The world's largest sperm bank has started turning down redheaded donors because there is too little demand for their sperm

Ole Schou, Cryos's director, said that there had been a surge in donations in recent years, allowing the facility to become much more picky about its donors. "There are too many redheads in relation to demand," he said. "I do not think you chose a redhead, unless the partner - for example, the sterile male - has red hair, or because the lone woman has a preference for redheads. And that's perhaps not so many, especially in the latter case." Schou said that the only reliable demand for sperm from redheaded donors is from Ireland, where he said it sold like hot cakes. He said that sperm from donors with brown hair and brown eyes was particularly in demand, because of the bank’s large customer base in Spain, Italy and Greece. Indian sperm was also hard to find, he said, because India does not allow sperm or eggs to be exported, causing a problem for childless international Indians. It is interesting to see that people only want sperm from donors who have similar racial and ethnic characteristics to themselves.

Why is the Obama White House so hostile to women?

A new book claims that the Obama White House is a boys’ club marred by rampant infighting that has hindered the administration’s economic policy and left top female advisers feeling excluded from key conversations.

Black writer seems more than a little annoyed that so many Democrats wish that Hillary Clinton was president instead of Barack Obama

Here is Jonathan Capehart on a Bloomberg poll showing that 34% of those surveyed believe things would be better in the United States if Hillary were president instead of Barack Obama:

Barack Obama is president in the here and now and will need the full attention, support and votes of Democrats if he is to remain so. That’s why this ceaseless pining for an imagined Hillary presidency is growing tiresome. What Democrats should contemplate instead is a “President Romney,” “President Perry” or “President Bachmann.” If that doesn’t act as smelling salts for them nothing will.

Capehart strikes me as a little bitter that so many people are willing to openly admit that they would rather have a white female president than a black male one.

Man killed by a group of young black males in Britain

An aspiring architect was stabbed to death by a black teenage gang after he asked them to stop throwing conkers at him. Steven Grisales, 21, was walking to a station in Edmonton, north London, when he was attacked. Black youths threw conkers at Grisales and when he stood up to them, one produced a knife. He was stabbed in the chest in the attack and died the following day A 15-year-old boy has been charged with the murder and has appeared in court, while another boy, also 15, has been questioned. A 19-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl have already been arrested and released on bail. A post-mortem examination revealed cause of death to be a single stab wound to the heart. Detectives believe that up to three young black males, possibly in their late teens or early 20s, attacked Grisales.

Shock: Black kid called Shitavious becomes a criminal

Shitavious J. Cook, 15, has been arraigned on three counts of first-degree murder, which is punishable by life imprisonment. He was also charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm for a shotgun attack on a motorcyclist. On his first-degree murder charges, Cook is facing 20 to 60 years plus 25 years to life for shooting a firearm that was the proximate cause of death. If it can be proved that an individual personally fired a firearm that is a cause of a death, the larger enhancement of 25 to life is filed. According to Illinois law, defendants who are 15 and older are automatically tried as adults when charged with first-degree murder or any charges arising out of the same incident. The really amazing thing is that he apparently never tried to kill the parent or parents who were crazy enough to give him the name Shitavious.

Giant snails and the traditional African religion Ifa Orisha

The invasion of an army of Giant African Snails in a southwest Miami subdivision has federal and state agricultural officials launching a time-consuming and expensive counter-attack to remove the large slimy creatures. The snails, of the species Achatina fulica, can grow up to 10 inches long and 4 inches wide and are considered one of the most damaging land snails in the world. They eat at least 500 different types of plants, lay about 1,200 eggs a year, and can carry a strain of meningitis. Prolific breeders, they contain both female and male reproductive organs and live as long as nine years. They can be particularly devastating to agricultural areas and ecosystems and have led to the imposition of trade bans. Hailing from Eastern Africa, the snails are only allowed into the United States with special permits and for scientific research. Authorities are trying to determine if the outbreak of snails is tied to a smuggling case recently uncovered. In 2010, federal officials opened a criminal investigation into Hialeah resident Charles L. Stewart, who was accused of smuggling the creatures into the United States. Stewart practiced the traditional African religion Ifa Orisha, and authorities said that he persuaded his followers to drink the snails’ juices as part of a healing ritual. Several practitioners became violently ill. Stewart was aided by a woman claiming to be an African priestess who hid snails under her dresses on flights to Miami, according to search warrants filed in the case, which remains open.

