Japan’s ban on married couples having different surnames has prompted an event to highlight people’s reluctance to change their name
At the very least, the three men and three women calming their nerves on a Friday evening at a venue in Tokyo know they have one thing in common.
Spaced out across booths, they will soon be placed in pairs and given 15 minutes to get to know one another.
Continue reading...The Woman’s Hour host, who has died aged 75, could talk about hydrangeas, campaign against domestic abuse, then tear a strip off a politician – all within a few minutes
Before she took over Woman’s Hour in 1987, Jenni Murray was a presenter on the Today programme. She had joined the BBC in Bristol in 1973, and became a TV reporter and presenter for South Today, so arrived with solid news credentials. But Today in the 1980s was inveterately sexist – the guys took the politics, the women mopped up the rest – that the format was just too small for her.
Woman’s Hour, on the other hand, was absolutely reshaped in her image: there was no preconception of tone, and nothing was too serious or too light for it. Murray, who has died at the age of 75, could tear a strip off a politician, talk about hydrangeas, then campaign against domestic abuse, all within a few minutes. She was instinctively open and generous about her personal experience, but never solipsistic – an incredibly fine balance.
Continue reading...Eleanor Gittens, 107, and Lyle Gittens, 108, of Miami met at a basketball game in 1941 and have been married for 83 years
A Miami husband and wife who recently attained the title of world’s longest-married couple say they managed that feat just by loving one another.
“We love each other,” Eleanor Gittens, 107, said to LongeviQuest when the website specializing on people who are in their second century of life asked what was the secret to her 83 years of marriage to her husband, Lyle.
Continue reading...Deal under which Family Action takes over Relate’s counselling services will save up to 185 jobs, say administrators
Britain’s biggest relationship counselling charity looks likely to be rescued from insolvency under plans for it to be taken over.
Last month, Relate was put into administration after a collapse in its funding from NHS, school and local authority contracts.
Continue reading...Deal under which Family Action takes over Relate’s counselling services will save up to 185 jobs, say administrators
Britain’s biggest relationship counselling charity looks likely to be rescued from insolvency under plans for it to be taken over.
Last month, Relate was put into administration after a collapse in its funding from NHS, school and local authority contracts.
Continue reading...Unconventional marriage of Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Vellet celebrated with three-day schedule of events and a documentary to follow
She is the clairvoyant daughter of one of Europe’s longest-serving monarchs; he is a self-styled sixth-generation shaman from California. The wedding of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway to Durek Verrett on Saturday on Saturday afternoon wasn’t your conventional royal affair, but that didn’t stop spectators lining the overcast streets of Geiranger in the hope of catching a glimpse of the bride.
The eldest daughter of Crown Prince Harald and Queen Sonja, 52-year-old Märtha Louise is fourth in line to the Norwegian throne. She married Verrett, 49, in a traditional church of Norway ceremony attended by royals and celebrities at the four-star Hotel Union in a small village beneath the Geiranger fjord.
Continue reading...Consultation launched as surveys show people have little chance to meet partners and worry about high cost of living
The Japanese government has begun to consult young people about their interest in marriage – or lack thereof – as Japan continues to struggle with a demographic crisis that is expected to result in a sharp population decline over the next decades.
The Children and Families Agency, launched in April 2023, held its first working group meeting on Friday to support young people in their efforts to find partners through dating, matchmaking and other means. Attenders included those considering marriage in the future and experts versed in the challenges facing younger people.
Continue reading...Rights groups protesting at Modi government’s view that criminalising sexual assault violates ‘sanctity’ of marriage
Campaigners angry that marital rape is not to be criminalised under India’s long-awaited new penal code have been promised a ruling on the issue by the supreme court next month.
Human rights organisations, including the All India Democratic Women’s Association, have been petitioning India’s supreme court to make it a criminal offence. The court has in turn asked the government for a response.
Continue reading...Change to civil code will bring Japan into line with other G7 countries, amid concerns existing law inflicts psychological harm on children
Divorced couples in Japan will for the first time be able to negotiate joint custody of their children after parliament voted this week for changes to laws permitting only sole custody.
Under Japan’s civil code, couples must decide which parent will take custody of their children when their marriage ends – a requirement that critics say causes children psychological harm and prevents the “left-behind” parent from playing a fuller role in their upbringing.
