The Iraqi Supreme Court named and shamed 460 foreign companies of selling chemicals to the Hussein regime, yet despite this there have been no law suits against them. An Iraqi Parliamentary Committee is lobbying for action, yet, it would seem that the government/Supreme Court is seeing the 'big picture:’ the one that says these things are best left in the past. Shame.

Agentase, a division of ICx, helped provide security for Pittsburgh’s G20 summit by providing their continuous water monitor to the Water and Sewer Authority. The Watersentinel was inserted upwater of sensitive sites and uses enzyme polymer hybrids to detect nerve and blood agents in the water.

First Line Technology announced the same of 10 of their Ambus kits to Dallas County Schools that allows them to convert conventional buses into special needs/medical assistance vehicles. The systems are easily retrofitted and can be used in conventional and non-conventional disasters.

After thje latest round of US – Indian wargames the Indian Army was deeply impressed with the US Combat vehicle Stryker and have placed a global RFI (Request for Information) to acquire similar wheeled APCs. The Army wants to buy 100 vehicles after which they would make their own indigenous version using approved technology transfer – this would include the CBRN variant.

The Netherlands was expected to press that the International Criminal Court expanded its definition of war crimes to include the use of CB weapons. The Netherlands was backing a Belgian measure to include chemical and biological weapons in War Crimes, as opposed to a Mexican proposal that designated the same classification for nuclear devices. The Dutch argued that making nuclear devices a war crime might result in nations ignoring the authority of the Court in the future.

Nabco also announced that they have upgraded three TCVs for the Danish MoD to allow them to counter CBR threats too. In addition to this they also announced that the University of Georgia police department had also bought their own TCV – clearly expecting troublesome students!

Israel has created their first secure ER facility that will protect patients from suspected Hizbullah chemical, and conventional, weapon attacks. The $14 million project is part of a plan that includes a complete underground hospital – including cardiac and cancer care, a children’s hospital and the space for nearly 1,750 patients.

Decongel, a polymeric hydrogel for containing and 'decontaminating’ radiological material is one of the three finalists for the Columbus Foundation Homeland Security Award for 2009. Devised by the Polymers division of Cellular Bioengineering Inc - http://www.decongel.com/index.html - their Decongel is deemed to have made a 'measurable and constructive contribution… to homeland security.’ A new product and a new company – thanks to Columbus for bringing it to our attention.

Bavarian Nordic secured up to $40 million from the US government for funding on clinical and preclinical testing of their freeze dried Imvamune Smallpox vaccine. Funding would also be used to validate the new freeze dried manufacturing process.

Col. Gen. Andrei Novikov, the CIS’ [Commonwealth of Independent States] Anti-Terrorism Centre’s Head, announced that the Ukraine didn’t want a large scale exercise in their country. The Ukraine decided that large amounts of visiting Russia, and other, troops was in breach of their constitution – which bans foreign military units operating on their territory. I wonder whether they would feel the same about Nato troops...

The US Treasury labelled North Korean bank Amroggang Development a WMD proliferator for controlling the Tanchon Commercial Bank, which is also sanctioned by the US and UN for their work with Pyongyang’s nuclear activities. Executive Order 13382 allows the US to freeze the assets or proliferators and their supporters and bars US residents from doing business with them.

Perennial nearly-there bio detector, Tac-Bio, looks like it might see the light of day after General Dynamics agreed with ECBC to commercialise it. General Dynamics ATP will sign a cooperative research and development agreement bringing Tac-Bio into a product range that includes Juno and JSLSCAD.