Priest 'smuggled drugs in stomach'

Anti-narcotics officers detained a priest at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport because his "sickly appearance and nervous behaviour" raised suspicions. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied

RUSSIAN agents have detained a Colombian priest on arrival at a Moscow airport and found he had swallowed over a dozen condoms stuffed with cocaine, the federal anti-narcotics service says.

Anti-narcotics officers detained the man at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport because his "sickly appearance and nervous behaviour" raised suspicions, the service said.

They took him to a Moscow hospital where they found 13 packages of cocaine in his stomach. They also found five more in his luggage, with a total of 780 grams of cocaine.

Russian television showed footage of the operation with the young bespectacled priest in black clothes and a dog collar with a cross.

It said that the priest, who had flown via Paris, had swallowed condoms full of cocaine.

Television showed ID cards naming him as Fabio Ricardo Rodriguez, a priest within the Holy Catholic Church-Western Rite.

"The organisers of the drug business, as you can see, stoop to the dirtiest methods, even involving representatives of the most virtuous professions," the drug service said.

The priest is now in a pre-trial detention centre in the Moscow satellite of Khimki and was visited by the Colombian consul, Russian television reported.

It showed him holding a rosary in his cell.

"Since I am a priest, this situation is very complex. It goes against my morals and my convictions, but I was forced by a mafia gang to commit this action, I had no choice," he said in televised comments dubbed into Russian.

Asked what he would do in jail, he replied: "Pray for forgiveness of my sins and reflect on my life."

He could serve 10 to 15 years for smuggling drugs, Russian television said.

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'World giving Assad licence to kill'

The war in Syria continues. The Opposition says the world's complacency with what is happening in Syria is giving Assad's forces a licence to kill. Source: AFP

Syria's opposition says that "global inaction" was giving Bashar al-Assad's regime a licence to kill.

It comes a day after dozens of young men were found shot execution-style in the city of Aleppo.

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said the war in Syria had reached "unprecedented levels of horror," telling the UN Security Council it had to act immediately to halt the carnage.

Witnesses and activists said the bodies of 78 young men, all executed with a single gunshot, were found on Tuesday in a river in Aleppo, adding to the grim list of massacres committed during Syria's 22-month conflict.

Rebels blamed the regime for the killings, but Syrian authorities accused the jihadist group Al-Nusra Front of having carried out the massacre.

The Syrian National Coalition, the main opposition alliance, called on rights groups to investigate the slaughter and "bring the killers to justice."

Activists say at least 65 people, apparently shot in the head, were found dead with their hands bound in Aleppo. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.

The "ongoing global inaction towards human rights violations in Syria encourages the killers to continue their crimes ... The extreme complacency in the positions of most countries ... gives the green light for the perpetrators of genocide to continue what they are doing."

The Coalition expressed "shock at the new horrific massacre committed by (President Bashar al-) Assad's regime against innocent civilians."

It called on the divided Security Council to refer the issue to The Hague-based International Criminal Court.

"The world has abandoned its moral duty and political commitment to the Syrian people, leaving the criminal Syrian regime to kill scores of citizens using the most brutal and cowardly tactics," the statement said.

In Aleppo, rebel fighter Abu Seif said 78 bodies had been retrieved from the Quweiq River and that more were still in the water but could not be reached because of the threat of Assad snipers.

"The regime threw them into the river so that they would arrive in an area under our control, so the people would think we killed them," Abu Seif said.

But a Syrian security official accused "terrorists," the regime term for rebels, of the killings. There was no claim of responsibility, but state news agency SANA said the jihadist Al-Nusra Front carried out the executions.

Al-Nusra has gained notoriety for its suicide bombings and also become a key fighting force throughout the country.

Its suspected affiliation to the Al-Qaeda offshoot in Iraq has seen it added to the US list of terrorist organizations.

Twenty-two months of conflict have now killed more than 60,000 people, according to the United Nations, which was sponsoring an international donors conference in Kuwait on Wednesday seeking $US1.5 billion ($A1.4 billion) in humanitarian funding.

