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In a statement to The Daily Caller, Girl Scouts of the USA confirmed on Wednesday that its literature will no longer refer scouts to Media Matters For America as a source of information to balance bias in news reporting. “Girl Scouts constantly reviews our materials based on feedback and suggestions we receive from our members and we update our materials on a regular basis,” said the statement. “As a result of this process, upcoming reprints of journeys materials will not include links to Media Matters.”

(CNN) -- A Louisiana lawmaker wants the National Guard to patrol the streets of New Orleans after a toddler who was four days shy of her second birthday was shot and killed in a drive-by. "She was out here as a innocent bystander. She's dead now," said Rufus Ruck, the child's cousin. Keira Holmes Gordon was gunned down in a double shooting at the B. W. Cooper Housing development on Sunday. She was one of two people hit when gunmen from two separate cars opened fire on a man who was standing nearby. According to police, the man ran into...

Her household was only "moderately religious," and yet she still feels threatened enough to lead a double life. Apparently her parents are yet more Misunderstanders of the Religion of Peace. This girl has good reason to be afraid: Aqsa Parvez was murdered by her father for not wearing the hijab, and Rifqa Bary was slapped by hers for the same reason. Then there is Islam's death penalty for apostates: Muhammad said, "If anyone changes his religion, kill him." Some schools of Islamic jurisprudence, however, allow for the imprisonment of a female apostate until she recants her apostasy. "IAmA 21 yr...

I spoke with Stephanie about how the economy is affecting young women. Beside dealing with long term unemployment, the "jobless" economy is affecting how young men and women perceive each other. Many are putting off marriage and reassessing relationships. Many young women are investing free time with giving emotional support to their friends and seeking stronger ties with their existing families.

Police in Texas charged a man Tuesday with the murder of 10-year-old Jasmen Gonzalez, whose body was found over the weekend. Jose Consepcion Sifuentes, 23, was moved from jail in Carrollton, Texas, where he was being kept on an immigration hold, to Lew Sterrett Justice Center in downtown Dallas Tuesday morning. He was questioned Monday as a person of interest in the death of Jasmen, whose family lives in Oklahoma City and was in Carrollton for a family reunion.

Next month marks the 21st anniversary of Margaret Thatcher's enforced resignation as Prime Minister. It is now more than 30 years since she first gained power. She was not, of course, the first woman to lead a major country. That honour fell to Indira Gandhi in India and Golda Meir in Israel. But along with Gandhi, Thatcher's 11 years at the top make her the longest-serving woman prime minister the world has seen. The strange thing is that despite the advancement of women in business and the professions and the growing numbers of women entering politics in leading Western countries,...

Brianna Amat crowned homecoming queen PINCKNEY, Mich. (WJBK) - She's the first girl to kick on Pinckney's varsity football team. On Friday night, Brianna Amat kicked a 31-yard game-winning field goal and was crowned homecoming queen on the same night. Click on the video player to watch Ron Savage's report. Amat was already a soccer star at Pinckney High. She told her soccer coach she wanted to kick footballs as well. Head football coach Dan Burholder was impressed, so he put her on the team. Friday night was Brianna's biggest game against Grand Blanc, who was ranked No. 7 in...

Full title: "Stepmother of 10-year-old disabled girl Zahra sentenced to 15-18 years after pleading guilty to murdering child and dismembering her body" The stepmother of a disabled 10-year-old girl, whose remains were found scattered across her home state, has pleaded guilty to the horrific murder and dismemberment of the child. Elisa Baker, 42, was sentenced to about 15 to 18 years in prison after admitting second-degree murder in the death of the child as part of a plea deal. Baker also pleaded guilty to attempting to thwart investigators by planting a fake ransom note at the family home. Ms Baker’s...

Police are trying to defuse a bomb strapped around the neck of a terrified teenage girl at a multimillion pound mansion in Sydney, Australia. Cops raced to the Mosman home of the 18-year-old victim, who is part of one of Sydney's wealthiest families, after she raised the alarm. A senior police officer has described the device as a 'collar bomb' and it's believed a ransom note has been attached to the girl's neck.

STEWARTSTOWN — One week after an 11-year-old seemingly vanished from the home she shared with her mother and stepfather, the body of Celina Cass was recovered Monday from the Connecticut River, about a half-mile from where she lived. “We brought Celina home,” said New Hampshire Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young, her voice cracking at times during a media briefing Monday night, “obviously not the way we wanted to bring her home.” Young said Cass' death is being treated as suspicious and a criminal investigation is under way, “based on what we have seen visually.”

