Wining and dining still popular in downturn

(MASTERCARD, PERCENT, PEOPLE, PACIFIC, AFRICA, SPENDING)

By Miral Fahmy
SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - The economic downturn appears to go down better with a meal and a glass of wine, with a survey showing consumers outside Europe and the United States do not intend to cut back on dining out and having fun.
The poll, conducted by MasterCard and released on Wednesday, said nearly 70 percent of people surveyed in 21 countries in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa see dining and entertainment to be their top spending priority in the next six months.
Fashion and accessories, fitness and wellness, children`s extra-curricular education and electronic goods rounded up the top-five non-essential, or discretionary, purchasing priorities for the majority of more than 9,200 people surveyed.
"Socializing is important in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and it`s a relatively small expenditure that`s affordable in this global recession," Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, MasterCard`s Asia-Pacific economic adviser, told reporters.
"Having dinner and drinks is not buying a car."
According to the MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Purchasing Priorities, just over half the consumers said they would continue to spend on non-essential items over the next six months.
But nearly two-thirds said they would cut back on buying extras, with an overall 72 percent planning to increase their precautionary savings, or money set aside for lean times.
China, whose economy has not been as badly hit by the downturn as other nations, had the highest number of people still willing to spend at the same levels, followed by the oil-rich Gulf Arab countries of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Overall, a minority -- or under 10 percent in Asia Pacific and less than 12 percent in the Middle East and Africa -- were splurging more during these tough times.
"People are still spending on small and big-ticket items, but they`re spending less, and are attracted by bargains," Hedrick-Wong said. "Belt-tightening is the order of the day."
The survey was conducted in March and April in Australia, China, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, South Africa, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Original article

EU health chief proposes stricter laws on smoking

(SMOKING, PUBLIC, WORKPLACES, TOBACCO, SMOKE, VASSILIOU)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union`s health chief proposed on Tuesday that uniform laws be drafted for all 27 countries in the bloc to regulate smoking more strictly in public areas and workplaces.
Many EU countries have laws limiting exposure to second-hand, or passive, smoking. The rules are strictest in Britain and Ireland, where smoking is banned in enclosed public places, public transport and workplaces, including restaurants and bars.
"Each and every European should be entitled to full protection from tobacco smoke," EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou told a news conference.
The recommendation calls on all member states to implement laws that will limit exposure to tobacco smoke in public places, workplaces and public transport, and aims to protect children.
"We have come a long way from the days when smoking was considered glamorous," Vassiliou said.
She said in countries with looser regulations on smoking, nearly one in five people were exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace.
Second-hand, or passive, smoke has been linked to heart disease and lung cancer. According to estimates given by Vassiliou, 19,000 non-smokers in the EU died due to second-hand smoke at home and in workplaces in 2002.
Member states decide the level of their smoking restrictions. In Belgium, for example, smoking is allowed in restaurants in separate rooms where no food is served, and smoking is banned in all enclosed workplaces.
Greece, Europe`s heaviest smoking nation, is to introduce a ban on tobacco in indoor public places from Wednesday. The country breaks all European records, with more than 40 percent of the population smoking and six out of 10 being exposed to smoking at work, according to an EU poll.
Only 10 member states have comprehensive laws, Vassiliou said.
A poll last year by EU survey group Eurobarometer said 84 percent of respondents supported smoke-free offices and other indoor workplaces, 77 percent were in favor of smoke-free restaurants, and 61 percent supported smoke-free bars and pubs.
(Reporting by Caroline Linton, editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Original article

India`s "silent" village of deaf-mutes

(INDIA, VILLAGE, BIRTH, CHILD, THERE, HEALTH)

