Former NFL running back David Meggett has been arrested on charges that he raped a South Carolina woman because she owed him $200, The Associated Press reports. The woman, who was not identified because she is allegedly the victim of a sexual assault, says that when she woke up at about 1 a.m. Tuesday, she found Meggett, a man she knew as “Mike,” sitting on her bed, according to AP. He demanded that she repay $200 she owed him and raped her when she said she didn’t have the money, she said. Read the rest here.

Congo Doctor is ‘African of the Year’ Dr. Denis Mukwege, who operates a clinic treating rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been named “African of the Year” by a Nigerian newspaper. He says his award of $20,000 will be put toward funding a center to help rape victims come back into their societies, reports the BBC. In the conflict-ridden Congo, all of the warring sides have “declared women their common enemy,” Mukwege said.  His clinic, the Panzi hospital, assists women who’ve been raped with both physical and psychological injuries, including some who have contracted HIV from their attackers. “I am pleased to accept this award if it will highlight the situation of women in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,” he told the BBC after accepting the award at a ceremony in Nigeria. This is the newspaper’s first African of the Year award. Former Tanzanian leader, Salim Ahmed Salim, was on the newspaper’s selection panel. “This is a person who has been involved in the protection of women under difficult circumstances, often at the risk of his own life,” he told the BBC. Mukwege was also given the Olof Palme prize for outstanding achievement in promoting peace.
Zimbabwe’s Cholera Deaths Near 2,000 The death toll from Zimbabwe’s cholera epidemic has reached 1,937, reports CNN. The outbreak of the water-borne disease started in August, and since then almost 40,000 people have been become infected by the illness, according to the World Health Organization. The spread of cholera is preventable, and some health experts blame the Zimbabwean government, led by controversial longtime President Robert Mugabe. The spread of the epidemic, they say, is mainly due to the failure to import enough water-cleansing chemicals. Many residents have had to get drinking water from rivers and wells because the water taps are dry; the nation’s trash-disposing systems aren’t operating. These factors serve only to worsen the situation, as it keeps many from having access to clean water. After Mugabe declared the epidemic a national emergency last month, worldwide charities such as WHO, Oxfam, USAID as well as some foreign governments have tried to help with the situation but there has been little improvement in that span of time.

Nigeria gets antidote for baby poison. After Nigerian babies died from taking tainted teething syrup, medical officials flew in 100 doses of an antidote, reports the BBC. The syrup, called “My Pikin,” has caused at least 34 children to die from kidney failure. Some insist the number could be higher since not all parents can take their children to the hospital. Authorities have taken 425 bottles of the syrup from stores Nov. 21, just a couple of days after getting reports it might by tainted. The syrup contained diethylene glycol, a toxic ingredient used in engine coolant. The syrup manufacturer has since been shut down by the government. The antidote is being flown in from the United Kingdom and should arrive in Nigeria by Thursday.

Haiti must protect girls, rights group says. The government of Haiti should do more to protect the safety and wellbeing of girls, according to a report by the human rights group Amnesty International, reports the BBC. The Caribbean island nation (the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere) has many problems, including hunger, governmental instability and crime. “[Haiti's government] is trying to strengthen development, good governance and the rule of law – none of which could be fully achieved without the protection of girls’ and women’s rights,” Gerardo Ducos, Amnesty’s Caribbean researcher said. According to the report, titled “Don’t turn your back on girls: Sexual violence against girls in Haiti,” the country doesn’t have any laws on the books specifically against domestic violence. Within the first half of this year (between January and June) there were 105 reported rapes, with more than half of the victims under 18, the report says. The problem could be worse, since the county are short of figures, it says. The Minors’ Protection Brigade, the unit in charge of safeguarding youngsters, is “woefully understaffed.” The report also described the justice system as being “weak and largely ineffectual” in its response to the crimes. “Sexual violence against girls, particularly rape, is pervasive in Haiti, and it can no longer be ignored,” Ducos said.

Jamaica will keep the death penalty. On Tuesday, the Jamaican Parliament voted against banning the death penalty, reports The Associated Press. The measure was rejected with no problem; 34 parliament members voted to keep capital punishment and 15 voted against it. Even though the death penalty has been legal in the Caribbean island nation, the courts haven’t used the punishment, so the last execution in the country was about 20 years ago. But recently, with Jamaica’s soaring crime rate and an increase of crime against children (including the disturbing cases of a girl who was beheaded and a boy whose body was found cut up in a trash can), many people have demanded that courts start condemning people to death penalty again. Prime Minister Bruce Golding promised to resume death-penalty sentencing as a means to slow the nation’s crime rate, which is among the highest in the world. But people against it say the death penalty won’t do much to fight crime. “What has happened that will change the circumstance of one murder? It’s a complete waste of time; we should be focused on apprehending people who commit crimes, getting them before the courts and the courts ruling expeditiously on those matters,” the director for Jamaicans For Justice said. The island, with a population of 3 million people, already has had 1,240 murders so far this year, coming close to last year’s total of 1,400. In comparison, Chicago, which has a population of about 2.8 million had 443 murders in 2007.
Rapes are up in the Congo. Rapes are on the rise in the conflict-ridden Democratic Republic of Congo, says aid organization World Vision. The fighting between the government and rebels also has made it more likely for children to be recruited as soldiers, the group says. “A silent war has been waged against women and children. Women and girls in the hundreds have been targets of opportunistic and brutal rape, while children are also being targeted for recruitment or re-recruitment as child soldiers,” World Vision’s Africa advocacy director told CNN. The group took a survey of children at six refugee camps in the nation and found that 120 girls under 17 said they had been raped in October. Only five children reported rape in April and June, the group says. Fighting in the nation has forced about 250,000 people to leave their homes. The United Nations is set to send more than 3,000 more troops into the nation in the coming weeks to help the peacekeeping force currently there.