A top Gulf official said nearly $US1 billion had already been promised, including $US300 million each from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Security Council has been paralysed for more than a year, with Russia and China having vetoed three Western-drafted resolutions that would only have have threatened sanctions.

In remarks to the council on Tuesday, Mr Brahimi said Syria "is breaking up before everyone's eyes," and that the "tragedy does not have an end."

"Only the international community can help, and first and foremost the Security Council."

Mr Assad's forces have become more repressive, he was quoted as telling the closed meeting, but the state and the rebel opposition were committing "equally atrocious crimes."

"That is why I believe the Security Council simply cannot continue to say 'we are (in) disagreement, therefore, let's wait for better times'. I think they have got to grapple with this problem now."

In Kuwait, Iran's Undersecretary for Arab and African Affairs Amir Hussein Abdullahian said Damascus ally Tehran believes the "cause of the Syrian crisis is the sending of arms to terrorist groups into Syria by some countries."

For its part, the International Committee of the Red Cross said the "suffering of men, women and children has reached unprecedented levels across the country."

January's harsh weather conditions had "not only deepened the misery of displaced people" but made it harder for aid convoys to get to them.

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Jobs for potheads in growing industry

A marijuana plant in Denver ready to be harvested. Washington and Colorado are working to develop rules for the emerging recreational pot industry, with sales set to begin later this year. Source: AP

WANTED: A green thumb with extensive knowledge of the black, or at least gray, market.

As Washington state tries to figure out how to regulate its newly legal marijuana, officials are hiring an adviser on all things weed: how it's best grown, dried, tested, labeled, packaged and cooked into brownies.

Those angling for the job were expected to learn more today in Tacoma. The state Liquor Control Board, the agency charged with developing rules for the marijuana industry, reserved a convention centre hall with a capacity of 275 people - plus an overflow room - for its bidding experts to take questions about the position and the hiring process.

"The Liquor Control Board has a long and a very good history with licensing and regulation. We know it and know how to do it well," said spokesman Mikhail Carpenter. "But there are some technical aspects with marijuana we could use a consultant to help us with."

Last fall, Washington and Colorado became the first states to pass laws legalising the recreational use of marijuana and setting up systems of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores where adults over 21 can walk in and buy up to an ounce of heavily taxed cannabis. Sales are due to begin in Washington state in December.

Both states are working to develop rules for the emerging pot industry. Up in the air is everything from how many growers and stores there should be, to how the marijuana should be tested to ensure people don't get sick.

Washington's Liquor Control Board has advertised for consulting services in four categories. The first is "product and industry knowledge" and requires "at least three years of consulting experience relating to the knowledge of the cannabis industry, including but not limited to product growth, harvesting, packaging, product infusion and product safety."

Other categories cover quality testing, including how to test for levels of THC, the compound that gets marijuana users high; statistical analysis of how much marijuana the state's licensed growers should produce; and the development of regulations, a category that requires "a strong understanding of state, local or federal government processes," with a law degree preferred.

In case no regulatory lawyers who grow pot in their spare time apply, multiple contracts could be awarded. Or bidders who are strong in one category could team up with those who are strong in another. Bids are due February 15, with the contract awarded in March.

Many of the bidders are expected to come from the medical marijuana world.

Christy Stanley, a Kitsap County resident who has researched marijuana and considered opening a medical dispensary in the past, said she's attending the conference because she'd like the job, but wants to know whether it would disqualify her from also becoming a licensed grower or retailer. She knows growers, but has never grown marijuana herself, she said.

"This is big: The nation and the world are looking to us to set up a good model," she said. "If it works here, they're just going to cookie-cut this for other states."

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Pussy Riot video banned in Russia

Pussy Riot member Yekaterina Samutsevich's effort to repeal a decision banning the group's videos in Russia has been rejected by the court.Picture: Ivan Sekretarev Source: AP

FOOTAGE of feminist rockers Pussy Riot's impromptu protest in Moscow's main cathedral last year has been banned in Russia.