By Sunil Kataria
DADHKAI, India (Reuters Life!) - Silence reigns in the sleepy village of Dadhkai, nestled high up in the Himalayan mountains in northern India and where the majority of residents are either deaf or mute.
Each of the 47 families in this village in Jammu and Kashmir state have a least one member who can neither hear nor speak. The first reported case dates back to 1931 and now the numbers have swelled to 82.
"The birth of a child is a very happy occasion, meant to be celebrated. But here the birth of a child leads to harassment not only for the parents but for the entire village," said Hashmiddin, a village elder who only goes by one name.
"A deaf and mute child only aggravates problems and increases miseries," he told Reuters Television.
The village with a picture-postcard setting stands in isolation from the rest of the region, as there are no roads, and no transport connecting it to the outside world. A river cuts it from the neighboring region.
Three years ago, a team of scientists and doctors came from an Indian health institute to study the village`s case, but no conclusive findings have been made public so far.
Some villagers blame it on pollution in the water or air, while others believe they could be cursed, as adjoining villages have not reported any similar disorders.
But an age-old custom of marrying within the community, coupled with lack of access to medical facilities and immunization, probably led to the large number of deaf and mute cases, says Jan Mohammed, an instructor for the deaf.
"I think it is because of a genetic problem," Mohammed said. "Close relatives marry here. In the past there was no immunization given and also there is a lack of iodine and salt."
Lack of education, and hearing aids, has left many locals disillusioned about the future.
"These days it is so difficult to find matches for well educated normal girls, how will I get my deaf and dumb daughters married," says Lal Hussain, who has two daughters.
But there have been a lucky few.
Bano Begum, who is not hearing impaired, was married to a deaf and mute man and said their relationship was initially a huge struggle as they could not communicated with each other.
But the couple gave birth to three normal children and learnt to communicate with each other through sign language.
Some experts say the locals should be forced to marry outside their village, which the community rejects. India`s Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad recently said another health team would be sent to the village soon.
(Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Miral Fahmy)
Original article

In U.S. scandals, wives don`t stand by their men

(WOMEN, PUBLIC, HUSBAND, AFFAIR, ABOUT, EDWARDS)

By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Standing by your man suddenly seems to be going out of fashion for some American women in the public eye.
This month, the wives of at least two famous men caught cheating -- sexually and financially -- very openly declared that their spouses` behavior was actually quite scandalous.
Ruth Madoff, reacting to her husband Bernard being sentenced to 150 years in prison for bilking investors with a massive Ponzi scheme, said she felt "embarrassed," "ashamed" and "betrayed" by a man she had known for half a century.
"The man who committed this horrible fraud is not the man whom I have known for all these years," she said in a statement shortly after her husband`s sentencing on Monday.
Last week, after South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford tearfully admitted to an affair with a woman in Argentina, his wife Jenny -- who was not by his side at his public confession -- left little doubt about her feelings.
"His career is not a concern of mine," she told reporters at a vacation home. "He`s going to have to worry about that. I`m worried about my family and the character of my children."
Political analysts said the new attitude reflects generational and social change -- at least for some women in the United States.
"The old model didn`t work," said Karlyn Bowman, an analyst of U.S. public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute.
The image of the tearful wife, hiding behind sunglasses, next to her husband while he unloaded his sins to the world, was "intensely embarrassing" and some women are deciding they do not have to follow that path, she said.
"It may be that women just feel that they can do whatever they want," Bowman said.
Of course, the quiet, supportive wife remains a public pillar for many scandal-hit men -- just look at former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer`s wife Silda, whose wordless turn at his side last year when he admitted visiting prostitutes drew some sharp commentary.
And it wasn`t that long ago when Hillary Clinton, then first lady, weathered the storm beside her husband, President Bill Clinton, over his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky in the White House in the late 1990s.
More recently, Elizabeth Edwards, whose husband John Edwards ran for president as a Democrat last year, publicly spoke out about his infidelity while promoting her memoir "Resilience."
Edwards, who is battling cancer, told talk show host Oprah Winfrey of her shock at hearing from her husband that he had continued an affair with campaign worker Rielle Hunter after telling her in December 2006 he had slept with another woman.
"All the work we`d done, all the trust we had tried to build in the past year-plus, all thrown out the window," she said.
(Editing by John O`Callaghan)
Original article

Police in west Urals search for security guard who stole $8 mln

(POLICE, GUARD, MILLION, RUSSIA, LARGEST, SHURMAN)

NIZHNY NOVGORD, June 26 (RIA Novosti) - Police in the west Urals are searching for a security guard who stole 250 million rubles ($8 million), a local police spokesman said on Friday.
The theft, one of Russia`s largest, took place at about 12:00 p.m. local time (06:00 GMT) on Thursday. Alexander Shurman, 36, was one of three guards carrying cash for Russia`s largest bank Sberbank.
Threatening to shoot his colleagues, he forced them to stop the vehicle in a forest, and transferred the money to another vehicle driven by accomplices.
"A search is underway," the spokesman said.
A $10,000 reward has been announced for any information leading to Shurman`s arrest, and an investigation has been launched. Over 50 police investigators are involved in the hunt.
A police source told the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid that Sberbank security guards had had their wages cut last month.
"Carrying huge sums daily and hardly making ends meet - anyone would go nuts," the source said.
Neighbors said Shurman, who has two children, one with a second wife, did not drink or smoke and played tennis and went running every morning.
 
