Canada - Allyson McConnell was a loving mother who grew depressed and angry in the months before her two young sons were drowned in a bathtub, her neighbours have testified.

"I thought she was a very good mother," said Marless Litzenberger. "Very happy to be a mom, very loving."

But by late 2009, McConnell's outlook had deteriorated, said Litzenberger.

McConnell was "very sad, very angry at what was happening" and was worried about the children, she said.

"She appeared mad at the time," and "seemed depressed" at Christmas in 2009, said another neighbour, Tracy Malloy.

Allyson McConnell is on trial for second-degree murder in the deaths on Feb.1, 2010, of her sons, 10-month-old Jayden and two-year-old Connor.

The boys' father, Curtis McConnell, found their bodies floating in the bathtub in their Millet home, 40 kilometres south of Edmonton.

Dude naw.

Some nutbag in Arizona - a woman, no less - authored a bill that would allow employers to interrogate their female employees about their sexual practices.

No seriously.

You might want to sit down for this one, actually.

Ready?

You see, if a female employee seeks a medical prescription for contraception, an employer will be permitted to ask that employee for proof that she doesn't plan to use the contraception for slutty f***-making. Using it for medical reasons is ok - that's medicine.

So, if you're one of those women who uses slutpills for non-slutty reasons, then you're ok. You'll get to keep your job. Enjoy your ovarian cancer or your acne or whatever, but make sure you put that red cover on your TPS reports or the boss'll have your head.

But if you're running around like some sort of whore-nympho, then you better keep that shit on the down-low, because if The Man finds out you might-could get fired:

_{One year after an earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, the country is still trying to recover and decontaminate land and buildings from partial meltdowns of three Fukushima nuclear reactors. In his second report from the region, science correspondent Miles O'Brien explores the challenges and possibilities of radiation cleanup.}

Transcript follows:

Is confident Woonsocket will find solution


US - Rhode Island's education commissioner did not mince words when asked about the possibility that Woonsocket will close all of its schools for the year several months early - she says it's illegal and isn't an option.

The Woonsocket School Committee on Wednesday night is poised to discuss and possibly vote on a measure that would end the school year April 5, when the district is expected to run out of money.

State law requires schools to remain in session for 180 days a year. Woonsocket's 180th day would be June 13.

Education Commissioner Deborah Gist said the premature end to the school year can't happen.

"Honestly, [180 days is] really the bare minimum," Gist said. "It's not just the minimum we have by statute. It is the minimum that we have to offer our students."

US: Trenton, New Jersey - Trenton's Health Department could shut down some city buildings if a toilet paper shortage isn't resolved soon.

"It could be an inconvenience for anybody, young, old, male, female," said Maryann Wooten of Hamilton Township.

The toilet paper and paper towel supply for at least 11 buildings, including City Hall, are dangerously low.

"We have one box with about 15 rolls of toilet paper and that's it," acting Public Works Director Harold Hall said.

Hall says a City Council resolution to order more paper supplies, including paper cups, was voted down. Some council members didn't think the cash-strapped city needed to buy the cups.

Real-Time Advice: The government's five mortgage relief programs set out to help 13.4 million homeowners. They actually helped 1.9 million.

US - In the next few months lenders will take new steps to help one million struggling homeowners pay their mortgages. But experts say if recent history is any guide, relief won't make it to that many doorsteps.

Over the past few years, the federal government's major mortgage relief programs helped just a fraction of the homeowners they initially set out to reach. The so-called Home Affordable Modification Program and the Home Affordable Refinance Program, both introduced in 2009, have so far assisted just 20% of the homeowners government officials projected. Other programs shuttered altogether after not gathering enough borrower or lender participation. In fact, the U.S. government's five major programs, which were projected to assist 13.4 million homeowners, only reached 1.9 million.

This week, the government filed the settlements it reached in its $25 billion agreement with banks over alleged foreclosure abuses. The five banks involved -- Ally Financial, Bank of America, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo -- will spend much of that money providing aid to homeowners by reducing mortgage principal, refinancing more mortgages and making payments to those they foreclosed on.

