20/03/2014

Other News In Brief

Bob Crow's Funeral To Be Private

The funeral of Rail, Maritime and Transport union leader Bob Crow will take place on Monday in a private service at the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium, according to the union.

The general secretary died last week aged 52 of a suspected heart attack and although a larger memorial event is being planned for May Day, the funeral will only be family, trade unionists, friends and colleagues.

Mr Crow has led the RMT since 2002 and became one of the Britain's most high-profile union leaders.

Dame Vera Lynn To Launch New Album Aged 97



The star Vera Lynn will celebrate her 97th birthday with the release of a new album of rediscovered and unreleased songs to coincide with the D-Day's anniversary.

Vera Lynn: National Treasure will be launched on June 2, four days before of the 70th anniversary if the D-Day landings.

She said: "I think it's wonderful that my songs are still enjoyed, especially if it encourages people to commemorate what happened 70 years ago."

The songs on the album have been remastered after being taken from the best available recordings, some only survived on the original 78rpm releases.

The star who also celebrates 90 years in showbusiness, has the record as the first and only artist over aged in the 90s to top the UK album charts, a feat she achieved in 2009.

Opium Production Increases Near British Afghanistan Base

The opium-growing area around Britain's main base in Afghanistan nearly quadrupled between 2011 and 2013 with the poppy fields took up 19,136 hectares last year, a high quantity if it is compared with the figure of 5.413 hectares of 2011.

The Foreign Office which inform over figures said it would take "a generation of effort and Afghan will" to reduce opium production.

The fields are in Helmand province, the largest opium-producing province in Afghanistan.

Britain does not collect statistics on production of opium, but it helps fund the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime which produced the figures.

Hugh Robertson, the Foreign Office minister said that many communities in the area trust in the opium cultivation to survive due to the poverty and the insecurity and added that the area of Helmand is "particularly susceptible" to the problem.

(CVS)

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29 October 2003
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Opium production in Afghanistan has become much more widespread and the country now produces about three-quarters of the world’s output of the drug, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
19 February 2004
Afghan opium production to rise again, UN warns
Last year Afghanistan produced its highest amount of opium since 1999 – an estimated 3,600 tons, or more than three-quarters of the global supply – and the country is poised to exceed that amount this year, according to the results of a UN survey released today.
28 May 2004
UN chief heads to Afghanistan over opium fears
The United Nations counter-narcotics chief is heading to Afghanistan this weekend as a result of concern the 2004 country's opium crop may reach record levels – topping last year's 3,600 tons.
11 January 2006
Blunt and Chiefs lead Brit nominees list
James Blunt and the Kaiser Chiefs are leading the list of nominees for this year's Brit Awards, picking up five nominations each.
02 February 2004
UN appeal set to tackle Afghan opium production
Poverty and unemployment in Afghanistan must be addressed if serious inroads are to be made into ending opium production, the UN has said. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) today appealed for $25.