Original article

Confused about fitness regimens? Poll tracks trends

(FITNESS, TRAINING, ACSM, THOMPSON, SURVEY, PROFESSIONALS, ABOUT)

By Dorene Internicola
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) Pilates or yoga? Kettlebells or free weights? Running or spinning?
If you are dizzy from trying to choose among all the fitness regimens out there a new survey of fitness and health experts, who were asked to identity the top trends, may help.
Experienced fitness professionals topped the list while strength training, core work, special fitness programs for older adults, pilates and balance training also made the top ten.
"We give the fitness professional some idea of what they`re going to see," said Dr. Walter Thompson, of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) which conducted the poll.
The ACSM, a nonprofit sports medicine and exercise science organization, tracks trends for the fitness industry and gives the public a heads-up about what they are likely to face at the gym, the doctor`s office and the workplace.
Thompson said 1,540 ACSM-certified fitness professionals from Asia, Europe, Australia, Africa, North America and South America took part in the online survey.
"We really wanted to look at trends," Thompson, a professor of Exercise Science at Georgia State University, explained. "We instructed the respondents to ignore fads, like the devices you see on late-night TV infomercials."
So you won`t discover anything about those contraptions that promise miracle abs for 30 minutes` work a week.
Thompson said it was no surprise that experienced fitness professionals and personal trainers captured the first and third spots in the survey.
"The fitness industry has increased exponentially," Thompson said, but at a price. "There has to be some policing. People are getting hurt by trainers who just don`t have the qualifications."
Personal training, introduced about 10 years ago and once a luxury for movie stars, is now provided by all gyms.
Children and obesity came in second in the poll, thanks largely to the development of more programs to attack the growing problem.
"For the first time in history the next generation of young people may not live as long as their parents or grandparents," the ACSM said in a statement.
Strength training, increasingly a part of most regimens, and core training, which strengthens and conditions the stabilizing muscles of the abdomen and back, rounded out the top five.
The stability ball, which came in at number eight, did not even make the top 20 in an ACSM survey in 2007.  Continued...
Original article

Downturn creates more working mothers in Asia

(WOMEN, THEIR, FAMILY, MOTHER, HARISH, CHILDREN, SURVEY)

By Miral Fahmy
SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - The economic crisis is turning more Asian women into CFOs, or chief family officers, according to a new survey, juggling work and childcare as they try to boost the family income.
Three in four people in Asia believe women are capable of juggling work and family successfully, the massive survey of 33,000 people in 16 countries showed.
Asian women have long been part of the region`s workforce, but the global economic downturn has made having a job a necessity for most, according to the "Eye on Asia" poll by global marketing communications firm Grey Group.
"This, however, has put a lot of pressure on many women, who in addition to having a career, must also take on the role of chief family officer," Charu Harish, regional communications planning director for Grey Group Asia Pacific, told Reuters.
"Because of the traditional attitudes, women feel they must be the picture-perfect wife, mother and employee, which puts them in an unfair, and little recognized, position."
According to the survey, one of the largest snapshots of opinions and trends in the region, nearly 90 percent said it was necessary for mothers to work to contribute to the family income, especially in the current economic climate.
The same survey found that a majority -- 86 percent -- of Asia Pacific respondents worry about their finances and were saving for the future.
Over three-quarters believed women were capable of doing both -- taking care of the family and having a job at the same time -- even though, given a choice, many mothers would prefer to stay at home and watch their children grow up, Harish said.
Some 81 percent of mothers surveyed said they felt so busy these days that they did not spend enough time with their children, which Harish said, led to many mums over-indulging their children to assuage their guilt.
This was particularly the case in the fast-paced economies of Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, but less so in developing countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam.
"In many ways, women have evolved, while many men still maintain a traditional attitude and do not acknowledge that they need to take part in the child-minding and running the house," Harish said.
Overall, nearly two-thirds of Asians said they felt society supported working mothers, which, in many cases, meant grandparents taking care of the children.
Harish said that while this was the most convenient child-care solution, it was creating tension in families due to the generational gap. "The older generations believe in stronger discipline, while the parents tend to be more liberal, and their children even more so," she explained.
The survey polled 33,000 people in 16 countries: Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. For more details click on www.greyeyeon.asia
(Editing by Valerie Lee)
Original article