But while the settlement is legally binding, some housing experts predict the efforts may not have the impact government officials expect. For one, borrowers who owe more on their home than it's worth stand to receive a principal reduction of about $20,000 on average -- although those same borrowers are underwater by $51,000 on average, according to CoreLogic. And those who were foreclosed on between 2008 and 2011 stand to receive a meager $1,500 to $2,000. "Potential participants should temper their expectations," says Stuart Gabriel, director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate at the University of California, Los Angeles.

For their part, the lenders say they're committed to helping as many homeowners as possible. (Bank of America says it will even extend benefits to its customers that go beyond the requirements laid out in the settlement).

So far, big government mortgage programs haven't delivered nearly as much relief as they expected for homeowners. In each instance, a much smaller number of homeowners received the help than what was projected. To understand why homeowner assistance so often falls short, here's a look at what experts say went wrong with five of the major government relief efforts.

A 16-year-old Moroccan girl has committed suicide after a judge ordered her to marry her rapist, according to Moroccan media reports.

Last year Amina's parents filed charges against their daughter's rapist, a man 10 years older than her but it was only recently that a judge in the northern city of Tangier decided that instead of punishing him, the two must be married.

The court's decision to forcibly marry Amina to her rapist was supposed to "resolve" the damage of sexual violation against her, but it led to more suffering in the unwelcoming home of her rapist/husband's family.

Traumatized by the painful experience of rape, Amina decided to end her life by consuming rat poison in the house of her husband's family, according to the Moroccan daily al-Massae.

US , Florida - The Orlando Sanford International airport, one of the busiest in the nation, has announced that it will be opting out of using the Transportation Security Administration workers to screen passengers. The announcement is significant as it could lead the charge for other airports in the nation to reduce the more unpleasant aspects of the unpopular federal agency.

"The president of the airport said Tuesday that he would apply again to use private operators to screen passengers, using federal standards and oversight," reports the Miami Herald.

It was Sanford International airport that originally wanted to opt out of the TSA in 2010 when the TSA prevented airports from being able to use their own private screeners.

However, the United States Senate passed a law last month that forces the TSA to reconsider applications. "Security companies would have an easier time winning contracts to operate airport checkpoints," reports Businessweek.

The TSA has been slow to respond to the call for new guidelines prompted by the new law. Republican Representatives John Mica (R.-Fla., pictured above), Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.), and Jason Chaffetz (R.-Utah) have called on TSA head John Pistole to quickly implement the new mandate.

"It was the intent of Congress that the Screening Partnership Program be a viable option for airports wishing to opt-out of the all-federal screening model," wrote Mica in a letter to Pistole. "Airport operators have expressed tremendous interest in the SPP and that expansion beyond the small fraction of the U.S. airports that currently participate in the SPP will allow the TSA to focus on security and oversight activities. It is important that TSA take steps to immediately reopen the SPP, reissue guidelaines in compliance with the law, and begin the process of converting the screening program from its current model of the SPP operations under federal supervision as directed by H.R. 658."

A video showing Rep. Cliff Stearns (R, Florida) announcing his desire to "sell off some of our national parks" was recently filmed and released on the Internet by the Florida Political Action Cooperative.

In a speech given at a town hall meeting in Belleview Florida, Stearns explained his position.

I got attacked in a previous town meeting for not supporting another national park in this country, a 200-mile trailway. And I told the man that we don't need more national parks in this country, we need to actually sell off some of our national parks, and try and do what a normal family would do is - they wouldn't ask Uncle Joe for a loan, they would sell their Cadillac, or they would take their kids out of private schools and put them into public schools to save to money instead of asking for their credit card to increase their debt ceiling.

UK - A Gulf War veteran twice turned down by the MoD for a war veterans pension has spoken out about his experience of living with Gulf War Syndrome.

Shaun Cole, 47, of Stowmarket, braved the Middle East warzone while a corporal in the Grenadier Guards in the 1990/91 conflict.

He left the Army in 1993 and started working as a self-employed builder.

But 10 years ago, Shaun was rushed to hospital after he suddenly developed a full body rash and became paralysed for four days.

Since then he has relied on crutches and a wheelchair and, due to depression, lost his business, his three-bedroom home and his family.

But Shaun says the Ministry of Defence has twice turned down his requests for a war pension as it does not officially recognise Gulf War Syndrome as a condition.

Shaun said: "I have been ill for about 10 years now.