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Politics 2012: Ron Paul strategy keeps things interesting
WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- Last year, $623 million in U.S. funds went to countries where girls as young as 12 are forced to marry, lawmakers focused on stopping the abuse say.
The United States aided countries with high child-marriage rates, including including Bangladesh, Mali and Mozambique, USA Today reported Tuesday.
Legislation to be introduced in Congress this month would authorize $100 million over four years to try to stop the practice, most prevalent in West Africa and South Asia, the newspaper said.
Other bills would require the State Department to include child-marriage statistics in annual human rights reports on other countries.
"Every year in poor countries, millions of girls -- preteens and teens -- become the wives of older men," said Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn. "This custom is not marriage, but rather sanctioned sexual abuse and a human rights violation that destroys girls' lives."
An estimated 51 million women worldwide, now 20-24, were married before age 18, the newspaper reported, and 100 million more girls will become child brides during the next decade.
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SEOUL, May 28 (UPI) --
An official report on North Korean prisons has been published in what the South Korean government says is its first attempt to document the atrocities.
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NEW YORK, May 28 (UPI) --
"Sex and the City" actress Cynthia Nixon married her girlfriend, education activist Christine Marinoni, in New York, officials say.
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To avoid a meltdown in 2006, Ford Motor Co. mortgaged the farm putting up its assets – including its Blue Oval logo, and F-150 pickup and iconic Mustang trademarks – to secure $23.5 billion in credit.
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TOLEDO, Ohio, May 28 (UPI) --
Authorities in Ohio said a man clad in a Darth Vader mask and black clothes robbed a bank with a semi-automatic pistol instead of a light saber and the Force.
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