"One, two, three...": Queen orders count of swans

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Quiet please -- Queen Elizabeth is preparing to have her swans counted.
Buckingham Palace has announced that the annual Swan Upping, a tradition dating back to the 12th century which involves a census of the swan population on the River Thames, will be conducted by the queen`s official Swan Marker from July 20-24.
"With the assistance of the Queen`s Swan Warden, Professor Christopher Perrins of the University of Oxford, the swans and young cygnets are also assessed for any signs of injury or disease," Buckingham Palace said in announcing the count.
The process involves the Swan Marker, David Barber, rowing up the Thames for five days with the Swan Warden in traditional skiffs while wearing special scarlet uniforms and counting, weighing and measuring swans and cygnets.
It may seem eccentric, but it is very important to the queen.
According to custom, Britain`s sovereign owns all unmarked, mute swans in open water, but the queen now exercises the right only on stretches of the Thames and its nearby tributaries.
In medieval times, the Swan Marker would not only travel up the river counting the swans, but would catch as many as possible as they were sought-after for banquets and feasts.
This year, the Swan Marker and the Swan Warden are particularly keen to discover how much damage is being caused to swans and cygnets by attacks from dogs and from discarded fishing tackle.
It is also an important year because the Queen has decided to join her team of Swan Uppers for part of the census.
She will follow them up the river and visit a local school project on the whole subject of swans, cygnets and the Thames.
"Education and conservation are essential to the role of Swan Upping and the involvement of school children is always a rewarding experience," Buckingham Palace said.
(Reporting by Luke Baker)
Original article

Portugal village worth its salt with the tourists

By Andrei Khalip
SALINAS, Portugal (Reuters Life!) - Shoveling drying salt in a pit under scorching sun while tourists and fellow villagers drink beer and look on from above may sound like a miserable experience, but not in Salinas, Portugal.
The presence of tourists in the cafes on the ancient wall above the salt pit in this tiny Portuguese village some 100 km (62.14 miles) north of Portugal`s capital Lisbon is more than welcome and causes no consternation.
"One thing works with the other. Without tourism, the salt business would probably collapse, and vice versa," said Casimiro Froes Ferreira, 82, and the head of the Salinas cooperative.
The village has been extracting salt since at least 1170, when the local ruler sold part of the pit to the Knights Templar -- the first known record of Salinas.
In the middle of a pool in the salt pit lies a deep well of water heavily laden with salt -- Portugal`s only natural saltworks. The water is pumped to shallow cells in the pool where it dries up over a few days, leaving a layer of salt.
"We work seven days a week between May and October when the weather is good and when salt needs to be dried and removed -- practically the same way our ancestors did. After work everyone just joins the crowd in the bars overhead," Froes Ferreira said.
Most of the village`s old salt depots and stores -- made entirely of wood, including door locks to avoid corrosion from salt -- have been transformed into souvenir shops and bars, where one can try a local cheese baked in salt.
Even the local bikers club is headquartered in such a hut.
"It`s really cool, it`s kind of like one of those medieval fairs, but you know it`s for real, and the people are real," said Eliza Castro from Lisbon, who stopped in Salinas with her two children for a meal and some sightseeing after visiting the ancient castle of Obidos nearby.
Some larger, newer depots are also made of wood, as cement and metals are easily corroded by the mineral.
Maria Luisa Santos Dias, 74, who like most workers here is a member of the cooperative and owns a plot in the huge 28,000 square meter (301,400 sq ft) pit, swaps periods of work in the sun with rest in the diner. Here she grabs a snack, chats to neighbors and helpfully provides directions to visitors.
"I feel good here in the pit, I started at seven in the morning today, before anyone got here," said the woman, who is wearing heavy rubber shoes to protect her feet from salt. "I married a salter many years back and got to liking this work." Her son, Jose Antonio, 37, and 16-year-old granddaughter Ines often work alongside her.
"When I was six I started coming here and played with a wooden shovel. I`m no longer a little girl, but I still like coming here to work," said Ines, who is a student.
The cooperative was formed in 1979 after a crisis caused by growing imports, which nearly killed off the salt industry in Salinas and put an end to small private salt depots.
Although hardly prospering, it now makes ends meet thanks to its "all-natural" salt production, including manual collection and cleaning, which have attracted eco-conscious consumers in Germany. Only a small part of the work is done with the help of machinery, mainly lifting the salt from the pit.  Continued...
Original article

