Federal Bureau of Investigation agents announced that they found nails in a storage shed rented by Eric Robert Rudolph in Murphy, N.C. The nails match shrapnel from a bomb used in an explosive device found at one of three sites in Atlanta over the past year and a half. CBS news reported that the FBI […]
Mary Vincent testified against the man who raped and mutilated her 20 years ago. Vincent provided 10 minutes of testimony in the penalty phase of a trial charging Lawrence Singleton with the murder of Roxanne Hayes in Tampa, Florida. Singleton was convicted of raping Vincent, then a 15-year-old runaway, and chopping off her forearms. Vincent […]
Military Judge Col. Ferdinand D. Clervi rejected defense pleas to drop 9 of the 19 charges brought against former Sgt. Maj. McKinney. The judge offered no explanation for his ruling, and the defense proceeded directly with the testimony of McKinney’s wife of 26 years, Wilhemina McKinney. Defense attorneys had expected Wilhemina McKinney to claim that […]
The United Nation’s Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) awarded its $25,000 World Press Freedom Prize to Nigerian journalist Christina Anyanwu. Anyanwu has faced brutal conditions in prison for the past three years. The former editor-in-chief of Nigeria’s The Sunday Magazine, Anyanwu “was arrested following the publication of an article about an attempted coup against […]
Legislators in Norway are proposing to pay parents to stay at home with their children. Norway provides subsidized child care centers, but there is only room for 40 percent of the nation’s children under age 3. Caring for one child costs the government approximately $400 per month, the same amount Norway is willing to pay […]
A study issued by the International Labor Organization (ILO) reports a decrease in maternity benefits in Eastern European countries due to economic restructuring. ILO researchers investigated the treatment of women of child-bearing age in 152 countries, including maternity protection at work, maternity leave, cash and medical benefits and employment protection. Researchers found that, although 120 […]
A study released by the Tufts University’s Center on Hunger and Poverty reports that the enactment of “welfare reform” policies in two-thirds of the states may push the poor into greater poverty. The Center surveyed all 50 states on their implementation of the 1996 federal welfare overhaul, concluding that only 14 states have passed reforms […]
Prosecutors have rested their case after 10 days of testimony from 27 witnesses charging former Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney with sexual misconduct. Witnesses included six female officers who claim that McKinney propositioned, assaulted or threatened them. A military judge will rule today whether to dismiss nine of 19 charges. If convicted, McKinney faces loss of […]
A rabbinical court in Haifa, Israel ruled that married women must obey a midnight curfew. The panel of rabbis declared that married women must be home by midnight after hearing a divorce case in which the husband accused his wife of staying out late in nightclubs. Married couples in Israel must apply to a rabbinical […]
The National First Ladies Library in Canton, Ohio launched its website earlier this week. The site, www.firstladies.org, is “devoted to the history and legacy of America’s first ladies,” and contains a virtual library of more than 40,000 books, manuscripts, journals, newspaper articles and other materials related to the first ladies. Hillary Rodham Clinton was the […]
The U.S. Supreme Court turned away an appeal from a Maine anti-abortion group that would allow corporations to disregard campaign spending rules except when they explicitly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate. The Main Right to Life Committee Inc. sued the Federal Election Commission over regulations that prohibited the publication of voter records […]
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear arguments against “Megan’s Law,” the New Jersey legislation that requires public notification of names and addresses of sex offenders. Petitioners argued that the law violates the double jeopardy and ex post facto clauses of the U.S. Constitution. The clauses provide protection from double punishment for the same crime […]
A judge will soon rule on damages up to $1 million in a case of “unintentional sex discrimination” by Joe’s Stone Crab restaurant. The Miami establishment, slated as one of the top 10 grossing restaurants in the U.S., was charged by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of discriminatory hiring practices against women. The EEOC claimed […]
A survey published in the Archives of Internal Medicine reports that more than one-third of female doctors age 30-70 have been sexually harassed, while close to half have suffered from gender-based harassment. Out of 4,501 women surveyed, 36.9% reported sexual harassment while 47.7% reported gender-based harassment stemming from being a female in a traditionally male […]
Chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Brooksley Born, accused the futures industry of lacking sufficient minority and women members. “For too long many of these jobs have been filled based on friendships and family relationships, and an incidental characteristic of these relationships has been that they usually did not include persons of color,” said […]
The vaginal ring, a new form of contraception for women, is expected to be out on the market by 2000. The ring, developed by Organon Pharmaceuticals, releases hormones similar to those contained in birth control pills. The ring is inserted into the vaginal vault, is comfortable and can be easily removed. Studies have shown that […]
A Turkish commission is recommending that laws giving men a dominant role as pasha, or commander of the family, be thrown out. The commission, led by law professor Turgut Akinturk, wants to revise Turkey’s civil code, eliminating provisions that decree the husband as the head of the family, allow men to decide were the family […]
California Democratic US House candidate Lois Capps is appearing in an ad declaring her stance as a pro-choice candidate. In the ad, Capps claims, “outside interest groups are now attacking me … So let’s be clear: I am strongly pro-choice. My opponent opposes a woman’s right to choose.” The commercial, now airing, is a direct […]
The Promise Keepers, a male-only, right-wing Christian group, announced that it will fire its entire staff due to a financial crisis. “Promise Keepers today gave its staff six weeks notice that they will be paid until March 31 and no further. As stable and sufficient donations are received, re-staffing will occur,” said a statement from […]
British officials are putting pressure on the Caribbean colonies to eradicate laws criminalizing homosexuality. The request comes after Cayman Islands authorities refused to let a cruise ship carrying gay vacationers to land because they “could not be counted on to uphold the standards of appropriate behavior expected of visitors.” Anguilla’s chief minister Hubert Hughes said, […]
