November 14, 2007
Woman torches ex's mounted bison head
MERIDIAN, Idaho - A southwest Idaho woman accused of setting fire to a mounted bison head at her ex-husband's home faces arson charges. Police arrested Ryann Jean Stafford, 26, Thursday on a charge of third-degree arson, a felony.
Investigators said Stafford and her former spouse got into an argument at his home. But after he left the house, police said Stafford began throwing objects and then used a lighter to ignite the mounted head.
Another person who lives at the home extinguished the fire.
A judge has set bond at $100,000 and Stafford is being held in the Ada County Jail.
The maximum penalty for third-degree arson is 10 years in prison.
Posted by ronnie at 05:27 PM | Comments (0)
September 29, 2007
From heart-broken to broke? Japan divorce loan helps
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's first-ever divorce loan caters to those who fell head over heels in love only to find themselves up to their necks in debt.
Named "Re" for those re-starting their lives, the loan helps divorcees cover the cost of compensation and legal payments and offers a lower interest rate than credit cards loans, on which Japan's growing number of divorce-seekers have depended in the past.
"It's not that we are recommending divorces," said Yoshimi Aoki, spokesman for Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank, based in Gifu, central Japan, which offers the loan.
"But we want people to feel more comfortable in visiting banks to consult on these issues," Aoki added.
While Japan's divorce rate is still low in comparison with the United States and Europe, failed marriages have been on the rise in recent years.
In 2006, there were two divorce cases for every 1,000 people, up from 1.7 cases in 1996, according to government data.
The divorce rate in the United States was 3.6 per 1,000 total population in 2005, while in Russia it was 5.5 and 2.8 in the United Kingdom in 2003.
In Japan, divorcees found responsible for the failure of their marriage -- for example, because of their unfaithfulness -- on average have to pay 4 million yen (17,000 pounds) in compensation to their former partners, according to the Mainichi Newspaper.
Aoki said that in the past, Japanese divorcees have often sought to pay off divorce debts with consumer finance loans or credit card loans, which tend to have annual interest rates of 15-20 percent.
But with the newly launched divorce loan, divorcees can borrow up to 5 million yen, paying a floating interest rate that stood at 5.8 percent on Monday.
Posted by ronnie at 05:45 AM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2007
Use of private sleuths rising in divorces?
LONDON (Reuters) - Almost half of Britain's divorcing couples used a private investigator last year to confirm, or deny, their suspicions about their spouse cheating on them, accountancy firm Grant Thornton said on Monday.
About 49 percent of divorcing couples hired an investigator in 2006, substantially above the 18 percent in 2005, according to a survey by Grant Thornton's Forensic and Investigation Services unit of 100 of the U.K.'s leading family lawyers.
Of those who used a private investigator, 30 percent were women, while 19 percent were men, the survey shows.
"For the fourth year running our survey has shown that extra marital affairs is the primary reason cited for the break down of marriages in the U.K.," said Andrea McLaren, head of Grant Thornton's London Matrimonial Practice.
"As this figure continues to rise, it is little wonder that the number of individuals using private investigators continues to rise."
Men accounted for 69 percent of adultery cases, while women represented 31 percent, the survey showed.
In 17 percent of instances, behavior was cited as the main reason behind the marriage breaking down, followed by family strains in eight percent of cases, and decisions of a personal nature -- such as only one partner wanting to have a child -- in four percent of instances.
The number of divorces attributed to emotional and physical abuse fell to four percent, from 12 percent in 2005, the study said.
Posted by ronnie at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
March 11, 2007
German man chainsaws house in two in divorce split
BERLIN (Reuters Life!) - A 43-year-old German decided to settle his imminent divorce by chainsawing a family home in two and making off with his half in a forklift truck.
Police in the eastern town of Sonneberg said on Friday the trained mason measured the single-storey summer house -- which was some 8 meters (26 feet) long and 6 meters wide -- before chainsawing through the wooden roof and walls.
