Archive for October, 2011

Reformist Japan farmers urge free trade to spur change

By Linda Sieg MIKAWA, Japan | Thu Oct 27, 2011 1:27am EDT MIKAWA, Japan (Reuters) – Like other farmers on this fertile, coastal plain in northeast Japan, where patchwork rice fields stretch to the mountains beyond, Kazushi Saito knows firsthand that the nation’s shrinking agricultural sector is in dire straits. But unlike many, the 54-year-old [...]

Reformist Japan farmers urge free trade to spur change

By Linda Sieg MIKAWA, Japan | Thu Oct 27, 2011 1:27am EDT MIKAWA, Japan (Reuters) – Like other farmers on this fertile, coastal plain in northeast Japan, where patchwork rice fields stretch to the mountains beyond, Kazushi Saito knows firsthand that the nation’s shrinking agricultural sector is in dire straits. But unlike many, the 54-year-old [...]

"Wife-sharing" haunts Indian villages as girls decline

By Nita Bhalla Thu Oct 27, 2011 4:36am EDT BAGHPAT, India (TrustLaw) – When Munni arrived in this fertile, sugarcane-growing region of north India as a young bride years ago, little did she imagine she would be forced into having sex and bearing children with her husband’s two brothers who had failed to find wives. [...]

"Wife-sharing" haunts Indian villages as girls decline

By Nita Bhalla Thu Oct 27, 2011 4:36am EDT BAGHPAT, India (TrustLaw) – When Munni arrived in this fertile, sugarcane-growing region of north India as a young bride years ago, little did she imagine she would be forced into having sex and bearing children with her husband’s two brothers who had failed to find wives. [...]

Pope expresses shame for Christian violence in history

By Philip Pullella ASSISI, Italy | Thu Oct 27, 2011 7:20am EDT ASSISI, Italy (Reuters) – Pope Benedict, leading a global inter-religious meeting, acknowledged on Thursday “with great shame” that Christianity had used force in its long history but said violence in God’s name had no place in the world today. Benedict spoke as he [...]