Some 95 percent of 10- to 15-year-olds in Britain have experienced crime at least once.

Being a victim of crime is now the norm for most children in Britain, according to research that reveals that 95 percent of 10- to 15-year-olds in the country have experienced crime at least once.
A survey by the Howard League for Penal Reform of more than 3,000 children found that almost three-quarters had been assaulted over the previous year, and that two-thirds had been victims of theft. More than half the children had seen their property deliberately damaged, while others reported threats or verbal abuse.
The study, entitled Children as victims: child-sized crimes in a child-sized world, found the majority of incidents occurred in schools and playgrounds, with much of the rest being between school and home. But children were unlikely to report incidents to police or teachers because they felt those adults would not be interested, wrote Gazettelive.co.uk.
The wave of mainly low-level, child-on-child crime revealed by the research suggests that government figures might have significantly underestimated the level of crime experienced by young people. According to the 2003 Home Office Crime and Justice Survey only 35 percent of children aged 10-15 years had experienced at least one crime in the previous year.
The League also found that children feared crime, and felt vulnerable and scared. They wanted safe places for play, and even work opportunities, at an earlier age, to help relieve boredom. They also wanted to see a change in adults’ attitudes, as they felt demonized as perpetrators rather than seen as victims.
Another study published recently, by Victim Support, shows how the line between victimhood and offending is often blurred, with youngsters hit by crime sometimes turning to violence in defense. According to the League study, which ran from 2000 to 2006, 72 percent of children were hit or kicked during the previous year, and more than half threatened with violence. Almost a fifth had had something stolen outside school, 11 percent had been robbed of money, and almost one in 10 of a mobile phone.

Despite the efforts of the government and rights groups, engagement and marriage of children still persists in Afghanistan.

When asked about her engagement party this summer, little Sunam glanced blankly at her family, then fiddled with her gold-sequined engagement outfit--a speechless response not out of shyness, but because she does not yet talk much. Sunam is 3.
The toddler was engaged to her 7-year-old cousin Nieem in June, in a match made by their parents, reported AP.
Despite the efforts of the government and rights groups, the engagement and marriage of children still persists in this country, especially among poor, uneducated families or in the countryside.
About 16 percent of Afghan children are married under the age of 15, according to recent data from UNICEF. And there is evidence that the poverty of recent years is pushing down the marriage age further in some areas.
The practice can force couples into a miserable union and sometimes expose the girl to violence if she resists.
Sunam’s father committed her in marriage as a gift to his sister, Fahima, who does not have a daughter and desperately wants one. Marriage between first cousins is common in Afghanistan because families believe it is better to know their in-laws well. The two families live in the same modest housing compound in Kabul.

Nearly half the 310 people detained recently in France on suspicion of spreading child pornography over the Internet have admitted to downloading images of naked children, police said.
The arrests were part of a crackdown on pedophilia in France that began Last Monday.
More than 2 million photos and 28,000 videos were discovered on computers seized in the sweep, officials said on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing, reported AP.
Those detained were all men between age 19 and 70 and included executives, teachers and military men. Officials said 163 of those picked up acknowledged having downloaded photos and videos of child porn.
Two men face preliminary charges of “sexually abusing children,“ and a third--a repeat offender--was sentenced Wednesday to 12 months in prison. Fifteen formal investigations have been opened, officials said.
Officers from several French police units have been preparing for the sweep since January, following a tip from an Italian child protection organization.
More arrests could follow as police in other countries crack down on others who downloaded the images, the officials said.
A Polish police spokesman said Friday that 55 Polish nationals were arrested on suspicion of spreading child pornography over the Internet. However, it was not immediately clear if the Polish crackdown was directly related to the French sweep.

US children are receiving less than half the routine care they need, even if they are covered by health insurance, researchers said.
“We’re talking about the basics of what we should be providing, and in many cases it’s just not happening,“ said Dr. Rita Mangione-Smith of the University of Washington in Seattle, who led the study, reported Reuters.
Shortfalls were seen in vaccinating children on time, providing recommended asthma care and even monitoring growth. Parents may need to read up on needed care and come in to checkups armed with checklists, Mangione-Smith said.
The study comes amid debate over expanding childhood access to health insurance programs. Mangione-Smith’s team looked at whether children were receiving all the treatment they need, even those covered by insurance.
Nurses reviewed medical records from 1,536 children and teens from 12 metropolitan areas and found that they received recommended care less than 47 percent of the time in areas ranging from basic immunizations to treatment for infections.
Nationwide, the percentage may be even lower.
Other studies have shown that adults typically get about 55 percent of the care they need. One reason for the lack of care, Mangione-Smith said, may be that more doctors feel pressed for time, so they may think they have little opportunity to do preventive screening.
“We need to change the way we train pediatricians so that they are just as skilled at preventing illness as they are in treating it. Most residents in training have little exposure to kids coming in for checkups and preventive care,“ she added.

