Informed Comment
Aljazeera English reports on the Iraqi drug smugglers moving Afghanistan’s drugs from Iran into the Gulf and Europe. The reports says the Afghans produce 8200 tons of heroin every year. 2500 of that goes into Iran. Iranians consume 500 tons, and the Islamic Republic’s security officials confiscate 500 tons. The remaining 1500 tons goes [...]

UK: Drug Resistance Superflu
…The potent virus, which is more likely to trigger serious complications in patients, is a strain of the previously known H1N1 influenza virus, but cannot be treated with the most common flu drug, Tamiflu.

New Russian law ends jury trials for ‘crimes against state’…President Dmitry Medvedev signs the controversial measure with little publicity. [...]

http://antifascist-calling.blogspot.com…
Antifascist Calling
When Afghan drug kingpin Haji Bashir Noorzai was arrested in New York in 2005, it set off a chain of events that continue to echo today.
A federal jury in Manhattan convicted Noorzai September 22, for his involvement in an international narcotics trafficking conspiracy that sold tens of millions of dollars of heroin on world [...]

Walmart Photo Keychain Comes Preloaded With Malware…“With the Christmas holidays just past and opening up your electronic presents may get you all excited, but not for a selected lot of people who got the Mercury 1.5″ Digital Photo Frame from Walmart (or other stores)…

Giant US air travel data suck fails own privacy tests…But gets cleared [...]

Argentine dig unearths tango cafe …Archaeologists in Argentina have found the remains of a famous tango cafe which operated in Buenos Aires in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In Sinaloa, the drug trade has infiltrated ‘every corner of life’…‘Narcos’ have made their way into government, business and culture in this Pacific state, where [...]

Ukraine plans conversion of Russian base…Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has commissioned a panel to plan for civilian uses for the naval base at Sevastopol when the Russian lease ends in 2017.

Abduction Illuminates Criminality In Mexico: U.S. Expert’s Case An Embarrassment…They ordered the goat. That’s what the kitchen is famous for at the upscale La Principal [...]

In Arizona, sheriff turns county meetings into an exercise in fascism…how would you like to live in a place where law enforcement actually arrests you for applauding briefly at a public county council meeting? Where they threaten and intimidate you just for showing up in the first place?

Biden not ‘ruling out’ Bush prosecution…US Vice President-elect [...]

Reported Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Way Up…A new government report showing huge increases in the incidences of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault over a two-year period in the United States deserves immediate attention from lawmakers and the incoming administration, Human Rights Watch said today. The statistics show a 42-percent increase in reported domestic [...]

Reports reveal concerns over drug use among Canadian military…Illicit drug use and the “high probability” that members of the Canadian Forces are involved in the drug trade are among the major concerns of military officials, according to documents obtained using access to information laws.

2 alleged U.S. spies killed in Pakistan’s tribal region …Suspected militants Sunday [...]

http://www.washingtonpost.com…
Well-Coordinated Cartel Hits Show Greater Sophistication
By William Booth
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, December 12, 2008; A16
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — The hit was fast, bold, lethal. Jesús Huerta Yedra, a top federal prosecutor here, was gunned down last week in a busy intersection 100 yards from the U.S. border in a murder of precise choreography.