•  According to an independent group in Britain, the number of abortions performed on fetuses with Down syndrome has been greatly underrepresented. They claim that doctors, in attempts to protect their patients from further pain, have been classifying abortions performed on fetuses with Down as "social abortions." • Excerpts of Anne Frank's diary were censored out of a school textbook in Lebanon after Hezbollah's Al-Manar television channel ran a report claiming the book promotes Zionism. MP Hussein Hajj Hassan said, "These respected, established schools are teaching the so-called tragedy this girl lived, and yet they are ashamed to teach the tragedy of the Lebanese people, the tragedy of the Palestinian people... the tragedy of the people of the south under the hands of Zionist occupation." • A new study has found that there is a significant gender-based pay gap among US faculty. "Our findings show that women who wish to challenge pay gaps at their own institution need to systematically and quantitatively approach the situation, especially during a time of economic downturn," said the author of the study. •  David Swain has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of his wife in 1999. Swain was scuba diving in the Caribbean with his wife Shelley Tyre when something went wrong and Tyre was killed. Although local authorities found no evidence of wrongdoing, a British Virgin Islands judge has ruled differently. • Female cancer or multiple sclerosis patients are six times more likely than male patients to be separated or divorced soon after their diagnosis. Researchers said men may leave a sick spouse because they're more hesitant than women to commit to being a caretaker. • Six years ago, Stephen Weston heard about a woman who had been prosecuted for not wearing her seat belt correctly while pregnant. For many women, the cross-body belt is uncomfortable, so Weston decided to solve the problem by developing an alternative belt for expecting mothers. The shoulder harness seat belt will hit the market in 2010. • The New York Times reports on the rising number of female officers in the Iraqi police force. While women were long discouraged from higher positions, many have come to realize that there are certain benefits to having female officers. "Everyone says men are able to do everything, but that's not true," said Lieutenant Farah Hameed. "In investigations, especially with women, women use their compassion with victims to get them to answer questions clearly." •  A recent study shows that yo-yo dieting may be more like drug addiction than previously believed. Researchers put a group of rats on "diet-cycles," and they found that after going without food, the rats suffered anxiety, and the deprivation effected the same stress symptom that kicks in during drug withdrawal. • Women are getting involved in Mexican drug trafficking in greater numbers and many are being jailed or killed. More women are becoming addicts, turning to dealing as a better alternative to prostitution, or being forced to smuggle drugs through military checkpoints by male family members. •  Prosecutors have offered former astronaut Lisa Nowak a plea deal. Nowak is accused of stalking and assaulting Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman, who was dating Nowak's ex-boyfriend. •  Wanna be happy for the rest of your life? Move West, young woman. Apparently, people are happiest in the Mountain states and on the West Coast, due mainly to the high concentration of wealth, education, and tolerance. • While experts believe that postpartum depression is still severely under-reported, there are several new programs that offer support and aid to women suffering from PPD. UNC has a particularly good program, which features a small postpartum inpatient unit. • In the next 10 years women are expected to become the majority of unionized workers, according to a report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "When you have a majority of women in the labor movement, issues like work-family balance, paid sick days and paid parental leave become more important," said economist John Schmitt. • "Weight-watchers everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief. Contrary to their image as slim models of restraint, French women, it seems, really do get fat," begins this article, on rising obesity rates in France. It's a good thing Mireille Guilano has a new shtick. • Some are calling for the website celebrityaddressaerial.com to be shut down after it was revealed that the people who allegedly robbed Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Orlando Bloom, used the site to gather information on their targets. The site, which lists the addresses and aerial photos of hundreds of celebrity homes, contains information that could be found on sites like TMZ and Google Maps in a more easily searchable format. • A new fiction genre described as "Beatrix Potter meets the Kray Brothers" or "Pulp Fiction meets Wind in the Willows" involves animals, or even dinosaurs, in gritty detective stories. • In an interview with a British journalist who says she dreamed of being a Playboy Bunny as a child, Hugh Hefner says, "My younger brother and I were raised in a home in Chicago with no real affection; we knew we were loved, but there was no display of affection. I think that my quest for romantic love and the adventure of romantic love was filling the space that was left because I didn't get the affection when I was young." • In this security video a woman on a Boston subway platform who appears drunk falls onto the tracks. People wave at an oncoming train to stop, the driver breaks, and the car comes to a stop inches away from killing her. •