"The man said he was just taking his due," said a police spokesman. "But I don't think his wife was too pleased."
After finishing the job, the man picked up his half with the forklift truck and drove to his brother's house where he has since been staying.
Posted by ronnie at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2007
Saudi appeals court upholds enforced divorce
RIYADH, Jan 28 (Reuters Life!) - A Saudi couple have been forced to divorce against their will by a top court because of arcane tribal customs which allowed the woman's family to seek a split, the pair's lawyer said on Sunday.
Abdul-Rahman Al-Lahem said the court had upheld a ruling from a lower court and backed the divorce on the basis of the man's family background.
"The appeals court in Riyadh has supported the divorce because of 'inappropriate lineage'," he said in a statement.
The family of the Saudi woman, called Fatima, began legal action in 2005, saying her husband was not of sufficiently prestigious tribal stock to marry her, and had lied about his tribal background.
The woman and her two children were imprisoned for refusing to return to her family's custody after the lower court first annulled the marriage. Custom in the conservative kingdom requires women to live with their families until marriage.
Saudi Arabia rules by an austere school of Islamic law often termed Wahhabism, and judges in family courts are themselves Wahhabi religious scholars.
Lahem said the ruling contradicted the principles of sharia, Islamic law, which objects to discrimination in terms of color, nationality and race.
The issue was dramatized in a popular comedy show aired in October that ridiculed the idea of tribal superiority, which is still strong in parts of the country.
Posted by ronnie at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2007
Stinking divorce for Egyptian woman
CAIRO (AFP) - An Egyptian woman has obtained a divorce from her husband after he sprayed their flat with air-freshener that triggered off her chest allergy.
Cairo's Maadi Family Court granted the woman, identified only as Suad, a divorce from her Sudanese husband for spraying their apartment with a perfume containing essence of aloe and alcohol.
The husband, Hussein, had already been subpoenaed three times over the same issue, the daily Egyptian Gazette reported Sunday.
"Hussein refused to stop using this perfume, despite the fact that he knew I had a sensitive chest. He said he'd used it since he was a child in his family home," Suad told the court.
"I love my husband and I want to stay with him, for his sake and for the sake of our three children, but it's just not possible," she said.
Posted by ronnie at 06:43 PM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2006
Mo. man sends porn pictures of ex-wife
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - A southeast Missouri man will go to jail for breaking into his ex-wife's e-mail and sending pornographic pictures of her to her relatives.
Alfred Seals, 47, of Cape Girardeau, pleaded guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor tampering with computer data, and was sentenced to 20 days in jail.
Seals gained access to his wife's e-mail account without her consent, then e-mailed the woman's family a Web site link and message stating, "something nice to see," according to a probable-cause statement.
The link took users to a Web site that contained several pornographic pictures Seals took of the woman when they were married.
The woman immediately suspected her ex-husband and went to police.
Posted by ronnie at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)
August 02, 2006
Latvians who refuse to pay alimony risk losing driving licences
RIGA (AFP) - Latvian parents who fail to make child maintenance payments to their estranged partners could be stripped of their driving licences under a proposal unveiled by officials.
The idea comes from Latvia's subsistence guarantee fund, which gives financial aid to single parents, then aims to recover the money on behalf of the state from a father or mother who is refusing to pay alimony.
The fund, established two years ago, has found that more than 11,000 parents do not financially contribute towards raising their offspring.
"From next year, the subsistence guarantee fund is planning to cooperate closely with the Latvian Road Traffic Safety Directorate to revoke the driving licences of those parents who do not pay alimony," the fund's director Edgars Licitis told reporters.
Under further proposals to tackle the problem, lists of parents who refuse to support their children could be made available to lending institutions to help them decide whether to grant such people loans.
Latvian Children and Family Affairs Minister Ainars Bastiks argued that people who fail to pay child maintenance should not be allowed to purchase new cars.
