FLESH EATING DRUG REPORTED IN USA

Ahomemade drug that causes severe damage to the flesh of those who use it has reportedly shown up in the U.S. Previously reported in Russia, Krokodil, a disfiguring and potentially lethal mixture of codeine and hydrocarbons such as oil, paint thinner, gasoline or alcohol, has made its way to Arizona.

According to doctors at Banner Poison Control Center, two cases of the drug have been reported in the state in the past week.

“As far as I know, these are the first cases in the United States that are reported... We're extremely frightened," Dr. Frank LoVecchio, the co-medical director at the center, told KLTV.

Users filter and boil the drug before injecting it. Although LoVecchio said users believe the process removes the impurities, they are wrong.

Once injected, the drug causes damage to blood vessels and tissue that cause flesh to rot from the inside out. The horrific sores that some users develop resemble crocodile skin, which lends the street drug its name. The average life expectancy of a krokodil user is about three years, according to KSAZ.

Disturbing images of the drug's grisly side-effects have been reported before. 

The images are said to have originated in Russia, where between a few hundred thousand and a million people injected the drug in 2010, according to Time.

LoVecchio told KLTV that the main attraction to the drug is the cost: It is reportedly 20 times cheaper than heroin, but produces a similar high. He believes that the two cases in Arizona may be related, according to Gawker.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has monitored krokodil, also known as desomorphine since 2011.

Source: HuffPost

MISS PHILIPPINES CROWNED MISS WORLD 2013

Miss Philippines was today crowned Miss World 2013 in a glittering finale on the Indonesian resort island of Bali amid tight security following weeks of hardline Muslim protests.

Megan Young beat five other finalists, including France and Brazil, to win the coveted title in a contest broadcast to more than 180 countries worldwide.

She thanked the judges for choosing her and promised to "be the best Miss World ever".

The 23-year-old pledged to "just be myself in everything I do, to share what I know and to educate people".

The decision to hold the pageant in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country had sparked hardline anger. Heavily armed police and water cannon were guarding the venue in Nusa Dua, southern Bali.

 

• Thousands of hardliners had taken to the streets around the country to protest against the pageant in recent weeks, and radical group the Islamic Defenders' Front had pledged to stage protests today against the pageant. - AFP, September 28, 2013.
• But in the end no demonstrations materialised, and the group limited itself to holding a mass prayer session in a mosque just outside the capital Jakarta to express their opposition.

Source: The Malaysian Insider, To view more pictures on top 10 Miss World participants...

EARTHQUAKE STRIKES PAKISTAN: HUNDREDS DIED IN BALOCHISTAN

A new earthquake has struck the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan, where hundreds of people have already died and thousands more been affected by a previous tremor, the US Geological Survey reports.

The latest earthquake measured 6.8 in magnitude, and occurred about 96km northeast of the city of Awaran, the USGS said on Saturday.

• The quake occurred at a depth of 14.8km, which was similar to Tuesday's 7.7 magnitude earthquake. The epicentres of the two tremors were about 30km apart, according to USGS data.
• "It was not an aftershock it was an independent earthquake," Zahid Rafi, director of the National Seismic Centre of Pakistan, told local news television station Geo TV.
• An AFP reporter in Awaran said that hundreds of patients being treated in the aftermath of the previous quake fled a hospital in panic as the new tremor hit.
• "We are checking but no reports of losses have yet been received," Jan Mohammad Buledi, spokesman for the provincial government, told AFP.
•  At least 359 people were killed, and another 765 injured, when Tuesday's earthquake struck the impoverished region of southwestern Pakistan, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority's official figures.
• Unofficial estimates put the number of dead at more than 500.

The government says that more than 185,000 people have been affected by the tremor, and that rescue and relief activities are being undertaken by the civil administration in conjunction with the army.

The population of Awaran district is scattered over more than 21,000 square kilometres of remote and rugged terrain, where infrastructure is limited, with few medical facilities or even roads.

Source:Al Jazeera,  BBC...More...

GLOBAL WARMING 96% LIKELY TO BE MANMADE?

Top climate scientists blamed mankind more clearly than ever as the main cause of global warming in a report on Friday meant to guide governments in dealing with rising temperatures, delegates said. 

