Article here. Boys are doing well on this particular test and its now considered a problem. It's acceptable for girls to outperform boys, but not the other way around. I suspect California will act quickly to change these testing outcomes while boys still wallow in special education classes. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

"Companies will be forced by law to disclose how much they pay men compared with women in a surprise government move to narrow the pay gap.

Compulsory “gender pay audits” will seek to shame employers who routinely pay women less, and spur more women to demand pay rises.
...
The new law will apply to companies with 250 or more staff, who will be given until 2013 to comply. After that they will face civil or criminal prosecution. It will also apply to public sector bodies with 150 staff or more.
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Ministers would like to see a simple comparison of average hourly earnings of men and women, across the whole company, published in the annual report.

Although ministers recognise that career choices made by women, who often still favour low-paid professions, account for part of the pay difference, they believe that companies are still paying men more than women for similar work, in the belief that that no one will discuss their salary level so they will not be caught breaking the law."

Story here. Excerpt:

'A FATHERS' rights activist from Ottery has vowed to cause "massive public disruption" by "shutting down" one of the country's "major public infrastructures" by the end of the month.

New Fathers For Justice campaigner and dad of two Richard West*, 42, who has carried out a string of high-profile protests while clad in superhero garb, said he has issued the "ultimatum" to protest against the NHS and Home Secretary For Justice Jack Straw.

Mr West wants the NHS to disclose case notes regarding treatment given to one of his children and also claims a pledge to "open up" family court hearings to the media by Minister Straw is in fact a "smokescreen" that will see them "closed further" thanks to a related, "small print" contempt of court law.'

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*Link added

Article here. Excerpt:

'Contracts stipulating how much money each party would receive if a marriage collapsed have traditionally been demanded by successful businessmen wary of "gold-digging" wives.

But growing numbers of women – many of whom received large payouts from previous divorce settlements – are now turning to the law to ensure that their future husbands are not entitled to half their riches.
...
"There has been a surge of interest. With the recession hitting there is an awareness among women that men are going to take their money unless they protect it," she said.
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"Many, particularly those who have been married before, have told us that they would very much like to find a partner but are cautious when it comes to what happens to their cash."'

Article here. Who says women can't steal? Excerpt:

"WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - A mother and daughter in northeastern Pennsylvania have admitted to robbing a 73-year-old man of $100, then leaving him to die.

They are 37-year-old Andrea Bidding of Exeter and her 19-year-old daughter, Erika Legg. Both pleaded guilty to third-degree murder on Thursday for the 2005 beating death of Peter Lach at his home in Edwardsville, a small town about 95 miles north-northwest of Philadelphia. They said they did it because they needed money and didn't mean for anyone to die."

Clip here. This clip is only 23 seconds long but you'll notice the audience having a good laugh when Lorena Bobbit talks about throwing the man's genitals from the car window. Absolutely deplorable.

Article here. Keep in mind the graffiti/vandalism is not for actual rape convictions, only accusations. No information was provided about whether these feminists were charged with vandalism. Excerpt:

'Local feminists launched a dynamic anti-rape campaign this month, marking the locations of sexual assaults with graffiti declaring “Someone was raped here.”

Story here. Excerpt:

'LEXINGTON, Neb. — A former Nebraska teacher who fled to Mexico with a 13-year-old student has been sentenced to eight to 10 years in prison.

Kelsey Peterson's sentence Thursday in Dawson County District Court comes after she pleaded guilty in January to two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a minor.

Her sentence is to be served simultaneously with a six-year federal prison sentence she's already serving for transporting a minor across state lines to have sex.

She had faced up to 50 years in prison on each count.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, known as the "banker to the poor" for making small loans in impoverished countries, is now doing business in the center of capitalism -- New York City.

In the past year the first U.S. branch of his Grameen Bank has lent $1.5 million, ranging from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars, to nearly 600 women with small business plans in the city's borough of Queens.
...
Zemia Shoffner received a loan of $2,000 in January from Grameen America, which she used to take a baking class to expand her catering expertise and drum up more business.

