Road of Bones: The Siege of Kohima 1944 by Fergal Keane

The Sunday Times Book Review by Max Hastings

(Imperial War Museum)

The men of Britain’s wartime 14th Army in Burma bitterly resented the fact that nobody at home took much notice of what they were doing. By 1944, Churchill knew that the Americans were heading for victory in the Pacific. The British had suffered repeated jungle defeats at Japanese hands, even in 1943 when they enjoyed superiority of numbers.

Only with the utmost reluctance did the prime minister agree to prepare for a new offensive, to meet insistent American demands to open the land route to China through north Burma. But, even as British and Indian forces assembled in northeast India, the Japanese launched three divisions on their own spoiling operation.

The armies collided at two Assamese road junctions, separated by less than 100 miles, which passed into the legend of the British Army. Between April and June 1944, Imphal and Kohima witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of the eastern war. Fergal Keane focuses on the siege of Kohima, telling a brilliant story of human endeavour and suffering from both sides.

The speed of the Japanese advance caught 14th Army’s commander, Bill Slim, by surprise. Until the last moment, the British failed to identify Kohima as the objective of General Kotuku Sato’s 31st Division. When the Japanese advance guard met Imperial army pickets outside the little town, many of the Indian soldiers fled.

Keane recognises that the Indian army’s legend is overblown. Some of its units did wonderful things, but some were poor soldiers. Though the British cherished romantic delusions about Indian loyalties, it is unsurprising that some changed sides as prisoners, joining the so-called Indian National Army to fight (unimpressively, as the book recounts) for the Japanese.

Colonel Hugh Richards, charged with commanding the defence, had to improvise positions with a ragtag garrison, of which the most coherent element was a battalion of the Royal West Kents. “Chaos and low morale reigned supreme,” in the words of a British officer. Much of Keane’s tale relates how the Kents, initially 444 men, held the low hills of Kohima with a medley of Indian soldiers through days of relentless Japanese mortaring, sniping, shelling and day and night assaults by screaming infantry. The district commissioner’s bungalow and tennis court became scenes of ghastly carnage.

The author paints a host of vivid pen portraits: of Lieutenant Colonel John Laverty, the harsh, unlovable Kents’ commanding officer, who despised Richards and sought to ignore his authority; of district commissioner Charles Pawsey, who insisted on staying through the siege to protect the interests of his beloved Naga tribesmen. Corporal John Harman was a misfit, embittered by growing up with a millionaire father who was eventually jailed for embezzlement. On the battlefield he displayed suicidal courage, seeming to think himself unkillable. When at last he was hit and lay dying in the arms of his company commander, who called for stretcher-­bearers, Harman said: “Don’t bother, sir…I got the lot. It was worth it.” He received a posthumous VC.

At the outset, the British held a ridge a mile long. After nine days cut off, the West Kents had lost more than a third of their strength, and the perimeter had shrunk to a 400-yard square. The trees on Garrison Hill, where the British made their final stand, were stripped of foliage by shellfire and grenades, which both sides used in thousands. A mortally wounded Welsh soldier named Williams pleaded pathetically with Lance Corporal Dennis Wykes: “Don’t let me die!” But Wykes murmured grimly to himself: “I can’t stop you dying, mate.” Nobody could, at Kohima. Water was chronically short, and the local Naga people suffered terribly.

Keane has taken immense pains to gather accounts of the Japanese experience. Their general had recklessly overextended his supply lines, and within weeks his soldiers began to starve. Some of their attacks were designed simply to seize “Churchill supplies” (British rations), as they called them. Japanese courage was as great as ever, but the British were bemused by the manner in which Sato continued to batter headlong at Kohima, instead of bypassing it. On April 20, a relief column broke through, enabling the West Kents’ ragged, filthy, bearded survivors to withdraw amid cries from Indian ­soldiers they passed of “Shabash!” (“Well done!”)

Other British units thereafter endured more weeks of costly fighting to push back the Japanese. Men fought from room to room of Pawsey’s shattered bungalow. But the tide had turned. The Japanese, always short of artillery, were reduced to six rounds a gun a day. Not only were Sato’s men starving, but they were also wracked by every kind of tropical disease.

