Let's start at the top and work our way through the ranks:
"Disgraced general stripped of rank" Associated Press June 21, 2014
WASHINGTON — The Army is stripping a brigadier general at the center of a sexual misconduct case by two grades for his retirement, in a rare move that will slash his benefits and force him to retire as a lieutenant colonel.
He got stripped. Nice touch.
Army Secretary John McHugh announced the decision Friday, saying that Brigadier General Jeffrey A. Sinclair ‘‘displayed a pattern of inappropriate and at times illegal behavior both while serving as a brigadier general and a colonel.’’
The move comes three months after Sinclair pleaded guilty at a court martial to adultery and conducting inappropriate relationships with two other women. Over the past year, his case has been a central topic in Congress in the debate over whether the military has adequately handled sexual assault cases.
Sinclair had a three-year affair with a female captain who accused him of twice forcing her to perform oral sex on him. He originally faced sexual assault charges punishable by life in prison.
He was believed to be the highest-ranking US military officer ever court-martialed on such charges. And, the Army said this is the first time in a decade that the service has reduced a retiring general officer by two ranks.
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"$40m settlement in NYC rape case" Associated Press June 21, 2014
NEW YORK — All but closing the books on one of the most lurid crime cases in New York history, the city has agreed to a $40 million settlement with five men who were falsely convicted in the vicious 1989 rape and beating of a Central Park jogger, a city official said Friday.
Oh, no.
The official had direct knowledge of the agreement but wasn’t allowed to discuss it publicly and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. City Comptroller Scott Stringer confirmed that a settlement had been reached but would not disclose the amount except to say that the $40 million figure was ‘‘in the ballpark.’’ The deal still needs final approval from the comptroller and a federal judge.
The five black and Hispanic defendants were found guilty as teenagers in 1990 in the attack on a white woman who had gone for a run in the park.
The defendants served six to 13 years in prison before their convictions were thrown out in 2002.
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Gotta go overseas for the guilty and an apology:
"Panel backs basis of Japan apology" Associated Press June 21, 2014
TOKYO — The study that led Japan to apologize in 1993 for forcing Asian women into wartime prostitution was confirmed as valid by a Parliament-appointed panel Friday after South Korea and China slammed the review as an attempt to discredit historical evidence of such abuses.
Officials said Japan stood by its earlier pledge not to change the landmark apology.
‘‘We concluded that the content of the study was valid,’’ said lawyer Keiichi Tadaki, who headed the five-member panel that reviewed about 250 sets of documents used for the government study that was the basis of the 1993 apology.
The new investigation focused on how the study, which included interviews with 16 former Korean victims, was conducted, not evaluation of its historical findings. But any discussion of bitter World War II history is sensitive, especially when Japan’s relations with its two closest neighbors are soured by territorial disputes.
Being churned up by the U.S. mostly.
The panel started its study in April after Nobuo Ishihara, a top bureaucrat who helped in the 1993 study, questioned the authenticity of the interviews while suggesting Seoul possibly pressured Tokyo into acknowledging the women were coerced.
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Of course, U.S. troops are responsible for sexual misconduct while occupying Okinawa but that was not mentioned.