Just a Minute With: French actress Marion Cotillard

By Alex Dobuzinskis
LOS ANGELES (Reuters Life!) - French actress Marion Cotillard has gone from playing singing legend Edith Piaf to portraying the girlfriend of another kind of popular hero, bank robber John Dillinger.
In the movie "Public Enemies" opening on July 1, Cotillard plays Billie Frechette, a woman who fell in love with Dillinger, played by Johnny Depp, during his ill-fated cops-and-robbers war with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation in the 1930s.
Cotillard won the best actress Oscar for her portrayal of Piaf in 2007 movie "La Vie en Rose." Her role in "Public Enemies" as the daughter of a Frenchman and an American Indian is her first since winning the Academy Award.
She spoke to Reuters in French from Chicago about her character Billie Frechette, her love of the Windy City and her upbringing in France in a family of actors.
Q: What did Billie Frechette see in John Dillinger that attracted her to him?
A: "At a young age, she was sent to a boarding school, and it was a very difficult place where they tried to erase everything that was Indian in her. And I think that she encountered there a great injustice, and she shared with Dillinger a suspicion of authority. I think the two of them saw that in each other and they fell in love immediately, and there was a very strong connection between them."
Q: Growing up in a household of actors, did you often practice scenes with your parents?
A: "Yes, because my parents were actors and theater directors. And my father was a director for children`s theater after having been a mime for a long time. So, seeing actors rehearse was something very familiar to me."
Q: Did that influence you as an actress?
A: "I was absolutely fascinated that you could make a living telling other people`s stories by imparting your emotion to them. And I always wanted to be an actress. My first work as an actress was when I was about five years-old."
Q: You played in a scene that young?
A: "I made two small movies for television. And before that I remember acting in a play with my mother, and it was very disorienting because I played the daughter of another actress. They were telling me that she was my mom, but I knew she wasn`t. In fact, my real mom was also on stage. I remember being very disoriented by that."
Q: How did you prepare for your English-speaking role in this movie?
A: "I worked with a speech coach for several months, and I had to relearn how to use my face and my body, because the way of saying certain letters is so different in French than in English, and it was very hard to train myself in that."
Q: What did you do for fun while you were shooting this movie in Chicago?  Continued...
Original article

Health games become serious business

By John Gaudiosi
RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters Life!) - Videogames were once blamed for rising obesity rates but are now being championed by the medical industry and for use by government departments for their health benefits.
Games like Electronic Arts` "EA Sports Active" and Nintendo`s "Wii Fit" have got players of all ages moving -- and game developers and investors looking for hot new titles to cash in on this booming segment of the market.
Big John Games` upcoming "Butt Kicker" Nintendo DSi game will provide an action-based environment in which players fight against cigarettes and "Karate Bears" for Wii teaches players real karate routines using the Wii`s motion-sensor controllers.
With interest in health games rising, the fifth annual Games for Health Conference in Boston expanded to 390 people this year from 100, including developers, investors and medical experts, while numbers at many other conferences are down up to 40 percent.
"Healthcare is 18 percent of the GDP of the United States and so games for health is probably the largest sector of activity in the serious games field long-term," said Ben Sawyer, co-founder of The Games for Health Project.
"If you add up the 18 month sales of "Wii Fit" and the sales of "EA Sports Active," Konami`s "Dance Dance Revolution" and other healthy games, the worldwide retail numbers are over $2 billion."
Dr. Michael Levine, executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop which fosters innovation in children`s learning, has just released a report looking at how digital games can play a beneficial and educational role in health care.
"The White House should launch a national initiative to promote research and development of proven games," said Levine.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, whose mission is to improve the health and healthcare of all Americans, has also called for a public engagement campaign supported by the president, Congress and the federal agencies to teach parents, teachers and health providers about the healthy side of gaming.
"States` governors should direct their school technology officers to look at innovations like "Dance Dance Revolution" and "Wii Fit" as a way to extend the reach of physical education and comprehensive health education," said Dr. Debra Lieberman, director of Health Games Research for the foundation.
The Games for Health Conference also showcased how videogames are being used to help doctors and patients alike.
Serious games developer Virtual Heroes is working on a new first-person shooter sequel for Hope Lab`s popular "Re-Mission" game, which has been distributed to cancer patients in 81 countries since 2006.
"We`re taking their existing concept and trying to raise the fun bar and creating more lifelike and enjoyable environments within the human body," explained Jerry Heneghan, CEO of Virtual Heroes.
"Players will take control of Roxy, the protagonist, and have new weapons to battle cancer with thanks to input from cancer patients."
Virtual Heroes is also updating its HumanSim technology with a new human physiology engine, technology has been used by Duke Medical Center`s nursing school to train nurses virtually.  Continued...
Original article