Their retreat from Kohima, which began on May 13, created the road of bones that gives Keane his title. While British and Indian forces lost about 1,200 dead and 3,000 wounded in the battle, the Japanese suffered 7,315 casualties, mostly dead.

The defence of Kohima, and the larger battle further south at Imphal, decided the campaign. Though hard fighting lay ahead when Slim, in his turn, advanced across the Chindwin river into Burma, the 1944 actions had smashed the best Japanese forces in the region. The British and Indian armies restored their self-respect, after years of failures and humiliations.

Slim won chiefly because he displayed good generalship — after some initial mistakes — and possessed formidable US air supply-dropping resources, command of the skies, armour and much more artillery than the attackers. But British infantry also performed a remarkable feat of arms, and Keane’s masterly narrative does full justice to their achievement.

Road of Bones by Fergal Keane
HarperPress £25 pp576

via The Sunday Times

Pandey ‘Naga Seek Quick Settlement’

By Sujit Chakraborty

New Delhi, Apr 25 : The next round of formal peace talks between the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Issac-Muivah) General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and the centre's interlocutor Mr R S Pandey is expected to take place on Wednesday amidst reports that both sides have been able to iron out many ticklish issues which were pending for last several years.

The main bone of contention, the integration of Naga inhabited areas in Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, is yet to be resolved. Both sides are, however, negotiating on other alternate possibilities to find an amicable solution to the six-decade long Naga political problem.

Mr Pandey, a 1972 batch IAS officer, now retired, had spent his early years in Nagaland. In fact, he was the longest serving deputy commissioner of Mon district bordering Myanmar and later became the chief secretary of the state. This fact has probably endeared him to the Naga people and the Union Home Minister Mr P Chidambaram also found him the most suitable candidate for handling the Naga issue.  Subsequently, he was appointed as the interlocutor only last month. But within a span of only one and a half month he is reported to have broken many barriers.

During his recent trip to Nagaland, Mr Pandey met large sections of people including students organizations and political parties to gauge the mood of the people. Almost everybody said that that they were very pleased with his maiden visit and interactions with the people.

The president of the Naga Council, Savi Leigise told the rediff.com, 'we are very happy for his appointment as interlocutor. In fact, this is the first time the interlocutor has come here to meet us. We hope that the Naga political issue will be settled soon."

According to N Ngullie, general secretary of the Naga Council, Dimapur, 'we hope that the Government of India will soon find out a solution to Naga political problem. We want peace. We also urge the underground NSCN leadership to show flexibility while negotiating on the Naga issue."

Mr Pandey on his part said, 'everybody in Nagaland want an early solution to Naga political problem. Government of India is also very keen to resolve the issue. We will also ensure that a solution is acceptable to all sections of Naga society."

Mr Muivah has also returned to New Delhi from the Hebborn ceasefire camp located in Dimapur. During his meeting with his cadres and leaders including his underground cabinet colleagues, he is reported to have stated,'this time the government of India appears to be more positive in its dealing with the vexed Naga problem."

This is seen as a positive development by the centre. However, it remains to be seen what comes out of the next round of formal talks.

Pope And The Vatican Sued

The alleged victim of a US priest accused of being a serial pedophile sued the Pope and the Vatican on Thursday in an attempt to open secret files containing internal investigations into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.

"There is a painful and long history of the Vatican and the top officials... muffling and suppressing the truth and protecting themselves and their own reputation instead of protecting the children," attorney Jeff Anderson said at a press conference.

"This suit demands further action by the Vatican and the removal of every single priest that has offended a single child and every single bishop and cardinal that has been complicit in those crimes."

Anderson, who has spent decades pursuing justice for victims of child sex abuse, said the case is far broader than a suit he brought against the Vatican in 2002 and is "unprecedented" in its scope and demands.

That case is currently before the Supreme Court to determine whether the Vatican, which claims sovereign immunity, can be sued in a US court.

Thursday's lawsuit was filed on behalf of an unnamed alleged victim of a serial pedophile priest called Father Lawrence Murphy, who is accused of molesting up to 200 boys at a school for the deaf in Wisconsin.

It is the fifth case Anderson has brought forward on behalf of Murphy's victims.

He released documents in March showing that Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was made aware of the allegations against Murphy in 1996 but took no action.

