The first and pivotal negotiations over global access to AIDS drugs began in Geneva in 1991. They lasted two years, but confidential minutes suggest they were doomed the first day.

Early in 1986, the World Health Organization in Geneva still regarded AIDS as an ailment of the promiscuous few.

In 1995, Glaxo bought Burroughs Wellcome and became the presumptive leader in AIDS therapy.

There is evidence that some of al Qaeda's nuclear efforts over the years met with swindles and false leads.

The first reports of AIDS closely followed the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan, whose 'family values' agenda and alliance with Christian conservatives associated AIDS with deviance and sin.

First developed as a weapon by the U.S. Army, VX is an oily, odorless and tasteless liquid that kills on contact with the skin or when inhaled in aerosol form. Like other nerve agents, it is treatable in the first minutes after exposure but otherwise leads swiftly to fatal convulsions and respiratory failure.