Actor’s death spotlights heroin epidemic

Actor’s death spotlights heroin epidemic
Crown Prince in Oman for four-day official visit
‘Dislikes’ fail to keep people off Facebook
Google provides glimpse at secret US requests for data
Student kills two in school hostage crisis
Vietnamese diplomat seeks asylum in Switzerland

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 06:11 PM PST

The shocking death of Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman from a suspected drugs overdose has spotlighted a growing epidemic of heroin use across the United States, officials warn.

Hoffman, a 46-year-old father of three who was considered one of the finest character actors of his generation, was found lying on his apartment bathroom floor with a needle still stuck in his arm.

Empty and full bags of heroin were found in the apartment and while the autopsy will confirm the precise cause of death, few expect any announcement other than an overdose.

"Heroin is a growing epidemic," US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) spokesman Joseph Moses told AFP.

US heroin-overdose deaths rose by 45 percent from 2006 to 2010, and the amount of heroin seized each year on the Mexican border was up nearly four times from 2008 to 2012, he said.

"First time users are younger than they were years ago and it's not in the cities anymore, it's gone into rural areas, into suburbia," Moses said.

Hoffman is now the second high-profile actor in months whose death has been linked to the class A drug.

Cory Monteith, the 31-year-old Canadian star of hit TV series "Glee", died of an accidental heroin and alcohol overdose in a Vancouver hotel room last July.

Renewed heroin use comes years after New York quashed its reputation as the heroin capital of the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, and the opiate became something of a taboo.

It was a city where late rocker Lou Reed wrote "Heroin" in the 1960s about the drug that makes you feel "just like Jesus' son."

Indelibly tied to the spread of HIV in the 1980s, use of heroin became a taboo as certain death and for its potent addictiveness.

But the DEA says that is changing, thanks to increased production in Mexico, increased smuggling and users increasingly addicted to prescription opiates then swapping to cheaper heroin.

It was this progression that Hoffman last year confessed to, telling TMZ that he had relapsed back into heroin following a spell on prescription painkillers after having been clean for 20 years.

"Heroin is death. There is no such thing as a good batch of heroin as opposed to a tainted batch," Moses said.

"Unfortunately it takes the death of a very talented actor to bring it home to people… although we've been seeing it (heroin use) go up for years," he added.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health said last September that the number of Americans who had used heroin in the past year had risen from 373,000 in 2007 to 669,000 in 2012.

The National Institute of Drug Abuse says 4.2 million Americans have tried heroin at least once during their lives, and 23 percent of individuals who use heroin become dependent.

Police have also impounded more and more caches.

In New York only last week 13 kilos (33 pounds) of heroin worth $8 million were seized in the Bronx.

Also impounded were hundreds of thousands of glassine bags stamped with brand names such as "NFL" (in a nod to Sunday's Super Bowl football final), "iPhone" or "government shutdown".

Envelopes reportedly found in Hoffman's house were marked "Ace of Spades" and "Ace of Hearts," with New York police now on the hunt for the dealer who sold him the lethal cocktail.

"Heroin is pummeling the northeast, leaving addiction, overdoses and fear in its wake," announced DEA acting special agent in charge James Hunt after the Bronx raid.

Special narcotics prosecutor Bridget Brennan said the seizure should open "everyone's eyes to the magnitude of the heroin problem confronting us.

"We've heard from public officials throughout the Northeast of soaring addiction within their own localities," she said.

New Yorkers aged 45 to 54, Hoffman's age group, are also those experiencing the highest death rate from heroin poisoning, according to the city's department of health.

The Drug Policy Alliance charity says that of 115,000 people receiving methadone in the United States, 40,000 live in New York.-AFP

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

Crown Prince in Oman for four-day official visit

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:17 PM PST

Muscat, Oman: His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister's Office, and Her Royal Highness Paduka Seri Pengiran Anak Isteri Pengiran Anak Sarah arrived in Muscat, the Sultanate of Oman yesterday, for a four-day official visit, ©BRUDIRECT.COM reported.

Accompanying Their Royal Highnesses are His Royal Highness Prince 'Abdul Muntaqim and Her Royal Highness Princess Muneerah Madhul Bolkiah.

Their Royal Highnesses were greeted upon arrival by His Highness Sayyid Fahad Mahmoud Al-Said, Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers of the Sultanate of Oman; Yousuf Alawi Abdullah, Foreign Minister of the Sultanate of Oman; and Dr Mohammed Hamad al Rumhi, Minister of Oil and Gas as Minister-in-Attendance.

Also welcoming Their Royal Highnesses were Dato Seri Setia Dr Hj Awg Besar Hj Abu Bakar, Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam to the Sultanate of Oman and a representative from the Diwan Royal Court.