Anderson said that while Murphy's abuse was reported to the archbishop in the 1950's and to local law enforcement in 1974, he remained a priest in good standing until his death in 1998.

The Vatican defends the Pope

Already under pressure from a slew of scandals spreading across Europe, the Vatican vigorously defended the Pope, arguing that Ratzinger's office chose not to begin defrocking proceedings against Murphy due to his ill health and seclusion.

Benedict XVI on Wednesday said the Roman Catholic Church was taking action against the scourge of pedophile priests and "shared" the suffering of abuse victims.

Anderson dismissed the Pope's assurances as "lip service."

He insisted that the only action which would satisfy victims and protect children would be to open the Vatican sex abuse files to the public so parents can be warned of abusers in their parish and law enforcement officials across the globe can initiate prosecution.

"The hot light of scrutiny needs to be put on their actions," he told reporters.

"We demand and require... (That the Church) remove the priests who they know to be offenders or suspect immediately — not years later. Protect the kids. Don't worry so much about your reputation."

A 55-page civil complaint filed in a Wisconsin federal court details an alleged decades-long cover-up of Murphy's rampant abuse and the Church's "secret policy" of harboring and protecting abusive clergy worldwide.

It argues that the Vatican, the Pope and other top officials named in the suit should not be granted immunity because the Church engaged in commercial activity in the United States and the crimes are sufficiently grievous to satisfy exceptions written into the law.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, issued a statement hailing the lawsuit.

"We applaud this brave victim for coming forward, seeking justice, pushing for more openness, and releasing his heartbreaking appeals to Rome," the group said in a statement.

"Before real remedies can be implemented, it's crucial that we know more of the truth about the recklessness and duplicity of Catholic officials. Sadly, legal action seems to be the only way to really get the truth exposed."

JLo’s Back With the Backup Plan

PS: You can watch Back-Up Plan online here

Mummy from the block: How Jennifer Lopez swapped diva-dom for devoted motherhood

By Chrissy Iley

The extravagant demands and paparazzi chases are long gone – replaced by married bliss and motherhood. Here Jennifer Lopez tells Chrissy Iley how her new – totally un-diva-esque – priorities are reflected in her latest film

'Pregnancy and giving birth are weird. The growing life inside you - it's like an invasion of the body snatchers,' says Jennifer

Jennifer Lopez is in a simple dress, long bare legs outstretched in front of her. Her voice is creaky with a chest infection, her eyes bleary. But her work ethic is as strong as it was back in the Bronx days she immortalised in her 2001 hit ‘Jenny From the Block’. It’s been a long time – and many blocks – since the tough, determined girl born to Puerto Rican parents danced her way around Manhattan as a backing singer for the likes of Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul, and there seem to have been many Jennys since then too.

We are in a sunny Beverly Hills hotel room. It is not a suite. There are no Diptyque candles. And the thread count on the bed linen is probably not more than 420. It certainly doesn’t meet the stipulations she was alleged to have demanded of her accommodation when she was J Lo the diva, who routinely rode in Bentley convertibles with her fiancé Ben Affleck, or went to gangsta-style clubs with her partner of two and a half years Sean Combs (P Diddy), and was chased by paparazzi.

Life is quieter now, with her husband of five years, Latin singer Marc Anthony, and two-year-old twins Emme and Max, but it’s certainly not simpler.

‘I just did two 24-hour flights back to back for a party in Kazakhstan that I had to perform at.’ Was it worth it? ‘I wouldn’t have gone otherwise. Totally.’ The result is that she’s feeling exhausted and fluey, but she’s a trouper. She’s known worse (such as the trauma of cancelling her wedding to Ben Affleck hours before it was due to take place in 2003).

Jennifer with husband Marc Anthony on the red carpet at the Academy Awards last month; Back in shape and back on form — on stage in Miami earlier this year

Her life has certainly changed pace. And her new movie The Back-Up Plan reflects that. It’s about a woman who decides that she doesn’t want to miss out on having children even though she doesn’t have a boyfriend. So she plans to have IVF and a baby on her own, and on the same day as the treatment she meets a man with the kind of romantic possibilities that she’d given up on. They fall in love and everything happens in reverse. Instead of romance, proposal, marriage, baby, it’s – she’s already pregnant with somebody else’s baby, then romance, then relationship.

