Story here. Excerpt:

'When Associated Press reporter Patricia Thomas was in Capanne prison outside Perugia, Italy, Sunday and saw Knox, "They were passing food through the bars so the inmates could eat inside their cell, which seemed sort of sad to me."

Thomas provided a description of Knox to "Good Morning America" today of a young, timid woman who was so scared after her murder conviction that the female prison guards physically held her during the night to comfort her.
...
"She said one of her big problems now is passing the time in prison... she is trying to work it out with her professors back in the states so she can finish her university degree," Thomas said.
...

'The reporter said the prison is "extremely clean." Knox's cell, which she shares with another American who has been sentenced on drug charges, is small. "It had a little bathroom with a door, a bidet, a sink, a shower.... better than some of the things I've seen at summer camp or boarding school."

Article here. Excerpt:

'THERE is an angry core of Australian men who use cyberspace as the latest forum to unload on how women have done them wrong

A few weeks ago we ran a column on The Punch website, examining their emergence. The piece documented how even those columns with the most innocent subject matter, such as breast cancer, maternity leave, child care or body image become a vehicle whereby crotchety men can bemoan the apparent neglect of men's health issues, the economic pressures faced by single dads and the raw deal they get from the courts.

The article had the unsurprising effect of attracting, well, an angry core of Australian men who use cyberspace as a forum to unload on how women have done them wrong.

There was a depressingly pertinent example of this mindset this week and it's worth pinging the perpetrators over it, as it demonstrated all the nonsensical self-pity of the men-are-victims-too brigade.
...

Article here. Excerpt:

'"It's not the old guys group anymore," said Ann Brown, the medical center director, from her office inside the brown brick hospital not far from Harpers Ferry. "It's women and it's younger, and the younger folks, they need more than just medical care. They've got family issues. They need help reintegrating in how to get back into their jobs."'

A couple of observations:

1) The headline 'more often women' turns out to apply to a clinic in some small town.
2) You know those (old) guys - no family issues to worry about, and no reintegration necessary!
3) War is affecting women soldiers - now we really better do something!!

Article here. Excerpt:

'A few days ago I found it necessary to restate my position, calmly and quietly, that my sons – two so far – should under no circumstances be circumcised. Two very simple and I am persuaded, logical reasons.

First, while I respect the standpoint of those who argue for circumcision, I personally do not believe in it. Circumcision is such a personal affair; nobody has the right to decide for anybody else whether or not they should undergo it. And since kids are too young to appreciate the merits (probably lack of them) of a matter as personal and important as losing their foreskin, I argue that it is improper for somebody else (parent though they be) to make that decision for them, unless it is a medical emergency that has implications on their immediate survival or potency.
If as adults they decide to submit to the knife, that is their responsibility.

Story here.

'KEPALA BATAS, MALAYSIA - Nearly 300 boys from the Kepala Batas parliamentary constituency were circumcised in a mass ceremony yesterday.

The event was jointly organised by the parliamentary constituency and Penaga, Bertam and Pinang Tunggal state constituencies with cooperation from the Kepala Batas Hospital Visitors' Board, as part of the 1Malaysia community health programme.

Of the 275 boys, 108 were circumcised by the traditional method. The rest were circumcised using a modern technique.

Before the circumcision, the boys took part in a bicycle procession and were sprayed with water in a symbolic start to the ceremony.

Kepala Batas Umno division vice-chief Mohamad Naser Talib launched the ceremony. He represented former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'We’ve all heard about false accusations of sexual criminality, incidents such as the 2006 Duke University rape frame-up case. They are a form of psychological molestation and can destroy a person’s life just as being physically molested can. Well, now such an accusation might have ended a man’s life.

The hapless victim, 63-year-old British citizen Bryan Davies, died of a massive heart attack last Friday after months of community harassment resulting from a false accusation of pedophilia. And what was the reason for the accusation?

Two girls leveled it after the man and his wife, Debbie Davies, 43, refused to allow a “sleepover” at their home or the girls to walk their dog.

Story here. Excerpt:

'An 18-year-old student at Sacred Heart University claims that three lacrosse players at the Connecticut school — one of them a Long Island native — sexually assaulted her in a dorm room last weekend. The victim was having consensual sex with 19-year-old freshman Timothy Sanders, when the suspect allegedly held her down and shouted for his two teammates, freshmen Nicholas Travers and Zachari Triner, to join in, according to police. The two men then purportedly ran naked into the dorm room and touched the woman inappropriately. After she screamed and struggled, Travers and Triner fled.

