International Call For Tougher Female Genital Mutilation Laws

United Nations, international and human rights organizations are calling for an end to female genital mutilation and appealing for tougher legislation to halt the practice on the Ninth International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, The Voice of America reported Feb. 6. The practice persists despite widespread recognition of its harmful physical and psychological effects on girls and women. Up to 140 million girls and women worldwide currently live with consequences of FGM in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, according to the World Health Organization. An estimated 92 million girls age 10 and up have undergone FGM in Africa alone, with about three million more subjected to the procedure on other continents each year.

Amnesty International's Ad Against FGM

Book Details JFK Affair With White House Teen Intern

John F. Kennedy carried on an 18-month-long affair with a teenage White House intern, according to a new book published this week by a 69-year-old grandmother who claims to be the late U.S. president's lover, The Associated Press reported Feb. 6. In her memoir, "Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath," author Mimi Alford wrote a tell-all account detailing how  their relationship started in the summer of 1962. At the time of the affair, she was less than half the age of the president, assassinated the following year at age 46.

A Woman Nominated to Run for Mexico's President

Mexico' s former education minister Josefina Vázquez Mota easily won the nomination of the ruling party, the National Action Party, The Christian Science Monitor reported Feb. 6. If she goes on to win the July 1 election, Mexico will join the other Latin American countries that have elected women as presidents: Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, and Argentina.

Nearly three-quarters of U.S. black women worry about not having enough money to pay their bills,  a survey by The Washington Post  and Kaiser Family Foundation released Feb. 5. The financial stress may be an extension of a lack of job skills and extended family commitments. Fewer than half of black women believe they have the necessary skills to be competitive in the current job market. The study also shows that black women are more likely than white women to lend money to family or friends, provide help to aging relatives and provide child care for family members.