Article here. Excerpt:

'GENEVA (Reuters) - Women still lag far behind men in top political and decision-making roles, a waste of talent given that their access to education and healthcare is nearly equal, the World Economic Forum said on Wednesday.

Averaging 130 national scores, the report found that girls and women have reached near-parity with their male peers in educational attainment, health and survival, in both rich and poor countries.

But economically, in terms of workforce participation and earning opportunities, and politically, in terms of empowerment, the gap between the sexes remains large.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'ATLANTA — For the first time, an expensive vaccine aimed at preventing cervical cancer in women has proven successful at preventing a disease in men, according to a new study.

The disease? It's genital warts, a sexually-transmitted problem that is embarrassing and uncomfortable but not life-threatening.

Still, the results are expected to bolster a likely bid by the vaccine's manufacturer _ Merck & Co. Inc. _ to begin marketing the vaccine to boys, experts said. Merck plans to ask the government for that approval later this year.

"This opens the door to a wonderful opportunity to prevent illness," said Anna Giuliano, a Tampa-based researcher who worked on the Merck-funded study. She is an epidemiologist at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.'

Looks more like a shortage of suckers to me, and that's a good thing. Story here. Excerpt:

'LONDON - Britain is facing a sperm donor shortage after reversing confidentiality laws and limiting the number of women who can use sperm from one donor, fertility experts warned Wednesday in the British Medical Journal.

Britain in 2005 changed the law protecting anonymous sperm donors and allowed children to learn the identity of donor fathers — one reason, fertility experts say, there are fewer donors now.
...
In France, sperm donation is anonymous and the government covers donors' expenses but the country still faces a sperm shortage. France registered 248 sperm donors in 2006, according to the country's Agency of Biomedicine — a level an official there said was not enough to supply demand.'

What's next, "fertility flights" where would-be single mums fly into New York from Heathrow every week for an insemination until "it takes"? Good grief. Wouldn't put anything past anyone these days.

Story here. Excerpt:

'FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A 15-year-old student died after a shooting at a Fort Lauderdale high school Wednesday, and police were questioning another student believed to be responsible.

Sophomore Amanda Collette was confirmed dead after being discovered on a hallway floor by a school resource officer at Dillard High School around 11 a.m. Another 15-year-old girl was being held and questioned by police in the death.
...
The suspect was apprehended at an area restaurant after a caller there reported she may have been involved in a school shooting. A gun was recovered.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'MADISON, Neb. - A Norfolk woman who had a sexual relationship with a teenage boy and subsequently fled from the area has been sentenced to prison for child abuse.

Tammy Walnofer, 39, was sentenced by Madi­son County District Court Judge Patrick Rogers on Monday to 18 to 26 months in prison, with credit for 16 days served.
...
Walnofer's attorney, Jim Egley of Norfolk, described the victim as demanding attention and threatening to harm himself or others if Walnofer did not com­ply with his wishes, which included having sex.
...
Rogers said that in his experi­ence as a judge, it's common for defendants to lay blame on oth­ers. "Just because I have a robe on doesn't mean I have God-like power to know what exactly hap­pened here," he said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Birth control has become an important issue for women's rights as well as the environment. However, a study of South Korean women aged 19-34 found 45% believe contraception should be a man's responsibility. Only 4.8% in the survey felt birth control was a woman's responsibility.

The survey, by the Study Group for Contraception, shows that most women are doing little or nothing to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Of the 1000 women who participated in the survey, one in five said she relied on coitus interruptus or timing pregnancy cycles as a form of birth control. Both methods have high failure rates of around 25%.
...
What's more, abortion is illegal in South Korea, except under extenuating circumstances. The result is an almost entirely first-world country where each year hundreds of thousands of women practice illegal abortions at "don't ask don't tell" clinics.

Article here. Excerpt:

'But between baseball at Wisconsin, cross country and track and field at Northwestern, and men's soccer and swimming and diving at Illinois, there are many cases throughout the Big Ten where otherwise common sports are absent.

Illinois has been without men's swimming and diving since the 1990s, when the University eliminated it, along with men's fencing, in favor of picking up women's soccer and softball.
...
The NCAA has tried to help universities comply with Title IX by creating "emergent sports," which are exclusive to women. An emergent sport is a NCAA-recognized sport that is not part of Division I, II or III. They are a means to test a sport to determine whether it is competitive and appealing.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Men could be gambling with their lives by buying fake medicines, a top medical professional has warned.

The Cracking Counterfeit report, commissioned by Pfizer Inc - the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company - highlighted the ignorance amongst men about which medicines required a prescription.

