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59 of Afghan suicide blast victims were children--official

Emiratis tried for raping youth

Nigeria sues over child smokers

59 of Afghan suicide blast victims were children--official
Agence France-Presse
Inquirer.net, November 09, 2007 

KABUL -- Fifty-nine of the 64 people killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan this week were schoolchildren, an education ministry official said.

"We got 59 school children, aged from eight to 18, and five teachers killed in that blast," education ministry spokesman Zuhor Afghan told Agence France-Presse.

The attack also killed six lawmakers, five of their bodyguards and five teachers.

One person had meanwhile been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attack on Tuesday in the northern province of Baghlan, police said.

"Now we have 64 people killed in that incident," health ministry official Ahmad Shah Shokohmand said in Kabul

"Sixty people were killed in the blast and four others died from their wounds in the hospitals," he said. "The latest figures are a result of our investigations based on the count of the graves in the area."

Shokohmand said 81 people were wounded.

The police chief of the province, Abdul Rahman Sayedkhili, said Friday 61 people were dead and 95 wounded. The provincial governor Alam Ishaqzy said late Thursday said 52 people were killed 

The toll from the blast has been difficult to pin down with various officials issuing different numbers.

Sayedkhili said a man arrested at the site of the attack because he was behaving suspiciously had been sent to Kabul for questioning.

The Taliban, behind a wave of suicide attacks in Afghanistan as part of an extremist insurgency launched after they were ousted from power six years ago, have denied involvement in the blast.

Emiratis tried for raping youth
Thursday, 8 November 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7084593.stm

A Dubai court has been hearing evidence against three Emirati nationals accused of raping a French-Swiss boy.

The boy, 15, testified in private against his alleged attackers, aged 36, 18 and one who is a minor.

The boy's relatives say the three, one of whom is HIV positive, took him into the desert and raped him at knifepoint.

His mother accuses the authorities of lying about the 36-year-old's HIV infection to hide the fact that Aids is present in the United Arab Emirates.

The defendants - who deny the charges - have not been identified in the case, in line with UAE law.

Veronique Robert, the mother, has been campaigning for more protection for underage rape victims in the Emirates.

Dubai officials have defended their handling of the case but have not commented on the mother's accusations.

Nigeria sues over child smokers
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
bbc.co.uk

Nigeria's government says it has begun legal action against three leading international cigarette companies.

It is demanding more than $40bn in compensation over their alleged role in promoting underage smoking.

The companies concerned are British American Tobacco (BAT), Philip Morris and International Tobacco Ltd.

A BAT spokesperson in London said children are not and never will be their audience and it believes the action is flawed and lacks merit.

BAT's Catherine Armstrong said it would vigorously defend the claim.

The government is also seeking an injunction compelling the companies to stop the marketing, distribution and sale of cigarettes to minors.

It says that products sold by the companies are addictive and hazardous to public health.

Cigarette smoking is widespread in Nigeria and BAT recently set up a factory in the West African country.

Correspondents say that over the past 20 years, tobacco companies have aggressively marketed their products in Africa and other developing regions to compensate for the loss of sales in developed countries that have imposed smoking restrictions.

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