Puppet show in the Iranian city of Khoramabad, Lorestan province.

FAO called on Latin American governments to fight infant malnutrition in the region which affects nine million children in the region which are born condemned to exclusion, “If children are having a rough time, nothing can be right“, said Pedro Medrano FAO’ regional director during a recent video conference from Panama.
“We’re calling on all governments to give priority to combating infant malnutrition; it’s more than a rights, it’s a moral issue“, said Medrano who revealed that nine million children below five years suffer chronic malnutrition or below size symptoms, reported Mercopress.com.
Medrano added that another nine million children run the risk of exposure to malnutrition since they currently suffer “some degree of poor nutrition“.
FAO representative in Chile Jose Graziano revealed that hunger and malnutrition affect 53 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean, “equivalent to 10 percent of total population“.
Countries with the highest chronic malnutrition prevalence among children are Guatemala, 49 percent, followed by Honduras, 29 percent and Bolivia, 27 percent.
Graciano said that hunger remains a significant scourge in the region and “sustained economic growth is the best weapon to fight hunger seriously“.
Medrano pointed out that groups most exposed to malnutrition and hunger are Afro descendents groups and aborigines.
According to the World Food Program and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, infant malnutrition costs in Central America and the Dominican Republic range 5.6 billion US dollars, or 6.4 percent of the region’s GDP because of higher health costs, learning problems and lesser competitiveness.

Sweden was coming to terms Saturday with one of the largest demonstrations the country has ever seen--against growing binge drinking and violence among Swedish youth.
More than 12,000 people swamped the streets of the capital Stockholm on Friday to ’say no to violence’ after a teenager was killed by drunken teens at a birthday party a ten days ago, reported AFP.
Hundreds of other demonstrators showed their solidarity in other Swedish cities, from Gothenburg to Malmo to Kalmar.
Sixteen year old Riccardo, whose first name only has been released by police, died after being hit by other adolescents at the end of a drunken birthday party in the central Stockholm.
“I organized this demonstration because I feel concerned. It could have been me that night,“ Anton Abele, 15, who had been at the party on October 5 said.
His father Gunnar Abele said he thought the protest was unprecedented. “It’s very rare in Sweden. At best on May Day you have 10, 000,“ he said. For the past ten days the story has been front page news in Sweden.
In Sweden it is against the law for anyone under the age of 20 to purchase alcohol in shops--yet few teenage birthday parties are held without booze.
“There is an obvious link between alcohol consumption and this tragedy. The people who were fighting were all drunk. At the party there was loads of booze,“ said Anton Abele.
Sweden is not unique in being confronted with binge-drinking teenagers. The death of a 17-year-old Danish youth who choked to death whilst drunk on holiday in Bulgaria sparked a debate in Denmark in July.

The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) has collaborated with One Laptop per Child (OLPC) foundation to bring the latter’s much-hyped $100 laptop to India to promote e-learning among poor children.
Under this initiative, Reliance Communications (RCom) will provide Internet connectivity, network backbone, logistics, and support to the OLPC initiative.
The initiative aims at covering over 25,000 towns, and 600,000 villages in the country by 2008, reported Techtree.com.
The larger OLPC project has already provided laptops to 5 million school children across the world, and aims to cover 150 million by 2008.
Based on the Linux OS, the OLPC (XO) laptop has replaceable keyboards, which can be changed for use with 35 global languages.

As many as 101 Chinese youths will join their Vietnamese peers at the 8th Vietnam-China Youth Friendship Meeting to be held from October 16-25.
Part of a cooperation agreement between the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) and the Communist Youth League of China, the event will take place in Hanoi, northeastern Quang Ninh and central Khanh Hoa provinces, and Ho Chi Minh City, VNA reported.
Doan Van Thai, Secretary of the HCYU Central Committee, said the program is aimed at strengthening the friendly and cooperative ties between Vietnamese and Chinese young people as agreed upon by Party and State leaders of the two nations.
During the program, participants will discuss ways to encourage young people to play a more active role in socio-economic development and beef up the people-to-people friendship.