Ian Urbina writes a poignant story in today's Times about teen and child runaways, whose numbers are apparently swelling in the recession. Homelessness may rise 10 to 20 percent across the board this year, but last year the number of kids living on their own increased by 40 percent — and Mary Ferrell, director of a resource center for the homeless, says, "several times a month we're seeing kids being left by parents who say they can't afford them anymore." But that statement isn't the most heart-wrenching in the story. That would be this graf:

The runaways spend much of their time avoiding the authorities because they assume the officials are trying to send them home. But most often the police are not looking for them as missing-person cases at all, just responding to complaints about loitering or menacing. In fact, federal data indicate that usually no one is looking for the runaways, either because parents have not reported them missing or the police have mishandled the reports.

Or maybe this one:

Federal statistics indicate that in more than three-quarters of runaway cases, parents or caretakers have not reported the child missing, often because they are angry about a fight or would simply prefer to see a problem child leave the house. Experts say some parents fear that involving the police will get them or their children into trouble or put their custody at risk.

And in 16 percent of cases, the local police failed to enter the information into the federal database, as required under federal law, according to a review of federal data by The New York Times.

The reasons police give for not entering runaways in the database include software difficulties, time constraints, and a desire not to "make a city's situation appear to be more of a problem than it is" — though it's not clear how accurately reporting statistics would overstate the problem. Urbina also writes that police "do not take runaway reports as seriously as abductions, in part because runaways are often fleeing family problems." It's true that many of the kids he spoke with had left abusive homes, and that returning them to their parents doesn't seem to be the solution. However, there's a deeply sad contrast between abduction victims, whose stories often become big news, and runaways, the children no one wants to find.

It's not that we should be doing less to find abducted kids, or to prevent tragedies like the murder of Chicago eight-year-old Melissa Ackerman. Rather, we hould be expending as much energy on kids whose parents don't want or "can't afford" them as we do on kids whose parents desperately want them back. The fact that police don't take runaways seriously because these kids are "fleeing family problems" is especially chilling — do we really think the solution to abuse is to let kids live on the streets?

Image via NYT.

Recession Drives Surge In Youth Runaways [NYT]
Child Abduction Survivor Lives With Fear And Guilt [LAT]
'Jane Doe' Found In N.Y. Identified [CNN]

[Los Angeles, October 22. Image via Getty]

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 22: Demonstrators march in the 14th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation on October 22, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. Various activist groups have rallied against police misconduct every October 22 since the mid-1990s. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

[Manila, June 28. Image via Getty]

A child holds her father's hand as he and other police commandoes in Manila on June 28, 2009, prepare to be deployed to the southern Philippine island of Basilan. The Basilan Contingent will consist of 12 Police Commisioned Officers and 213 Police Non-Commisioned Officers. The troops will augment the existing security forces in the south who are securing the island which is a known haunt of the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group known for its links to the al-Qaeda network. AFP PHOTO/NAT GARCIA (Photo credit should read NAT GARCIA/AFP/Getty Images)

