Activist criticizes U.S. prisons GENEVA (AP) - Female prisoners in the U.S. suffer frequent sexual abuse from male guards and are often held in leg irons or shackles in violation of international standards, a U.N. human rights expert said Tuesday. Radhika Coomaraswamy, a U.N. investigator, said both federal and state governments should do more to ensure minimum standards of treatment for female prisoners and better training for prison guards. In a report to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, Coomaraswamy urged the Clinton administration to review drug laws, pointing out that many women were jailed because of drug-related offenses that could be better handled by community-based programs. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559151310-834> Logging in Tongass to be limited WASHINGTON (AP) - The Clinton administration is placing an additional 234,000 acres in the nation's largest national forest off limits to logging and other development. The maximum allowable timber harvest in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska will be cut by 30% a year, and land open to logging will be reduced by 15% to about 576,000 acres, according to changes in the forest's management plan that were to be announced Wednesday. Under the changes, nearly half of the land that may be used for logging can be harvested only once every 200 years, instead of once every 100 years as is currently allowed. The changes are intended to increase protections for ancient trees in the 17 million-acre forest and help protect species such as the Sitka black-tailed deer and Alexander Archipelago wolf. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559156307-881>
