Legal drugs, deadly outcomes
Prescription overdoses kill more people than heroin and cocaine.
An L.A. Times review of coroners’ records finds that drugs prescribed by a
small number of doctors caused or contributed to a disproportionate number of deaths.BY SCOTT GLOVER, LISA GIRION. VIDEO AND PHOTOS BY LIZ O. BAYLEN
November 11, 2012These six people died of drug overdoses within a span of 18 months. But according to coroners’ records, that was not all they had in common. Bottles of prescription medications found at the scene of each death bore the name of the same doctor: Van H. Vu.
After Finnila died, coroner’s investigators called Vu to learn about his patient’s medical history and why he had given him prescriptions for powerful medications, including the painkiller hydrocodone.
Investigators left half a dozen messages. Vu never called back, coroner’s records state.
Over the next four years, 10 more of his patients died of overdoses, the records show. In nine of those cases, painkillers Vu had prescribed for them were found at the scene.
South Africa loses faith with the ANC
Poor blacks are disillusioned with the party that ended apartheid 18 years ago, promising a better life for all
SUDARSAN RAGHAVAN , WASHINGTON POST KHUTSONG SUNDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2012
The party that ended apartheid is losing its appeal among black South Africans, many of whom have grown frustrated waiting for the “better life for all” promised when the African National Congress won the historic multiracial elections 18 years ago.
The disenchantment with the ANC has been building gradually over the years. But it has intensified in recent weeks amid the ongoing, and often violent, labour unrest that has spread across the nation since the police killed 34 strikers at a platinum mine in August. It was the deadliest police action so far in post-apartheid South Africa.
Syria’s long search for peace
Peace is elusive in Syria. Neither the Assad regime nor the opposition want to negotiate, as seen most recently in the opposition talks in Qatar.
The situation is desperate in Syria: the death toll continues to mount, despite decisions and attempts to devise new strategies for peace.
The Syrian National Council (SNC), which has taken on the task of representing the majority of all opposition groups, has come under increased pressure to agree to an opposition unity plan amid the growing frustration among dissident groups at the latest talks in Doha.
The SNC’s claim to represent the opposition has come under question among its previous supporters. The Council must engage with other factions of the Syrian opposition, otherwise it will lose its claim to leadership, warned US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week.
Drive for education drives South Korean families into the red
Students took the all-important college entrance exam this week. Many households in South Korea are deeply in debt, and analysts point to high family spending on private education as a key culprit.
By Jason Strother, Contributor / November 10, 2012
When Cheon Sun-kyoung and her husband took out a $100,000 loan and moved their family of three from the affordable suburbs to one of Seoul’s most affluent neighborhoods, she hoped it would be the start of the climb up South Korea’s highly competitive social ladder.
She wanted to enroll her teenage daughter in one of the pricey after-school tutoring academies here to giver her an edge on getting into a prestigious university and, eventually, landing a high-paying job. But for now, Ms. Cheon says her family has to scrape by.“It’s really expensive living here, I even have to buy our groceries in another, cheaper neighborhood,” Cheon, a part-time teacher, says. “It’s not possible to save any money now because we are paying off the loan we took out to get this apartment.”
Are one in eight Australians really poor?
A recent study says that one in eight Australians are living in poverty. This seems quite high for a developed country, so what’s behind it?
By Charlotte Pritchard
BBC News“In this study we used a relative poverty definition,” says report author Bruce Bradbury from the University of New South Wales.
“The basic idea of a relative poverty line is that you set a poverty line at some fraction of the middle living standard or the median income in that community. We have chosen 50% so people whose income, after adjusting for their family’s size, is below half the middle income of the country in the same year are defined as being poor.”
So in this case, poverty is measured by looking at incomes relative to the rest of Australian society as a whole. It’s a country-specific measure. This is not unusual. In developed industrial countries it is very common to measure poverty relatively.
Leaders meet on military plan for Mali
West African leaders meet at an emergency summit on Sunday to firm up military plans to win back Islamist-held northern Mali.
11 NOV 2012 06:41 – AFP
Leaders from the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States will meet in the Nigerian capital Abuja to approve a military blueprint for action. That plan will eventually be sent via the African Union to the UN Security Council for review.
Countries from outside Ecowas have also been invited to attend the summit, including South Africa, Mauritania, Morocco, Libya, Algeria and Chad, according to a source from the bloc.
Discussions so far have involved the deployment of more than 3 000 troops from the region, backed by soldiers other countries. The Ecowas source said military chiefs were requesting a total of 5 500 troops.
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