His Royal Highness and His Highness Sayyid Fahad then proceeded to the dais to receive a salute of honor. The National Anthem of Brunei Darussalam was played followed by the National Anthem of the Sultanate of Oman.

His Royal Highness later inspected the guard of honor accompanied by His Highness Sayyid Fahad. After the inspection, Their Royal Highnesses were introduced to the Mission of Honor (Sheikh Ahmed Hashil Al Maskri, Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman to Brunei Darussalam; Lieutenant Colonel Suroor Mohammed Al Hadhrami, ADC to His Royal Highness; Mohamed Nasser Al Dhuli, Royal Protocol; Naseemah Ibrahim A'Shekhaniah, Royal Protocol), ministers, Army Brigadiers of Oman, and foreign ambassadors. This was followed by an introduction to the official delegation of Brunei Darussalam to His Highness Sayyid Fahad.

Their Royal Highnesses together with His Highness Sayyid Fahad later proceeded to the Grand Hall at the VIP Terminal before boarding a motorcade to the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Muscat.

Their Royal Highnesses were greeted upon arrival by Garry Friend, the General Manager of the hotel and were introduced to the hotel officials.

Also at the hotel to welcome Their Royal Highnesses were Brunei Darussalam citizens in Oman.

Accompanying Their Royal Highnesses during the visit are Dato Paduka Awg Hj Ali Hj Apong, Deputy Minister at the Prime Minister's Office.

The official visit of Their Royal Highnesses to the Sultanate of Oman is hosted by His Highness Sayyid Fahad Mahmoud Al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers of the Sultanate of Oman.

Earlier, prior leaving Brunei for Oman, a Doa Selamat was read by Pehin Siraja Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Hj Awg Yahya Hj Ibrahim.

Present at His Majesty the Sultan's Hangar to bid farewell to Their Royal Highnesses were Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran Cheterias; Cabinet Ministers; Member of the Privy Council; the Commander of Royal Brunei Armed Forces; the Commissioner of Police; Permanent Secretaries at the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Ministry of Education with their respective spouses.

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

‘Dislikes’ fail to keep people off Facebook

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:10 PM PST

There's a lot that users dislike about Facebook, but that hasn't kept people off the world's biggest social network.

A survey released Monday found more than half of Americans who use Facebook are turned off by the notion that people are sharing too much information about themselves. Some 36 percent said they "strongly dislike" this and another 25 percent said they "dislike" the idea.

A similar percentage said they didn't like the fact that they showed up in pictures without giving permission. And among users with children, nearly three in four objected to the posting of pictures of their kids without permission, said the Pew Research Center survey.

Yet the survey — released as Facebook celebrates its 10th anniversary — suggests no slowing momentum for the network, which has more than 1.2 billion users worldwide.

Users said they appreciate photos and videos from friends — 47 percent of respondents said that is a major reason they use the site. And 46 percent said a key reason for using Facebook is the ability to share with many people at once.

Half of all the Facebook users surveyed said they had more than 200 friends. Among those in the 18-29 age bracket, one in four had 500 friends or more.

Pew provided further analysis for a survey released last year which showed 71 percent of Americans who use the Internet were on Facebook, making it the dominant social networking platform.

The research center said that among the non-Facebook users, 52 percent had someone in their household who used it. That included 66 percent of parents with a child living at home who do not use Facebook themselves, but had someone in their home with a Facebook account.

The research is based on a survey of 1,801 adults conducted from August 7 to September 16. For results based on the 960 Facebook users, the margin of error is estimated at 3.5 percentage points.-AFP

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

Google provides glimpse at secret US requests for data

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:08 PM PST

Google on Monday for the first time provided a glimpse into the numbers of secret requests for user data are made by the US in the name of fighting terrorism.

US officials used the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to ask for information from between 9,000 and 10,000 Google user accounts in the first six months of 2013, and between 12,000 to 13,000 accounts in the six months prior to that, according to a blog post.

Release of such data was subject to a six-month delay under terms of an arrangement with the US Department of Justice to let Internet firms be slightly more open about how much information is sought under authority of FISA court orders.

"Publishing these numbers is a step in the right direction, and speaks to the principles for reform that we announced with other companies last December," Google law enforcement and information security legal director Richard Salgado said in a blog post.

"But we still believe more transparency is needed so everyone can better understand how surveillance laws work and decide whether or not they serve the public interest."

Google included the FISA request numbers in a routinely released Transparency Report about efforts by governments to legally obtain data from the California-based Internet titan.

Last week, US authorities agreed to give technology firms the ability to publish broad details of how their customer data has been targeted by US spy agencies. The agreement came amid litigation from tech giants Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft and Yahoo.

