Rome– A US marine sergeant has been arrested by Italian police after he allegedly made a video of his repeated rape of a seven-year-old girl and posted it online. The 28-year-old soldier from Florida was arrested Tuesday by the Italian carabinieri military police and is being held at a prison in Pisa. The US has the right to request his extradition. The US marines took part in the investigation.  READ MORE HERE

A woman who injected ‘waste matter’ into a child’s intravenous drip as she lay ill in hospital has been spared jail, after a judge said she needed help. Nicola Clark was caught on CCTV injecting the bacteria, which contained E.coli, into the child’s drip as she lay ill at Medway Hospital in Gillingham, Kent, in April last year.  READ MORE HERE

LOS ANGELES  — One of two brothers who plead guilty to taking their sons out of the country without the consent of the children’s mothers was sentenced today to 27 months behind bars. George Silah, 49, was extradited from the Netherlands last October and pleaded guilty in February to two counts of international parental kidnapping.  READ MORE HERE

CARTHAGE — A former western Illinois school board member has been sentenced to 60 days in jail and two years of probation for sexually abusing a boy. The Quincy Herald-Whig reports 44-year-old August Dion Gregory apologized during the Hancock County sentencing hearing Friday for what he called “a terrible mistake.” He was found guilty in March of felony criminal sexual abuse of a minor.  READ MORE HERE

LOS ANGELES, CA — Convicted child killer James Lee Crummel, 68, was found hanging in his cell on death row at San Quentin State Prison. Crummel was found dead shortly after 4:00 p.m. on Sunday by staff members bringing him his meal. They had last spotted him alive 15 minutes earlier when passing by his cell. READ MORE HERE

How Govt Should Be Tackling the Growing Child Rape Crisis

AFRICA–Today marks the beginning of the annual Child Protection Week. The concept, under the leadership of the Department of Social Development, stems from the African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child”, which emphasizes the role of the wider community in keeping children safe. This year’s Child Protection Week is unfortunately marred by recent and increasing media reports of growing incidents of sexual offenses committed against children, specifically what is being called “child rape”. READ MORE HERE

(Plum, Pa.) Three daycare employees from Pittsburgh East Community Church’s Genesis Childcare are facing charges after reportedly assaulting toddlers at the daycare. Police have brought criminal charges against childcare workers Eileen Andrews, Angela Russo and Terry Bachner.  READ MORE HERE

A Mississippi public school caught handcuffing its students for misdemeanors as minor as violating the dress code has been banned from using the ‘abusive’ punishment. Capital City Alternatives school in Jackson was found to be regularly chaining children to railings and poles, sometimes for up to four consecutive school days. But a district judge has now outlawed the extreme disciplining technique, labeling it tantamount to abuse.  READ MORE HERE

WARREN, MI–A woman who is nine months pregnant was abducted, set on fire and shot. The 22-year-old and her unborn baby were expected to live after the horrific ordeal on Saturday morning. The unknown attacker apparently told the woman that the abduction was linked to her pregnancy. The child’s father witnessed the attack, but did not call 911 – and police suggested the man did not want another baby. READ MORE HERE

A couple who kept their 11-year-old son a virtual prisoner in a former coal bunker were each jailed for two years yesterday. The boy’s mother and stepfather padlocked him into the 6ft by 4ft ‘cell’ every night for a year, forcing him to sleep on a soiled mattress and use a potty. When police were alerted they found the slightly-built boy asleep in the rubbish-strewn room with no heating or washing facilities, a bare light-bulb and concrete walls and floor. READ MORE HERE

The livid white-haired Syrian?s question to the U.N. blue helmet was rhetorical. He didn?t expect a real answer, not to that question. “Did the infant carry an RPG?” he asked angrily, gesturing wildly, his hands clad in red rubber gloves. He had washed the bodies of nine slain children already, one of whom was not even a year old, he told the U.N. observer. He wanted to know why. That question he actually wanted answered. The observer appeared overwhelmed. READ MORE HERE  (and) HERE

OXNARD, CA — A man has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a child inside a Walmart store in Oxnard. Police were called to the Walmart Supercenter Store at 2001 N. Rose Avenue in Oxnard around 8 p.m. on Friday. A child told officers that he had been in the electronics area of the store when Gonzalez approached him and sexually assaulted him. The incident was captured on the store’s surveillance cameras. READ MORE HERE

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An apparent murder-suicide rocked a Kansas town Friday. Four people are dead from gunshot wounds in Blue Spring, including two girls aged two and four years old. According to the Kansas City Star, the mother of the children discovered them and her boyfriend dead at the scene.  READ MORE HERE

This week, a Boise Idaho television news team released startlingly frank recordings of prison telephone conversations in which a mother who helped murder her 8 year old son gloated about how much fun she was having in prison.  Serving a 25 year sentence without the possibility of parole, the mother showed no remorse about her role in the murder, as she discussed with someone named “Jess” how much “fun” she was having in prison. READ MORE HERE