Daily News Channel
Ketamine has become the drug of choice among young people, as the number of people under 21 taking drugs has surged 57 percent in the last four years in Hong Kong, said Commissioner for Narcotics, Sally Wong.
The number of abortions performed in China each year tops 13 million, with inadequate knowledge of contraception playing a major role in the annual tally, state-run media reported. “Sex education needs to be strengthened, with universities and our society giving more guidance,” Li Ying, a professor at Peking University, told China Daily.
China, often criticized for its liberal use of the death penalty, will reduce the number of criminal executions it carries out, a top official said. “As it is impossible for the country to abolish capital punishment under current realities and social security conditions, it is an important effort to strictly control the application of the penalty by judicial organs,” Zhang Jun, vice president of the Supreme People’s Court, said in an interview with Legal Daily, the state-run China Daily reported. “Judicial departments should use the least number of death sentences as possible, and death penalties should not be given to those having a reason for not being executed,” Zhang said.
There were 100,000 new cases of swine flu in England last week, nearly double the number from the previous seven days, authorities announced Friday. Children 14 or younger were those predominantly affected, with those older than 65 showing much lower rates, the Department of Health said in its weekly swine flu update.
A UK government minister on Wednesday reopened the dispute over support for troops in Afghanistan by insisting they had insufficient helicopters. Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch-Brown, who is resigning from the government later this week, said: “We definitely don’t have enough helicopters,” adding that “mobility” was vital for operations in southern Afghanistan, where British troops are battling a resurgent Taliban. Malloch-Brown also questioned Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s claim that the war was being fought to prevent Afghan terrorists carrying out attacks on Britain
The death of a Canadian soldier in battle-scarred Afghanistan on Thursday brings this month’s toll of international military fatalities in the war to 47, the highest monthly tally so far, a CNN count of official statistics shows. The Canadian soldier was killed while he was conducting operations in the Panjwayi District in Kandahar province, the Canadian military said.
The office of the wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair refused to comment Thursday on UK media reports that she has swine flu. A spokeswoman for Cherie Blair told CNN: “This is a private matter and we will not be making a comment.” Blair was reported to have contracted the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, on Tuesday, according to the British Press Association and various media reports.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown defended the military mission in Afghanistan amid tough questions Wednesday from the opposition leader. Speaking the day after eight British soldiers killed in Afghanistan were laid to rest, Brown also defended the volume of equipment — specifically helicopters — supplied to troops in Afghanistan. Conservative Party leader David Cameron said the number of helicopters in Afghanistan is “simply insufficient” and is “the basic problem” facing British troops there.
U.S.
I doubt that any of us have ever considered any of our past vice-presidential candidates a sex symbol.