Group cites Iran sex-assault cases

Human Rights Watch accused Iran's judiciary of covering up the abuses and called on it to immediately open investigations and prosecute those responsible.

Claims that detainees were raped by their jailers emerged in August, deeply embarrassing Iran's clerical leadership in the midst of a crackdown on protesters who accused authorities of rigging President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's June 12 reelection.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said one of the cases it documented was supported by a report from the medical examiner's office. Judicial authorities, however, refused to investigate further and threatened to arrest the detainee's family if they spoke out about the abuse, the group said. - AP

Security driver sought in heist

Prosecutor Xavier Richard said the 39-year-old suspect appeared to have acted alone and prepared his escape in advance. Police were on the lookout at airports yesterday as well as French border points for the suspect, a single man with no children.

The driver, who worked for Loomis France, had picked up the money Thursday at the Banque de France branch in Lyon with two other security workers. They then stopped at another bank, and while the two other workers were inside that bank, the driver made off with the cash. - AP

Cuba cuts staples from ration book

Potatoes and peas were dropped from the list of rationed foods this week, meaning Cubans can buy as much of the products as they want - as long as they are willing to pay as much as 20 times more than they used to.

The move comes amid efforts by Raul Castro's government to scale back Cuba's subsidy-rich, cash-poor economy. Nearly free lunches were eliminated from some state cafeterias in September. In October, the Communist Party's Granma newspaper published a full-page editorial saying the time had come to do away with the ration books. - AP