A black school administrator has been convicted of a series of sexual assaults on his wife of almost ten years, and now faces up to 25 years in jail

Laurence Harvey gagged his wife before carrying out his attack with a screwdriver and a hammer at the couple's upper East Side home. Although Harvey was cleared of the one rape charge against him, he was declared guilty for the remaining 12 out of 13 counts against him. He had worked in the the Department of Education since 2003, in a role that earned him $165,000 a year while overseeing support for 263 schools throughout the city. The court was told of the impending divorce of the couple who have twin boys in a series of emails with Harvey's defense lawyer arguing that his wife's extramarital affair led to his client lashing out. Carlos Martir, who represented Harvey, revealed that he will be launching an appeal on behalf of his client after he claimed that the judge prevented the jury from hearing evidence that his wife had been violent towards one of their children and had stolen $12,000 from his bank account.

A Puerto Rican schoolgirl stabbed 37 classmates with a hypodermic needle after going on a playground rampage

Health officials in Puerto Rico say that the attack by the 14-year-old happened at lunchtime in a middle school on the south of the island. The victims, aged 12 to 14, are being tested for HIV and hepatitis C. They have also been given preventive medicine for other diseases. The school is the Jose de Choudens middle school in the coastal town of Arroyo.

A black college student, accused of stabbing her room mate to death after a row over an iPod, told friends that she didn't mean to do it

Alexis D. Simpson, 19, has been charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder and first-degree assault after her room mate Dominique Frazier, 18, was found unconscious in a second-floor hallway. The news comes as Denise Frazier, the mother of the 18-year-old stabbed to death by her roommate, has told how she begged for her daughter to be separated from her attacker. According to court papers, the confrontation came to a head when Simpson turned off an iPod that Frazier and her friends were listening to. A fight developed as Simpson was asked to turn the music back on. As the other girls yelled at her, Simpson returned with a knife and stabbed Dominique to death. Authorities say that she was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. University police arrived at the scene first and found Frazier in the hallway outside of her second-floor apartment, unconscious and bleeding from the upper torso. Denise Frazier told how her daughter Dominique was put in a room with Alexis Simpson by authorities at Bowie State University and immediately fell out with her. Frazier said that her daughter complained about the tense atmosphere between her and Simpson.

For the first time, more Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Obama than have a favorable opinion of him, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll

This is an indication that dissatisfaction with Obama’s job performance and the direction of the country is dragging down how Americans view him personally. Just 39% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Obama, while 42% view him unfavorably. In January 2011, 40% had a favorable image of Obama, and 34% had an unfavorable opinion. In January 2009, as Obama was inaugurated, 60% of Americans had a favorable opinion of him.

A study by epidemiologists suggests that a high intake of calcium causes prostate cancer among African-American men who are genetically good absorbers of the mineral

High dietary intake of calcium has long been linked to prostate cancer. The study is one of the few to explore genes related to calcium absorption or to examine diet in a large African-American population. Although prostate cancer is 36% more common among African-Americans than in non-Hispanic whites, data on the diet-cancer link primarily comes from Caucasian populations. The team targeted a genetic allele that is more common in populations of African origin than in other populations and which is associated with regulating the absorption of calcium. The study found that men who reported the highest intake of calcium were two times more likely to have localized and advanced prostate cancer than those who reported the lowest. Men with a genotype associated with poor calcium absorption were 59% less likely to have been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer than men who genetically were the best absorbers of calcium. And, among men with calcium intake below the median, genetically poor absorbers had a 50% decreased risk of having advanced prostate cancer than the best absorbers. Although calcium appears to increase risk for prostate cancer, it is essential for bone health and appears to protect against colorectal cancer.

Birds, brain size and cognitive abilities

According to a new study, the abundance of songbirds with relatively large brains in Eastern Germany and the Czech Republic has increased since 1989-1990. Researchers had compared population trends of bird species in different European regions. The increase in large-brained songbirds is attributed to the better cognitive abilities of the species enabling them better adaption to the socio-economic changes affecting habitats after the end of communism. The scientists discovered that regional differences in population trends among songbird species are linked to their brain size. Large brain size was correlated to strong increases of respective songbird species in the Czech Republic since 1989-1990, weaker increases in Eastern Germany and had no effect in North-Western Germany. This difference between the former West and East suggests that this trend was driven by socio-economic changes that took place in the former communist regions. Relative brain size reflects species' cognitive abilities. The increase of such songbirds suggests that species with good cognitive abilities might have been better able to adapt to rapid socioeconomic change and make use of the novel opportunities that arose after the end of communism. In particular, birds with better cognitive abilities made use of the opportunity to colonize the cities in East Germany and the Czech Republic. After 1989-1990 the inner cities saw an increase in green areas and growing volume of parks, whereas at the same time a newly emerging middle class moved away resulting in a housing boom on the outskirts. Large-brained songbird species such as the Common Magpies, Eurasian Jays and Blue and Grey Tits, show a high behavioral flexibility and hence are better able to live near humans. They could rapidly spread into the new habitats such as new urban greens and suburbs and increase in population size. In contrast, smaller-brained songbird species with less cognitive abilities, such as the Whitethroat, were less able to adapt. The housing boom thus decreased habitat availability for behaviorally less flexible species.