"It's been accepted," Jonathan Lynn, spokesman for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told reporters. 

Delegates said the report raised the probability that most global warming was man-made to 95 per cent, from 90 per cent in its previous report in 2007. 

The report also says that a recent slowdown in warming is unlikely to last. Source: CBC News

RUSSIAN TOURISTS MOST ANNOYING?

According to Zoover World’s holidayreview, about 42 per cent, or almost half of the over 12,000 travelers from 20 European countries surveyed were of the same opinion.

The survey results were also combined with a database analysis on the Zoover website, that saw complaints about Russian tourists in reviews.

Fellow holidaymakers referred to them as "loud", "rude", "ill-mannered" and "anti-social", with the biggest pet peeve being how they pushed in the buffet queue.

For example, Zoover member Monique wrote: "We were staying in one of the better hotels in Turkey. I shall never return due to the massive number of Russians."

"Never before in my life have I come across such rude people," she added.

If you head to Turkey or Egypt, there is a high chance you will run into Russian tourists, advised Zoover.  Turkey came in as the most popular destination for Russians, followed by Egypt, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Tunisia.

The list of wrongdoings committed by Russian tourists is as long as the Volga River. Some of them however are so ridiculous that they seem more of a legend than real offenses to travel etiquette.

They have terrible taste in fashion (happily combining tracksuits with golden jewelery) and appalling table manners (belching and swearing through meals).

It's also within belief that they sport their money around (expecting hotel staff to be their servants) and cut in line in bars.

• They load doggie bags with buffet food and hide sunloungers in their rooms overnight to make sure they get a spot at the pool in the morning Russians on holiday have been named as the most irritating tourists, according to a survey by holiday site Zoover.

Source: Agency

SUDAN PROTESTS OVER FUEL TURN DEADLY, 7 KILLED

Seven protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces during demonstrations in Sudan against a cut in fuel subsidies, medics and relatives say. 
Wednesday's protests in and around the capital Khartoum, which started three days ago, were continuing as night fell. 

Demonstrators set a university building and several petrol stations on fire and blocked the main road to the airport near the Rotana luxury hotel, witnesses said. 

A Reuters news agency reporter saw police fire tear-gas volleys into the crowd, while hundreds of officers and plainclothes security agents armed with guns or batons deployed to the city centre.  Others were seen sitting on the roof of government buildings. 

• Police detained about 20 protesters who were driven away in pickup vehicles, a witness said. "Most areas in Khartoum saw unrest and unauthorised gatherings aimed at damaging property and allowing looting, necessitating police intervention," a police statement said.

Source: Al Jazeera

MISUARI SICK AND HIDING IN SULU PROVINCE

Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) said, Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari is ill and has holed up in Sulu province.

“We have received information that Misuari is in Sulu and that he is sick. I would not know his sickness, but all we know is that he is somewhere in a municipality and a barangay in Sulu. He is being tracked by our police forces so that he can’t leave there,” he told reporters.

President Benigno Aquino 3rd earlier said that the Department of Justice is readying criminal charges against Misuari and his followers who occupied several barangays in Zamboanga City for two weeks. More than hundred people were killed in the clashes that shut down the city.

He revealed that Misuari duped his followers by telling them that they will be joining a peace rally in Zamboanga City. He also made his troops believe that the UN Peacekeeping Force will give them each a gun and P10,000.

“These people were deceived and misinformed. One of Misuari’s men who surrendered to us is telling us the true story but I can’t name him just yet,” Hataman said.

As of Tuesday, the MNLF rebels are still holding 14 hostages after 16 days of fighting.

Rep. Celso Lobregat of Zamboanga City lamented that the fighting had displaced at least 120,000 people.

Lobregat admitted that Zamboanga City is a strategic place for Misuari to launch such an offensive because the city is known for its high economic activity and its coastline stretches for 130 kilometers.

“If they do such a thing in Basilan, Sulu or Tawi-Tawi, nobody from the media will go there to follow them for coverage. Zamboanga, on the other hand, is a stable economic hub”.

“Basically they did it there to get international attention,” he surmised.

Violence is not the answer. So many people have died and the city also lost a lot. Misuari should be charged in court, Lobregat added.

Source: Manila Times