The movie is cutting-edge funny and a return to form for Jennifer. ‘It couldn’t be more perfect,’ she says, ‘the whole idea, in a romantic comedy, that the pregnancy is the obstacle. It’s always, “Oh, my boyfriend can’t commit, I can’t commit, I’m in love with my best friend.” But this story seemed to me to be about a real problem. “Are you going to take on this child? Is it OK to ask somebody to do that?”’

Does she think she would have used IVF to get pregnant if she hadn’t met the right man? She shakes her head. ‘It takes a lot of bravery to have a child on your own. I have a girlfriend who did it and I really admire her. Especially knowing how much help you need. It’s a lot to be a working mum and think, I’m OK on my own. I would like to think that I’m strong enough to do that, but honestly, I don’t know if I could.’

‘I’m the biggest challenge that Marc’s ever had to deal with, and that’s what keeps it interesting
for us both’

In the movie she gets pregnant with twins – how much like real life is that? ‘Well, that’s very real life. I loved it. The woman who wrote it had just gone through a pregnancy, so it was all very fresh in her mind. And it was very fresh for me – the twins were about a year old.’

Several aspects of pregnancy come across in the movie as funny, gross, horrendous, embarrassing. Were they aspects she related to? ‘All of it. I wanted to put as much in as we could that was real: the overeating, the burping. Why not? It’s funny too. Pregnancy and giving birth are weird, strange. The growing life inside you – it’s like an invasion of the body snatchers.’

Jennifer did not have IVF herself. ‘A lot of people thought I did because I had twins, but what they don’t realise is that when you are over 35 the chance of twins increases, especially if they are in your family, and they are in mine. I was 37 when I got pregnant, so I had both factors going on.’ She knew she was having twins at seven weeks. ‘I didn’t believe I was pregnant, even though I had taken a pregnancy test. The plus sign didn’t look dark enough and I kept thinking that maybe it wasn’t a good test, so I called the doctor, who said I should come in and check. And then she said, “Oh, it looks like you’re having twins.” It was a big shock.’

But also a joy. Jennifer had been broody for years. Almost as soon as she got together with Marc (in 2004, a few months after the broken engagement with Affleck and after Marc’s separation from his first wife, former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres), she realised that their relationship was more bonded and grounded than previous affairs; they came from a similar place, both in touch with their Latin roots. The turbulence that had defined her love life with Affleck and Combs gave way to something else.

She had already been married twice, first in 1997 to waiter Ojani Noa (an 11-month marriage that was eclipsed by her huge success with George Clooney in Out of Sight) and then in 2001 to dancer Cris Judd, whom she hoped would provide her with the mix of stability and edge she needed (they divorced in 2003, after Jennifer got involved with Affleck). But with Marc, she says, ‘it was the type of relationship that you dream about. You get to the point where you realise what’s real and what you are imagining to be there. It takes a lot of looking and getting past the disappointments.’ With Marc it seemed right to start a family.

‘I don’t get too crazy any more. There was a time when I really worked out. But I care less now’

How has she changed since becoming a mother? ‘I think it calms you down a little bit, even though you have less sleep. Everything is at hyper speed, which puts things into perspective: this is important, this is not important, this is something that can wait, this is something I need to take care of. You speed up your decision-making process and you prioritise in a different way.’

Jennifer redefined the way women think about their curves by never being afraid to display her tiny waist and wide, full derrière. She was used to having a dancer’s body – flexible, toned, sculpted. Losing that must have been difficult. ‘Yeah, I do remember distinctly when you don’t fit into your clothes any more. At first it’s cute when you have a little bump. You wear big sweaters. Then one day your jeans don’t fit and you think, oh no, it’s happening. I was on tour until I was six months pregnant, so I didn’t grow the way I would have if I had been sitting at home, but once I was just sitting around, that’s when I got really big.’

How long did it take her to get her body back afterwards? ‘A while, a year. Six months afterwards, I did the Nautica Malibu triathlon and I was still 16lb overweight. Over the next six months I got it back.’ Was there a strict regime? ‘No. I don’t get too crazy any more. There was a time when I really worked out, but I was never manic about it. I did what I could. I’ve got good genes. But I care less now.’