Pfizer's medical director, Dr David Gillen, said: "Men bypassing the health system to purchase medicines is a growing problem in the UK, particularly relating to the increased availability of counterfeit medicines.
...
The Pfizer commissioned report reveals that one in 10 men interviewed admitted buying prescription-only medicines without a prescription. They included drugs for erectile dysfunction, smoking cessation, weight loss, lowering cholesterol and anti-depression.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'EMOTIVE arguments from men's rights groups threaten to hijack the discussion of new laws to outlaw DNA theft.

The claim comes from policy-makers and academics backing moves to make it illegal to take and test a bodily sample such as hair or saliva without permission. The concern is that, because DNA testing is now easy and accessible, genetic information could be misused by employers, insurance agencies and journalists tracking down "famous DNA", as well as by angry spouses.

David Weisbrot, president of the Australian Law Reform Commission, said: "I wouldn't want to derail the general reform because of the concerns of fathers' groups which might be better addressed in other ways -- for instance, through family law reform."

Men who want genetic proof that they are the biological father of a child have legal avenues for getting the youngster tested even without the mother's consent.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'MOTHERS are being forced to pay tens of thousands of dollars to men who paid child support over decades but were wrongly named as fathers.

The payouts follow a contentious reform of child-support laws.

In the biggest case, Queensland man Ken Rodgers obtained orders for the repayment of $60,000 after making child-support contributions for a decade to a woman who refused to send him even a photograph of his alleged child.

The Courier-Mail can reveal that 18 men, cleared of fatherhood by DNA testing, have attempted to reclaim funds already paid to the mothers through the Child Support Agency.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Under the controversial reforms, men would be tried for murder rather than manslaughter for "crimes of passion" while women who kill abusive husbands because of years of abuse would be treated more leniently.
...
The government proposals, which have been characterised as being part of a feminist agenda, are aimed at ending what ministers call sexual discrimination in murder cases, where men get away with lighter sentences by claiming their wife's adultery had provoked them into an act of violence.
...
Under the proposals, men who kill wives or girlfriends will be less likely to escape murder convictions by pleading jealous anger. The law change is designed to help women who kill abusive husbands because of years of abuse. People will also be able to claim they killed for fear of future violence against them.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'(AP) Prosecutors in the trial of a woman accused of a MySpace hoax that allegedly led a 13-year-old girl to kill herself will likely be prohibited from presenting evidence of the suicide, a U.S. District Court judge said Monday.

Judge George H. Wu told attorneys he was leaning toward excluding the evidence from the trial of Lori Drew, who is accused of using a fictitious profile on the social networking site to drive Megan Meier, her daughter's former friend, to hang herself.
...
"I don't necessarily think the suicide is relevant to the crime charged," Wu said, adding he thought details of Meier's death would unfairly prejudice the jury. He said he planned to announce his final decision Friday.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'According to the U.S. Department of Education, more girls than boys participate in student government, the drama club, the debate club and the honor society. Statistics show that of those students who write for the student newspaper and yearbook, girls outnumber boys. And on a reading level, girls are typically ahead of boys by a year and a half.
...
"It's kinda shocking, but in reality, the truth, I know that girls work harder than guys," says Ryan, 16.
...
Two-thirds of all learning disability diagnoses are for boys.
Seventy percent of all D's and F's on report cards go home in boys' backpacks - not girls.
Ninety percent of school discipline referrals are for boys.
Eighty percent of all Ritalin takers are boys.
Eighty percent of all school dropouts are boys.
Fewer than 40 percent of college students are currently male.
Girls in general are surpassing boys in school in all subjects except math and science, and even that gap has closed significantly in the past few years.'

OK, I know, this is not MR-related, really. It's just that we do know what university Larry Summers used to run, until they chased him out for daring to suggest that maybe there are inherent general capacities and proclivities associated with gender and these ought to be considered when looking at differences in students' interest in certain subjects.

That thought-crime was enough to get him tossed out of the school. So now one of the most bloated, wasteful, uber-PC institutions of our time must *gasp* face the reality of money (oh, that dirty word!) and how they actually need someone to work for a living in order for them to afford the luxury of sitting around all day talking about how the evil patriarchy is striving to oppress them day in and day out. Gosh, life just ain't fair! Excerpt:

'BOSTON (AP) - Harvard University is considering spending cuts because the economic slowdown may reduce federal grants and the school's substantial endowment, President Drew Faust said Monday.

Story here. Only the man is named, interestingly enough. The woman was "bailed" while the man was not? Excerpt:

'A couple have been arrested for allegedly having sex in a crowded train carriage.

Other passengers en route from Liverpool to London appear to have sat in embarrassed silence as the 41-year-old woman allegedly committed a sex act on her male partner.'