from Russia and Eastern Europe to Britain to learn defense techniques that could be used against security guards at pharmaceutical companies and huntsmen.

At previous camps, activists were taught how to deliver punches to key areas of the body and to damage optic nerves by sticking their fingers into adversaries' eyes.

As well as "self-defense" classes, they are likely to discuss how to conduct mailing campaigns, including targeting shareholders, as in the recent letters sent to GlaxoSmithKline's investors. The NETCU spokesman said yesterday that the camp had not been a police matter in the past.

However, businessmen are concerned that Britain is becoming the center of a violent, intimidator movement that is beginning to spread overseas.

Richard Lay, the spokesman for the Association for the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said: "Although these classes are billed as being for self-defense, we are worried they will be used to terrorize and intimidate people connected with the pharmaceutical industry."

Brian Cass, the managing director of Huntingdon Life Sciences, the animal testing group, said activism is becoming a worldwide problem.

"It is disturbing that one of our significant exports at the moment seems to be animal rights activism," he said.

"It is important for there to be international co-operation on this issue."

Mr Cass's company has been the focus of much of the anti-vivisectionist movement's activities in the past few years. He has been threatened and attacked with a baseball bat.

His comments echoed those of Jean-Pierre Garnier, the chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline, who said this week that inward investment to Britain was being marred by violent activists.

Mr Garnier said that anti-vivisectionists were far more active here than on the Continent or in America.

The SHAC spokesman said participants at the camp would not discuss anything illegal, although the media would be banned. "We have too much to get through to pander to the press," he said.

He expects up to 500 people to attend the gathering.

Recent campaigns have brought the animal rights issue to the political forefront, with Tony Blair pledging to sign the People's Petition against extremism, established by the Coalition for Medical Progress.

This would affirm his support for the right of scientists to conduct legitimate animal experiments. Mr Blair said he wants a new law that would allow the identity of shareholders in pharmaceutical companies to be concealed.

Huntingdon Life Sciences has been forced to move its share listing abroad after shareholders were targeted, while banks and insurers also refused to work with the company after repeated threats.

Oxford University, which is building a laboratory to house some research animals, was in the High Court yesterday to try to widen an injunction against protesters. This would bar them from the entire city instead of particular areas. A ruling is expected next week.

25 May 2006, The Telegraph

Bomb Threat Letter Causes School Evacuation in New Jersey

City police said they are close to arresting a suspect that sent a written bomb threat to Bridgeton High School, resulting in a minor staff evacuation after hours Tuesday.

The letter, typed on green paper, said an explosion would happen at the school sometime during the week of May 15, a report said.

Police evacuated the theater area Tuesday night while officials and bomb-sniffing dogs from the Sheriff's Department searched the area before letting people in for the spring concert. Authorities then searched the rest of the school and didn't find anything suspicious, said Lt. Michael Gaimari.

"We're interviewing a few people right now and should have an arrest soon," he said.

The letter also mentioned class Principal Stephen Lynch. Police asked school officials if any students were recently in disciplinary trouble with him.

On the envelope was a return address written in elaborate lettering, 77 E. Ave. The report said that police asked the school to identify any students who lived in that area.

But Gaimari said that address didn't factor into the pegging of any suspects.

"That didn't pan out into anything, and we used other methods to track people down instead," he said.

The report noted that the letter was brought to the department's forensics unit.

18 May 2006, The Press of Atlantic City

Homemade IED Device Brought to School by Eleven-Year-Old

An 11-year-old boy was placed on one year of supervised probation for bringing a homemade device to school that resulted in the bomb squad’s appearance at Old High Middle School. The boy was charged with criminal use of a prohibited weapon, and he pleaded guilty to the charge Wednesday.

The device was found in February 2006 in the boy’s locker at Old High Middle School. The device was in a plastic heart, normally used to encase candy for Valentine’s Day, but instead, the heart was filled with a wick and lighter and had 22-caliber bullets taped to its exterior. A student informed a teacher about what was referred to as a "suspicious item brought to school," according to a letter to parents written by Principal Marilyn Gilchrist that was sent home with the students. The student also informed the teacher where the item was located and who brought the item to school.

The teacher notified the office, and the Bentonville Police and Fire departments were dispatched to the school. Classrooms were evacuated in one hallway in the east wing of the school.

Bentonville police then called the Springdale Police Department Bomb Squad.

The boy will be supervised by Benton County Juvenile Probation for a year. Circuit Judge Jay Finch also ordered the boy to undergo counseling and perform 96 hours of community service.

18 May 2006, The Daily Record

Bomb Scare in Mail Room Evacuates City Hall

A suspicious package in the mail room of Palo Alto City Hall caused the evacuation of the building for about an hour today, beginning around noon. The underground parking garage and Bryant Street adjacent to the building were also closed off.

Mail-room employees on Level A of City Hall became concerned when they discovered the package, apparently without a return address, and called police. Officers took a photo of the package and sent it to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad who replied, "We’ll be right down," said Palo Alto Agent Tami Gage.

The package was first X-rayed and then opened remotely by the bomb squad’s robot. Nothing harmful or suspicious was found inside, Capt. Dennis Burns said.

17 May 2006, Palo Alto News

White Powder Letter Scare Closes Six Bank of Montreal Branches

-Police say they will hunt down the author of nasty letters containing suspicious-looking white powder sent to six Hamilton-area Bank of Montreal branches yesterday.

Decontamination experts quickly established the letters contained only baking soda, but five BMO branches in Hamilton and one in Grimsby were forced to close for hours yesterday, while the powder-filled letters were removed and tested.

"If someone thinks this is funny, they're going to find out differently, when we find out who it is," police Superintendent Ken Bond said.

Police were alerted to the first letter at Upper Ottawa and Fennell about 10:25 a.m., after it arrived in the mail.

Bond would not release specific details, but "basically, it's uncomplimentary to the Bank of Montreal." He said the letter referred to the service, and sounded like a customer turned down for a loan.

Letters were also sent to outlets on Upper Wentworth across from Lime Ridge Mall, Upper Paradise and Mohawk, two on Queenston Road and one in Grimsby.

BMO spokesperson Michael Edmonds would only say the branches were closed to allow authorities to investigate the suspicious packages.

"Early indications are that this is a hoax, but we don't take any chances. Our first concern is to ensure the safety of customers and staff," he said.

Bank officials at the branches would not discuss the letters. One bank manager said BMO's corporate security had directed managers not to disclose details even to their own staff.

Hazardous materials experts Team-1 Environmental Services Inc. removed the letters from the bank branches, and tested the powder at their Rymal Road East headquarters.

Team-1 equipment can quickly identify 32 different products, Bond said.

"They put the powder in and within seconds it spit out that it was sodium bicarbonate" or baking soda.

The hoax tied up significant resources yesterday, including decontamination units, police, fire officials and public health.

The investigation will be led by Mountain central investigation detectives, Bond said.

Jim Kay, fire chief and general manager of Hamilton Emergency Services, said emergency crews were notified by police and acted in an advisory capacity.

"We had senior officers present on scene, but we didn't send fire trucks from place to place."

He said similar hoaxes and bomb threats "occur quite often," but usually one at a time, and are downplayed to avoid panic and discourage copycats.

"It is strange to have multiple sites and even in another jurisdiction," he added.

16 May 2006, Hamilton Spectator

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