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Swiss voters make heroin program permanent
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Published: December 1, 2008
GENEVA -- The world's most comprehensive legalized heroin program became permanent yesterday with overwhelming approval from Swiss voters who simultaneously rejected the decriminalization of marijuana.
The heroin program, started in 1994, is offered in 23 centers across Switzerland. It has helped eliminate scenes of large groups of drug users shooting up openly in parks that marred Swiss cities in the 1980s and 1990s and is credited with reducing crime and improving the health and daily lives of addicts.
The nearly 1,300 selected addicts, who have not been helped by other therapies, visit one of the centers twice a day to get a carefully measured dose of heroin produced by a government-approved laboratory.
Violence that left hundreds dead is quelled in Nigeria
JOS, Nigeria -- Troops on foot and in armored personnel carriers appeared yesterday to have quelled two days of violence that left hundreds dead in a central Nigerian city.
Fearful residents who had been trapped in their homes ventured out in search of water as many of the dead were buried.
Military units moving into the city of Jos strengthened roadblocks. Streets were mostly empty. Police said they had arrested hundreds of people since the violence flared early Friday after a disputed local election.
By late Saturday, at least 300 bodies had been brought to the city's main mosque for prayers before a quick burial, its imam said. The final death toll could be much higher, since many Christians are also presumed to have died when the political violence quickly took a sectarian turn.
Search for bodies resumes in flood-ravaged Brazil
SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Rescue workers took advantage of clear skies yesterday to resume searching for victims of devastating floods that have killed 114 people and ravaged several cities in southern Brazil.
Heavy rains subsided, allowing authorities to continue looking for 19 people thought to be missing across Santa Catarina state and to hurry aid to about 80,000 people whom floods have driven from their homes.
Nearly 80,000 people were taking shelter in churches, schools, gymnasiums and other public buildings, relying on volunteers and troops for medicine, food, water and clothes.
Mexican president pledges to fight against drug lords
MEXICO CITY -- President Felipe Calderon pledged yesterday to clean up corruption within his administration and vowed that his government would never negotiate with drug lords.
Promising to continue the battle against organized crime, no matter how violent it gets, he said he would push President-elect Obama to do his part north of the border. Calderon has long said that the U.S. must do more to fight drug consumption and stop the illegal flow of weapons south into Mexico.
Calderon's sweeping crackdown on powerful drug cartels has in recent weeks been shaken by a nationwide corruption scandal.
Pirates may release ship carrying tanks and arms
MOSCOW -- Somali pirates have agreed on a ransom for a Ukrainian freighter carrying tanks and other heavy weapons and it could be released within days, a spokesman said yesterday.
Mikhail Voitenko said that the MV Faina could be freed with its crew if agreement is reached on how to get the ransom money to the pirates, who seized the ship off the coast of Somalia in late September. He said that there were negotiations Friday.
Pirate attacks off Somalia have surged more than 75 percent this year, and the seizure of the Faina raised particular concern because of its cargo of 33 tanks and other weapons and ammunition. Its Russian captain died days after the hijacking, and the ship and its 20-member crew are still being held off Somalia.
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