With co-star Alex O'Loughlin in The Back-Up Plan

In the movie, her character Zoe craves junk food all the time. ‘I’m not a junk food person. I like food, though. And you do feel very hungry. Your body is asking for food. The baby is asking for food. It’s like a factory. That’s why I made the decision when I was eight months pregnant to do the triathlon after I had the babies. I wanted to know I was the same person as before I had them. I wanted to be that person more than ever for my babies. I wanted them to be proud of me. I wanted them to think, “I’ve got a special mum, she was amazing, look what she did!” I didn’t want to lose my ambition and drive to do amazing things.’

She always defined who she was by how hard she could work and how much she could love. How does she still work so hard and fit that in with the demands of motherhood?

‘I want to be the best at that too. I want to just do it all. When we travel we travel with the babies. I try to rehearse in the house. I’ve adjusted my life so that I can spend as much time with them there. I’m lucky to have that luxury so I’m going to use it to the fullest.’

Is she ready for another baby yet? ‘No. I think I just need to work right now. I do want another baby, because once you have one you realise what a blessing it is; what an amazing miracle and how much they enrich your life. But you still have to be an individual.’

Do the twins have a special connection? ‘They do. Max is always climbing out of his cot to get in Emme’s. But then they fight like cat and dog. And I’ve figured out the difference between men and women by seeing their innate characteristics. She is very careful, and you can see her thinking; men don’t think, they attack and deal with the consequences. We approach life and love in different ways.’

Her own love life used to be like a roller coaster – enormous highs of passion with lows of betrayal. How does that translate into her relationship with Marc? Did she suddenly settle and find that stability suited her?

'Marc and I like intensity, passion. If we didn't have that it would be too boring for me'

‘For all the stability we provide for each other, Marc and I are both artists. We both like intensity. We are both very passionate, and that still exists in our relationship. If we didn’t have that it would be boring. Too boring for me.’

She once told me that her perfect type of man was not a straightforward bad boy but a boy who was a perfect mixture of hard and soft. A little bit stubborn, a little bit of a challenge; you had to work to get to the sweet bit. Does Marc fit into that ideal? Is he still that? Hard and soft?

‘He is still that, and I’m the biggest challenge that he’s ever had to deal with, and that’s what keeps it interesting for us both. John Cassavetes [the director and actor] once said that he and Gena Rowlands battled their whole marriage. There was an intensity in their relationship. He said that in some ways they both knew that if the battle was over the relationship was over. They cared enough to battle.

‘People seem to think that when there’s conflict in a relationship it’s always a bad thing, but I think you need a challenge. The dynamic between us is passionate and that’s why it works. We are compatible, but at the same time we are different enough to make it interesting.’

I tell her that I’ve read a couple of stories recently that said they are different enough to be splitting up. Has she read those? ‘Of course. It doesn’t really matter to me. We know what’s true.’

Jennifer’s relationship with fame has completely changed since the early days. She used to think success equalled fame, which meant a constant accompaniment of paparazzi and tabloid fever. Then she realised artistic credibility came from getting on with it and headlines didn’t make a relationship work. But she’s used to controversy, to stories spiralling out of control, and seems pretty unflustered by it.

She hasn’t read the story about her first husband selling their wedding photos, she says (although there have been reports in the press that she’s suing him over it). ‘Somebody asked me about it recently but I didn’t see it. I’m not in touch with him at all.’ Is that your decision or his? ‘It’s just your life goes into different chapters. It’s like the first grade. You just get past it.’

What she doesn’t want to get past is the experience of love. All the different kinds
of love she’s had – fierce, warm, treacherous; how to keep love going; how to stub it out if it’s bad. ‘I’m putting all that into a new album called Love?, because I still find love very confusing and challenging. I also feel it’s time to open up the dialogue about what that word ‘love’ means, what do people do in love? Should we have better standards in love, [agree that] it’s not OK to be dishonest, to cheat, or be pointlessly cruel?’

Isn’t it becoming more and more difficult to juggle children, acting, music? Does she feel she should decide to go in one direction?

‘Oh no, I’m not ready to do that.’ What about the crop of new girls that are storming the charts – does she feel threatened by them? ‘No, I love all the girls out there now – Beyoncé, Rihanna, Carrie Underwood, Pink – all of them. I don’t feel in competition with them. I just want to be me. And that’s always been good enough.’

