Arrested ‘Big Bang’ scientist not a terrorist, claims brother

October 13th, 2009 LONDON - A leading nuclear physicist associated with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has been charged with terrorism offences by a Paris judge after investigators said that he offered to work with the North African branch of al-Qaeda. According to a report in The Times, Adlene Hicheur, who is of Algerian origin, was arrested last week with his younger brother after intelligence agents intercepted his alleged Internet contacts with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

October 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A leading nuclear physicist associated with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has admitted to French investigators that he led a second life as an al-Qa'ida "mole". The French police arrested Adlene Hicheur, a physicist working at CERN, Europe's premier particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, on charges of terrorism, on October 8, in the town of Vienne.

October 11th, 2009 LONDON - British government laboratories had employed a physicist to work for Cern, Europe's world-renowned particle accelerator facility, who has now been arrested on charges of terrorism. Adlene Hicheur, 32, who is alleged to have links with Al-Qaeda, worked for the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire where he collaborated with some of its leading researchers.

October 9th, 2009 French arrest physicist suspected of al-Qaida linkGENEVA — A physicist working at the world's largest atom smasher has been arrested on suspicion of links to al-Qaida, adding to the woes of the $10 billion project that ceased operation a year ago — just days after its celebrated start up. The scientist, arrested in France, is suspected of involvement with Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a French official said Friday.

October 9th, 2009 Europe atom lab: physicist arrested on terror linkGENEVA — French police have arrested a nuclear physicist on suspicion that he had links to terrorist organizations in Algeria, the European Organization for Nuclear Research said Friday. The man was one of more than 7,000 scientists working at the organization and has been assigned to analysis projects under contract with an outside institute, said the organization, known as CERN.

October 9th, 2009 Swiss atom lab: physicist arrested on terror linksGENEVA — French police have arrested a nuclear physicist on suspicion that he had links to terrorist organizations in Algeria, the European Organization for Nuclear Research said Friday. The man was one of more than 7,000 scientists working at the organization and has been assigned to analysis projects under contract with an outside institute, said the organization, known as CERN.

October 8th, 2009 Correction: Iranian nuclear scientist storyTEHRAN, Iran — In an Oct. 7 story about the disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat identified an Iranian who disappeared in Georgia as a second nuclear scientist.

September 18th, 2009 LONDON - European Space Agency's (ESA's) Planck spacecraft has obtained its first peek at the afterglow of the big bang, revealing it in unprecedented detail. The ESA spacecraft was launched into space on May 14 this year.

July 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new study, a scientist has said that the accidental discovery of a bowl-shaped molecule that pulls carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air suggests exciting new possibilities for dealing with global warming, including genetically engineering microbes to manufacture those CO2 "catchers". According to J.

May 8th, 2009 LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has spent an astonishing 6,577 pounds of the taxpayers' money for cleaning up his flat in times of recession when UK citizens are struggling to make both ends meet. Brown's expenses were revealed along with those of 12 of his most senior Cabinet colleagues, who submitted 1.5 million receipts from 2004 to 2008.

May 2nd, 2009 LONDON - A British space mission, which would include two deep space telescopes, dubbed Herschel and Planck, will probe the ancient history of the cosmos going right back to the dawn of time at the Big Bang - and possibly before. According to a report in the Telegraph, the European Space Agency probes would be fired into space on an Arianne 5 rocket on May 14.

April 28th, 2009 LONDON - Astronomers have spotted the most distant object yet confirmed in the universe, which is a self-destructing star that exploded 13.1 billion light years from Earth. According to a report in New Scientist, it detonated just 640 million years after the big bang, around the end of the cosmic "dark ages", when the first stars and galaxies were lighting up space.

April 23rd, 2009 LONDON - The anti-terrorist operation that led to the resignation of a senior policeman, armed raids, the search of 14 properties but ultimately no charges, is to be the subject of an independent inquiry. The Times quoted Lord Carlile of Berriew, the reviewer of terrorism legislation, said that he would carry out "a snapshot review" of the detention of 12 men picked up a fortnight ago in Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire, amid claims of an Easter bomb plot.

March 14th, 2009 LONDON - The Killers scrapped a concert in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, owing to terrorist threats. The rock band were to perform at the Amsterdam Heineken Music Hall on Thursday night.

March 5th, 2009 LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for terrorists in Pakistan 'to be brought under control, arrested and brought to trial'. Speaking after Tuesday's terrorist attack wounding six Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, Brown also revealed that the 'vast majority' of Al Qaeda militants are now in Pakistan, not Afghanistan.