After sustaining an open chest wound of 10cm long while trimming her horse’s mane, Sweden’s emergency response services refused to send an ambulance, suggesting the 11-year-old girl take aspirin instead. (Snip) The resulting gash to her ribs measured 10cm long, and according to the girl’s mother, was substantially open, reported Sweden’s national newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (SvD). The mother phoned SOS Alarm, the government-backed primary emergency response service, and described the child as shaking because she was in so much pain. She requested an ambulance because she did not have immediate access to a car. The responding nurse refused the dispatch.

A 16-year-old girl was killed and four people were wounded by gunfire Thursday after two groups clashed on a crowded Brooklyn boardwalk, cops and witnesses said. Two of the victims were bystanders, sources said. One man used an umbrella to crack another man in the head as the fight erupted on the Brighton Beach Boardwalk near Brighton Sixth St. about 5:20 p.m. Suddenly, a gunman squeezed off about eight rounds, first shooting in the air before aiming at the brawling crowd, cops and witnesses said. Onlookers scurried into nearby stores and restaurants, huddling in fear as the bullets flew near...

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) It is not unusual for mothers stop their children from eating in bed, but now doctors are also telling their patients the same thing -- if they don't want ants crawling into their ears. Although it is common to find small bugs in the ear canals, a local doctor said Friday that he recently found as many as 25 dead ants in the ears of a 16-year-old girl. Before seeking medical help, the girl, who has a sweet tooth, had been suffering from ear pain for several months, said Hung Yaun-tsung, chief of the Department of...

Shariatpur, Bangladesh (CNN) -- Hena Akhter's last words to her mother proclaimed her innocence. But it was too late to save the 14-year-old girl. Her fellow villagers in Bangladesh's Shariatpur district had already passed harsh judgment on her. Guilty, they said, of having an affair with a married man. The imam from the local mosque ordered the fatwa, or religious ruling, and the punishment: 101 lashes delivered swiftly, deliberately in public. Hena dropped after 70. Bloodied and bruised, she was taken to hospital, where she died a week later. Amazingly, an initial autopsy report cited no injuries and deemed her...

A Decatur man accused of punching a 14-year-old girl in the face for running into his son on the slopes in Colorado has pleaded guilty to third-degree assault. The Vail Daily reported Tuesday that the plea from 41-year-old Scott Filler, a renowned malaria expert, was for a misdemeanor stemming from the December incident at Beaver Creek Ski Resort. Police reports say Filler thought the teen was skiing carelessly when she bumped into his 4-year-old son. Eagle County sheriff's deputies say that's when he jumped on the girl and hit her with his fist. The girl said she was swerving to...

This the kind of question Mrs Merton might ask. "So, Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, what do you see in a 24-year-old, sensationally beautiful gymnast with a penchant for posing semi-naked that you don't see in your lovely, middle-aged, matronly wife Ludmilla?" It is also the kind of question that hardly needs answering for the millions who have tuned in to the YouTube film of Alina Kabaeva performing a decidedly provocative gymnastic routine.

Four Stickney teenagers gang-raped a 14-year-old girl and recorded the attacks on a cell phone, police said this morning. Alex Picallo, 16, Majeed Khalifeh, 18, and Jonathan Leanos, 19, were charged Wednesday with two counts each of aggravated criminal sexual assault in the incident at Leanos’ Stickney home in the 3900 block of Wesley on Saturday, police said. Picallo was charged as an adult. A fourth suspect, Vicente Hernandez, 22, of Cicero, was similarly charged today and is scheduled to appear at a bond hearing in the Bridgeview courthouse later today. Picallo was ordered held on $500,000 bail Tuesday. Khalifeh...

Quick thinking and a cool head! Alyssa Gutierrez bravely defended her home and her life with her Mom's rifle. She was not going to end up, if she could help it, another victim of criminal violence. She first tried to hide from the criminal intruders, but when they discovered her, she ran quickly to a bedroom and retrieved her Mom's little pink single shot bolt action 22 caliber rifle to defend her home and life.

If you imagined the typical Jewish physique, bodybuilder is probably not what would come to mind. In pop culture, Jews are skinny and bespectacled like Woody Allen, or chubby and unshaven like Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill. Sometimes the rare tough and rugged Israeli shows up, fighting terror and being macho. But big, buff and tan — that’s something you rarely see. So how did a nice Jewish girl end up becoming a champion in the sport of hulking supermen like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronnie Coleman? In Erin Stern’s case, it all started with three centimeters. Three centimeters is not...

TSA pats down a screaming toddler You might think a 3-year-old would whiz through security. A child is non-threatening, wears slip-on shoes, and carries little luggage. Not the case for Mandy Simon who was passing through security with her dad at the airport in Chattanooga, Tenn. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=77140#ixzz15TkfOowu