Rebels in Afghanistan and Colombia are increasingly controlling land where illegal drugs are being grown, according to the United Nations.
From BBC News:
Afghanistan had a record opium harvest last year and coca leaf production in Colombia increased 27%, according to The World Drug Report 2008.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says most regions where [...]

7,500 people have died while in Indian prisons since 2002, according to a new report.
From BBC News:
The report by Delhi-based Asian Centre for Human Rights says many of these people were tortured in custody.
It says the Indian government is in a state of denial about torture.
Even when action is taken against officials who are accused [...]

Drug traffickers are using Persian carpets to bring illegal drugs into China.
From Reuters:
Drug traffickers in China’s far west are smuggling heroin into the country woven into carpets imported from Afghanistan and Pakistan, state media said on Tuesday.
Customs officials in Xinjiang, which borders both countries, have seized more than 30 carpets containing some 50 kg (110 [...]

The Washington Post reports on the battle by Chinese authorities against unauthorized Olympic Merchandise.
From the Washington Post:
The furtive trade in the five official, adorable Olympics figures — including Huanhuan, Jingjing the Panda and others — is part of an Olympic-size battle that has erupted between the keepers of the Games’ lucrative symbols and an army [...]

Burmese authorities reported that they have arrested 245 drug traffickers in an attempt to crack down on the trade in drugs within its border.
However, many feel that the actions are simply a show and not a dedicated effort to stem the trade.
From the Sydney Morning Herald:
Burma is the second largest opium-producing nation after Afghanistan.
The military [...]

In an example of how large the drug trade is in Afghanistan, NATO forces recently found 260 tons of hashish.
From the AP (via IHT):
Afghan counternarcotics officials said Wednesday that they uncovered 260 tons of hashish hidden in 6-foot-deep trenches in southern Afghanistan in what one DEA official said appears to be the world’s biggest drug bust.
The [...]

The music industry in China is warning search engine Baidu to start enforcing piracy violations on its website or risk losing advertising. 
From AFP: 
Chinese music industry representatives Tuesday warned the nation’s top search engine Baidu that it risked losing advertising contracts over allegations that it allowed the pirating of music files.
“Resolutely countering Baidu, the largest and [...]

China is striving to eliminate the possibility of unlicensed broadcasts of the Summer Olympic games. 
From Businessweek: 
The People’s Republic of China has long been a land of opportunity for copyright infringers. On Web sites such as Youku.com, unlicensed Western TV shows and Hollywood flicks are plentiful and free to all comers. But with the Olympics set [...]

A guest columnist in Marketwatch mentions the difficulty in finding counterfeit olympic merchandise in China. 
From Marketwatch: 

Smart official Olympic merchandise stores sell all manner of genuine, expensive knick-knacks. There’s clearly a market for these high-value goods, and if there’s one thing that China’s counterfeiters are good at, it’s spotting a gap in the market. So where [...]

Japanese Customs Officials are asking the public to return a box of marijuana that was placed in a passenger’s bag for a routine security test that went wrong.
From the BBC News:
A customs officer hid a package of the banned substance in a side pocket of a randomly chosen suitcase in order to test airport security.
Sniffer [...]