Moscow City Court today rejected band member Yekaterina Samutsevich's appeal to be considered an interested party in the case, meaning a November decision banning four videos of the protest against Vladimir Putin now takes effect.

Internet providers face fines up to $3000 if they don't block the footage.

Pussy Riot's videos were banned under Russia's vaguely defined "extremism" law, which is supposed to restrict neo-Nazi and terrorist groups. Critics accuse the Kremlin of exploiting the law to stifle opposition and free speech.

Pussy Riot shot to worldwide notoriety last year after three band members, including Samutsevich, were sentenced to two years in prison for "hooliganism". Samutsevich was later released on appeal.

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Hunt for clues to N Korea nuclear test

This combination of GeoEye Satellite Images captured January 4 and 24, show the Punggye-ri nuclear test facility in North Korea. Experts will be looking for seismic tremors and gases floating across the border to South Korea in a bid to determine if any underground tests are nuclear. Picture: AFP Photo/GeoEye Satellite Image Source: AFP

WITH North Korea appearing set to detonate an atomic device, the UN agency that detected two previous tests says it is prepared to confirm an explosion when it takes place. But experts say it might be difficult to establish whether the blast is nuclear in nature.

The best indication of a test will be seismic tremors and gases released into the air, phenomena that the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty identified from previous testing.

The Vienna-based organisation's most potent detection tools are more than 150 seismic stations across the globe. Although very small in yield, North Korea's first test in 2006 was picked up by the CTBTO, as was a second test in 2009.

Last week, North Korea warned that it plans a third nuclear test to protest toughened international sanctions meant to punish it for firing a long-range rocket in December. The world sees the launch as a ballistic missile test banned by the UN, while Pyongyang says it launched a satellite into orbit as part of a peaceful space development program.

The US, South Korea and their allies have pressed the North to scrap its nuclear test plans, saying it will only worsen the country's decades-old international isolation.

A screen grab of the Unha-3 rocket launch at North Korea's space agency's General Launch Command Centre near Pyongyang on Dec. 12, 2012.

The threats have placed scientists and experts in South Korea on high alert as any test is likely to aggravate tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea's Defence Ministry said on Tuesday it believes North Korea has nearly completed its nuclear test preparations, confirming satellite analysis last week by the US-Korea Institute, a research group at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed concerns Tuesday about the series of actions the North Korean regime led by new leader Kim Jong Un has taken.

"Let me express my regret, because I think with a new young leader we all expected something different. We expected him to focus on improving the lives of the North Korean people, not just the elite, but everyone to have more education, more openness, more opportunity," she said in a town hall-style meeting in Washington.

A South Korean investigator examines a piece of debris from a rocket launched in December by North Korea after it was pulled from the sea by South Korean navy officers.

"And instead, he has engaged in very provocative rhetoric and behaviour.

Its satellite images of the Punggye-ri site - where the previous two tests were conducted - show that the North Koreans may have been sealing a tunnel into a mountain where a nuclear device would be detonated.

In the event of such an underground nuclear test, both the CTBTO facilities and earthquake monitoring stations in South Korea can detect seismic tremors.

But although this is a strong indication of a test, it is not an absolute confirmation.

An earthquake expert at the state-run Korea Meteorological Administration said his office aims to find out the magnitude of the tremor, the time it started and the exact location on the map within 10 minutes of the explosion. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to speak to the media.

Experts also note that artificial earthquakes, such as those created by nuclear explosions, rarely trigger the same wave patterns as natural quakes.

North Korea could still try to deceive and give the impression that it exploded a nuclear device by simply exploding sophisticated conventional weapons that would trigger the same seismic waves produced by a nuclear test, said Chi Heoncheol, an earthquake specialist at the government-funded Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources.

By raising tensions this way, North Korea may hope to wrest concessions or aid in return for promises to scale back its unproven nuclear capability.

"Even if they bring truckloads of high-powered conventional explosives, put them (into an underground tunnel) and explode them, they will generate the same seismic wave and sound wave," Mr Chi said. The only difference is no radioactivity would be detected from the explosion of conventional weapons, he said.