• Iran has consented to review the 8 year prison sentence, but judiciary officials deny that Saberi is on hunger strike. • Yesterday hundreds gathered in Philadelphia to march for gay rights. It is reportedly the first national rally for equality held outside Washington, DC. •  Ugh: Swiss authorities are investigating the appearance of a condom in a 7-year-old's Happy Meal. • New research has found that men with mental health problems are at an increased risk of passing their issues on to their sons. • A British mother was nearly killed while birthing her abnormally large son. Her child weighed 13 pounds, 10 ounces, which is almost double the average birth weight. • A recent study has found that the brothers of women who are fertile late in life tend to live longer, but their wives (sisters-in-law to the older mothers) do not. • Researchers have found that African-American women face a much greater risk of dying from breast cancer than white women, regardless of socio-economic status, the age at which they are diagnosed, the type of cancer, or type of treatment. • This fascinating report compares the leisure habits of different countries. Findings include: men in Italy have 80 minutes more of down time per day than women, and the French spend more time sleeping and eating than any other country included in the study. Fuckers. • Doctors have found new ways to identify autism in infants, which they hope will lead to better treatment of the disorder. • A new study from the Children's Hospital in Boston indicates that kids who watch adult-targeted TV are more likely to be sexually active at a younger age than those who stick to Saturday morning cartoons. • A woman in Dubai has been convicted of accidentally killing her fetus in a traffic accident and has been ordered to pay blood money to compensate for the (possibly) resulting stillbirth. • The Sleepy Eye Police Department is investigating the theft of Snoopy's nose. • Bear trapping is big business in China, where bears are held captive in order to collect their valuable bile. The bears are often held in cages no bigger than their own bodies. •  Following the case of the 8-year-old girl who was married to a man 40 years her senior, Saudi Arabia has begun to consider banning marriage for girls under the age of 18. • A 17-year-old girl who dialed 911 when her father had a seizure was berated by the cop who answered the call because she began swearing. Click here to hear the full tape. • Silvio Berlusconi has demanded an apology from his wife, Veronica Lario, for her recent comments about their possible divorce. •

• Jessica Brooks, 18, suffered second and third degree burns after accidentally lighting her hair on fire. She was soaking her head in gasoline to kill her head lice when a pilot light ignited the fumes. • A new mother unwittingly killed her newborn daughter by kissing her while she had a cold sore. • A researcher from Kansas State University has found that the different ways male and female police officers deal with stress may actually cause them more stress. Don Kurtz also found that women are more likely to be assigned to emotionally stressful cases, like those involving the abuse of children or sexual assault. • Over 100 women showed up at the Western Wall Wednesday to pray and protest the "attempt to silence half of Jewish people" through restrictions on where and how they can pray. • Del Monte Foods has crowned its first Milk Bone spokesdog, Winston, a Great Dane from Wisconsin. • A Spanish mother took justice into her own hands and set fire to her daughter's gloating rapist. She is currently being held in prison and undergoing psychiatric tests. • Vassalboro, Maine just got its first topless coffee shop, and residents are not that happy about it. I just hope the servers have good balance with all that hot coffee. • Time to buy a vowel: this Friday, Wheel of Fortune will air its 5,000th show. • A new report shows that only 4% of Texas schools currently provide sex education beyond abstinence, and many programs give teens inaccurate information. • A 14-year-old girl just became the youngest divorcee in Israel. Her ex-husband is 17. • Heidi Hetzer, female mechanic and car dealer, has fought sexism for years, but is only now facing the most serious battle of her career: the recession. • This Wednesday, members of the first all-female, all-African-American unit, "Six Triple Eight," were presented with certificates of appreciation for their service during WWII. • An ex-student from the University of Portland is suing the school for failing to report her rape to police, and acting indifferent to negative postings about her on their social networking board. The student, who was 16 at the time of the attack, also seeks $1 million from the college sophomore who she names as her attacker. • The Elements of Intimacy is a rare book on sex education published in the UAE. Author Widad Loutah has received death threats and accusations of blasphemy for her attempts to education unmarried women about sex. • Breaking News: the Obamas may not get a Portuguese water dog. Press Secretary Katie McCormick Lelyveld says: "Mrs. Obama likes the Portuguese water dog, but she is only one of four votes." •

For years, Iraqi women were seen as more vulnerable to violence than men. Many men carried weapons, and some harassed or even threw acid at women without headscarves. But now, twenty-five-year-old driving student Hadeel Ahmed says, "It bothers me to have to depend on my brother or father to take me everywhere. [...] I want to be independent." She adds that, "driving means someone is brave. [...] They're strong. Not only in their body but in their spirit." And bravery is an important quality for drivers in Iraq, who must deal with U.S. checkpoints, blast walls around many buildings, and the complete absence of traffic lights.

