Asia, Women | featured news

The rape and murder of a young woman in New Delhi in December followed by two attacks on foreign female travelers has altered how tourists view India and led to a sharp fall in the numbers of foreign tourists, especially women, a study said....

Park Geun-hye is sworn in as South Korea's president, making her the first woman to lead the East Asian nation.

Chinese Lunar New Year and Valentine's Day are only days apart this year, giving a boost to a new and booming business in China -- boyfriend rentals. Taobao, China's popular shopping website, says that online searches for the term "rental boyfriend" have soared by 884 percent over the same period last year. A search for the Chinese characters of "rent-a-boyfriend" on Taobao.com produces more than 2,000 results, at a range of prices.

An Indian government panel recommended Wednesday the strict enforcement of sexual assault laws, a commitment for speedy rape trials and changes to the country's antiquated penal code to protect women in the wake of a fatal gang rape in New Delhi last month.

An Indian student who was left critically ill after being gang-raped on a Delhi bus has died, say doctors who were treating her in Singapore. "The patient passed away peacefully at 4:45am on 29 Dec 2012," a statement from the hospital said. The patient's family had been by her side, it added.

...The rape has highlighted the extensive harassment that Indian women face daily in cities and towns, ranging from unwanted hands being placed on them to being blamed for causing the sexual violence. Even rape victims rarely come forward to complain because of the social stigma. Many women say they have structured their entire lives around protecting themselves and their children, and restricting their movements to avoid being molested.

India's rising rape cases -- one every 22 minutes, according to the National Crime Records Bureau -- betray what is wrong with society. Millions of Indians continue to believe that women invite trouble on themselves by being careless. Mothers often chide daughters for wearing provocative clothing, in most cases a sleeveless garment or a pair of hip-hugging jeans

In its most ambitious space mission yet, China launched its first female astronaut and two male colleagues to dock with an orbiting module.

Her head was ringing from the blows. Once, twice, three times, her husband slammed her face into the living room floor. Kim Lee tried to twist her tall but skinny frame out from under his 91-kilogram (200-pound) body, scraping her elbows and knees on the carpet. He kept on pounding. Eight, nine, 10 times – she thought she might black out.

More than 200 Indian girls whose names mean "unwanted" in Hindi are given a fresh start in a renaming ceremony... Statistics show a continuing preference for boys in India. The gender imbalance has widened every decade since independence in 1947.