Sexual violence on the rise in US prisons
Agence France-Presse
Last updated 08:36am (Mla time) 08/17/2007

WASHINGTON -- Rape, sexual harassment and violence in US jails were on the rise in 2006, with prison guards responsible for more than half the cases, the Department of Justice said Thursday in a report.

In sheer numbers, 6,528 cases of sexual violence were reported last year in US prisons, a 4.5 percent increase over 2005 and a 21 percent increase over 2004, when the Bureau of Justice and Statistics began gathering rape data from federal penitentiaries and a sampling of state prisons.

Part of the increase may be the result of a growing tendency among inmates to report incidents as victims or witnesses, said the report, noting that 55 percent of allegations were "unsubstantiated" and 29 percent "unfounded."

Of all incidents, 36 percent involved "staff sexual misconduct" toward inmates, consensual and nonconsensual, and 17 percent staff sexual harassment.

Meanwhile 34 percent had to do with "inmate-on-inmate" nonconsensual sex acts, and 13 percent with abusive sexual contacts between inmates.

The sexual relationship "appeared to be willing" in 57 percent of incidents of staff sexual misconduct and harassment, the report said, adding that "staff perpetrators" were 58 percent female in federal prisons, but only 20 percent in state facilities.

The United States has the highest prison population in the world, with 2.24 million people behind state and federal prison bars in mid-2006, according to most recent statistics.

China told to increase drug tests
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi/front_page/6947479.stm
Published: 2007/08/15 08:53:35 GMT
© BBC MMVII

World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound has urged China to increase the number of doping tests they carry out on their athletes.

China, which will host next year's Olympics, has suffered several doping scandals in recent years.

Pound wants the authorities to "go the extra mile" to show the world it is serious about cracking down on drugs.

"They're increasing the number of tests but they're not doing as many as they probably should," he said.

Pound will travel to China next month to meet officials from the Olympic organising committee and said he would be "very direct" in telling them what needed to be done.

"The central government, I think, is pretty committed to having an effective anti-doping program," he said.

"They, more than anyone, understand the risk, reputational and otherwise."

He added: "We've tried to persuade them they should make this effort because they do have a record which is not generally known or acknowledged in China. But everybody outside of China knows it."

Zhao Jian, head of the Anti-Doping Commission for the Chinese Olympic Committee, said in June that tests this year would increase to 10,000 from 9,000 last year - with 70% out-of-competition.

"Yes, there were scandals but we've already learned the lesson and we are making progress," he said recently.

"From the 1990s, whatever difficulties we've faced we've never hidden any positive cases."

Pound said he would also push for a crackdown on Chinese internet sites that sell performance-enhancing drugs.

"It's a big problem and a big country," he said. "They are like the United States, which would like to be drug free but it's not.

"There are pockets in sports, teams, clubs that are actively involved in doping and have no real intention of changing unless they get caught."

Nigeria kidnap girl's father dies
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/6949265.stm
Published: 2007/08/16 09:36:25 GMT
© BBC MMVII

The father of a three-year-old British girl who was kidnapped in Nigeria has died a month after her ordeal.

The family of County Durham-born Michael Hill, 60, said they believed the stress of daughter Margaret's abduction had triggered a heart attack.

She was snatched by gunmen as she went to school and held for four days while they demanded a ransom.

Mr Hill, an oil worker in Nigeria, had offered to hand himself over in exchange for Margaret.

The Foreign Office confirmed he had died at home in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, on 8 August as a result of a medical condition.

Mr Hill had moved to Nigeria a decade ago.

He was operations director for the US oil company Lone Star and ran a karaoke bar with his third wife, Oluchi, also known as Tina.

His funeral is expected to take place in Port Harcourt.

Mr Hill had planned to return to Murton, County Durham, for a family reunion.

His sister, Catherine Duffy, of Murton, told the Northern Echo newspaper: "We all can't help but think it was that terrible ordeal which has triggered his death."

She added she had spoken to Oluchi, who agreed.

Mrs Duffy said: "She is very low and she confirmed to us that his death certificate stated he had died of a heart attack."

Mrs Duffy said she hoped to arrange a memorial service in County Durham. -End-

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