A Jordanian was sentenced on Wednesday to 13 years in prison with hard labour for sexually assaulting his 20-year-old daughter more than 200 times since she was 11, a judicial official said.

`The father, 46, used to sexually abuse his daughter when her mother and brother were out of the house, and he threatened her not to tell anybody` in Marka, near Amman, the official told AFP.

LOS ANGELES, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - An Indian-born celebrity fashion designer has been charged with sexually assaulting 20 women in a new indictment that includes two more alleged victims, Los Angeles authorities said Thursday.

Anand Jon Alexander, 33, is accused of sexually assaulting 20 women from nine US states and two countries, whose ages range between 14 to 27, from November 2002 to March this year.

The new indictment, which was unsealed Thursday, includes 54 felony counts and five misdemeanors.

MONROVIA, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - A Liberian court on Wednesday sentenced a 58-year-old man to life for repeatedly raping an 11-year-old girl over two months.

Indicted a year ago, Allen Rogers was found guilty of raping the girl in Barnesville, a working-class suburb on the outskirts of the steamy oceanside capital Monrovia.

Rogers kidnapped his victim and her 13-year-old brother and kept them under lock-and-key until the brother escaped and alerted the police.

'Every day he used to rape my sister,' said the tearful boy pointing at Rogers in the courtroom.

CAPE TOWN, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - Lawmakers in crime-ridden South Africa approved a bill Thursday making it harder for rapists to argue for reduced sentences.

The Criminal Law Sentencing Amendment Bill bars judges and magistrates from considering a rape victim's sexual history or an apparent lack of physical injury to justify lessening prescribed minimum jail terms.

They are also no longer allowed to take into consideration a convicted rapist's personal or cultural beliefs about rape, or any relationship between the rapist and his victim.

PARIS, Sept 14, 2007 (AFP) - Three former riot police officers were sent to a French prison Friday for seven years after gang-raping prostitutes over a two-year period, judicial officials said.

Two of their former colleagues were acquitted and two others had their sentence suspended.

According to prosecutors, the officers used to stop the prostitutes -- many of them illegal immigrants -- for identity checks, promising to turn a blind eye to their situation in exchange for sexual favours.

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 4, 2007 (AFP) - An Egyptian man accused of raping up to 20 children in Kuwait denied all charges in court Tuesday telling the judge he had confessed under torture.

Jihad al-Saadi, 27, who was arrested in July just before boarding a flight to Egypt, made his first appearance in criminal court where he faces the death penalty for abduction and rape.

Saadi's lawyer Baker al-Naimi, hired by his relatives in Egypt, told reporters he would ask the court at the next hearing on September 18 to refer the accused for a psychiatric examination.

WASHINGTON, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - Rape, sexual harassment and violence in US jails were on the rise in 2006, with prison guards responsible for more than half the cases, the Department of Justice said Thursday in a report.

In sheer numbers, 6,528 cases of sexual violence were reported last year in US prisons, a 4.5 percent increase over 2005 and a 21 percent increase over 2004, when the Bureau of Justice and Statistics began gathering rape data from federal penitentiaries and a sampling of state prisons.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 11, 2007 (AFP) - Police in Los Angeles said Saturday no charges would be filed following allegations of a possible sexual assault during a party at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion.

A police spokesman said the department had forwarded the results of an initial investigation to prosecutors who had decided not to pursue the case.

No additional information was released.

News of a possible sex assault at Hefner's sprawling residence in exclusive Beverly Hills, which hosts regular celebrity-studded events, emerged last week.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - Police in Los Angeles confirmed Thursday they are investigating allegations of a possible sexual assault during a party at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion.

Police officer Jason Lee confirmed there was an 'ongoing investigation' into allegations of an assault at Hefner's sprawling residence in exclusive Beverly Hills, which hosts regular celebrity-studded events.

'For reasons of law and confidentiality that are critical in such investigations, no additional information will be released,' Lee said.

WASHINGTON, Aug 4, 2007 (AFP) - A US soldier was sentenced Saturday to 110 years in jail for raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and slaying her family, the army said.

'Private First Class Jesse Spielman was sentenced to 110 years in prison with the possibility of parole for his involvement in the March 2006 rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the murders of her and three family members,' an army statement said.

BEIJING, Aug 1, 2007 (AFP) - A primary school principal in China has gone on trial for sexually assaulting 35 girls over the past two decades, although the actual number of victims is likely far higher, state press said Wednesday.

More than 70 girls are believed to have been assaulted but many were unwilling to give evidence due to the trauma and the stigma attached to being a victim of such a crime, the Beijing News reported, citing local authorities.

LONDON, July 30, 2007 (AFP) - A man extradited from India was remanded in custody Monday when he made his first English court appearance charged with the kidnap, rape and murder of a British teenager more than four years ago.

Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, dressed in a casual beach shirt, spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth during a 20-minute appearance at Southampton Magistrates' Court on the southern English coast.

The 39-year-old delivery van driver is also charged with manslaughter, false imprisonment and perverting public justice.

LONDON, July 29, 2007 (AFP) - A 39-year-old man extradited from India was on Sunday charged in England with the kidnap, rape and murder of a British teenager more than four years ago.

Maninder Pal Singh Kohli was also charged with manslaughter, false imprisonment and perverting public justice.

Hannah Foster, 17, was murdered as she walked home from a night out in Southampton on the southern English coast in March 2003.

The schoolgirl's strangled body was found dumped by a rural road outside the Hampshire port city.

LONDON, July 28, 2007 (AFP) - A man wanted for questioning over the 2003 rape and murder of a British teenager has been extradited from India for questioning, the girl's mother said Saturday.

Hilary Foster said police had told her that Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, who lost his battle against extradition to Britain Friday, arrived at London's main Heathrow Airport from India at 6:34 pm (1734 GMT) Saturday.

NEW DELHI, July 28, 2007 (AFP) - An Indian man wanted for the rape and murder of a British teenager four years ago was handed over to British police on Saturday, a jail official here said.

Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, the prime suspect in the 2003 rape and murder of 17-year-old Hannah Foster, was due to fly out of India for Britain later in the day, the official said.

'He was handed over to a team of three people from the British police in the morning,' Sunil Gupta, spokesman of New Delhi's Tihar jail, told AFP.

NEW DELHI, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - A court on Friday cleared the extradition of an Indian man wanted for the rape and murder of a British teenager four years ago, a report said.

Maninder Pal Singh Kohli is the prime suspect in the 2003 rape and murder of 17-year-old Hannah Foster.

The Delhi High Court threw out an appeal for the second time this month by Kohli, who argued that he should not be sent to Britain because he would not get a fair trial there.

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2007 (AFP) - A judge in Maryland dropped child rape charges against a Liberian-born man because court officials could not find an interpreter for the defendant, court officials said Monday.

Three years after Mahamu Kanneh was arrested and charged with repeatedly raping a seven-year-old girl, judge Katherine Savage dropped the charges because the delays had violated his right to a speedy trial.

'This is one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make in a long time,' Savage was quoted as saying by the Washington Post.