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.

Food crisis looms in East Africa

More than 14 million people in the Horn of Africa need food aid because of drought and rocketing food and fuel prices, the United Nations has warned.
The UN World Food Programme says it urgently needs $400m (£200m) to prevent starvation in the east African region. Ethiopia is worst hit, with 10 million people - some 12% of the population - in need of extra food supplies. Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti are also affected, along with northern parts of Kenya and Uganda.

Economic events outside Africa - which are driving up food and fuel prices - are exacerbating the crisis caused by a lack of water in the region.

Tight Security A Month From Earth Quake

A month on from the Sichuan earthquake, Chinese officials have imposed tight security in some of the damaged areas, apparently to prevent protests.

Police in the city of Dujianyan stopped parents from holding a memorial ceremony at the rubble of a collapsed school where their children died. Journalists were told they were banned from the city, and some were detained. Parents have been demanding to know whether poorly-built schools played a part in the deaths of their children. Thousands of schoolchildren were among the 87,000 people killed or missing after the massive 12 May earthquake.Five million people also lost their homes, and officials estimate rebuilding work will take at least three years.

Engineer: We can use food waste to generate electricity

Nigerian civil engineer, Dr Joseph Adelegan for instance.
He firmly believes that the world's future fuel demands can be met through renewable energy. And he is using increasingly innovative methods to achieve these results. Three years ago Adelegan won plaudits for his "Cows to Kilowatts" project, which used effluents and waste products from abattoirs to produce cooking gas. The project was a winner of the prestigious 2005 Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and It is still going strong and being used to provide cooking fuel for nearly 6000 homes in Ibadan, southern Nigeria. Adelegan tells there are now plans to roll it out across most of Africa, including Zimbabwe, Kenya and Egypt.

'Allah meat' astounds Nigerians

Diners have been flocking to a restaurant in northern Nigeria to see pieces of meat which the owner says are inscribed with the name of Allah.

What looks like the Arabic word for God and the name of the prophet Muhammad were discovered in pieces of beef by a diner in Birnin Kebbi. He was about to eat it, when he suddenly noticed the words in the gristle, the restaurant owner said.A search of the kitchen's meat revealed three more pieces which bore the names.
The meat was boiled and then fried before" being served, owner Kabiru Haliru told newspaper Weekly Trust.
"When the writings were discovered there were some Islamic scholars who come and eat here and they all commented that it was a sign to show that Islam is the only true religion for mankind."

Sea Lion Attacks Australian Girl

A teenage girl has been attacked by a sea lion while surfing behind a speedboat off Australia's west coast.

"It actually lined her up. It jumped out of the water at her and hit her head-on ... it opened its mouth and grabbed her head.Ella Murphy, 13, suffered cuts to her throat, a broken jaw and lost three teeth when the mammal leapt out of the sea and mauled her.She is in a stable condition in a Perth hospital after having surgery.A marine scientist said attacks by sea lions were rare and it may have been trying to play with the girl. Sea lions can grow up to 300kg (660 pounds).

Dog Rescues Woman From Kangaroo

An Australian woman has been saved by a pet dog which leapt to her aid after she was attacked by a large kangaroo, her son has said.

The marsupial assaulted Rosemary Neal, 65, at her farm near Mudgee in New South Wales, 265km (160 miles) north-west of Sydney, her son, Darren, said. "The kangaroo just jumped up and launched straight at her," he said. "My dog heard her screaming and bolted down and chased him off. If it wasn't for the dog, she'd probably be dead." Mrs Neal was taken to hospital with concussion and cuts to her face, hands and back, her son said.He added that the area had been overrun by kangaroos in recent years.Kangaroos are widespread across Australia. Most species are not considered aggressive toward humans.

Is world's wettest place getting drier?

The town of Cherrapunjee, in the north-eastern Indian state of Meghalaya, is reputed to be the wettest place in the world.

But there are signs that its weather patterns may be being hit by global climate change. "Not without reason has Cherrapunjee achieved fame as being the place with the heaviest rainfall on earth," wrote German missionary Christopher Becker more than 100 years ago. "One must experience it to have an idea of the immense quantity of rain which comes down from the skies, at times day and night without a stop. It is enough to go a few steps from the house to be drenched from head to foot. An umbrella serves no purpose."

But according to Cherrapunjee's most renowned weather-watcher, Denis Rayen, the climate of the town is changing fast.

First rule of wedding TV: it’s all about the bride

Nuptial-themed programs provide something borrowed, something bitchy

It's remarkable how many people still labor under the illusion that weddings are simple, happy occasions. Doesn't anyone watch television? Doesn't anyone watch “Bridezillas”?
“Bridezillas” aired as a FOX special in early 2004, and has lived on as a WE show ever since. At first, it focused primarily on apparently normal women who became wildly overinvested in wedding planning. But in subsequent seasons, it's become a lunatic fringe free-for-all. Not content to snipe at wedding planners and photographers,the Bridezillas now shriek at family members, friends, members of the clergy, and whoever else stands between them and the weddings of their sweaty, fevered dreams.

Ten brides race to the altar in a contest to promote the fifth season of WE's "Bridezillas" on June 3 in New York's Times Square. "Bridezillas" is just one of many wedding-themed shows that shed a scary light on the nuptial process.

Al-Qaida senior leader grants rare TV interview

In a rare move, one of al-Qaida's highest-ranking leaders has conducted an on-camera interview with a journalist and, in the process, called for the destruction of Pakistan's government. It was the first time since 2002 that any top al-Qaida official has taken the security risk of sitting down for an interview with a bonafide journalist.
Abu Mustafa al-Yazid, an Egyptian whom U.S. intelligence officials have identified as the al-Qaeda's third highest-ranking official, sat for an interview with Najeeb Ahmad, a reporter for Geo TV. Geo TV is a private Pakistani television channel. In the interview, Yazid, also known as Sheikh Saeed, called for the destruction of Pakistan's government which he said had "betrayed" the jihadis. Yazid swore that al-Qaida would recapture Afghanistan. And he reiterated al-Qaida's position that "all Americans, not just the American government" are the enemies of Islam.