• A naked mannequin — female, natch — in Beatrice, Nebraska, caused such a stir that police have taped paper over department store windows while they investigate whether it’s “obscene.” Meanwhile, the store is threatening to sue the police for trespassing, destruction of property, and littering. [Styleite.com]
• The lower house of the French Parliament has approved a ban on women wearing face-covering Muslim veils in public. It will head to the French Senate in September, although legal scholars say it may be unconstitutional if it passes. Critics say the ban is anti-Islamic, but supporters say it is oppressive for a woman to wear a niqub or burqa in public. [AP]
• A federal court in San Francisco will take up a Guatemalan woman’s asylum claim on account of the high murder rate for women in Lesly Yajayra Perdomo’s home country. The Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at UC-SF said over 3,800 women have been murdered in Guatemala and less than two percent of those murders have been solved. The court also required that the Board of Immigration decide whether all women who hail from countries with high rates of gender abuse could qualify for asylum. [AP]
• NFL star Lawrence Taylor has plead not guilty to charges that he raped a 16-year-old girl who was working as a prostitute. [Los Angeles Times]

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