Cancer Will Kill 13.2 Million A Year By 2030: U.N.

(Reuters) - Cancer will kill more than 13.2 million people a year by 2030, almost double the number who died from the disease in 2008, the United Nations' cancer research agency said on Tuesday.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) also said that almost 21.4 million new cases of the disease will be diagnosed annually in 2030.

Launching a new database on global incidence of cancer in 2008, the latest year for which figures are available, the IARC said the burden of cancer was shifting from wealthier to poorer nations.

"Cancer is neither rare anywhere in the world, nor confined to high-resource countries," it said in a statement.

In total, 7.6 million people died of cancer in 2008 and there were an estimated 12.7 new cases diagnosed.

Around 56 percent of new cancer cases worldwide in 2008 were in developing countries and these regions also accounted for 63 percent of all cancer deaths, the data showed.

IARC director Christopher Wild said the data represented the most accurate available assessment of the global burden of cancer and would help international health policy makers develop their responses.

The most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide in 2008 were lung cancer, with 1.61 million cases, breast cancer, with 1.38 million, and colorectal cancers, with 1.23 million. The most common causes of cancer death were lung (1.38 million), stomach (0.74 million) and liver cancers (0.69 million)

The projection for annual death rates of 13.2 million and annual diagnosis of 21.4 million were based on assumptions that underlying rates of cancer would remain the same over the next two decades, the IARC said.

More Women Held for Driving while Intoxicated, Study Finds

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Arrests for women driving under the influence jumped by nearly 30 percent during the decade ending in 2007, according to a study released Wednesday by the U.S. Transportation Department.

"To be honest with you, I was certainly surprised about that statistic," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said at a news conference.

However, when it comes to drunken driving arrests, women continue to be outnumbered by men by four to one.

Laura Dean-Moody, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said that "women are unfortunately picking up some of the same terrible, reckless behaviors that men have exhibited."

The report, authored by the FBI for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, found a declining number of men arrested for similar alcohol-related violations.

The numbers were compiled from national law enforcement records covering 1998-2007.

Moody said the report does not explain why women are increasingly driving while impaired but speculated, "Women are under more pressure. They're now perhaps the breadwinner with the unemployment rate."

She also added that "TV shows have made it look hip or cool to be a mom that stays home and drinks."

The findings were part of the launch of a Labor Day law enforcement campaign called "Over the Limit, Under Arrest."

Describing what's intended to be a nationwide effort, Fairfax County, Virginia, police Capt. Susan Culin said, "we'll be making more traffic stops, writing more tickets, conducting more sobriety checkpoints and DUI saturation patrols, and we'll be arresting any driver we determine to be impaired."

Moody, whose husband was killed in 1991 by a drunken driver, cited statistics suggesting that 2 million drivers with multiple alcohol convictions will be on the road during the Labor Day holiday.

Criticizing a court system that has allowed such drivers to keep their licenses, Moody said, "these are people who have proven not once, not twice but three times that they are not worthy of the public's trust when it comes to operating a vehicle."

Horribly Sad..

Quarter of men in South Africa admit rape, survey finds

One in four men in South Africa have admitted to rape and many confess to attacking more than one victim, according to a study that exposes the country's endemic culture of sexual violence.

Three out of four rapists first attacked while still in their teens, the study found. One in 20 men said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year.

South Africa is notorious for having one of the highest levels of rape in the world. Only a fraction are reported, and only a fraction of those lead to a conviction.

The study into rape and HIV, by the country's Medical Research Council (MRC), asked men to tap their answers into a Palm Pilot device to guarantee anonymity. The method appears to have produced some unusually frank responses.

Professor Rachel Jewkes of the MRC, who carried out the research, said: "We have a very, very high prevalence of rape in South Africa. I think it is down to ideas about masculinity based on gender hierarchy and the sexual entitlement of men. It's rooted in an African ideal of manhood."

Jewkes and her colleagues interviewed a representative sample of 1,738 men in South Africa's Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

Of those surveyed, 28% said they had raped a woman or girl, and 3% said they had raped a man or boy. Almost half who said they had carried out a rape admitted they had done so more than once, with 73% saying they had carried out their first assault before the age of 20.

The study, which had British funding, also found that men who are physically violent towards women are twice as likely to be HIV-positive. They are also more likely to pay for sex and to not use condoms.

Any woman raped by a man over the age of 25 has a one in four chance of her attacker being HIV-positive.

One in 10 men said they had been forced to have sex with another man. Many find it difficult to report such attacks to the police in subcultures where the concept of homosexuality is taboo.

South Africa's government has been repeatedly criticised for failing to address the crisis. Only 7% of reported rapes are estimated to lead to a conviction. Jewkes said: "There's been a lot of concern about the way the criminal justice system works, because it's still woeful."

Before his election as president, Jacob Zuma stood trial for the rape of a family friend. His supporters demonstrated at the court house, verbally attacked his accuser and sang "burn the bitch, burn the bitch". Zuma was eventually acquitted.

Jewkes added: "The social space for debating these gender issues is now smaller than it was a few years ago. We need our government to show political leadership in changing attitudes. We need South African men, from the top to the grassroots, to take responsibility."

Anti-rape campaigners said the shocking figures demonstrated the need for reform. Dean Peacock, co-director of the Sonke Gender Justice project, said: "We need to make sure the criminal justice system is held to account. We have lots of discussion in this country, but not enough action is taken to ensure that perpetrators will face consequences."

Zuma, a polygamist, was criticised for emphasising his Zulu tribal identity and singing militant songs during this year's election campaign. He made comments that outraged anti-Aids and gender campaigners.

Peacock added: "We're at a complicated moment in South African history with revived traditionalism and there's a danger of gender transformation being lost.

"We hear men saying, 'If Jacob Zuma can have many wives, I can have many girlfriends.' The hyper-masculine rhetoric of the Zuma campaign is going to set back our work in challenging the old model of masculinity."

Carrie Shelver, an activist with People Opposing Women Abuse, said: "Generally there's a deficit of understanding and commitment to women's rights by the leadership of this country. It's simply not on people's agenda."

A report published by the trade union Solidarity earlier this month said that one child is raped in South Africa every three minutes, with 88% of rapes going unreported. It found that levels of child abuse in South Africa are increasing rapidly.