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CBS News
27-05-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Ex-flight attendant allegedly caught with 101 pounds of synthetic drug in her suitcases at Sri Lanka airport, reports say
HealthWatch: Study finds 37% fewer people poisoned by synthetic cannabis in states where drug is leg HealthWatch: Study finds 37% fewer people poisoned by synthetic cannabis in states where drug is leg HealthWatch: Study finds 37% fewer people poisoned by synthetic cannabis in states where drug is leg Sri Lankan authorities have seized nearly 60 kilograms of potent synthetic cannabis that foreigners tried to smuggle in this month in three separate cases, a customs official said Saturday. The majority of the drugs were reportedly seized from a former flight attendant from England who authorties say had over 100 pounds of the drug in her suitcases. The South Asian island has long been considered a transit point for international drug smugglers, and all three suspects — from Britain, India and Thailand — could face life imprisonment if convicted. The 21-year-old British woman was arrested on May 12, with customs officers saying she was stopped with 46 kilograms (101 pounds) of kush — a synthetic drug containing powerful opioids — packed in two suitcases. "This could be the biggest drug bust at the Colombo airport in recent times," said Customs Additional Director General Seevali Arukgoda. British media, including the BBC, have identified the woman as Charlotte May Lee, a former cabin crew member from London, who had flown to Sri Lanka from Thailand. British woman held in Sri Lanka on drug offences — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 23, 2025 She is being held in detention at a prison near Colombo airport and is contact with her family, her lawyer told the BBC. The BBC reported that she denied knowledge of drugs in her luggage, and claimed they were planted at her hotel in Bangkok. Her legal representative, Sampath Perera, told the BBC that his team was visiting her daily in prison to provide support and monitor her wellbeing. "I had never seen them [the drugs] before. I didn't expect it all when they pulled me over at the airport. I thought it was going to be filled with all my stuff," Lee told the Daily Mail from prison. On May 16, a 33-year-old Indian man was arrested at the northern seaport of Kankesanthurai. Arukgoda said that he had been carrying four kilograms of kush. He too has been handed over to the anti-narcotics police for further investigations. On May 18, a 21-year-old Thai man was stopped at Colombo airport. He is accused of attempting to smuggle in nearly eight kilograms of kush. The drug has wreaked havoc in West African countries in recent years, especially in Sierra Leone, te Associated Press reported. In 2014, Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio declared a war on kush, calling it an epidemic and a national threat. Sri Lankan authorities have previously seized large quantities of heroin off its shores, saying it suggested the island is being used as a transit hub for narcotics being reshipped onward. In October, a Sri Lankan court sentenced 10 Iranian men to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to smuggling more than 111 kilograms of heroin. The men were among 17 arrested in Sri Lankan waters in April 2016 while transporting narcotics aboard an Iranian trawler. In 2023, nine Iranians received life sentences in a separate drug smuggling case.
