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The organisation, which calls itself B4U-Act, is lobbying for changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, the guideline of standards on mental health that is put together by the American Psychiatric Association, FOXNews.com said. The group says its mission is to help paedophiles before they create a crisis, and to do so by offering a less critical view of the disorder. "Stigmatising and stereotyping minor-attracted people inflames the fears of minor-attracted people, mental health professionals and the public, without contributing to an understanding of minor-attracted people or the issue of child sexual abuse," reads the...

RUSSELS (Reuters) - A disgraced former Belgian bishop admitted Thursday that he had abused a second nephew, but said that he did not consider himself a paedophile. Roger Vangheluwe, 74, resigned as bishop of Bruges a year ago after admitting to sexually abusing one nephew and is still awaiting a final verdict from the Vatican. In his first public appearance in a year, Vangheluwe gave a long interview to Belgian television station VT4 that was broadcast live Thursday evening. He began by saying how sorry he was and then gave details of his abuse of two nephews, one for some...

The release of a convicted sex offender can stir up a community, but recent attempts to keep one from returning to the Dutch city of Eindhoven have caused equal commotion. His face was plastered on the front page of the biggest newspaper in the country on Thursday. De Telegraaf daily had removed the customary black bar across the eyes and, contrary to Dutch journalistic practice, used his full name when referring to "the paedophile who sees only one victim: himself". The paper had printed the same picture that appeared on posters behind windows across Eindhoven. Sytze van der V. (61)...

Death threats are just one of the reported consequences of the controversial step taken by a Dutch campaign group in publishing the names, addresses and - in some cases - photographs of paedophiles on the internet despite rules in the Netherlands banning such a move. The group in question, Stopkindersex (Stop Child Sex), has hosted its site in the US to get around the legal ban in the Netherlands. The site was flooded this weekend by people anxious to learn if they are living in the vicinity of a convicted paedophile.

LONDON (AP) — British police, with aid from U.S. investigators, have shattered a global Internet pedophile ring, rescuing 31 children and rounding up more than 700 suspects worldwide, authorities said Monday. Some 200 suspects are based in Britain, said the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center, a government agency. Of the 31 children, some only a few months old, more than 15 were in Britain, the center said. British authorities would not break down where the other suspects or children came from. A Canadian official said 24 Canadians were arrested and seven children rescued, but added that the time period...

“There seems to be a god to suit every lifestyle. All gods and all lifestyles are tolerated. It is this observation about polytheistic religion that struck me as similar to modern secularism. In the modern secular world there is increasing tolerance of all kinds of lifestyle. Once upon a time in the West having a child out of wedlock was considered shameful. Today being a single mother is a lifestyle choice and soon same-sex marriage will become accepted in law in the US as it is increasingly accepted in Europe. After that I predict that sex with minors will also...

Pedophiles to launch political party AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch pedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals, sparking widespread outrage. The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its Web site it would be officially registered Wednesday, proclaiming: "We are going to shake The Hague awake!" The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether. "A ban just makes children curious," Ad van...

MULTAN: Two servants of a feudal lord threw acid on a 14-year-old girl and her 12-year-old younger brother at Chak No 63/EB (Luddan) after the youngsters rejected their sexual advances. Police refused to register a case against the men initially. Fauzia and Kashif were washing their clothes near a tube well owned by a local feudal, when two of his servants, Muhammad Aslam and Muhammad Nawaz, approached them and made suggestive remarks. The children berated the men, who retaliated by throwing acid on them. The children, along with their counsel Munir Ahmed Ghauri, went to Civil Judge and Local Magistrate...

Interior and justice ministers from the Group of Eight nations were gathering in Britain on Thursday for a summit expected to agree a new international database to catch paedophiles, among other measures. British home secretary Charles Clarke, hosting the two-day gathering in Sheffield, northern England, said he was "confident"his counterparts from the G8 industrialised nations’ group would back the plan. Under the scheme, adults who commit sexual offences against children will have their faces scanned into a computer archive to which police in all G8 nations will have access. The computer software would even be powerful enough to identify whether...

The Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) is promoting a nationwide push to get students to join in the “Day of Silence” next Wednesday, April 13, to highlight homosexual students 'who suffer in silence.' After the “Day of Silence,” local organizers are now adding, “Breaking the Silence” and having pro-gay speakers talk to students. Sadly, many students (including Christian children!) and teachers are confused about the definition of "tolerance." Gateways has created a handout for students called “Promoting Tolerance.” It helps them understand a biblical definition of tolerance that encourages them to keep their family’s moral values. This flyer can...

Global net force to hunt child abusers By Rebecca Mowling, Evening Standard26 January 2005Children will be able to report internet paedophiles with a click of the mouse under new plans announced today. Officers from Britain's National Crime Squad, the US and Interpol are spearheading an international child protection force to curb child abuse. From today, children who realise they are being "groomed" by suspected paedophiles using internet chatrooms will be able to email the messages to police from the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT). Jim Gamble, National Crime Squad director general and VGT chairman, said: "The VGT is a unique...

Sexual predators and their locations are now available online for Californians to find out if there are degenerates in their neighborhoods. Check it out: http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/disclaimer.htm

New Zealand is considering the chemical castration of paedophiles, Justice Minister Phil Goff was reported saying on Sunday, although government papers show officials are divided on the idea and psychiatrists warned it may not be the ultimate cure. "At this stage more research needs to be done, but my position is that we must protect the rights of the most vulnerable members of society, our children," Mr Goff told the Sunday Star Times. Mr Goff said he has asked justice officials to study a scheme begun in Oregon four years ago. The treatment would see child sex offenders forced to...

The FBI has recruited three girls to teach agents how to pose as teenagers on the internet. The 14-year-olds have been teaching agents how to communicate like young girls, by using written quizzes on celebrity gossip and clothing trends. The training is part of the FBI's Operation Innocent Image, which aims to track down paedophiles and child porn peddlers who prey on teenagers on the internet, according to the San Fransisco Chronicle Best friends, Karen, Mary and Kristin were recruited after one of their fathers - an agent involved in the paedophile investigations - watched her instant messaging a friend...

When the news headlines bizarrely announced that “Pete Townshend says he is not a paedophile”, my first reaction was to wonder if there was anything sad celebrities would not do to get their picture in the papers. We don’t know (and some of us are not much interested in) exactly what The Who guitarist has done, or what was going through his head while he was completing his “research” into child pornography on the Internet. The only thing he has been found guilty of so far is idiocy, for using his credit cards to access child porn websites. But it...

A Catholic priest who has admitted interfering with a 17-year-old youth has been allowed to keep his post despite tough new church guidelines, it was disclosed today. The case comes after Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales, attempted to draw a line under recent scandals. At the weekend the Cardinal urged Catholics to stand firm in the face of "attack" over child abuse allegations. But the Cardinal faced claims that the case had breached the supposedly tough new guidelines he has championed. The BBC Radio 4 Today programme reported that the victim was 17...

The Roman Catholic Church is backward, superstitious, morally conservative and bigoted. Yet it needs defending in the face of a barrage of accusations, on both sides of the Atlantic, of paedophilia among the priesthood. For much of the motivation of these attacks is an assault on commitment and authority per se — a new front opened in the culture wars. Atheists who believe in reason and progress should be concerned that the Church of Rome is under threat from a regressive culture of cynicism, low expectations and relativism. Why else have the present scandals captured the public imagination? After all,...

The lawyer for 86 alleged victims of a defrocked paedophile priest in the United States has confirmed that they have tentatively agreed to a $10m legal settlement with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. "My clients feel as though it's time for closure. They want to remove themselves from this darkness and try to heal," Mitchell Garabedian told Reuters news agency. The judge handling the sex abuse allegations concerning John Geoghan - currently serving a six-year prison sentence for molesting a 10-year-old boy - is due to conduct a hearing on Thursday. An offer of $30m to the victims in...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul (news - web sites), formulating his own zero tolerance policy on child abuse by priests, told American Catholic leaders on Tuesday that paedophilia was a crime that had no place in the Church. Addressing a crisis meeting of top U.S. churchmen and Vatican (news - web sites) officials, he also offered comfort to victims of paedophile priests and said he hoped the scandal that has rocked the United States would lead to "a holier priesthood". "The abuse which has caused this crisis is by every standard wrong and rightly considered a crime...