Fear after Bissau death threats

Guinea-Bissau's justice minister has said she has received death threats over the arrest of five people suspected of drugs trafficking.Carmelita Pires said she was scared but the government would not be intimidated and would continue investigations.
Her comments came two days after Guinea-Bissau's attorney general also said he had received death threats.The arrests were made after at least one plane thought to have arrived from South America was seized last month.uthorities arrested three Venezuelans as well as the head of air traffic control at the airport and his deputy.Antonio Mazzitelli, West Africa director of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, said no drugs had been found on the plane - despite reports that hundreds of kilos of cocaine had been seized.Drug-sniffing dogs had indicated the plane was carrying cocaine, but authorities had to wait five days before seizing it.

Drugs 'cause' higher death rate

Scotland's higher death rate compared with England and Wales is partly down to greater drug use, a new investigation has suggested.

A Glasgow University study, published in the British Medical Journal, said a third of the additional deaths north of the Border resulted from drug abuse. Higher death rates have traditionally been blamed on deprivation. Scotland's death rate is 15% higher than in England and Wales and the gap has widened over the past 30 years.Glasgow University researchers, who studied more than 1,000 problem users starting treatment, said the problem in Scotland was proportionately twice as bad as that in England and Wales - but many drug-related deaths were not recorded as such. They included deaths associated with infections, assaults and suicides which could be linked to a drug-taking lifestyle, and which could account for much of the excess Scottish mortality rate.The researchers concluded that successful public health campaigns to cut the number of drug users would have a strong impact on deaths throughout the UK.