The best course for scientists would be to collect air samples to look for increased radiation but the process could take days.

Even if the wind is favourable - and assuming North Korea conducts the test at Punggye-ri in the country's northeastern corner - it will take more than one day for airborne radioactive isotopes like xenon to reach South Korea, according to an official at the government-run Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.

The official, who requested anonymity citing the sensitive nature of the subject, acknowledged it may be impossible for South Korea to confirm a test if the wind doesn't blow southward or if North Korea plugs the underground tunnel so tightly that no radioactive gas escapes.

Both South Korea and the Vienna-based CTBTO confirmed increased radiation levels following the North's 2006 nuclear test but didn't find anything in 2009.

CTBTO spokeswoman Annika Thunborg says that generally speaking it is hard for those conducting nuclear tests to control the escape of noble gases, which is a clear indication of a nuclear test. With her organisation's extensive air sampling network, it is less dependent on wind direction than the South Koreans in identifying such traces.

If North Korea decides to conduct a so-called sub-critical test, there would be no release of radioactivity at all - but that may be beyond the North's expertise.

A sub-critical test only works on the properties of plutonium but stops short of creating a critical mass, the point at which a self-sustaining nuclear reaction occurs. Such an experiment requires a "very difficult technology" that only a few countries like the US, Russia and England have acquired, said nuclear expert Whang Joo-ho of Kyung Hee University.

"I believe North Korea's technology has not reached that level," Mr Whang said.

North Korea said its upcoming atomic explosion will be a "high-level" test and many analysts said that refers to a device made from highly enriched uranium, which gives the country a second source for manufacturing bombs in addition to plutonium.

Whether North Korea detonates a uranium- or plutonium-based device, there won't be much difference in how easily scientists can detect the tests. The only difference is that they produce different radioactive gases, Dr Whang said.

He also said a uranium-based test explosion would mean that North Korea's nuclear stockpile can continue to be enlarged at a time when there is no evidence of continued production of plutonium at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex.

North Korea watchers in South Korea are speculating various dates for a possible nuclear test, with some predicting it could happen as early as this week and others choosing days just before the Feb. 16 birthday of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

There is no way to determine when North Korea will conduct a nuclear test, said analyst Shim BeomChul at the state-run Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul.

US spy satellites "can detect objects 15 centimetres in size on the ground but they cannot detect what's happening underground," he said.
 

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There's no presidential request too odd

President Barack Obama receives some strange requests from Americans. Source: AP

NO, THE US will not be building a Death Star. President Barack Obama will also not deport CNN's Piers Morgan or let Texas secede.

These are just a few of the wacky notions the White House has been compelled to formally address in recent weeks, part of an effort to put open government into action: the First Amendment right to petition your government, supercharged for the Internet age.

Now, as the Obama administration kicks off its second term, it's upping the threshold for responding to Americans' petitions from 25,000 signatures to 100,000, a reminder that government by the people can sometimes have unintended consequences. In this case, a wildly popular transparency initiative has spawned a headache of the administration's own making.

The idea, announced in 2011, was simple: Engage the public on a range of issues by creating an online platform to petition the White House. Any petition garnering 5000 signatures within 30 days would get an official review and response, the White House said. Dubbed "We the People," the program was touted as an outgrowth of the "unprecedented level of openness in government" Mr Obama vowed to create in a presidential memorandum issued on his first full day in office in 2009.

The response was overwhelming, and a month later, the Obama administration increased the threshold to 25,000 signatures, calling it "a good problem to have." The White House cautioned at the time that it might not be the last time the rules of the program would be changed.

The petitions continued to flood in, ranging from serious pleas for judicial reform and gay rights to sillier appeals to ban baseball bats and give Vice President Joe Biden his own reality TV show.

Many of them, as Internet phenomena are wont to do, went viral.

"The administration does not support blowing up planets," Paul Shawcross, the science and space chief for Mr Obama's budget office, wrote in response to a petition suggesting construction of a Star Wars-style Death Star start by 2016.

