Roman Catholic leaders have begun an unprecedented summit in Rome on how the church should tackle the sexual abuse of children by priests.
 

In a Vatican statement, Pope Benedict said "healing for victims" should be a major concern as much as "profound renewal of the Church at every level".
 

6 February 2012 –

NOTE: This article contains disturbing content that may be triggering for some readers.
 

By Branka Juran and Maria Caspani
 

LONDON (TrustLaw) - Lesbians in Jamaica face attacks such as gang rape due to rife homophobia in the country, but few of these abuses get reported, Jamaica’s leading gay activist said.
 

By Associated Press
 

MILWAUKEE — Billy Kirchen says the sexual abuse began when he was about 11, when his choir director at a Milwaukee parish assaulted him in the 1970s. After five years of abuse he reported the alleged perpetrator, but says prosecutors and officials with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee did nothing.
 

By the CNN wire staff
 

London (CNN) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, under house arrest in Britain for more than a year, appeared at the UK Supreme Court on Wednesday to fight his extradition to Sweden.
 

The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011 (VAWA) was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning on a party-line vote of 10-8. All Democrats voted to move the bill to the Senate floor for a vote and all Republicans voted no.

By Sadiya Ansari

Groups representing Aboriginal women hope the government will have a partial victory in upholding current prostitution laws. They say female sex workers need to be decriminalized, but they will be endangered if the government stops arresting pimps and johns.

The United Nations says it is investigating two alleged cases of sexual exploitation of children by UN staff in Haiti.
 

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said one of the cases involved UN police in the capital, Port-au-Prince, the other allegedly happened in Gonaives.
 

He did not give the nationality of the UN police suspected.
 

By Roni Caryn Rabin
 

Keith Smith was 14 when he was raped by a driver who picked him up after a hockey team meeting. He had hitchhiked home, which is why, for decades, he continued to blame himself for the assault.
 

By Associated Press
 

DENVER — Nine years after a sexual assault scandal at the Air Force Academy sent shock waves across the military, the Defense Department last month announced a spike in reported assaults at the school — and days later the Air Force filed sex-crime charges against three cadets.