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#1
URL:http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070511...nUTv64_hKTMWM0F

Indian man chained for defying father in marriage

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - Police in eastern India have rescued a Muslim man who had been shackled in chains for a month for marrying his childhood lover against the wishes of his father and village clerics, authorities said Friday.

Raghu Amin, 21, was locked in a dingy room by his father in a village in the state of West Bengal after he publicly announced his marriage to 18-year-old Sehnaaz Khatoon, who came from a poorer and lower class family, police said.

"He was chained throughout and even served food in this condition as punishment," said police officer Jay Biswas.

Police came to Raghu's rescue Thursday evening in Baduria village, 70 km (40 miles) north of the state capital Kolkata, after his wife lodged a complaint.

Raghu's father has been arrested on charges of wrongful confinement and police said they were looking for some village clerics who they suspected were also involved.

In India, most marriages are still arranged by parents of the bride and groom who often look for compatibility in religion, caste and class. Couples breaking from this tradition are sometimes ostracized by their families and even face violence.

#2 URL:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070511...YLE8bNRDMWM 0F

Plan to urge breast feeding scrapped

TOKYO (Reuters) - Plans to urge Japanese mothers to breast-feed and sing lullabies to their babies and for families to turn off the TV during meals have been scrapped, Kyodo news agency reported.

Mothers were urged to look into their baby's eyes while breast-feeding in a draft of a report by a government panel that was due out this week.

It had also warned that the Internet and mobile phones give children a "direct connection with the evils of the world."

But the release of the report by an education reform panel was called off at the last minute in an apparent response to criticism that it went too far in meddling with people's private lives, Kyodo reported.

Improving education has also been a priority in efforts to boost Japan's faltering birthrate. The fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime -- hit a record low of 1.26 in 2005.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged when he took office last year to reform Japan's education system by reviving patriotism in the nation's classrooms.

The education system came under fire earlier this year after a series of student suicides linked to bullying, and parliament enacted a law in December aimed at encouraging schools to teach patriotism.