Cyanide

Funeral arrangements for Benjamin Edward Vassiliev, the Centennial High School senior who was fatally poisoned last week, have been set. Viewings will be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. today at the Harry H. Witzke Family Funeral Home, 4112 Old Columbia Pike in Ellicott City. The funeral will be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at St. John Episcopal Church, 9210 Frederick Road in Ellicott City. Donations can be made to: Johns Hopkins Children's Center, attention: Laverne Lowery, 100 N. Charles St., 1 Charles Center Suite 200, Baltimore 21201.

TOKYO -- Japanese authorities offered details yesterday about the foiling of another attempted poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, this one involving cyanide gas in one of the city's busiest subway stations.No one was seriously injured in the incident, which occurred at about 7:40 p.m. Friday, a busy time in the subway.But it recalled the nerve gas attack on March 20, which killed 12 people in the subway, injured 5,500 and raised new fears about random terrorism in Japan.The latest episode, which police are investigating as attempted murder, began when someone left two vinyl bags of chemicals side by side on the floor of a men's restroom in the Shinjuku subway station.

Benjamin Edward Vassiliev had recently finished writing the first chapters of a science fiction novel. Yesterday, friends and family closed the last chapter of his life. Vassiliev, a 17-year-old Centennial High School senior who died Wednesday of cyanide poisoning, was buried in the St. John's Episcopal Church cemetery in Ellicott City yesterday after a funeral service at the church, attended by nearly 200 people. Vassiliev drank a poisoned soda Jan. 3 while playing video games with childhood friend Ryan Thomas Furlough, Howard County police say. Furlough was romantically interested in Vassiliev's girlfriend and had spiked the soda with cyanide, according to police charging documents.

Lawyers for an Ellicott City teen-ager accused of fatally poisoning a classmate last year by spiking his soda with cyanide have decided not to pursue an insanity defense. Instead, they hope that a Howard County judge will allow them to present evidence at trial that Ryan T. Furlough, 19, was so emotionally and mentally impaired at the time that he could not have willfully planned Benjamin Edward Vassiliev's death - and therefore could not possibly be guilty of first-degree, premeditated murder, according to information presented in new court filings and during a court hearing yesterday.

The state Department of the Environment will conduct a public meeting and hearing tomorrow to discuss a request by Ridge Engineering of Hampstead for a permit to discharge treated wastewater into sewers leading to the Hampstead Wastewater Treatment Plant.The meeting will be at 10:30 a.m. in the Dixon Room of the Carroll County Public Library's Westminster branch on Main Street. A public hearing on the request will follow the meeting.Department of the Environment officials said the company has requested a permit for an intermittent discharge of 2,000 gallons per day of treated wastewater from metal-finishing operations.

A motions hearing for an Ellicott City man accused of fatally poisoning his friend was postponed yesterday because doctors have not completed a psychological evaluation. Ryan Thomas Furlough, 18, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Benjamin Edward Vassiliev. Furlough is accused of slipping potassium cyanide into Vassiliev's soft drink in January as the two Centennial High School students played video games. Police say Furlough was romantically interested in Vassiliev's girlfriend.

Motions in the murder case of Ryan T. Furlough, the Centennial High School senior accused of fatally poisoning a classmate by spiking his soda with cyanide, were postponed yesterday after his lawyers said they are waiting for a psychological evaluation of their client. The evaluation will help attorneys decide whether an insanity plea is warranted, but it has been held up because the psychiatrist retained for the case has been in poor health, said Joseph Murtha, one of two attorneys representing Furlough.

Lawyers for Donald Thomas, an inmate on Maryland's death row, will argue in Baltimore County Circuit Court next week that they be allowed to videotape John Frederick Thanos' execution and monitor his brain waves.The hearing is scheduled for Oct. 22.Sewall B. Smith, warden of the Maryland Penitentiary and the man who will carry out the execution, already has denied both requests. He also has denied a request that a doctor for Thomas' defense witness the execution, scheduled for the first week of November.

An 18-year-old Centennial High School senior accused of fatally poisoning a friend by spiking his soda with cyanide and a Dundalk High School teacher accused of sexually assaulting a girl he met on the Internet were indicted yesterday in separate high-profile cases. A Howard County grand jury returned an indictment charging first-degree murder, poisoning, felony assault and reckless endangerment against Ryan T. Furlough in the death Jan. 8 of Centennial senior Benjamin Edward Vassiliev.

WITH U.S. TROOPS, SAUDI ARABIA -- With a major ground war seemingly imminent, U.S. commanders say they are certain that Iraq will use chemical weapons against U.S. soldiers.That will leave the first U.S. troops entering Kuwait fighting in gas masks and bulky chemical protective suits, cutting down their effectiveness and slowing the pace of battle.In reaching their conclusion, the commanders are depending on a flurry of recent intelligence gathered from captured Iraqi troops and other sources:* Iraq distributed different types of chemical rounds to division commanders, apparently giving these leaders the authority to use them in ground combat, military intelligence sources say.* The Iraqis may be putting cyanide in rocket-propelled grenades and other types of rounds, one officer said, giving them the ability to kill a tank crew and take over the vehicle.