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BBC news 2013-08-13

BBC News with Jim Lee

The US attorney general has signalled a major shift in prison policy by announcing a reduction in the use of mandatory sentencing for some drugs-related offences. Eric Holder said that certain low-level nonviolent drug offenders with no ties to organised crime will no longer be charged with offences that impose what he termed draconian and mandatory minimum sentences. Jane Little reports from Washington.

The US has 5% of the world’s population, but almost 25% of its prison population. Almost half of its inmates are serving time for drug-related offences, a legacy of the five decades’ long war on drugs. The Attorney General Eric Holder said it was time to end that broken system, one he said trapped too many communities in a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration.

Gunmen in Nigeria have killed at least 44 people at a mosque in the north-east of the country. Will Ross in Lagos has the details.

An official from Borno state said the gunmen opened fire on a mosque in Konduga town during dawn prayers. Sunday’s attack left at least 44 people dead and is likely to have been carried out by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram. Whilst attacks on churches have been common, the militant group has also occasionally targeted mosques. In recent weeks, hundreds of civilians have formed vigilante groups in the areas worst affected by the insurgency. It’s possible that the gunmen attacked the mosque in the belief that some of the vigilantes were praying there.

A court in the United States has convicted one of the country’s most notorious underworld bosses James "Whitey" Bulger of 11 murders and a string of other gang-led crimes. The jury in Boston dismissed eight other counts of murder. The crimes date from the 1970s and 1980s when the now 83-year-old Bulger led the city’s Winter Hill Gang. From Washington, David Willis has more.

For almost three decades, James “Whitey” Bulger ran a sprawling criminal enterprise which raked in millions of dollars from activities such as drug trafficking and extortion whilst paying off corrupt FBI agents and killing those who crossed him. His trial rekindled memories of a bygone era of Boston history in which mobsters shook down local business owners and killed their rivals in telephone booths before burying their bodies in shallow graves.

A federal judge in the United States has ruled that the controversial “stop and search” policy used by the New York police department violates the constitutional rights of minorities. Judge Shira Scheindlin said city officials knew of the infringements, but turned a blind eye. She’s ordered reforms and appointed an independent monitor to oversee them. Police have made about five million stops over the past ten years, mostly of black and Hispanic men. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has argued that the policy has seen a sharp fall in violent crime.

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A suicide bomber has killed at least 13 people in the town of Balad in central Iraq. Many others were injured in the attack that targeted a café where people were gathering in the early evening. Balad is a largely Shia town. Iraq has seen a sharp increase in sectarian violence this year. On Saturday, more than 70 people were killed in a series of attacks.

The Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has proposed changing the country’s constitution to allow foreign private oil and gas companies to form partnerships with the state in the energy sector for the first time in decades. From Mexico City, here’s Will Grant.

In a sign of just how far-reaching and controversial these proposed changes to Mexico’s state-run energy sector are, President Enrique Peña Nieto was flanked on stage by top dignitaries from government, the oil industry unions and the military. He’s calling for the change to articles 27 and 28 of the constitution, which state that all of the country’s natural resources are the property of the Mexican state. The reform won’t be simple to get through congress, however. The left-wing parties have made it clear they oppose any change to the constitution and the government faces a complicated task in negotiating with all sides including the powerful unions.

The Bangladeshi government has approved a draft law proposing tough penalties for recruitment agencies found guilty of duping workers with promises of lucrative jobs (only) overseas, only to leave them in low-income jobs with improper work permits. The proposed law would mean a maximum of ten years in prison and around $6,000 fine for anyone convicted of cheating or forging documents of migrant workers.

Human rights activists are asking the government of Ecuador to revoke a presidential decree which they say threatens civil liberties. The bill signed in June by President Rafael Correa creates new procedures for granting approval to non-governmental organisations and allows the government to dissolve groups under certain circumstances.

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