How do you stop repeat sex offenders?

French lawmakers are debating the issue of repeat sex offenders, and considering a proposal for prisoners to be given the option of longer jail terms or undergoing hormonal treatment. Focus also looks at how other countries handle this problem.

FOCUS

By phone from Napa in the USA, Dr Charlene Steen, an expert on the assesment and treatment of sex offenders.

10/02/2012 - MEXICO

Mexican indigenous group battles with famine

The Tarahumara people from northern Mexico are struggling to survive a chronic food shortage after one of the most severe droughts ever to strike their remote homeland. They are no strangers to famine, but this time the drought has combined with freezing temperatures to force many away from their mountain communities to seek food handouts elsewhere. Their plight has prompted an outpouring of aid across Mexico.

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10/02/2012 - FRANCE

Renault's new factory sends French workers into a spin

Renault boss Carlos Ghosn and Morocco's King Mohammed VI opened the carmaker's new factory near Tangiers on Thursday with great ceremony. The plant will have an initial capacity of 170,000 vehicles, expected eventually to reach 400,000. Yet the partly state-owned Renault has faced a storm of criticism over the project, seen by some in France as denying French workers jobs that were rightfully theirs.

09/02/2012 - CHINA

The war on microblogs

The Chinese government is cracking down on the country's most popular microblogs in an effort to prevent any Facebook or Twitter-inspired revolution spreading to China. As of mid-March, users of Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, will be forced to register their microblogs under their real name. But with 250 million Chinese people logged on, it's unlikely the government can clamp down completely.

09/02/2012 - GREECE

Greeks fear austerity overdose

Just how much more belt-tightening can the Greek population bear? As Greece's government prepares a new austerity plan, a condition for receiving a second vital bailout from the European Union, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, protests have become a regular fixture in Athens. Greeks say they're being bled dry.

08/02/2012 - GERMANY

Germany's green growth running out of steam

The German government plans to decommission its nuclear plants by 2022 and to obtain 80% of all energy from renewables by 2050. Today, renewable energy sources already account for nearly a fifth of Germany's electricity, but the construction and transfer of wind energy from offshore farms is not making as much headway as had been expected.

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