Continue reading...Proposal sails through, with one vocal opponent saying gay first cousins do not risk having a child with birth defects
The Republican-led Tennessee legislature has overwhelmingly voted to send the Republican governor, Bill Lee, a proposal that would ban marriage between first cousins.
The statehouse cast a 75-2 vote on Thursday on the bill after the senate previously approved it without any opposition.
Continue reading...Sato will become the only option by 2531, suggests modelling as part of campaign to overturn outdated law requiring spouses to have same surname
Japanese citizens will all have the same family name in 500 years’ time unless married couples are permitted to use separate surnames, a new study has suggested as part of a campaign to update a civil code dating back to the late 1800s.
The study, led by Hiroshi Yoshida, a professor of economy at Tohoku University, projected that if Japan continues to insist that couples select a single surname, every single Japanese person will be known as “Sato-san” by 2531.
Continue reading...Lawmakers overwhelmingly vote to make country the first in south-east Asia to recognise same-sex unions
Lawmakers in Thailand’s lower house of parliament have overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill that would make the country the first in south-east Asia to legalise equal rights for marriage partners of any gender.
Four hundred of 415 lawmakers present voted for the bill on Wednesday and footage from inside parliament showed people standing and applauding afterwards.
Continue reading...Rachel Roberts and more than 900 photographers had signed petition about clergy obstructing their work
A wedding photographer at the centre of a row with vicars that has sparked an intervention by a former archbishop has called for the two camps to put aside their differences and work in peaceful harmony.
Last week more than 900 wedding photographers signed a petition started by photographer Rachel Roberts, who urged vicars to “improve” their working conditions after complaints that some clergymen and women had been making it difficult to take photos inside church premises.
Continue reading...R&B superstar married Jenn Goicoechea, his partner since 2019, at Vegas Weddings hours after half-time headline appearance
Usher and his longtime partner Jenn Goicoechea married in Las Vegas just hours after the R&B superstar’s headline appearance at the Super Bowl half-time show, according to officials and documents.
The officiant who wed the pair is known to dress as an Elvis Presley impersonator.
Continue reading...ONS figures, which include civil partnerships, spark calls for changes in laws for cohabiting couples
The proportion of people aged 16 or older in England and Wales who are married or in a civil partnership has fallen below 50% for the first time.
The figure dropped to 49.4% in 2022, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Continue reading...Registrations open after country became first former Soviet-ruled nation to legalise gay marriage
Same-sex couples in Estonia are able to marry from New Year’s Day, in a milestone move people say brings the Baltic nation closer to its Nordic neighbours.
Estonia became the first former Soviet-ruled country to legalise gay marriage when the Riigikogu, Estonia’s parliament, voted in favour of marriage equality in June. A majority of 55 MPs voted for amending the Family Act, while 34 MPs voted against the bill in the 101-seat parliament.
Continue reading...Asghari says he and Spears will ‘hold onto the love and respect’ they have for each, after filing for divorce after 14 months of marriage
Sam Asghari has denied he will challenge the prenuptial agreement he has with Britney Spears after filing for divorce after 14 months of marriage.
In a statement posted online on Thursday, the model and fitness trainer acknowledged that asking for privacy “seems ridiculous” but asked that the media be “kind and thoughtful”.
Continue reading...Annual RHS show uses theme of accessibility in effort to broaden appeal of horticulture
Chelsea flower show has long been a staple of the society calendar, with celebrities and royals making an appearance among the peonies and roses.
However, this year, the Royal Horticultural Society is trying to make the show – and horticulture – more inclusive, by putting on special events for children, and encouraging the creation of gardens with an accessibility theme.
Continue reading...UN children’s agency welcomes drop in number of underage brides, but warns 12 million girls still getting married each year
The number of child marriages is declining worldwide, but at too slow a pace for any hope of eliminating the practice this century, Unicef, the UN children’s agency, has said.
In a new report, Unicef tentatively welcomed the reduction but warned that it was nowhere close to meeting its sustainable development goal of ridding the world of the practice by 2030.
Continue reading...Yulia and Tetiana knew they would have to marry abroad – but never in the context of an invasion
Yulia and Tetiana had spent a while deliberating over a date for their wedding before they decided it had to be 1 March – exactly a year to the day they fled the war in Ukraine.
“That date should be a sad anniversary, the anniversary of us leaving our old life behind, but we decided to rewrite this story and made it our special anniversary,” said Tetiana, 42. “We lost a lot and there is a lot of evil in this world, but we’ve turned that evil into something good.”
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