Miami Herald
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Why Ravioli Was Banned From Papal Conclave
While the process of choosing a pope is secretive, one thing is certain: Cardinals have to eat. Exactly what they eat, like so much else about the centuries-old procedure, is a mystery. However, Newsweek has gathered what clues are out there, including some surprising bans. By the year 1550, ravioli, whole chickens and pies were some of the foods banned from being eaten in a conclave, as they were seen as risks to the secrecy that remains such a major part of the procedure. Officials were concerned that messages, which might sway the voting, could be concealed inside the stuffed pasta or cavity of a bird. A report of the ban comes from one of the only existing accounts of the food served in a conclave, which was written by Bartolomeo Scappi, a 16th-century chef to Popes Pius IV and Pius V. In 1570, Scappi published the cookbook Opera dell'arte del cucinare, in which he wrote about the food served during the conclave that elected Pope Julius III. Scappi said guards were stationed at the kitchen to prevent notes from being shared and that food was inspected by testers before being passed to cardinals through a turntable between the kitchen and inner hall. Today, these concerns have largely faded-with digital leaks, as opposed to food-based subterfuge, being the main worry for organizers. Modern conclaves are shielded by sophisticated anti-surveillance measures, including electronic jamming to block digital communication. Cardinal electors have their mobile phones and any external communication devices confiscated before entering the Sistine Chapel. Nuns at the Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican guesthouse where cardinals reside during a conclave, feed the clergymen. The dishes, which are simple, are informed by the food traditions of the Italian region Lazio, where the Vatican is based. Mauro Piacenza, an Italian cardinal, told The New York Times that the food served at Casa Santa Marta was "food you could eat at a train station." He described the menu as containing pasta with "watery sauce," cutlets and salad. "Not exciting," he told the outlet. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi added, "You don't eat very well." Scappi described a slightly different culinary picture, one that included salad, fruit, charcuterie and wine. Like much else with the Catholic Church, the food served during a conclave has changed over the years. In 1274, Pope Gregory X-who was elected after an almost three-year-long conclave-introduced strict food rationing rules stipulating that if three days passed without cardinals reaching a consensus, they were only to be served one meal per day. After eight days, cardinals had to get by on bread and water. Clement VI relaxed these rules in the mid-1300s, according to BBC World's Table, allowing three courses of soup, a main dish of fish, meat or eggs and dessert, which often included cheese or fruit. Related Articles Francis II? What Papal Name Might the Next Pope Pick?Top 5 Favorites To Replace Pope Francis After First Day of ConclaveWhite Smoke Meaning Explained: Understanding Papal Conclave's Chapel SignalsNew Pope Update: Black Smoke From Conclave After Cardinals' First Vote 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
CBC
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Chimwemwe Undi discovers the importance of looking in life's rear-view mirror in new poem
The First Year is an original poem by Chimwemwe Undi. It is part of Mirrors, a special series of new, original writing featuring work by the English-language winners of the 2024 Governor General's Literary Awards, presented in partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts. "The theme of mirrors conjured for me the experience of looking at yourself in the mirror and noticing more clearly something that was behind you. From there, I was drawn back to a pre-existing preoccupation of mine, which is the role that personal, family and world history have on a person's ability or willingness to contend with the world as it is today," Undi told CBC Books. Undi won the 2024 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry for Scientific Marvel. The First Year In the first year that those years could be called the past the past still bloomed at the borders and in the graveyards and the graveyards were the streets where my uncles died like dogs. In that first year, that first blush of history, I was born, scaled, unscathed, aspiring to nuance. I took my Gogo's name and a lamb was slaughtered in the world and in the name of god, and the name meant lamb. In that first year, that first blush of history, I was born, scaled, unscathed, aspiring to nuance. In my dreams, my screens are windows. Even here, where I pass my tassel and into the new school of unmaking. Taught to peddle in precedent & abstraction (what has happened should happen) (what exactly do you mean by happening?) Here, in the Black I was born unto, newly history, the new and hollow sound, Even in my dreams I learn the truth is something that you sigh. I learn to loosen fists and lower quiet hands to hold myself to let knit fingers slip pause pointer over empty sentiments left unrepeated all my questions in the other room. The word apartheid is in Afrikaans so when I say it, it reminds me what it did. The word apartheid is in Afrikaans so when I say it, it reminds me what it did. It was a long war, and it is still going. You can taste it in the fruit. About Chimwemwe Undi Chimwemwe Undi is a Winnipeg-based poet, editor and lawyer. She was recently announced as Canada's 11th parliamentary poet laureate and was the Winnipeg Poet Laureate for 2023 and 2024. Undi was longlisted for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize. She won the 2022 John Hirsch Emerging Writer Award from the Manitoba Book Awards and her work can be found in Brick, Border Crossings, Canadian Literature and BBC World, among others. The English-language books that won the 2024 Governor General's Literary Awards demonstrate how stories help us reflect on our lives, understand ourselves more deeply and see the world in new ways. CBC Books asked the winners to further explore the power of reflection in original works. The special series, themed around the theme of mirrors, challenges how we see ourselves and our society — unearthing hidden truths, exploring alternative identities and blurring the lines between reality and fantasy.
