South African Dr. Sonnet Ehlers was on call one night four decades ago when a devastated rape victim walked in. Her eyes were lifeless; she was like a breathing corpse.

"She looked at me and said, 'If only I had teeth down there,'" recalled Ehlers, who was a 20-year-old medical researcher at the time. "I promised her I'd do something to help people like her one day."

Forty years later, Rape-aXe was born.

Ehlers is distributing the female condoms in the various South African cities where the World Cup soccer games are taking place.

The woman inserts the latex condom like a tampon. Jagged rows of teeth-like hooks line its inside and attach on a man's penis during penetration, Ehlers said.

Once it lodges, only a doctor can remove it -- a procedure Ehlers hopes will be done with authorities on standby to make an arrest.

"It hurts, he cannot pee and walk when it's on," she said. "If he tries to remove it, it will clasp even tighter... however, it doesn't break the skin, and there's no danger of fluid exposure."

Ehlers said she sold her house and car to launch the project, and she planned to distribute 30,000 free devices under supervision during the World Cup period.

"I consulted engineers, gynecologists and psychologists to help in the design and make sure it was safe," she said.

After the trial period, they'll be available for about $2 a piece. She hopes the women will report back to her.

"The ideal situation would be for a woman to wear this when she's going out on some kind of blind date ... or to an area she's not comfortable with," she said.

The mother of two daughters said she visited prisons and talked to convicted rapists to find out whether such a device would have made them rethink their actions.

Some said it would have, Ehlers said.

Critics say the female condom is not a long-term solution and makes women vulnerable to more violence from men trapped by the device.

It hurts, he cannot pee and walk when it's on. If he tries to remove it, it will clasp even tighter.

It's also a form of "enslavement," said Victoria Kajja, a fellow for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the east African country of Uganda. "The fears surrounding the victim, the act of wearing the condom in anticipation of being assaulted all represent enslavement that no woman should be subjected to."

Kajja said the device constantly reminds women of their vulnerability.

"It not only presents the victim with a false sense of security, but psychological trauma," she added. "It also does not help with the psychological problems that manifest after assaults."

However, its one advantage is it allows justice to be served, she said.

Various rights organizations that work in South Africa declined to comment, including Human Rights Watch and Care International.

South Africa has one of the highest rape rates in the world, Human Rights Watch says on its website. A 2009 report by the nation's Medical Research Council found that 28 percent of men surveyed had raped a woman or girl, with one in 20 saying they had raped in the past year, according to Human Rights Watch.

In most African countries, rape convictions are not common. Affected women don't get immediate access to medical care, and DNA tests to provide evidence are unaffordable.

"Women and girls who experience these violations are denied justice, factors that contribute to the normalization of rape and violence in South African society," Human Rights Watch says.

Women take drastic measures to prevent rape in South Africa, Ehlers said, with some wearing extra tight biker shorts and others inserting razor blades wrapped in sponges in their private parts.

Critics have accused her of developing a medieval device to fight rape.

"Yes, my device may be a medieval, but it's for a medieval deed that has been around for decades," she said. "I believe something's got to be done ... and this will make some men rethink before they assault a woman."

Click here to read more on CNN

NASSAU, The Bahamas - Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture the Hon. Carles Maynard poses with regatta stakeholders and members of the committee for the Frank Hanna All-Andros Regatta, during a cheque presentation, on June 20, 2010.  The regatta, slated for July 8-9, in Morgan's Bluff, will be held in honour of Algernon Allen, who was Minister of Youth and Sports in 1993 and played a pivotal role in getting the event started. Pictured (from left) are Regatta Officer at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture Michelle McPhee, Committee Chairman Stafford Armbrister, Minister Maynard, Committee Chairman Emeritus Frank Hanna and Committee Treasurer Vincent Rahming.  (BIS Photo / Eric Rose)

A potential competitor to Bahamas tourism could spring up in two years as Fort Lauderdale launches a partnership to build an Atlantis-style water park resort with a company which worked on Paradise Island's attractions.

Currently Fort Lauderdale is one of the corridors through which thousands of U.S. tourists cruise and fly to The Bahamas but now that city's aging sports stadiums could be turned into a major water park resort by 2012.

Similar to the Atlantis water park, it would consist of giant river systems where visitors can ride inner-tubes or swim between water slides, wave pools, downhill rapids and beaches.

While it would have some 300 treehouse-style hotel rooms surrounding the resort, that is much smaller than the 2,900 rooms at the Paradise Island mega-resort.

City commissioners in Fort Lauderdale agreed on Tuesday to negotiate a deal with Schlitterbahn Development Group, which worked on the phase three expansion of Atlantis' water park. The developers estimate the project will cost $110 million and draw up to 10,000 visitors a day.

Jeff Henry with Schlitterbahn said: "We are bringing a resort feel, and it will be the equivalent or better than Atlantis in the Bahamas.

"It will be the No. 1 destination in Fort Lauderdale other than the beach. It is a phenomenal facility, and there is no other place like it in the United States."

Schlitterbahn has water parks in Kansas and Texas and has been involved in the development of a water park in Dubai.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

Click here to read more at South Florida Business Journal

Community policing will not stop violent crime, although it will have a "dramatic impact" on crimes such as house break-ins and armed robberies, according to Tommy Turnquest, Minister of National Security.

"When we are talking about the retaliatory nature of the majority of murders we see today, the domestic homicides, community policing won't stop that. That takes a cultural shift," said Mr Turnquest.

With the public looking to the government and the police to solve the problem of crime, Mr Turnquest said he believes the public understands the limitations of the police and the limitations of the government, but "we don't like to take personal responsibility; It is always easier to blame someone else."

He said that crime in the Bahamas is not a "foreign national problem" it is a Bahamian problem.

"We like to say that the majority of our crimes are caused by the influx of foreign nationals into our society. Yet when you look at prison statistics 92 per cent of the prisoners are Bahamian. We like to find a reason to blame someone else for why the crime situation is the way it is today. It is our problem, created by us and we ought to take responsibility for it and deal with it," said Mr Turnquest.

The sentiments of the Minister were echoed in an unlikely chamber yesterday. Rev Dr CB Moss, former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) senator and executive director of Bahamas Against Crime (BAC), said communities must be responsible for the crime in their communities and stop sitting around waiting on the government and foreign investors. Rev Moss was speaking at an Anti-Crime Summit for private sector stakeholders.

"We all have to contribute to solving the problem in our own way. We believe the police can solve crime, but they can't. All of the emphasis is placed on (the police), I am trying to disabuse people's minds that (the police) are going to make one ounce of difference. They are not going to make one ounce of difference. Their intentions are good; they are honourable people, but the system is too overwhelming," said Rev Moss.

Click here to read more in The Tribune