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... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS ... natural disease outbreaks such as the flu. BARDA would operate in secret, exempt from the Freedom of Information Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act, ensuring that no evidence of injuries or deaths caused by drugs and vaccines labelled as "countermeasures" will become ublic. Nicknamed "Bioshield Two", the legis- ation is being pushed rapidly through Congress without time for voters to make their voices heard by their elected repre- sentatives. The legislation will eliminate both regu- latory and legal safeguards applied to vac- cines as well as remove the right of chil- dren and adults harmed by vaccines and drugs to present their case in front of a jury in a civil court of law. (Source: NVIC press release, October 19, 2005, http:/www.nvic.org) platinum-tipped electrodes, each a millimetre long and only 90 microns at the base. These pick up the brain's electrical signals which are then transmitted to a computer via slender gold wires connected to each electrode. This technology promises profound changes for the lives of millions of paral- ysed and handicapped individuals, but its implications run much deeper and may one day affect us all. Now scientists are read- ing this cortex-generated electrical infor- mation, much like your first CD player read songs. Very soon they plan to be able to "write" information as well, just like a CD burner. This could change how we communi- cate: we could think directly at our friends instead of speaking, learn in our sleep and remember perfectly. Our memories could be stored "off line" on some external device. More importantly, the BrainGate would affect how we interact with our environment. (Source: PhysOrg News, November 1, 2005, http:/www. physorg.com/news7746.html) Court was opposed by 11 EU governments: Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, The Netherlands, Germany, France, the UK, Spain, Portugal and Greece. In principle, the judgement gives the EU the power to impose criminal sanctions for all breaches of EU law. It greatly extends the power of the non-elected Brussels- based EU Commission, which would have the exclusive right to propose such crimi- nal sanctions to be adopted by majority vote of the Council of Ministers. Traditionally the European Court of Justice has worked hand in glove with the Commission, as both are supranational institutions that benefit from increasing supranational powers. In the words of one of its judges, the ECJ is a "court with a mission"—that mission being to extend the supranational powers of the EU and its institutions to the utmost. The ruling means that the European Commission can propose an EU crime that, if passed by the European Parliament and a qualified majority of Member States, must be adopted by all Member States even though a particular government and parliament may be against it. This means that a particular EU Member State can be forced to introduce a crime into its law if enough other EU States support it. It also gives the Commission the power to compel members to enforce EU criminal law if governments drag their heels or if their courts refuse to sentence people for breaches of EU laws. (Source: Team Europe, September 30, 2005, http:/www.teameurope.info) BRAIN CHIPS MAKE UNIVERSAL SOLDIERS ONE STEP CLOSER pparently the Pentagon has decided that one of the things its soldiers are missing is brains, or at least the ability to remember details of their training. Could microchips implanted in their brains create super-soldiers? Researchers at the University of Southern California's bio-engineering department have developed a chip which they claim acts in exactly the same way as the hippocampus, the part of the brain that deals with memory. The chip can send out electrical signals which are similar to how the hippocampus operates. So far the chip has worked well on dead rats, and the Pentagon hopes that one day experiments will be carried out on soldiers. Clearly none of these boffins or Pentagon experts reads science fiction, or they would not be doing this. (Source: Inquirer, UK, October 25, 2005) EU WINS POWER TO IMPRISON NATIONAL CITIZENS n unprecedented ruling on 13 September 2005 by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg gives Brussels the power to introduce har- monised criminal law across the European Union (EU), creating for the first time a body of European criminal law that all Member States must adopt. The judgement by the EU Supreme ——____—. THE BRAINGATE CHIP magine being able to control your envi- ronment simply by thinking. Ten years ago, this technology was thought by many scientists to be impossible because of the complexity of the human brain. Matthew Nagel, a C4 paralytic (paralysed from the neck down) has been playing pong, drawing circles and manipulating a computer with thoughts alone via the BrainGate. It's a small chip, 2 mm’, and is surgically implanted onto the surface of the brain. Extending down into the cortex are a hundred thin, Sete NEXUS +7 "Lused to be a ‘convict’. Now I'm a ‘spatially circumscribed State customer'." DECEMBER 2005 — JANUARY 2006 www.nexusmagazine.com