Insurgents Bomb Women's Cafeteria • French Pedophile Asks To Be Castrated

• Two suicide bombers attacked a women's cafeteria and a faculty building at an Islamic university in Pakistan today, killing four people and wounding at least 18, in a bombing linked to the army's offensive against the Taliban. •

The attack on International Islamic University in Islamabad is the latest in a series of militant attacks around the country in recent weeks. Many schools in the area had closed this week because authorities warned that insurgents may be planning attacks. Half of the school's 18,000 students are female and most study secular subjects. • A French man accused of kidnapping and raping a boy after serving 18 years in prison for raping two other children has written to President Nicolas Sarkozy and asked to be castrated. France is currently debating forcing some sex offenders to be chemically castrated, but the man wants his testicles removed. • An Australian primary school has banned hugging and other "inappropriate behavior" between its students because administrators are worried the older students, who are 11 to 13, are setting a bad example for the younger ones. Principal Julie Gale says hugging between friends is not banned "but we do discourage displays of affection in the school yard among students ... who have a boyfriend or girlfriend at the school." • In March, the United Nations will consider 40 proposals to curb the trade of endangered animals including tuna used in sushi, corals that are made into jewelry, and sharks whose fins make soup. If passed, the animal trade would probably be regulated with a government permit system. • Female cat burglar Celeste Ricciardi allegedly looted four New York apartment buildings including her own by crawling into windows from the fire escape. The New York Post calls her "catwoman" and notes that she "has two cats." • Married British doctor Edward Erin has been found guilty of attempting to spike his girlfriend's drinks to induce abortion. Bella Prowse took several suspicious beverages he'd prepared to the police and they determined they were laced with drugs used to cause a miscarriage. Prowse gave birth to a son in September 2008 and Erin is awaiting sentencing. • Adrian Searle writes in The Guardian that with the death of Nancy Spero on Sunday "the art world loses its conscience." He says, "Her art could also be riotously funny and sexy as well as macabre, and she made many works which dealt with female jouissance and eroticism, pleasure and pain. Spero was a spearhead of feminist art in the 1960s, calling for greater recognition of women artists and women in the New York art world." • Prosecutors say they're worried Rod Blagojevich's appearance on The Celebrity Apprentice may prejudice potential jurors for his trial on corruption charges. A judge has ruled that he can appear on the show but prosecutors have asked that the judge limit what he can say on television. • A lock of hair believed to be Amelia Earhart's is actually just thread. A group looking for DNA evidence of Earhart on a Pacific island asked to examine the sample at the International Women's Air and Space Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, but found it was a fake. •

Send an email to Margaret Hartmann, the author of this post, at margaret@jezebel.com.

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