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Afghanistan officials ’systematically tortured’ detainees, says UN report | The Guardian
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/10/afghanistan-torture?CMP=twt_gu

Prisoners have been systematically tortured while in the custody of Afghan security officials, according to a UN report which described abuse including ripping detainees’ toenails out and twisting their genitals.

Nearly half of prisoners interviewed by Afghanistan’s intelligence agency said they had been tortured while a third of those arrested by Afghan police reported abuse.

Greeks pay for economic crisis with their health | World news | The Guardian
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/10/greece-economic-crisis-health

Many, like the unemployed diabetic man he has just examined, have gone without treatment for several days. “When you see a diabetic unable to afford his insulin you know he is going to die,” says Samarkos. “There is no infrastructure to help these people. On every front the system has failed the people it was meant to serve.”

Greeks are paying for their economic disaster with their health, according to a new study.

The impact of cuts on drugs services appears particularly troubling. HIV infections rose significantly in 2010, with injecting drug users accounting for half of the rise. The numbers are on course to rise by 52% this year. Many new infections are also linked to rises in prostitution and unsafe sex. Heroin use reportedly rose by 20% in 2009, according to estimates from the Greek Documentation and Monitoring Centre for Drugs. Budget cuts in 2009 and 2010 have meant the loss of a third of the country’s outreach programmes.

#Grèce #crise #santé

New Zealand oil spill reaches shore as weather holds up response | World news | The Guardian
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/10/new-zealand-oil-slick

Oil has begun washing up on a popular beach on New Zealand’s east coast, five days after the container ship Rena struck a reef in the Bay of Plenty. Officials urged people to avoid the area, warning that the water off Tauranga city had become “highly toxic”.

Efforts to remove oil from the ship, which ran aground on Astrolabe Reef in the early hours of Wednesday, have been suspended in the face of deteriorating weather conditions.

On Sunday about 10 tonnes of fuel oil had been pumped into safe storage from the 236-metre-long ship but that represented a fraction of the 1,700 tonnes on board.

#pollution #pétrole