CAN the “War on Drugs” ever be won? History is not encouraging — nor is the latest United Nations report on the state of hostilities. The lessons are particularly depressing for Afghanistan and for the role that Britain has shouldered there. The best news is that use of heroin and cocaine is dropping in the US and some other countries. But their place has been taken by pharmaceutical and prescription drugs, made in developed countries, traded over the Internet and delivered by post. The most threatening “pandemic”, warns Hamid Ghodse, President of the International Narcotics Control Board (ICRB), is of “crystal meth”, an addictive drug popular among clubbers and gay men. There are not many success stories in this “war”, as US politicians call it, an expensive assault stretching back over more than 30 years. ...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
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Editor - 19:50:00 02-28-06
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 Senate Panel Votes to Disclose Trips, Curb Earmarks |
A U.S. Senate panel, under pressure to respond to scandals, approved a measure that would force lawmakers to disclose details about privately funded trips and make it harder for them to insert pet projects into legislation. The Rules Committee unanimously approved the measure -- the Senate's first step toward overhauling lobbying rules -- and the bill will be merged with legislation scheduled for a vote Thursday by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said he will bring the combined legislation to the Senate floor next week. Congress is seeking to rein in lobbyists' influence amid the scandal involving Jack Abramoff and the resignation of Republican Representative Randy Cunningham, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion in connection with bribes over defense contracts. ...
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aM7vfeE2p__0&refer=home
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Editor - 19:46:00 02-28-06
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| At Least 68 People Killed in Baghdad As Iraq Teeters on the Brink of Sectarian Civil War |
Sunnis and Shiites traded bombings and mortar fire against mainly religious targets in Baghdad well into the night Tuesday, killing at least 68 people a day after authorities lifted a curfew that had briefly calmed a series of sectarian reprisal attacks. At least six of Tuesday's attacks hit clearly religious targets, concluding with a car bombing after sundown at the Shiite Abdel Hadi Chalabi mosque in the Hurriyah neighborhood that killed 23 and wounded 55. A separate suicide bombing killed 23 people at an east Baghdad gas station, where people had lined up to buy kerosine. In addition to those known to have been killed Tue, police found nine more bullet-riddled bodies, including a Sunni Muslim tribal sheik, off a road southeast of Baghdad. It was unclear when they died. The surge of violence deepened the trauma of residents already shaken by fears the country was teetering on the brink of sectarian civil war, threatened talks among Iraqi politicians struggling to form a government...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1671602&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
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Editor - 17:11:00 02-28-06
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| U.N. troops in 'heavy fighting' with Congo militia |
Thousands of Congo government soldiers and hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers battled ethnic militia fighters on Tuesday for control of an eastern town, killing some government troops, the United Nations said.U.N. peacekeepers backed up by helicopter gunships and mortar fire fought alongside the national army to retake control of Tchei, 60 kilometers (37 miles) southwest of Bunia in Ituri district, where militia violence has killed 60,000 people since 1999."There is heavy fighting going on," said U.N. military spokesman Major Hans-Jakob Reichen. "The armed groups are trying to break the strangle(hold) that the joint forces have put around them.""Our operation will not stop until the rule of law is established in the Tchei area. We have engaged with attack helicopters and mortars. Men in (armored personnel carriers) and soldiers on the ground are also fighting," he said....
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/02/28/congo.fighting.reut/index.html?section=cnn_world
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Editor - 16:45:00 02-28-06
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| Group sues over Abramoff White House visits Group wants access to logs to determine frequency of lobbyist’s meetings |
A public-interest group has sued the Secret Service for access to White House visitor logs that the group says would show how often lobbyist Jack Abramoff met with President Bush and his staff.Judicial Watch filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington under the federal Freedom of Information Act, claiming that the Secret Service failed to meet a Feb. 21 deadline for releasing the records or indicating how much more time it would need.Secret Service spokesman Tom Mazur said Tuesday that the agency was unaware of the lawsuit. He had no other comment. Abramoff pleaded guilty in January to federal charges stemming from his lobbying practices and pledged to cooperate with investigators....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11608593/from/RSS/
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Editor - 16:39:00 02-28-06
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| Milosevic bid to subpoena Clinton |
Lawyers representing Slobodan Milosevic have asked the U.N. war crimes tribunal to issue a subpoena to force former U.S. President Bill Clinton to testify at his trial, documents showed on Tuesday."In his position as former president of the United States, Mr Clinton had a continuous role and unique knowledge of events relevant to the indictment," the lawyers said in a written request filed last week but only made public on Tuesday.Lawyers Steven Kay and Gillian Higgins said his evidence was needed to make sure the trial was "informed and fair".They said Milosevic had written a personal letter to Clinton asking him to testify but had not received a response. They added the U.S. embassy in The Hague had written to them last year explaining the opposition of the U.S. government to the request....
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/02/28/milosovic.clinton.reut/index.html?section=cnn_world
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Editor - 15:41:00 02-28-06
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