Some women have a motivation beyond independence. Leila Muhaibis needs to learn to drive the blue Honda parked outside her parents' house. It's her brother's; he has been missing for three years, ostensibly taken by U.S. forces. With her brother's return increasingly unlikely, the car is her responsibility now.

As more women get behind the wheel, more women are directing traffic as well. Many are entering the police force, both because they want to help their country and because limited education for women has left them with few other career options. But female police officers make less than men — the equivalent of $500 a month to men's $600. And most of them are not allowed to carry guns.

As Turmoil Ebbs, Iraqi Women Seek Freedom Of Road Again [Washington Post]
Female Officers At Risk In Iraq [UPI]

• Evangelist Tony Alamo, who is currently on trial for taking a minor across state lines for sex, was deemed a flight risk yesterday after former followers came forward and testified that Alamo practiced polygamy (read: abuse) with girls as young as 9. • Britan's speaking clock will be done in Tinkerbell's voice for three months to promote the DVD release of a Tinkerbell movie. • Where are all the single young men at? In pretty much every major city in America. • Tears of the Desert, written by Halima Bashir is the first memoir written by a woman about the war in Darfur. • A young English man is traveling the world for three weeks while dressed in a Smurf costume to promote his costume shop in Newbury, which has a excess of Smurf costumes this year.• Oh, it was also the Smurf's 50th anniversary on Wednesday. • Arien O'Connell ran the fastest time (11 minutes) at the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco on Sunday but did not win the race since she did not sign up as an "elite" runner, which would have given her a 20 minute head start over her own open group. • A federal grant will help replicate the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, which helps police officers responding to 911 call assess high-risk abuse cases, in at least five other jurisdictions across the US. • A new study has found that parents of a child with ADHD are nearly twice as likely to divorce by the time the child is 8 years old than parents without ADHD children. • Here's a new pointless gift to give at baby showers: A scale that shows a pregnant woman how big she is getting during her pregnancy. • Several male students at the University of Central Florida say they can now empathize with women who wear high heels after they took a volunteer high heel walk around campus this week as part of a Strike Back Against Dating/Domestic Violence event. • A 61-year-old woman got into a violent row with a deer on Monday after the deer attacked one of her dogs. • At least 500 Muslim protesters marched through Jakarta in Indonesia to push for the approval of an anti-pornography bill which would "shield the young from pornographic materials and lewd acts."•

• Meanwhile, women in India are being trained as security guards to fulfill an increasing demand for female guards in retail shops, malls, and on the subway. • A new study has linked music taste to particular personality traits and found that metal fans are gentle, indie rock listeners lack self-esteem, and pop lovers are uncreative. • Yuriko Koike, the former defense minister of Japan and current contender for the prime minister (which would make her the first female PM in Japan) says that Japan doesn't have a "glass ceiling" but an "iron plate" against female advancement. • Policy Exchange, a think tank favored by Tory party leaders, recommends that the government give tax benefits to the tune of about $1,000 a month to women who chose to stay home with their newborn children instead of working. • Meanwhile, Steve Biddulph, an "expert on parenting" in Australia says that the government should adopt a paid 1-year maternity leave for new mothers to encourage new mothers to avoid child care. • With so many male Asian American designers being shown this week at New York Fashion Week (Phillip Lim, Peter Som, Derek Lam, Alexander Wang, to name a few) it is hard to remember that the first Asian designers to take over the Western market were mostly women, including Vera Wang, Vivienne Tam, and Anna Sui. • This season Broadway will focus more on the psyche of dudes with revivals and musicals like A Man For All Seasons, Equus, and All My Sons. • The Australian-born feminist, Germaine Greer laments the lack of "proper" statues of famous women in England. • A new study has found that women over 70 who sleep no more than 5 hours a night have a 50% increased risk of falling down two or more times during the year. • Sad! Bella, a labrador from England who was believed to be the world's oldest dog died on Saturday at the age of 29. •