Domestic abuse plagues India's upper crust

By Matthias WilliamsNEW DELHI (Reuters) - With stylish sunglasses on her head, brightly painted nails and dressed in black designer gear, the woman sitting at a trendy New Delhi cafe might not look like a battered wife.
But the woman, who asked that her name be withheld to protect her identity and that of her children, was abused for years by her husband, a lawyer.
"He strangled me, he spat on me, he slapped me," the woman, a 37-year-old mother of two who grew up in a wealthy London-based Indian family, told Reuters in an interview.
She is among millions of Indian women, from all classes, who are abused by their husbands. A recent government survey said one in three Indian women were victims of domestic violence.
Her education and status among India's elite gave little protection against her well-heeled and well-connected spouse.
After years of abuse, she took her husband to court under a landmark domestic violence act meant to protect battered wives and give stiff penalties to abusers, but so far to no avail.
"This law, which is enacted by the parliament in 2006, has not been taken seriously," her lawyer, K.K. Manan, told Reuters. "On one pretext or another, the case is being adjourned."
A total of 185,312 crimes against women were reported in India in 2007, compared to 164,765 in 2006. Rights groups say many more cases go unreported.
Domestic violence has long been in the public eye and the media regularly features cases of wife-beating over issues such as dowry, as well as torture and killings of women, especially in poorer households.
India's economic boom has brought a rise in affluent women, often with careers, who enjoy greater freedom than their parents' generation. They dress in Western clothes and visit restaurants, bars and night clubs.
These changes sometimes clash with hardline elements of what remains a largely conservative society. Even among India's upper crust, women's freedom can be superficial.MONEY AND POWER
The domestic violence act was meant for the first time to give protection and compensation for all kinds of abuse in the home, including physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or economic.
Previously, for example, husbands could not be prosecuted for raping their wives, unless the wife was under the age of 15. The new law aims to pass sentence within 60 days of the first hearing.
But more than a year later, the woman's case is still bogged down and in early March she had to make yet another appearance at a special Delhi women's court. Continued...
Source: Reuters

Darfuris name babies after ICC prosecutor: Farrow

By Edith Honan
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Some refugees in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region have named their children "Okambo" as a tribute to the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, actress Mia Farrow said on Friday.
"I've met at least 100 babies named Ocampo," Farrow, a U.N. goodwill ambassador, told reporters following a U.N. Security Council meeting on Darfur. "They spell it Okambo. ... So the name has been Africanized."
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in March, charging him with masterminding mass killings and deportations in Darfur in western Sudan.
The Sudanese government has rejected Moreno-Ocampo's charges and is refusing to cooperate with the court.
Moreno-Ocampo was at the United Nations to update the Security Council on activities related to the Bashir case and five others he has submitted to the court on possible war crimes in Darfur.
Breaking with standard U.N. practice, Moreno-Ocampo stood beside Sudanese U.N. Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, one of his most vocal critics, as the envoy addressed reporters at a press stakeout after the meeting.
Officials waiting their turn to speak typically stand to the side, out of view of TV cameras.
"Mr. Ocampo, you are not welcome in this place. You abuse the image of the United Nations," Abdalhaleem said, adding that Moreno-Ocampo was a "mercenary."
"Your dreams of publicity and media should come to an end also," he said.
Moreno-Ocampo said he had come to U.N. headquarters to talk about "crimes committed in Darfur."
Farrow went on a 12-day hunger strike in April and May to show solidarity with the people of Darfur. U.N. officials say as many as 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2.7 million driven from their homes in Darfur in almost six years of ethnic and political violence.
Khartoum says 10,000 people have died.
(Editing by Louis Charbonneau and Will Dunham)

Source: Reuters