More than 34,000 people appended their name to that petition.

"This petition led millions of Americans to read about the president's efforts to ensure American students have the science and technology education they will need to compete for jobs in the 21st century," said White House spokesman Matt Lehrich, noting that hundreds of thousands clicked links in the response to learn more about Mr Obama's policies.

Some of the petitions that met the 25,000-name threshold, like one requesting the White House beer recipe, offered Mr Obama opportunities for positive publicity on terms the White House could control. Others forced the administration to formally respond to issues it would rather ignore.

When Piers Morgan, a British-born CNN host, delivered a hot-blooded diatribe advocating gun control in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut, tragedy, more than 109,000 people took to the White House website demanding that Morgan be deported. Mr Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, nixed that idea in a response noting that the Second Amendment doesn't trump the First. A list of more than 125,000 names requesting permission for Texas to secede from the union was similarly given a thumbs-down.

The terms of the program give the White House broad latitude to decline to address certain petitions, especially those dealing with law enforcement or local matters - a provision the White House has invoked at least eight times. A petition to disinvite pop singer Beyonce from performing at Mr Obama's inaugural was removed from the site; the page in its place says the petition violated the terms of participation.

And so it was that the White House, days before the start of Mr Obama's second term, announced it was increasing the threshold a second time, to 100,000 signatures. Figures released by the administration illustrated the astounding interest in the program: almost 9.2 million signatures on more than 141,000 petitions; more than 162 official responses; and two in three signers saying they found the White House response to be helpful.

"Turns out that 'good problem' is only getting better, so we're making another adjustment to ensure we're able to continue to give the most popular ideas the time they deserve," wrote Macon Phillips, the White House director of digital strategy.

Whether the petition initiative and the official responses will, in the long run, be deemed an effective use of White House resources remains to be seen. Another unknown is whether signing the petitions, aside from giving impassioned citizens a chance to be heard, has any effect on how Mr Obama governs. Many petitions call for actions that Congress, not the president, would have to take.

The White House says that the petitions frequently have a real impact on policy and that the deluge of visits to the White House website means added opportunities for Mr Obama to engage directly with Americans.

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'Smelly' family kicked out of museum

A family visiting Paris' Orsay Museum as part of an anti-poverty group were asked to leave after visitors complained they smelled bad. Above, art lovers admire some of the museum's paintings at Queensland Art Gallery. Source: Supplied

FRANCE'S culture minister has demanded an explanation from the Musee d'Orsay after a family visiting as guests of an anti-poverty group were asked to leave because snooty fellow visitors complained that they smelled.

ATD-Quart Monde, who had treated the hard-up couple and their 12-year-old child to a tour of the museum on Saturday, described the family's ejection from the celebrated museum as blatant discrimination.

"It shows what the poorest people have to put up with on a daily basis," said the organisation's spokeswoman, Typhaine Cornacchiari.

"When poverty is written on your face you do not get treated the same way.

"Women who stink of perfume don't get asked to leave. No-one calls security when you see people pontificating in front of paintings."

According to Ms Cornacchiari, the family were first asked to leave a room dedicated to the works of Van Gogh after being told "their smell was bothering other visitors."

The family moved to a less crowded space but were shortly approached by four security guards who surrounded them and escorted them to the exit.

"There was no scene because our volunteer did not want to add to the humiliation of the family," Ms Cornacchiari added.

The museum's director has been asked to send a detailed account of what happened to Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti, a statement from her ministry said.

There was no immediate reaction from the museum.
 

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Marathoner died after using supplement

The death of runner Claire Squires in the London Marathon inspired a flood of donations to the charity she supported. Picture: AP Source: AP

A LONDON Marathon runner whose death touched hearts globally and inspired more than $1 million in donations had taken a dietary supplement which may have contributed to her heart failure, a coroner has ruled.

Claire Squires collapsed near Buckingham Palace last April near the end of the marathon, which she was running to raise money for an organisation that helps prevent suicides.