The companies have been seeking the right to release figures on vast surveillance of online and phone communications, in the wake of leaked documents from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.-AFP

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

Student kills two in school hostage crisis

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:06 PM PST

Armed hostage-taker detained after killing teacher and cop in Moscow school amid security jitters

MOSCOW: An armed student yesterday briefly took 20 teenagers hostage in a Moscow school and killed a policeman and a teacher before being detained amid security jitters ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

Police said a student armed with a gun forced a security guard to lead him to a specific classroom in the school on the northern outskirts of Moscow and then locked himself inside with about 20 teenage pupils and the class teacher.

He then opened fire through a window at scores of police who had rushed to the scene. Security officials said the student made no demands and did not conduct negotiations with officials during the broad daylight raid.

"He killed a policeman and wounded another," Russian interior ministry spokesman Andrei Pilipchuk told the state-run Vesti-24 news channel.

"He also killed the teacher." The Russian interior ministry said the hostage-taker had been detained during a police raid on the school and that all the students were now safe and unharmed.

"None of the students have been harmed," Pilipchuk told Vesti 24. "They are all alive and well."

Police said the hostage-taker was one of the school's upper-class students but did not release his name. Schools in Russia usually house children from first to 11th grades.

Live footage showed a group of children running from the school and an emergencies ministry police helicopter hovering overhead.

Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev and Russia's powerful Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin both immediately rushed to the scene of a crisis that underscored the security problems facing Russia as it prepares to host the Winter Games in Sochi on Friday.

Security has been a prime concern for President Vladimir Putin – his personal and political prestige linked closely to the Game's success – because Sochi rests near the volatile North Caucasus region where Russia has been battling an Islamic insurgency for most of the past two decades.

Islamists who want to carve out their own state in southern Russia have vowed to stage deadly attacks during the Games that would undermine Putin and show that he lacks control over the vast country.

Russia has been on heightened alert ever since succesive-day late December suicide strikes in the southern Russian city of Volgograd killed 34 people at a railway station and on a trolleybus.

The attack was later claimed by two young men from Russia's North Caucasus in a video message that promised more attacks.

Security analysts believe that Sochi itself will be relatively safe both for athletes and visitors because of the extraordinary security precautions that have been taken at the Black Sea resort port.

Russia has deployed 37,000 security personnel around Sochi and is also patrolling the Black Sea for possible signs of an attack.

But analysts point out that the extra security measures being taken around the Olympic host city may leave other parts of the country exposed.

Many of the foreign visitors arriving for the Games will enter Russia through Moscow before travelling on to Sochi. — AFP

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

Vietnamese diplomat seeks asylum in Switzerland

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 04:05 PM PST

GENEVA: A Vietnamese diplomat once posted at the country's consulate in Geneva said he has sought political asylum in Switzerland, just days before a UN review of Vietnam's human rights record.

Dang Xuong Hung, who served as the consul from 2008 to 2012, when he formally withdrew from the Vietnamese Communist Party, told Geneva station Leman Bleu on Sunday that he had applied for Swiss asylum last October.

"The Berlin wall fell 25 years ago, but Vietnam is still under a communist regime," he said.

"The Vietnamese Communist Party persists with its aim to continue the dictatorship, to continue with a one-party regime." Dang, who began working for the Vietnamese foreign ministry in 1983, blamed the one-party system for "the total crisis" Vietnam was experiencing in all areas.

"There is an economic crisis, a political crisis, and crisis in education, in health," he said, adding that he hoped his defection would prompt others to follow his lead.

The news came ahead of a review before the UN's top human rights body of Vietnam's rights record.

In a letter to the Vietnamese delegation attending the so-called Universal Periodic Review before the UN Human rights Council, Dang voiced empathy with diplomats who "care about Vietnam, but are shackled by invisible bonds".

He urged the delegation to openly admit to Vietnam's violations.

"Once we dare speak the truth, we won't have to waste time dishonestly concealing the facts," he wrote.

Rights groups meanwhile decried that an independent journalist and civil society advocate scheduled to speak on the sidelines of the UPR in Geneva this week had been blocked from leaving Vietnam.

"We are alarmed at the Hanoi government's attempts to silence Pham Chi Dung," Hillel Neuer, head of Geneva-based rights group UN Watch, said in a statement.

UN Watch and Vietnamese pro-democracy group Viet Tan had invited Pham, who publicly quit the Communist Party last December, to speak at a side event on Tuesday focused on Vietnam's responsibilities as a new member of the Human Rights Council.

Police had prevented him from boarding his flight in Saigon on Saturday, even though he held a valid Vietnamese passport and a Swiss visa, they said.

"Only authoritarian governments deny citizens their freedom of travel and right to free expression," Viet Tan spokesman Duy Hoang said.

The organisers said Pham's message would be conveyed at Tuesday's event even if he could not attend physically. — AFP

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.