Was reaching 40 last year a watershed birthday? ‘It was the best party of my life and the best year so far.’ So she doesn’t worry about body parts moving in the wrong direction? ‘Not yet. Somebody told me 45 is when that stuff happens. So maybe I can hold on for a while.’

What she’s really holding on for at the moment is a small part on the hit TV show Glee. ‘I’d just like to do an appearance because I love the show so much. It’s one of my favourites.’ But as well as her new movie, her new album and her ambitions for television, her social life in Miami is pretty full-on. Her husband owns part of the Miami Dolphins American football team, and they are also soccer fans and friendly with the Beckhams. Victoria commented recently that they were the same dress size. Jennifer’s eyes widen in shock at this. ‘I don’t think I could fit into her dresses. She’s
a tiny thing,’ she says. ‘But she could certainly fit into mine.’

The Back-Up Plan will be in cinemas on 7 May 

[ via Dailymail ]

PS: You can watch Back-Up Plan online here

Celebrities Who Date Models: Who's The Biggest Modelizer?

A model is good arm candy for any celebrity and sometimes even makes the transition from rumored girlfriend (who is Guy Ritchie dating these days?) to wife and mother..

Madonna and Halle Berry show that female celebs date models too. Which of these couples are lasting love?

Orlando Bloom & Miranda Kerr

Mark Wahlberg & Rhea Durham

Andy Roddick & Brooklyn Decker

Bruce Willis & Emma Lemming

Halle Berry & Gabriel Aubry

Leonardo DiCaprio & Bar Refaeli

Mickey Rourke & Anastasia Makarenko

John Legend & Christine Teigen

George Clooney & Elisabetta Canalis

Matthew McConaughey & Camila Alves

Adam Levine & Anne V

Tom Brady & Gisele Bundchen

Guy Ritchie & Michaela Kocianova

Zach Braff & Taylor Bagley

Madonna & Jesus Luz

Sean Penn & Jessica White

Michael Buble & Luisana Lopilato

[ via Huffpost ]

Bandh Called in Manipur Hill Districts From Tonight

Imphal, Apr 25 : A 24-hour bandh in hill districts of Manipur has been called by a local committee from midnight tonight in protest against the state government's proposal to hold elections to the autonomous district councils.

In a statement here today, the Manipur Tribal Joint Action Committee Against Election Under Unwanted District Council Act said the bandh would be enforced in all the hill districts of Manipur.

Alleging that the present Manipur District Council Act 2008 did not give enough monetary power to the councils in the hill districts Ukhrul, Chandel, Tamenglong, Senapati and Churachandpur, the committee threatened to launch other forms of agitation if the state government did not stop the election process.

With the same demand, the All Naga Students Association Manipur (ANSAM) had also begun an indefinite economic blockade from yesterday along the Imphal-Dimapur National Highway 39 and Imphal-Jiribam National Highway 53.

NTPC Start Rs 1,000-cr Expansion Project of Bongaigaon Power Plant

Guwahati, Apr 25 : The State-owned NTPC will start the 1,000-crore rupee expansion project of its Bongaigaon power plant in Assam on Thursday for meeting the growing power requirement of the region.

PTI quoting senior government official reports, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde will lay the foundation stone for the expansion project at Kumguri village in the Kokrajhar district.

NTPC plans to raise its power generation capacity to 50,000 MW by 2012, from the current 31,000 MW.

HIV+ Population Rising in Mizoram

Aizawl, Apr 25 : Mizoram has the second highest number of HIV-positive persons, after Manipur, in the region.

According to a survey conducted recently by Mizoram AIDS Intervention Network, an NGO, the state has 4,169 HIV/AIDS-infected persons, 2,577 of whom are men and 1,592 women.

The survey says since 1990, when the first HIV case was detected in the state, 169 persons have died of the disease. The state is now estimated to have 356 full-blown cases. Youths between 25 and 34 years make up the highest number of patients at 1,686. Those between 15 and 24 years are numbered at 1,097 and those between 35 and 44 years at 1,100.

Officials in the state wing of the National Aids Control Society said sexual contact was a major cause of the high incidence of HIV/AIDS, followed by blood transfusion and use of used syringes by drug addicts.