Black journalist says that Obama should put the needs of blacks ahead of other racial groups

Of course, if a white journalist said that a white president should put the needs of whites ahead of other racial groups, he would be denounced as a racist.

Australian police are appealing for information after a teenage girl was indecently assaulted on a train by a gang of youths of Middle Eastern appearance

Police said that the 16-year-old was at Liverpool Railway Station with a friend when the girls were approached by four youths who followed them onto a train. The 16-year-old’s friend, along with one of the youths, got off the train at Cabramatta. The three remaining youths then indecently assaulted the 16-year-old. The girl got off the train at Fairfield and made a report to police. The first youth is described as being of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, aged 17 to 19, with a large build. At the time, he was wearing dark jeans and a black hooded jumper. The second is described as being of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, aged 17 to 19, with a slim build and a short beard. He wearing a black cap and a black hooded jumper. The third is described as being of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, and aged 17 to 19. At the time, he was wearing a red hooded jumper. The fourth youth is described as being of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, and aged 17 to 19. At the time, he was wearing jeans.

The FBI is teaching its counter-terrorism agents that Muslims are likely to be terrorist sympathizers and that the more devout a Muslim is, the more likely they are to be violent

According to documents leaked by an FBI whistle-blower, agents have also been instructed that the Islamic practice of giving charity is a funding mechanism for combat and that the Prophet Mohammed was a cult leader. The program even featured a graph showing a sliding scale of Koran-inspired violence.

Gunmen in northern Mexico have shot dead three relatives of a police officer being held over a deadly arson attack on a casino

The officer's father, stepmother and stepbrother were killed in their home in the city of Monterrey. Police believe that it was an act of revenge by the Zetas drugs cartel, after the officer named gang members involved in the casino attack. The blaze killed 52 people. Police officer Miguel Angel Barraza is one of six suspects detained in connection with the arson attack on the Casino Royale in Monterrey. The other five are all members of the Zetas cartel, which is thought to have torched the casino after its owners refused to pay protection money. The murder of the family came on a day of violence in and around Monterrey, in which at least 15 people were killed. Monterrey and the state of Nuevo Leon have seen rising bloodshed as the Zetas and Gulf cartels vie for control of trafficking routes. The casino attack was one of the deadliest episodes of violence since President Felipe Calderon launched his crackdown on drug gangs in late 2006. Gunmen burst into the crowded casino in broad daylight and doused it in petrol before setting it alight. Panic ensued as people rushed for the exit. Many were overcome by smoke as the building was engulfed in flames.

A leading children’s health concern for Latinos is teen pregnancy, with 44% of Hispanics calling it a big problem, compared with 33% of blacks and 19% of whites

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hispanics had the highest rate of teen pregnancy in 2009, with 70.1 births per 1,000 women aged 15-19, compared to a national rate of 39.1 births. Additionally, child abuse and neglect ranked #4 in Latinos’ children’s health concerns, with 38% of Hispanics considering the issue a major problem for children. But the issue did not even make the top 10 concerns for blacks or whites. For blacks, community safety concerns predominated. More than a third of blacks were extremely worried about the effects of gun-related injuries, school violence, and unsafe neighborhoods, issues that were not among the top concerns for Hispanics or whites. Childhood obesity ranked as a higher concern for whites (#1) than for blacks (#2) and Hispanics (#3), but only 30% of whites considered the disease to be a big problem, while 44% of both blacks and Hispanics considered it to be a big problem. Researchers also polled people on their apprehensions over bullying, Internet safety, stress, alcohol abuse, driving accidents and sexting (sexually explicit text-messaging). Concern about Internet safety and sexting have also increased overall, although these were of far greater concern for whites than for blacks or Hispanics.

Chlamydia rates among young African American women in L.A. County have reached alarming levels: 8.7% of all black teenagers ages 15 to 19 have the sexually transmitted disease

Gonorrhea rates are lower but still troubling high among African American girls and women. Rates among Hispanic girls and women also are above average.