Article here. Excerpt:

'According to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, a man is said to have committed rape if he has had sexual intercourse with a woman against her will and without her consent.
The definition of rape does not end there!

Even if a woman has given her consent for sex, the man would be deemed to have committed rape when

• her consent has been obtained by putting her or any person in whom she is interested in fear of death or of hurt.

• the man knows that he is not her husband, and that her consent is given because she believes that he is another man to whom she is or believes herself to be lawfully married.

• at the time of giving such consent, by reason of unsoundness of mind or intoxication or the administration by him personally or through another of any stupefying or unwholesome substance, she is unable to understand the nature and consequences of that to which she gives consent.

Story here.

'LADUE, Mo. (KMOX) -- Ladue police say the disabled woman who told police she was raped along McKnight Road made up the entire story.

50 year old Virginia Burns of Overland is now charged with making a false police report and misdeamor possession of marijuana.

Burns had told police she ran out of gas on McKnight, then took her wheelchair out of vehicle and started riding north for help when she was attacked.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'MARION — Local authorities issued a statement Monday regarding a false report circulating about a crime committed in Marion.

The statement was in regards to the Marion Police Department receiving numerous text message inquires about an abduction and rape that had occurred over the weekend..

“The Marion Police Department knows of no such crimes that were committed in the downtown area in the recent past,” states Maj. Bill Collins in the press release.

Police are investigating an incident involving an intoxicated female found wandering around Sunday morning. However, the case is not related to any rape or abduction crimes.

The department issued the statement because “it did not want needless feelings of unease by the citizens of Marion.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Lindsay Gorman, 20, originally from Lake Glen Avenue, Belfast sparked a massive police hunt last year after claiming she had been raped.

Belfast Crown Court heard that Gorman, has not been seen since her last court appearence in late October when she pleaded guilty to a single charge of doing an act between April 26 and July 25 last year which had a tendancy to pervert public justice by claiming she had been attacked and raped by an unknown man.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Moray woman who falsely accused two men of raping her was ordered to do 200 hours of community service yesterday.

Leoni Campbell admitted making the allegations in 2006 when she appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court.

Campbell claimed she had been raped by a 20-year-old man on July 12 and by a 22-year-old man on August 2.
...
Campbell’s agent, Diane MacFarlane, said her client had not known either man personally. She had identified one of them by flicking through previous school yearbooks.

She said 20-year-old Campbell, who was 16 when she made the false rape allegations, had matured considerably since giving birth four months ago.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'One of the most disturbing things about the culture of secrecy and total lack of transparency uncovered by the CPI last week is that such a veiled system makes progress really hard to measure. Campus rape won't end until we attack rape culture at its roots, but there are ways to curb the problem, such as innovative, mandatory education programs, transparent channels for counseling and reporting and student-led initiatives like Men Against Rape that target fraternities and other student groups, or Take Back the Night events which brings the issue into the open.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A report of rape is a call that puts police officers on high alert.

"Because of the egregiousness of the crime, the need is to make an apprehension as soon as possible, we throw all the resources we have available at it," says Sgt. Kelly Walker with the Waynesboro Police Department.

Walker says false reports, such as rape, are made more often than they should.

Investigations in Staunton and Waynesboro have turned up two of these cases just this week.

Walker adds, "As a standard response, we don't allow any presumptions. We don't prejudge any situations. We just allow the evidence to take us where the case is going to go."
...
He says false reports can put unnecessary stress on community members.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A woman who in 2005 falsely accused a man of rape, leading to his wrongful conviction and imprisonment, pleaded guilty on Monday to two counts of perjury.

The woman, Biurny Gonzalez, 27, acknowledged in State Supreme Court in Manhattan that she had falsely testified under oath before a grand jury and during a trial when she asserted that the man, William McCaffrey, had sexually assaulted her.

Mr. McCaffrey, 32, an interior contractor, was convicted of rape in 2006 and began serving a 20-year sentence. But this past spring, Ms. Gonzalez recanted, first confessing to a priest that she had lied, then telling prosecutors.
...
A religious reawakening prompted Ms. Gonzalez to admit her misdeeds to a priest at St. Anthony’s parish in Union City, her lawyer, Paul F. Callan, said.

“It was very wrong what she did in the first place,” he said. “But in the end she found her way to do the right thing, the courageous thing, the just thing.”'