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PARIS (AFP) – Indonesia and India on Tuesday were named as the world's biggest catchers of sharks in an EU-backed probe into implementing a new pact to protect seven threatened species of sharks and rays. Indonesia and India account for more than a fifth of global shark catches, according to the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. They head the list of 20 countries that together account for nearly 80 percent of total shark catch reported between 2002 and 2011. The others, in descending order, are Spain, Taiwan, Argentina, Mexico, the United States, Malaysia, Pakistan, Brazil, Japan, France, New Zealand, Thailand,...

The following advertisement, paraphrased for brevity, is currently running in the US state of Colorado, and in slightly edited form across the entire United States: "Needed urgently, 64 tonnes of marijuana, FOB payment $84.48 million, completely legal, opportunity to build business 50-fold." The question is whether Thailand should answer the advert, and further, should Thailand sue the United States at the World Trade Organisation when Washington gets all huffy that another country's farmers and traders are trying to horn in on its developing drug trade. The US movement to legalise "recreational" drugs is well under way. The states of Colorado...