By Meredith Buel
Washington
A group of nuclear weapons specialists has issued ominous warnings before members of the U.S. Congress that terrorist groups like al-Qaida could launch a massive attack on the United States and currently there is little to deter or defend against such a strike. VOA correspondent Meredith Buel has details from Capitol Hill.
Sidney Drell, an arms control specialist and physicist at Stanford University, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee the United States has entered, what he calls, a "dangerous time."
"I view us on the precipice of entering a new and more dangerous nuclear era with the spread of technology, which means, in particular, the enrichment of uranium, which makes it possible for more societies to enter the nuclear club," he said. "That raises the danger of nuclear weapons getting in the hands of terrorist groups and others unrestrained by the norms of civilized behavior as we know it and therefore these weapons become more likely to be used."
The dean of Georgetown University's school of Foreign Service, Robert Gallucci, agrees.
Gallucci, a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, says the most dangerous threat is that a terrorist group will smuggle ...   more »

Texas farmers are stepping up their opposition to the Trans-Texas Corridor, a massive highway project that ultimately could take about half a million acres of the state out of agricultural production – and according to opponents possibly hasten the advent of a North American Union.
"Our members are overwhelmingly opposed to the Trans-Texas Corridor," said Farm Bureau President Kenneth Dierschke, a grain and cotton farmer from San Angelo. "There's never been any doubt that the impact on agriculture would be negative, but now we see a growing number of people who believe the TTC would be bad for all of Texas."
The organization has called the proposal a "disaster" for farm and ranch businesses that lie in its path, whose owners also are discovering that they have allies in their battle.
In fact, Republican Rep. Rick Hardcastle has filed legislation to delay construction of the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor because the "critical point for me is when the state disregards the personal property rights of hard-working Texans."
Hardcastle, whose district has little support for the project, filed House Bill 3831 in the Texas House of Representatives, which seeks to halt the project until specific improvements on Highway 35 are made. He ...   more »

By Stephen Pollard
Next Wednesday, England play Andorra in a qualification match for the 2008 European Championships. I am rather surprised that nobody has yet asked me which team I want to win. Surprised, because all sorts of people have asked me the same question about England's match tomorrow.
I was born, bred and brought up in London. I have only ever lived in England. I make clear to anyone who will listen that there is no logical reason for England to be in a union with Scotland and that we should wave the ungrateful, sclerotic, subsidy-junkie nation goodbye. I even have an obsession with the music of Sir Edward Elgar.
So why should anyone be in doubt as to which team I want to win tomorrow?
For one reason: I am Jewish, and tomorrow England play Israel. And although, for most Englishmen, their support for the national football team is a given, for Jews, apparently, it is not.
It seems Norman Tebbit may have been on to something when he identified his "cricket test" in 1990. As he put it at the time: "A large proportion of Britain's Asian population fail to pass the cricket test. Which side do ...   more »

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have been pretty cozy up until now....in recent years, Russia has built nuclear facilities for Iran, sold Iran hundreds of millions of dollars worth of nuclear technology, trained over a thousand Iranian nuclear scientists, run political interference for Iran at the United Nations over the nuclear issue and was due, this month, to deliver enriched uranium to Iran....but now Moscow is balking, and Tehran sounds testy....poor Mahmoud....not a fun way to spend the Persian New Year, fretting about how best to complete his nuclear weapons arsenal....the Russians are claiming that Iran has failed to pay its bills for the nuclear reactor it's building at Bushehr....the Iranians say that's nonsense....they claim they are all paid up and that the Russians are just delaying -- yet again....."It is deplorable that there has been a delay in launching the Bushehr plant," said Iran's chief nuclear negotatiator Ali Larijani, according to a report by Agence France Presse. "The Russians should keep their promises on time....According to the initial contract the plant was set to be launched on July 8, 1999. It has been delayed five times."....Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of ...   more »

Almost two-thirds of people celebrating St Patrick's Day have no idea who the priest was, a survey claims.
Guinness sales rise dramatically every year on 17 March as people across the world mark the event.
But its true meaning has been forgotten - or never learnt - by many, according to the Manchester Irish Festival.
Organisers quizzed 2,000 people taking part in its festival parade but only 40% knew of the Christian missionary, who is the patron saint of Ireland.
Massive event
Manchester Irish Festival treasurer Patrick Marmion said: "People these days tend to celebrate St Patrick's Day with a massive party.
"The results found that the majority of Irish revellers believed St Patrick's Day meant wearing the Shamrock, sampling the Guinness and modelling the seasons must-have novelty hat.
"It has turned into an event where people go out and catch up with friends for a few drinks.
"In Ireland itself, the majority of people would take the opportunity to go to Mass - but also find time to have a few Guinness."
Teenage slave
Folklore tells how the priest, who was eventually elevated to the post of bishop, drove snakes out of Ireland.
The story is thought to symbolise ...   more »