No new roads in national forests WASHINGTON (AP) - The Clinton administration ordered a halt to road construction in more than 33 million acres of national forests Thursday, a move environmentalists hope will lead to permanent protection of vast areas of forest land. But the plan, announced by the Agriculture Department, will exempt large expanses of old-growth forest in the Northwest and in Alaska where road building may continue under previously enacted forest management plans. The 18-month moratorium on road building in large areas of roadless forest across the country had been expected since a draft plan was unveiled a year ago. The final plan changed little from the original proposal. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558416582-326> Italy lawmakers protest rape ruling ROME (AP) - Female lawmakers wore jeans to parliament today to protest a ruling by Italy's highest appeals court that it is impossible to rape a woman wearing jeans. "Jeans: An alibi for rape," read the sign held up by five deputies. The court overturned Wednesday a rape conviction against Carmine Cristiano, a driving instructor sentenced in 1996 to two years and eight months in prison for the rape of his 18-year-old student. Cristiano argued that she consented to sex. The court accepted his argument, saying it is impossible to take off someone's jeans "without the collaboration of the person wearing them" and that the girl must have cooperated. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558415146-ea9> Lesbian partner must pay support HAMILTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand's High Court has ordered a woman who raised children with her former lesbian partner to pay child support. The woman said she will not contest the ruling Wednesday by the High Court, which upheld an earlier Family Court ruling. The woman had lived 14 years with her partner, who conceived the children through artificial insemination. The names of the women and other details of their relationship were not released. The High Court judges did not comment on whether same-sex marriages should be recognized in law. But the decision was expected to have wide-ranging implications for other same-sex relationships and those where the adults in parental roles have no biological link to their children. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558414784-7c5>