"I have been running my business for about three years now and (the course) meant a lot because it makes me more marketable," Shoffner told Reuters, noting her bad credit meant she could not get a traditional bank loan.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'HOUSTON - A 12-year-old suspended from school for fighting killed a 10-month-old baby by throwing him to the floor at a home where several young children were unsupervised, officials said Wednesday.

The preteen boy, whom authorities won't name because of his age, was charged as a juvenile with capital murder. A judge Wednesday ordered him held in juvenile detention.
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Authorities still are trying to determine how many children were in the house in a working class section of southeast Houston when the mothers of the two sets of siblings left them alone. They also don't yet know whether the 12-year-old, who was the oldest in the group, was specifically left in charge.
...

"It's not clear whether the mothers told the 12-year-old, 'You are in charge,' and left with the intention of coming back. He would have been the oldest so more than likely you would think he would be in charge," Olguin said.
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CPS has not taken custody of any of the two mothers' children. It is legal to leave children alone as long as one child is 12 or older.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Before getting to the point of this provocative headline, here's a disclaimer: Prepare to consider widely accepted generalizations.

Translated, that means, "Included in this article are some sweeping statements presented as general truths but based on limited or incomplete evidence."

But let me add this: Remember, too, that being equal does not mean being the same. Now, let's proceed.
...
For owners of small and midsized businesses, being able to keep staffers and stakeholders enthusiastic may be the key factor in building success. "You want to delegate outcomes, not tasks," says consultant Siegel. "You must have the ability to let go. Women can do that better than men because their self-esteem is multifaceted," he says. "Men's self-esteem is based on what they do, it's uni-dimensional."

Article here. Excerpt:

'FIFE* councillors will be briefed today about the experience of men in the Kingdom who have been domestically abused.

Organised by Fife Male Victims of Domestic Abuse Working Group, the briefing, to be held in the Touch Community Centre, will relate the difficulty men have in finding support for themselves and their children.

The group’s Freedom of Information request to Fife Constabulary show that the number of reported incidents of domestically abused men has more than doubled in the last four years, from 213 to 463.

This is in line with Scotland-wide police statistics which show males on the receiving end in one of eight reported incidents – although government research has shown that men are much less likely to report being victims of domestic abuse.'

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*Fife is a council (ie, a county) in Scotland.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The homophobic jock might be more than just a stereotype, says a new study that links sports zealots with attitudes about gender and sexuality.
...
University women's and gender studies professor Elizabeth Reis said she's not surprised by the findings.

"It seems to me that what connects these things is hypermasculinity and susceptibility to peer pressure and irrationality," she wrote in an e-mail.

Reis said that being a sports fan probably does not make a person sexist and homophobic, nor are all homophobes and sexists apt to watch men's basketball and football.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'NEW PORT RICHEY — Lisa Marinelli, a former Pasco County substitute teacher, pleaded guilty Friday to having a sexual relationship with a student last year but avoided any time behind bars.
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Instead, prosecutors and her defense attorney agreed to a stringent probationary sentence that includes a year of house arrest and no contact with children under 18 without supervision.

The married mother of two also will have to register as a sex offender...
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Marinelli joined a dubious list of educators accused in recent years of having inappropriate relationships with students.

Their sentences have varied widely.

Former Hillsborough County middle school teacher Debra Lafave, convicted in 2005 of having sex with a 14-year-old student, was given three years of house arrest, followed by probation. She was let off house arrest early.

Michael Aaron Black, the former band director at Pasco Middle School in Dade City, is spending 22 years in prison for having a sexual relationship with a seventh-grader.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A 34-year-old woman was arrested Monday after a 14-year-old boy said he had several sexual encounters with his science teacher.

According to the arrest report, Jennifer Collier had sex with the boy in her SUV Friday night after agreeing to take him home after a field trip from James Weldon Johnson Middle School.

The report says the boy showed police several e-mails from Collier to the victim that demonstrated their inappropriate relationship.

When arrested, investigators said Collier claimed to have a "mother-type relationship" with the boy who had come to her to talk about problems he was having in his home life. She then requested an attorney.'