The girl was 16. She was raped by men from a higher caste, and her father committed suicide from the shame. The reaction of her community? To call for a change in the age of consent
For a full ten days after she was abducted and raped by a group of
men, the teenager told no-one, terrified by the men’s threats
and their claim that they would distribute photographs they had
taken during the attack.
When she did eventually tell her mother,
things got even worse; her father, a gardener, unable to bear the
trauma of what had happened to his daughter and the indignity of such
photographs being passed around, swallowed pesticide.
In the following days, police arrested and charged seven men, all
members of a higher caste. But the response to what took place by
certain elements of society – a suggestion that the age of marriage
should be be lowered to reduce rapes, and that such attacks were
triggered by eating ‘Western’ fast-food – sparked both a wave of
anger and a debate about India’s attitudes towards women that has
gripped the country
RUSSIA
Russian ultranationalists march on Moscow
Thousands have gathered in the Russian capital to demonstrate against the country's lax immigration policies. Rights groups worry that Sunday's march signals a shift toward nationalist sympathies in Russia.
A protest against the large influx of immigrants overshadowed a national holiday in Russia on Sunday. About 20,000 people turned out for the demonstration, according to its organizers. Moscow police, however, estimated that only 5,000 or 6,000 took part in the protest.
Dressed in black, the protesters chanted "Moscow is a Russian city," according to German news agency dapd.
Smaller nationalist demonstrations also took place in other Russian cities on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters, organizer Alexander Belov said that the ultranationalists wanted to end the large influx of illegal immigrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia in Moscow. They were also protesting Putin's inaction toward reforming immigration policies, he said.
In Islamist-led Egypt Coptic Christians name new pope
Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church has chosen a new pope with the hope that he would help protect the Middle East's biggest Christian community.
Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church chose a new pope, Bishop Tawadros, in a sumptuous service on Sunday that Christians hope will lead them through an Islamist-dominated landscape and protect what is the Middle East's biggest Christian community.
Many Christians in Egypt, who make up about a tenth of the population of 83-million, are worried about political gains made by Islamists since Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year. They have long complained of discrimination in Muslim-majority Egypt.
In a ritual steeped in tradition and filled with prayer, chants and incense at Abbasiya cathedral in Cairo, the names of three candidates chosen in an earlier vote were placed in a wax-sealed bowl before a blindfolded boy picked out one name.
Why the Palestinian president shocked his people over 'right of return'
President Mahmoud Abbas appeared to give up on a longtime Palestinian demand that refugees be allowed back into homes from before the 1948 founding of the Jewish state.
Mahmoud Abbas touched off a storm of debate in the Middle East over the weekend after the Palestinian president seemingly conceded the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees, a symbolically loaded issue at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades.
Japan and blood types: Does it determine personality?
Are you A, B, O or AB? It is a widespread belief in Japan that character is linked to blood type. What's behind this conventional wisdom?
Blood is one thing that unites the entire human race, but most of us don't think about our blood group much, unless we need a transfusion. In Japan, however, blood type has big implications for life, work and love.
Here, a person's blood type is popularly believed to determine temperament and personality. "What's your blood type?" is often a key question in everything from matchmaking to job applications.
According to popular belief in Japan, type As are sensitive perfectionists and good team players, but over-anxious. Type Os are curious and generous but stubborn. ABs are arty but mysterious and unpredictable, and type Bs are cheerful but eccentric, individualistic and selfish.
White House rivals share Hong Kongers' mistrust of China
November 5, 2012 -- Updated 0804 GMT (1604 HKT)
Hong Kong (CNN) -- If there's one thing that would have struck a chord with seven million Hong Kongers this election season, it was U.S. President Barack Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney using China as a political punching bag during the recent televised debates.
America blames China for many of its economic woes, while Hong Kong has a more complex relationship with the mainland, one that is rooted in historical, cultural and political differences.
Beijing has long been accused by Washington of keeping its currency artificially low, giving Chinese exporters an advantage over their competitors. Last month, Romney accused China of manipulating its currency "for years and years," while taking American jobs. He even repeated his vow to declare Beijing a currency manipulator on his first day in office.
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