Black woman still insists White athletes raped her.

Crystal Mangum insists that she was raped by Duke lacrosse team members in her new book, despite their exoneration. Available online today, The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story reads in part: “I want to assert, without equivocation, that I was assaulted. Make of that what you will. You will decide what that means to you because the state of North Carolina saw fit not to look at all that happened the night I became infamous.” Mangum, a Black exotic dancer, performed at a 2006 Duke party where she alleges that Reade Seligmann, Dave Evans and Collin Finnerty raped her. But a state investigation reportedly found no DNA or witness evidence that the crime happened. The White athletes’ alleged attack on the dancer led to extreme racial tension on Duke’s campus. Though Mangum appeared in Durham, N.C. in support of the book Thursday, she refused to answer questions about the case.

The last of six White West Virginians accused of kidnapping, raping and torturing a 20-year-old Black woman last year has pleaded guilty.  On Friday, Danny J. Combs followed the five other defendants, which included a mother-daughter and mother-son pair, admitting his role in one of the most heinous racial crimes in modern history. The case not only shined a spotlight on the backwardness of back-woods West Virginia, but it amplified the vicious racial division that still exists in America some 40 years after the Civil Rights Era. Get the rest of the story at BET.com/News. Has justice been served?

World Lens: Flooding continues to devastate the Caribbean, African immigrants protest killing in Europe and Japanese get crazy on the runway. See these pics and more here.

Rape cartoon featuring African leader causes outrage

 South African officials are not too happy about a cartoon depicting African leader Jacob Zuma unzipping his pants to rape “justice.” Both the cartoonist and the paper where it ran are refusing to apologize, reports Agence France-Presse. The cartoon, which appeared in The Sunday Times, features Zuma, the leader of the African National Congress who is currently facing a corruption case. It shows him opening his pants while men representing the ANC, the South African Communist Party, the ANC Youth League and COSATU hold down a blindfolded woman labeled “justice.” One of them tells Zuma, “Go for it, boss.” The groups immediately slammed the paper. “The cartoon rubbishes the collective integrity of the alliance and constitutes yet another continued violation of the rights and dignity of the ANC president,” they said in a joint statement. In 2006, Zuma was found not guilty of rape and some thought the cartoon was trying to insinuate he was a rapist. The paper denies the claim, though, saying the cartoon was only referring to his corruption case. And the cartoonist, Zapiro, stands strongly behind his work. “I am angry at them, I am outraged … at what Jacob Zuma is trying to do to the justice system and constitutional principles along with his team of lawyers and his political allies,” he said in an interview with a South African radio station. “The central message is that Zuma is about to, poised to, trying to rape [the] justice system. …”

Nine die in Somalia fighting. At least nine people died Wednesday when Ethiopia-backed government troops clashed with rebel forces in the Somali capital of Mogadishu The Associated Press reports. The two sides have fought fiercely throughout the year, but the insurgents, who are Muslim, promised to increase attacks during the holy month of Ramadan. About 100 of them shouted “God is great” as they fired at a military base for both Ethiopian and Somali-government troops. They exchanged fire in a heated battle, leaving at least four civilians killed, the news service reports. Ethiopian troops are in the country to help stabilize the nation’s government; political violence has existed there for more than 15 years. The government succeeded in driving rebels out of the capital in 2006, but attacks in the area have spiked this year.

The alleged victim is about to release a new tell-all book

There’s about to be a new chapter in the saga of the Black-college student who accused three White Duke Lacrosse players of rape two years ago. Crystal Mangum, whose claims were discredited in a high-profile, racially volatile charge, announced plans to release a tell-all book about the entire episode. For more on the book, go to BET.com/News.

Alvin Henry pleads guilty to New York attack

Former Trinidad and Tobago sprinter Alvin Henry has begun a 21-year rape sentence at a time when some of his former contemporaries are attending the Beijing Olympics. Henry, who competed in the 400-meter relay at the 2000 Games, pleaded guilty to raping a New York woman in a park last year. Though he was charged with several similar attacks, Henry was also called the “lover’s lane rapist” after he allegedly recorded a woman having sex in a park with her boyfriend. He reportedly threatened to release the video unless the woman had sex with him.