in Britain, and 70 percent
of Accident and Emergency hospital admissions at peak times are due to excessive alcohol consumption, according to the British Crime Survey. Blunkett said he had asked the Sentencing Guidelines Council to review the advice it gives to courts on prison terms.
■ United States
Nerve agent hard to kill
A project to destroy nearly 1,100 tonnes of a deadly nerve agent stockpiled in Indiana could take longer than expected after tests showed much of the agent contains
a chemical that renders it difficult to eradicate, military officials said. Army scientists had drafted a plan to destroy the VX nerve agent stockpiled at the Newport Chemical Depot, but recent tests determined that half of the stockpile contains a chemical stabilizer that may require eight to 14 hours longer to destroy each batch, meaning the project could take longer than the two-and-a-half years originally anticipated. VX is
a liquid with the consistency
of mineral oil that can kill
a healthy adult male with a single pinpoint droplet.
■ United States
Rick James' drug cocktail
Rick James, the flamboyant funk musician who died suddenly last month, had nine drugs in his system including cocaine, methamphetamine, valium and vicodin, according to a coroner's report. James, 56, died in his sleep on Aug. 6 in his Los Angeles home of a heart attack, but the drugs in his system likely contributed to the organ's failure, the report said. James, best known for his 1981 hit Super Freak, suffered from diabetes, had a pacemaker and had been in fragile health after a stroke in 1998. He had been hooked on crack cocaine
and once proclaimed himself
an "icon of drug use and eroticism." The coroner
listed nine drugs, which
also included prescription medications for anxiety, pain relief and heart failure.
■ Iran
Nuke agency turns up heat
US and European negotiators at a meeting of the UN atomic watchdog agency have agreed on a draft resolution meant
to deprive Iran of technology that could be used to make nuclear weapons which
sets an indirect deadline on Tehran. The next meeting of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency will decide "whether or not further steps are required." Diplomats familiar with the text said the phrase was shorthand for possible referral to the UN Security Council if Iran defies conditions in the resolution.
RSS