A new study of interracial marriages in the United States since the 1980s suggests that the racial boundary between blacks and whites continues to break down – but is not yet close to disappearing

Marriages between blacks and whites increased rapidly between 1980 and 2008, outpacing the rate of unions between whites and other ethnic and racial groups, including Latinos, Asian Americans and American Indians. Still, the total number of marriages between blacks and whites continues to be much smaller than those between whites and other racial and ethnic groups. The number of marriages between whites and African Americans is undeniably increasing rapidly, but it is still a small number. In 1980, only 5% of black men married a white woman, but that increased to 14% in 2008. Still, by comparison, 38% of Asian American men and Hispanic men married a white woman in 2008. The racial boundary is blurred, but it is still there. Overall, while marriages between blacks and whites showed large increases between 1980 and 2008, there was only a slight increase in marriages between whites and Hispanics. This period also marked the end of the long-term rise in marriages between whites and Asians. Much of this can be explained by large increases in immigration of Hispanics and Asians into the United States, the study revealed. This has meant that Hispanics and Asians living in the United States now have a larger pool of potential marriage partners from their own racial and ethnic groups. Indeed, results showed that marriages between U.S. born and foreign born Asians and Hispanics increased rapidly between 2000 and 2008. With the enormous growth of the immigrant population, Asians and Hispanics now have more opportunities than ever to find a marital partner who shares the same cultural background. Such marriages reinforce their cultural identity. However, when the researchers calculated what would have happened if the size and characteristics of minority populations hadn't changed between 1980 and 2008, they found that intermarriage rates would have actually increased rather than decreased or stayed the same. This suggests that any evidence of a retreat from interracial marriages is mostly a reflection of changing marital market opportunities, rather than changes in whom people are willing to marry. The experience of blacks living in the United States was different from that of Latinos and Asians. There wasn't a great increase in black immigrants into the United States, so the rise in black-white intermarriages really suggests greater racial tolerance and a new openness to marrying outside one's own race. This suggests a weakening of the racial boundaries. One noticeable change was the role of education in interracial marriages. For many years, highly educated Hispanics and Asian Americans have been more likely than their less educated counterparts to marry whites. But that was never true for blacks. It used to be that race trumped everything, including education, when it came to marriage between blacks and whites. But that is changing. For the first time, we found that highly educated blacks and whites were more likely to intermarry. That is very significant and is another sign that racial boundaries are blurring. The study also found that people who classified themselves as white-Asian or white-American Indian were more likely to marry whites than Asians or American Indians. However, black-white biracial people are still more likely to marry blacks than whites. In general, the results were similar in cohabiting couples as they were in married couples. However, interracial couples were slightly more likely to be in cohabiting unions than they were to be married, according to the findings. The study suggests that, when it comes to marriage, ethnic and racial boundaries are being crossed, especially among men and women with college education. But the increasing immigrant population also means that many minorities in the United States, particularly Asian Americans and Hispanics, will have a greater opportunity than ever to marry within their ethnic or racial groups.

A rabbi convicted of molesting his juvenile daughter has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison — the same penalty he received before his successful appeal

Israel Weingarten, 61, was convicted in March 2009 of five counts involving sexual abuse by a jury in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. He's being held in prison. Jurors found that he took his daughter out of the United States to Israel and Belgium for the purpose of sexually abusing her during the spring and summer of 1997. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January 2011 tossed one of the five convictions against Weingarten and ordered him to be resentenced. The panel reversed the conviction on the count involving Weingarten's travel from Belgium to Israel with his daughter, on the basis that the law requires the travel to be from or to the United States. Judge John Gleeson resentenced Weingarten to 30 years on the four counts. Originally, Gleeson sentenced Weingarten to 10 years each of three of the counts and the two others ran concurrently. Weingarten's appeal was based largely on the grounds that he was forced to represent himself at trial and did not voluntarily waive his constitutional rights to an attorney, according to his lawyers. His appeals lawyer had said that he had hoped Weingarten's sentence would have been reduced to 20 years. During the trial, his daughter, then 27, a son and their mother testified against Weingarten, who then questioned them. Two other daughters testified on his behalf and accused their mother of molesting their older sister. Prior to the sentencing, the victim and her older brother, 29, read statements detailing the horrors of being physically and mentally abused by their father. Weingarten traveled extensively as he taught children for the Satmar Hasidic Jewish community. He ran a Satmar school in Belgium and worked for religious elementary and secondary schools in Brooklyn.