London's Metropolitan Police faces racism claims

By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN

April 6, 2012 -- Updated 1308 GMT (2108 HKT)

General view of the sign for the New Scotland Yard building in Victoria on January 27, 2011 in London, England.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Eight officers and a member of staff are suspended, the Metropolitan Police says
• About 20 officers and a member of staff are under investigation, police say
• "There is no room for racism in the Met," says the force's deputy commissioner
• The force, which has 32,000 officers, has faced accusations of racism in the past

London (CNN) -- London's Metropolitan Police was under fire Friday after 10 cases involving alleged racism by police officers were referred to the independent police watchdog for investigation.

Eight officers and a staff member have been suspended while allegations that they used racist language are reviewed, the Metropolitan Police said.

The 10 cases involve about 20 police officers and one staff member, a police spokesman said.

Deputy Commissioner Craig Mackey said Thursday that the force, known as the Met, was taking the matter very seriously.

South Korean woman wins Man Asian Literary Prize

By Peter Shadbolt, CNN

March 17, 2012 -- Updated 0840 GMT (1640 HKT)

Kyung-sook Shin is the first woman to receive the prestigious Man Asian Literary Prize

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• South Korean becomes first woman to win Man Asian Literary Prize
• Kyung-sook Shin wins $30,000 award for her book "Please Look After Mom"
• The novel is a bestseller in South Korea, selling 1.93M copies
• The novel looks at the role of motherhood in a changing society

Hong Kong (CNN) -- A novel about the role of motherhood and the conflict between tradition and modernity in contemporary South Korea has won the Man Asian Literary Prize for author Kyung-sook Shin, marking the first time a woman has won the prestigious literary award.

Slavery's last stronghold

Nouakchott, Mauritania (CNN)

Moulkheir Mint Yarba returned from a day of tending her master’s goats out on the Sahara Desert to find something unimaginable: Her baby girl, barely old enough to crawl, had been left outdoors to die.

The usually stoic mother — whose jet-black eyes and cardboard hands carry decades of sadness — wept when she saw her child’s lifeless face, eyes open and covered in ants, resting in the orange sands of the Mauritanian desert. The master who raped Moulkheir to produce the child wanted to punish his slave. He told her she would work faster without the child on her back.

Trying to pull herself together, Moulkheir asked if she could take a break to give her daughter a proper burial. Her master’s reply: Get back to work.

“Her soul is a dog’s soul,” she recalls him saying.

深よみエンタ：相次ぐ「孤立死」 山口美江さんの悲報も＝佐藤雅昭

　「孤立死」「孤独死」という見出しがこのところ新聞やニュース番組でよく目につく。東京都立川市で相次いだ２件の事例、そして東日本大震災から１年の１１日には足立区西新井のアパートで高齢男女が、さらに１４日にも埼玉県川口市でお年寄りが亡くなっているのが見つかった。むろん都会だけに限ったものではない。震災の仮設住宅の入居者では昨年４月以降、岩手、宮城、福島の被災３県で「孤独死」した人が２２人に上っている。

つらい話だ。立川市のケースには腹立たしさも覚える。２月にマンションの一室で母親と障害を持つ男児が死亡しているのが見つかり、３月７日にも都営アパートで９０代と６０代の母娘と見られる遺体が発見された。市はアパートを管理する都住宅供給公社から「住民と連絡が取れない」と通報を受けながら、５日間も放置していたことが明らかになっている。

山口美江さん孤独死番組に出演していた

「ＣＮＮヘッドライン」のキャスターで、「しば漬け食べたい」のせりふのＣＭで知られたタレント山口美江（やまぐち・みえ）さんが心不全のため、横浜市の自宅で亡くなっていたことが９日、分かった。８日午前、親族に発見された。５１歳だった。

山口さんが昨年１１月に出演したＴＢＳ系「スパモク！！　孤独死ドキュメント　生と死を見つめてＳＰ」は、孤独死しないためにはどうすればいいのかを考える内容だった。同番組ＨＰでは「孤独死は年間約３万人ともいわれる」と紹介している。

6,000 nurses strike in California

By Michael Martinez and Sara Weisfeldt

December 23, 2011 -- Updated 0012 GMT (0812 HKT)

Striking nurses rally Thursday near a hospital in Long Beach, California.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• About 6,000 California nurses staged a one-day strike at several hospitals
• 2,000 nurses strike at two Long Beach hospitals
• 4,000 more strike at nine San Francisco Bay area hospitals
• Hospital officials say they are disappointed the strikes occur during holidays

Long Beach, California (CNN) -- About 6,000 California nurses staged a one-day strike at several hospitals Thursday, protesting what they called an "erosion of quality of care and cuts to patient protections," National Nurses United said.

3rd accuser of Syracuse coach pleads guilty to child sex charges

By the CNN Wire Staff

December 21, 2011 -- Updated 0657 GMT (1457 HKT)

Zachary Tomaselli, who alleges a former Syracuse University coach molested him, has pleaded guilty to charges that he sexually abused a teenage boy.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Zachary Tomaselli faces a maximum of three years, three months in prison
• "I take complete responsibility for what I did," he tells CNN
• Tomaselli, 23, is currently out on bail

(CNN) -- Zachary Tomaselli, the third man to publicly allege that former Syracuse University coach Bernie Fine molested him, pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that he sexually abused a teenage boy.

Jailed Afghan rape victim freed

By Nick Paton Walsh and Moni Basu, CNN

December 16, 2011 -- Updated 1652 GMT (0052 HKT)

Afghan rape victim freed

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Gulnaz was sentenced to 12 years in jail after she reported being raped by her cousin's husband
• She's under pressure to marry her attacker to restore her honor
• President Hamid Karzai intervened and ordered her release
• Women in her situation are often killed for the shame they have brought on the community

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- An Afghan woman imprisoned for adultery after a relative raped her has been freed after President Hamid Karzai intervened on her behalf.

North Korean labor camps in Siberia

By Shane Smith, VICE.COM

December 15, 2011 -- Updated 1933 GMT (0333 HKT)

VICE: Siberia's North Korean labor camp

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• VICE.COM: Labor camps exist in Siberia
• VICE.COM: Most workers at camps over age 40
• VICE.COM: Labor camps connected to Kim Jong Il

Editor's note: The staff at CNN.com has been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn, New York. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a very transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.

18/10 Toddler incident in China shows 'volunteer's dilemma'

By Joachim Krueger, Special to CNN

October 18, 2011 -- Updated 1922 GMT (0322 HKT)

A screen grab of an incident on a China street where a toddler was run down shows a rescuer finally helping her

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Joachim Krueger says video of a toddler run over twice in China has shocked, horrified many
• He says we wonder why it took so long for someone to help and ask are people in China callous?
• He says what researchers call "volunteers dilemma" not unique to China; cites NY case
• Krueger: "Bystander effect" sometimes less when a group is needed, as in United Flight 93

Editor's note: Joachim I. Krueger is professor of psychology at Brown University who studies self-perception and social perception. He is the editor of Rationality and Social Responsibility.

(CNN) -- A security camera video of a toddler being run over twice on a street in China has swept across the Web in recent days and has drawn a chorus of horrified denunciations. How, we wonder, could so many passers-by have so callously ignored the girl's plight?