"We do not want to punish anybody, only to make them pay alimony voluntarily," Bastiks said.
The proposals for clamping down on irresponsible parents have been included in the children and family affairs ministry's strategy for 2006-2008.
The strategy was recently endorsed by the Latvian government and does not need parliamentary approval.
Posted by ronnie at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)
May 26, 2006
Lords rule in favor of women in key divorce cases
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's highest court ruled in favor of the ex-wives in two high profile divorce cases on Wednesday, taking into account for the first time compensation for loss of earnings during the relationship.
The judgment by the five Law Lords is expected to set a precedent for other big money settlements.
They allowed an appeal by a wife who claimed she had not been given enough money and dismissed another by a multi-millionaire fund manager who claimed his former wife was given too much.
The judges said the two cases were decided on the principle of fairness.
In the first case, Julia McFarlane won a challenge to the ruling that her former husband would only have to pay her 250,000 pound annual maintenance for a limited period of time. She claimed she should receive maintenance for life and this was accepted by the Law Lords.
The couple were married for 16 years and Julia McFarlane had given up a well-paid job to raise children.
"Although less marked than in the past, women may still suffer a disproportionate financial loss on the breakdown of a marriage because of their traditional role as home-maker and child-carer," Lord Nicholls said.
"When this is so, fairness requires that this feature should be taken into account by the court when exercising its statutory powers."
Alan Greensmith, chairman of the Resolution association of family lawyers, said the judges had taken into consideration three factors: compensation for the wife's loss of earnings during the marriage, her future financial needs and the fact that the fruits of the marriage were to be shared.
"Those three elements combined are used to say what is fair," he told Reuters.
Legal experts said it was the first time compensation had been taken into consideration in a settlement. McFarlane's lawyer, James Pirrie, described the ruling as "ground breaking."
"Until today, maintenance for stay-at-home mothers was going to be based purely on living expenses. Now judges must consider as well contribution and compensation. For people like Julia this is only fair.
"The judgment recognizes her sacrifice and that marriage is a partnership," he told reporters outside court. "The judges recognize her right to share in what she helped to create."
WEALTHY LIFESTYLE
In the other case, which did not revolve around compensation, fund manager Alan Miller lost a challenge to an order that he should give five million pounds to his former wife after less than three years of marriage.
The couple had no children during the marriage but in the initial ruling, a judge decided Melissa Miller was entitled to a substantial settlement because she married with expectation of a future wealthy lifestyle.
Marcus Dearle, her lawyer, said the money was also awarded in part due to the fact that a lot of money was made during the short marriage.
"What actually happened ... was that the judge focused on the high standard of living that Mrs Miller and Mr Miller enjoyed, and also the fact that a lot of money was earned in that very short ... marriage."
Posted by ronnie at 03:28 AM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2006
China launches "divorce club" on Valentine's Day
SHANGHAI (AFP) - China's growing number of divorcees were invited to join in Valentine's Day celebrations with the launch in Shanghai of a club especially for those who have been unlucky in love.
About 135 "wealthy men and women" had already joined the Divorce Club which would provide counselling, social events and divorce parties, the Youth Daily's website said.
"To be released from a dead marriage is a happy occasion, so we chose Valentine's Day to launch the club," it quoted the head of the club, Shu Xin, as saying.
The club would provide around 200 counsellors offering online advice to the lovelorn, the report said.
The launch of the club comes as the divorce rate in Shanghai, China's financial capital, rose 12 percent in 2005, the Oriental Morning Post said, citing Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau figures.
Experts partly attribute the steady climb in failed marriages to the simplification of divorce procedures since 2003.
But higher birth rates in the 1970s and 1980s led to a rise in marriages and, subsequently, more divorces.
Although divorce was frowned upon in China only two decades ago, it is now common across the country. The divorce rate climbed 21.2 percent in 2004 with 1.6 million couples parting, according to official statistics.
Posted by ronnie at 07:10 AM | Comments (0)