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Smoke it if you’ve got it. That pretty much sums up the approach of London Mayor Sadiq Khan to personal drug use as he backed calls Wednesday for small quantities of cannabis to be decriminalised and “negate problems between the police and ethnic communities.” He was endorsing a report by the London Drugs Commission, chaired by former Labour cabinet minister Lord Falconer, which makes 42 recommendations, including removing natural cannabis from the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA). Lord Falconer told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme, “continuing to have possession as a crime meant continuing have problems between the police and...

A boy with no official nationality who lives in Thailand captured third place in a Japanese paper aeroplane contest on Sunday after his tearful pleas to be allowed to attend prompted authorities to grant him a rare temporary passport for the event. Mong Thongdee prepares to let fly during the individual indoor flight competition Mong Thongdee, 12, won a national paper aeroplane championship in Thailand in August 2008 after he threw a plane that flew for 12 seconds, and was later chosen to attend the Japanese contest in Chiba, near Tokyo. But Mong, who lives in Chiang Mai in northern...

Created by adminLast modified 2005-08-03 00:08

In April 2005, an ascetic Buddhist monk who lived in the forest in Ka Li village tract, in Kun-Hing township, was tortured and beaten to death by SPDC troops from LIB524, at a cave called Tham Loi Mon about 2 miles east of Ka Li village. The monk, widely known as Zao Sin Man (meaning the one who firmly observes the Buddhist moral precepts), mostly lived in the forests and practised meditation in caves. He was a native of Murng Nawng village in Murng Nawng village tract, Kae-See township, and had assumed the monkhood since his teens many years ago....

The Third Army yesterday defended its decision to push back 2,000 Shan civilians taking shelter from a disputed Thai-Burmese border territory, saying its reasons were security-based. Deputy commander Maj-Gen Manas Paorik said the repatriation was justified as the Shans were not classified as refugees fleeing fighting, but illegal migrants. He said some had been in the area for more than a year and were relatives of Shan soldiers. The plan, that calls for the repatriation of Shan civilians, including 200 orphans, drew criticism from human rights groups and Shan State Army chief Col Yawd Serk. Human Rights Watch has called...

....according to a local ethnic Chinese businessman "I'm expecting 20 more trucks coming this evening," he told a family friend. "The last convoy had already brought in 4,000 blocks (1 block = 350 gm) of heroin. I know many will not agree with me but this war is certainly good for business." According to an earlier reports, the Wa have already shipped down at least 1.4 tons of heroin and 14 million pills of methamphetamines to the border on 11 April.