According to an inquest at Southwark Coroner's Court, the 30-year-old runner's water bottle included a scoop of the supplement Jack3D, which contains a stimulant called DMAA or dimethylamylamine.

DMAA is on the list of substances prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency, but Jack3D was legally available to buy in Britain before being banned in August due to potential risks to public safety.

"DMAA ... on the balance of probabilities, in combination with extreme physical exertion, caused acute cardiac failure, which resulted in her death," coroner Philip Barlow said.

The substance was bought legally online by Ms Squires, but the coroner said he hopes the case would highlight the potential dangers of DMAA, which increases the heart rate.

Marathon organisers are now assessing changes to the advice given to recreational runners about the use of supplements.

"The substance is on the (WADA) banned list, but the only athletes to be tested would be elite athletes," London Marathon spokeswoman Nicola Okey told The Associated Press. "We just ask the rest of the runners to be medically fit. We don't make any other inquiries about what substances they are taking.

"We will be amending our medical advice following the inquest's verdict. We obviously give medical advice, but it hasn't mentioned before the use of supplements."

Ms Squires' boyfriend, Simon van Herrewege, said he didn't know of the dangers of consuming Jack3D and wants awareness raised.

"She innocently took a supplement which at the time was entirely legal and widely available on the high street and somewhat worryingly apparently used by so many others," he said.

"It is clear that there needs to be far better supervision of the so-called health foods and supplements industry so that no more tragedies like this happen again, causing other families to have to go through what we have been through this past year."
 

 

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US man kills bus driver, kidnaps child

Residents look over the school bus where a shooting occurred near Destiny Church,  just north of Midland City, Alabama. Picture: Danny Tindell Source: AP

POLICE, SWAT teams and negotiators are clustered at a rural Alabama property where a man is believed to be holed up in an underground shelter after fatally shooting the driver of a school bus and fleeing with a 6-year-old child passenger, authorities said.

The standoff went through the night after the man, whose name has not been released by police, boarded the stopped school bus in the town of Midland City on Tuesday afternoon. Dale County Sheriff Wally Olsen told WBMA-TV the man shot the driver when he refused to let the child off the bus and the driver later died.

The sheriff's office named the victim as Charles Albert Poland, Jr, 66, who had been a bus driver since 2009 for the Dale County Board of Education.

The shooter took the child off the bus, authorities said.

About 50 vehicles from federal, state and local agencies were clustered at the mouth of a dirt road off a highway. The dead-end road leads to homes including the suspect's property, which was over a low rise behind a church on the highway and couldn't be seen from where reporters were being kept back.

County coroner Woodrow Hilboldt said the overnight standoff continued into the day with tactical units, negotiators and other officers at the scene near a church. He said the suspect was believed to be in an underground shelter on his property.

Law enforcement personnel work a checkpoint in Midland City, below the home where a school bus shooting suspect barricaded himself in a bunker with a young child. Picture: Jay Hare

"That's what has been described to me as an underground bunker. Someplace to get out of the way of a tornado," Mr Hilboldt said.

Claudia Davis, who lives on the road where the standoff was taking place, said she and her neighbours can't leave because the one road was blocked by police.

Ms Davis, 54, said she has had run-ins with the man suspected as the shooter.

"Before this happened I would see him at several places and he would just stare a hole through me," Ms Davis said. "On Monday I saw him at a laundry mat and he seen me when I was getting in my truck and he just started and stared and stared at me."

Midland City police would not comment, and a dispatcher at the Dale City Sheriff's office said the agency was not releasing any immediate details.

"Authorities also confirmed the presence of a child at the scene but are giving no further information at this time," Rachel David, a spokeswoman for the police department in the nearby city of Dothan, said in a news release late Tuesday.

Michael Creel, who lives on the road where the shooting happened, said he went outside after his sister heard gunshots.

"Me and her started running down the road," Creel told the Dothan Eagle. "That's when I realised the bus had its siren going off. Kids were filing out, running down the hill toward the church."

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