Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Maid charged with embezzlement

GREAT NECK, N.Y., May 8 (UPI) -- Police in New York say a live-in maid from Indonesia, charged with embezzling $100,000, claimed she was simply taking the raise her employer denied her.

Nassau County Police Sgt. Thomas Reilly told the New York Post that the maid, named Suharni, had been living with a family in Great Neck for two years.

"Her claim is she asked for a raise and never got one," said Reilly. "She apparently just stole the checkbook from the home and hid it in the children's room, and she just started writing checks to herself. She said she works very hard, seven days a week, and needed the money."

Suharni allegedly wrote at least five checks. She was arrested after the bank decided that one check -- for $30,000 -- did not look right, and notified her employers.

More women choosing mates for their looks

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland, May 8 (UPI) -- Women are becoming more like men when it comes to choosing a mate, says a new study conducted at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Instead of seeking a man who can provide for her during her childbearing years, today's woman is more interested in looks, concluded a report on the study in the Chicago Tribune Sunday.

Conducted by the School of Psychology at St. Andrew, the study also found that the more ambitious a woman is about her career, financial independence and decision-making, the more likely she is to seek a younger mate.

"We know that we are becoming more equal in the workplace and the economy. We now know that the ability of women to provide for themselves is causing them to change their mate preferences," said Fhionna Moore, lead researcher. "Our preferences are becoming more like male preferences."

The study was conducted online and examined the response of 1,851 women aged 18 to 35 who were single, in heterosexual relationships or married. Most participants were from the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.

Value of virginity pledges questioned

BOSTON, May 8 (UPI) -- A conservative women's group in Boston is disputing the findings of a Harvard University study that abstinence pledges have a 50 percent failure rate.

Concerned Women for America says the Harvard study contradicts trends the group has been seeing in recent years, The Los Angeles Times reported.

A spokeswoman for the group, Janice Crouse, said young people who sign pledges to save sex for marriage have shown greater resolve to do just that.

The Harvard study analyzed data from the only U.S. government survey that asked about virginity pledges. Researcher Janet Rosenbaum found that 52 percent of those who said they had signed virginity pledges broke their promise within a year.

Virginity pledges were introduced in the early 1990s as part of the Christian Sex Education Project. The goal of the pledges is to reduce teen pregnancy and raise moral values.

Man charged with kissing women's feet

NEW YORK, May 8 (UPI) -- A New York City man has been charged with assaulting women in the subway system by kneeling before them and kissing and licking their feet.

Police say eight of nine women picked Joseph Weir out of lineups, the Daily News reported.

Weir was arrested Thursday night after he allegedly struck again in lower Manhattan, attacking a woman on a Queens-bound train. Investigators say they have had 14 previous complaints.

Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Rachana Pathak said Weir would go to women who were alone at night, asking: "Can I date you? Can I be your slave?" He would then allegedly kneel down, sometimes taking off a woman's shoes, and lick her feet -- in one case also running his hands across a victim's thighs and genital area.

One woman was attacked on two separate occasions.

"These women are having nightmares," Pathak said. "He is clearly predatory and a menace."