A Long Way Yet To Go...

A popular broadcast jingle and print ad from the 1970's for Virginia Slims cigarettes started out "You've come a long way, baby...". Yeah, right. Females were treated with a LOT more respect in the so-called stone age than today, in the so-called civilized world. WARNING - A miscellany of current news articles about violence against females of all ages, some of the accounts are gruesome. I wasn't even trying to find these news stories. India: 9-year-old Samastipur girl raped TNN 23 October 2009, 03:21am IST SAMASTIPUR: A nine-year-old girl was raped allegedly by a villager on Monday night. The incident occurred at Basudeopur village under Kalyanpur police station in Samastipur district. Police have sent the profusely bleeding girl to the Sadar hospital here for treatment. According to reports, the girl was overpowered by one Sanjay Sahni while returning home from an immersion procession for Goddess Kali and dragged to a bamboo grove. There, the man raped the nine-year-old and fled after the girl fainted. Some villagers spotted the girl on Tuesday morning and brought her home. An FIR has been lodged with Kalyanpur PS. But no one has been arrested yet. United States: Florida: Garbage trucks lead to discovery of dead Fla. girl By BRENT KALLESTAD, Associated Press Writer Brent Kallestad, Associated Press Writer October 22, 2009 ORANGE PARK, Fla. – After 7-year-old Somer Thompson vanished on her way home from school, investigators tailed nine garbage trucks from her neighborhood to a Georgia landfill nearly 50 miles away, then picked through the trash as each rig spilled its load. They sorted through more than 225 tons of garbage before their worst fears were realized: Sticking out of the rubbish were a child's lifeless legs. ... An autopsy to establish the cause of death was performed Thursday, but authorities would not disclose their findings. At a news conference, Beseler would not say if Somer had been sexually assaulted or answer other questions about the condition of the body. ... The sheriff said police have questioned more than 155 registered sex offenders in the area so far. State online records show 88 sex offenders live in Orange Park [where Somer Thompson lived and disappeared], a Jacksonville suburb of about 9,000 people just south of Jacksonville Naval Air Station. ... Arizona: Police: Man ran down 'too Westernized' daughter From CNN.com updated 5:06 p.m. EDT, Wed October 21, 2009 Arizona police are looking for an Iraqi man who they allege ran down his daughter and her friend because he believed his daughter had become "too Westernized." Peoria, Arizona, police said Wednesday that Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, struck his 20-year-old daughter, Noor Faleh Almaleki, and her friend Amal Edan Khalaf with a vehicle he was driving in a parking lot Tuesday afternoon. Faleh Hassan Almaleki was angry with his daughter "as she had become too 'Westernized' and was not living according to [the family's] traditional Iraq[i] values," Peoria police said in a statement released Wednesday. Noor Faleh Almaleki is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, according to the statement. Khalaf, 43, received injuries that are not life-threatening but is still in the hospital, police said. Noor Faleh Almaleki lives with Khalaf, police said but did not elaborate on how the two women knew each other. Faleh Hassan Almaleki was last seen in a gray or silver Jeep Grand Cherokee, police said. No further details were immediately available. Peoria is about 13 miles northwest of Phoenix. New York: A related story, but this woman was an "accidental" victim of street violence Sadie Mitchell, 92-year-old Bronx woman killed by stray bullet, made frantic call to friend for help By Barry Paddock, Joe Jackson and Jonathan Lemire DAILY NEWS WRITERS Updated Wednesday, October 21st 2009, 6:09 PM A 92-year-old woman struck by a stray bullet in her Bronx living room used her last moments of strength to crawl to a phone and call her best friend for help. Sadie Mitchell - a beloved "mother to everyone on her block" who always carried fresh roses to church - was still alert when she dialed her pal minutes before she died. ... Nevada: October 20, 2009 Man beats woman to death over cigarette (NECN/KOLO) - A senseless crime has left a community in shock. A man asked a woman for a cigarette, and then beat her to death. 47-year-old Eileen Pruitt was just walking her dogs when she was brutally attacked. Authorities say it was a chance encounter with 22-year-old Ryan Bonnett of Lockwood, Nevada, that would end Pruitt's life. The Storey County Sheriff's office says Pruitt was attacked last night on Avenue Bleu de Clair as she walked her dogs. Authorities say Bonnet was intoxicated when he asked Pruitt for a cigarette, then allegedly beat her to death. ... Bonnett was arrested and is expected to face open murder charges. ... Pruitt survived the attack, but died because of her injuries early this morning. Wisconsin: Pipe bomb detonated during West Bend murder-suicide By Sharif Durhams of the Journal Sentinel Posted: Oct. 15, 2009 A man in West Bend tried to help his mother early Thursday as her ex-husband chased her down and shot her. The ex-husband then shot himself in the head, police said. A Milwaukee police bomb squad team and federal agents helped West Bend police investigate the chaotic scene Thursday morning in the 1200 block of N. 12th Ave., where the victim, Alice Gill, 52, and the shooter, Jeffrey Gill, 50, died. A news release from the West Bend Police Department says investigators later learned that a pipe bomb had been detonated in Alice Gill's vehicle during the shooting, which occurred just after midnight. Police say the 27-year-old son heard yelling and a car horn beeping shortly after midnight and went outside to investigate. He saw his mother and her ex-husband struggling in the vehicle and went to help his mother. That's when Jeffrey Gill started shooting and Alice Gill ran, police said. The shooter chased his ex-wife in the front yard of the house, shot her several times and killed himself, the news release says. Police noted the Gills were divorced two years ago and that Jeffrey Gill had past arrests on suspicion of domestic violence [what is "suspicion" of domestic violence? Geez!] and possession of a controlled substance, as well as six times for drunken driving. United Kingdom: London, England Teenage girl 'murdered by father' Page last updated at 16:51 GMT, Thursday, 8 October 2009 17:51 UK Tulay Goren, 15, a Kurdish Turk from Woodford Green, north London, vanished in 1999 and her body has never been found, the Old Bailey was told. Her father Mehmet Goren, 49, and uncles Cuma Goren, 42, and Ali Goren, 55, both from Walthamstow, all deny murder. The men also deny conspiracy to murder her boyfriend, Halil Unal, 30, between May 1998 and February 1999. Tulay was last seen alive on 7 January 1999 with her father Mehmet Goren, of Navestock Crescent, Woodford Green, who is alleged to have killed her later that day. Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said Tulay was killed "to restore the so-called honour" of the family, who originate from Turkey. The term was an "appalling and inappropriate way" to "dignify" the offence, he added. ...