VX agent

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US Destroys Stock of Deadliest Chemical Agent It Ever Made

America's stockpile of VX agent is no more

(Newser) - The last stockpiles of a deadly chemical agent in the US have been safely eliminated, according to Kentucky officials in charge of destroying the Cold War-era weapons. The final M55 rocket containing VX nerve agent was destroyed Tuesday at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent plant, the AP reports. Officials at...

Report: Kim Jong Un's Half-Brother Was CIA Asset

He met his handler before he was killed, sources say

(Newser) - The exiled half-brother of Kim Jong Un was a CIA informant who was killed after meeting his agency contact in Malaysia, sources tell the Wall Street Journal . One source says there was a "nexus" between the CIA and Kim Jong Nam, who died after a banned chemical weapon was...

Kim Jong Nam's Murder Nowhere Near Being Solved

Doan Thi Huong released from Malaysian prison on Friday

(Newser) - Two years after Kim Jong Un's half-brother was murdered, the case seems to be dead as well. Doan Thi Huong, one of two women arrested in the aftermath of Kim Jong Nam's death, is heading home. The Vietnamese woman pleaded guilty last month to a lesser charge of...

2nd Suspect Pleads Guilty in Murder of Kim Jong Nam

Doan Thi Huong could be free in weeks

(Newser) - A Vietnamese woman who is the only suspect in custody for the killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's brother pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in a Malaysian court on Monday and her lawyer said she could be freed as early as next month. Doan Thi Huong...

Kim Jong Nam Murder Suspect Freed
Kim Jong Nam
Murder Suspect Freed

Kim Jong Nam Murder Suspect Freed

Prosecutors unexpectedly drop charges

(Newser) - An Indonesian woman held for two years on suspicion of killing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half brother was freed from custody Monday after prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the murder charge against her. Siti Aisyah cried and hugged her Vietnamese co-defendant, Doan Thi Huong, before leaving the courtroom, the...

Prosecutor: Alleged Kim Jong Nam Killers Are Trained Assassins

'This type of assassination can only be seen in James Bond movies'

(Newser) - Two Southeast Asian women on trial for killing the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader are trained assassins who used "criminal force" to rub the toxic VX nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam's eyes and face, prosecutors said in their closing arguments, the AP reports Thursday....

Nerve Agent That Poisoned Ex-Spy More Toxic Than VX

Novichok agents developed in secret in Russia in the 1970s and '80s

(Newser) - British Prime Minister Theresa May says the chemical used to poison Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his adult daughter in England was a Novichok nerve agent, tied to Russia not only through its name. Novichok—meaning "newcomer" in Russian—is a class of chemical agents developed in the Soviet...

Police Confirm Russian Spy Was Poisoned

They say a nerve agent was used against Sergei Skripal, but don't specify which one

(Newser) - British authorities on Wednesday said they knew "more about the substance" that felled a former Russian double agent, and what they revealed later in the day isn't good. In a case that's now being treated as attempted murder, authorities say Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were...

US: North Korea Used Chemical Agent to Kill Kim's Half Brother

Additional sanctions have been imposed against Pyongyang

(Newser) - The US has imposed additional sanctions on North Korea after determining the country used chemical weapons to assassinate Kim Jong Un's estranged half brother in Malaysia last year, Reuters reports. Kim Jong Nam died after two women smeared his face with the banned nerve agent VX in the Kuala...

Kim Jong Nam Was Carrying Nerve Agent Antidote

Court told it was in backpack when he was attacked

(Newser) - Kim Jong Nam had more than just $100,000 in his backpack when he was assassinated, a Malaysian court heard this week: He had something that could have saved his life. At the trial of alleged killers Siti Aisyah of Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam, a government toxicologist...

Kim Jong Nam Murder Trial Views Deadly Evidence in Lab

Nerve agent found on women's clothes could still be active

(Newser) - The Malaysian court holding the trial of two women accused of killing the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader moved temporarily Monday to a high-security laboratory to view evidence contaminated with VX nerve agent. Judges often visit crime scenes in Malaysia, and in this case the move was...

Chemist: VX Traces Present on Kim Murder Suspects

Testimony is first evidence linking nerve agent to Siti Aisyah, Doan Thi Huong

(Newser) - A government chemist testified Thursday he found traces of the banned VX nerve agent on two women being tried in Malaysia on charges of murdering the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader. The testimony was the first evidence linking VX to Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong...

Accused Kim Jong Nam Killers Go on Trial in Malaysia

They say they thought they were playing a prank

(Newser) - Two women accused of fatally poisoning the estranged half brother of North Korea's ruler pleaded not guilty as their trial began Monday in Malaysia's High Court, nearly eight months after the brazen airport assassination that sparked a diplomatic standoff. Siti Aisyah of Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong of...

Date Set for Kim Jong Nam Murder Trial

Suspect's lawyer says 'there was no guilty intention'

(Newser) - A chemist's report that shows the banned VX nerve agent was used to kill the half brother of North Korea's leader needs further scrutiny, a lawyer for one of the two women accused of poisoning the man said Friday, per the AP . High Court Judge Azmi Ariffin set...

Kim's Identity Confirmed With Child's DNA

As Malaysia, N. Korea begin formal talks

(Newser) - Malaysian police were able to confirm the identity of Kim Jong Nam, who was killed last month at Kuala Lumpur's airport, using a DNA sample from one of his children, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Wednesday, per the AP . Zahid also said negotiations began Monday to resolve...

How North Korea Claims Kim Died
How North Korea
Claims Kim Died

How North Korea Claims Kim Died

Envoy says it was probably a heart attack

(Newser) - A North Korean envoy says Kim Jong Nam likely died of a heart attack, not in an assassination that used the nerve agent VX. Ri Tong Il, the former North Korean deputy ambassador to the UN, says Kim was taking medication for heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure, reports...

'LOL Assassin' Leaves Court in Bulletproof Vest

Doan Thi Huong charged in Kim Jong Nam's death Wednesday

(Newser) - Because of a grainy security camera photo that went viral online, she is now known to many as the LOL assassin . But as Doan Thi Huong left a courthouse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Wednesday after being formally charged with the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's...

Kim Jong Nam Suffered 'Very Painful Death'

Malaysian health minister says Kim Jong Un's half-brother died within 20 minutes

(Newser) - Malaysia's health minister said Sunday that the dose of nerve agent given to North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un's exiled half brother was so high that it killed him within 20 minutes and caused "very serious paralysis," the AP reports. Kim Jong Nam died Feb. 13...

Suspect in NK Assassination: I Got Paid $90 for 'Prank'

Siti Aisyah says she was told it was baby oil on her hands

(Newser) - One of the women arrested in the airport slaying of the North Korean leader's half-brother says she thought she was smearing baby oil on her victim's face as part of a reality-show stunt. Siti Aisyah, who is being held in Malaysia, met with officials from her home country...

4 More Assassinations, Attempts Using Chemicals

One involved a poisoned umbrella

(Newser) - In the wake the news that Kim Jong Nam was, according to Malaysian police, assassinated using the powerful toxin VX , the AP takes a look at four more notable assassinations or attempted assassinations involving poison or chemicals:
  1. Alexander Litvinenko : The former Russian intelligence agent was given tea laced with a
...

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