Word: illicitness
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...Taliban, who used public stonings as a penalty for illicit sex, is out of power in Afghanistan, but the centuries-old punishment is still alive in other parts of the Islamic world. It has spread most recently to sub-Saharan Africa, a region once known for its moderate brand of Islam. Stoning is not actually mentioned in the Koran, but the harsh treatment the holy book prescribes for sex outside of marriage has been invoked to justify what Amnesty International calls "the ultimate form of torture...
...chief concern for organizers and authorities alike is drugs. The festival's slogan, printed on the T shirts worn by staff, reads "Music Is a Natural High." The organizers have warned bands not to bring illicit substances, threatening to search them thoroughly at the airport and subject them to random urinalysis. The bands' playlists also receive a cavity probe. In the early morning hours of the first day of the festival, each act is asked to send a representative for what is described as an "extremely important meeting." There, the organizers announce that six songs?including five by rap-metal...
...bring their banks Losers LI KA-SHING Hong Kong magnate loses controversial bid for a stake in TV station, says he only wanted to spare viewers more David Letterman reruns MICHAEL KOPPER Enron exec pleads guilty to money laundering and agrees to give back $12 million in illicit gains as soon as the spin cycle is finished ALI RAFII Iranian director banned from theater because a character in one of his plays sips wine onstage. Next: breathalyzer tests for Iranian poets
...British forces in Sierra Leone - a core group of some 100 officers will remain to help train local soldiers - signaled the former colonial power's confidence in the country's future under Kabbah. Critics of his goverment have accused him of corruption and his officials of involvement in the illicit trafficking of so-called conflict diamonds. Kabbah rejects such charges and says an anticorruption commission, which he refers to as his "baby," is making inroads against one of the country's most pervasive problems. "It's impossible to fence off the two-thirds of the country that has diamonds...
...just the impenetrable terrain that shields the bandits, says Perayot Rahimula, a political scientist at Prince of Songkhla University. Both Perayot and Vairoj say what most locals are afraid to: the outlaws are controlled and protected by corrupt local politicians, rogue soldiers and the police. As disputes over these illicit businesses flare up, so do the killings. So far, most of those who have been killed have either been cops or civil servants...