More South Asian men married to British women are becoming the victims of domestic violence, it has been revealed.

The National Men's Advice Line found 9% of calls for help to its service last year were made by men originally from countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Pakistani Mahmood Muhammad (not his real name) married a British-born Asian woman four years ago. Her family promised him that he could finish his degree in Pakistan before joining her to live permanently in West Yorkshire.

His mother thought his future in-laws were an honourable family, so also decided to let his sister marry his wife's brother in the UK.

After marrying, Mahmood, who is in his 30s, travelled to visit his wife in the UK for a two-week holiday. He planned to return to Pakistan to finish studying. But hours after stepping off the plane his passport was confiscated by his wife's family and he was told he would not be going back.

is brother-in-laws threatened to harm him and his sister if he did not comply with their wishes, and by the end of his first week in Yorkshire he was being forcibly taken to factories in search of work.

He said: "All they wanted was someone to earn money for them. I was being treated like an animal.

"All my dignity and self-respect had been taken away and I was also worried about the threats to my sister. I was powerless to do anything to stop it."

Due to feelings of shame Mahmood decided not to tell his family back in Pakistan.

"My wife would wake me up in the middle of the night and beat me, demanding money, and when I did not have any, my brother-in-laws would come and punch me and beat my back with iron bars. It was a living hell."

For four years he was not allowed to meet his own sister, who lived at a separate address nearby, or even phone her, and the only contact they had was on a handful of occasions. She was also being beaten.

On one occasion, while she was pregnant, she was thrown down stairs, and on another she was punched in the face and pushed into a television...

Read more @ BBC News

A decision by a county court judge could mean thousands of borrowers being able to renege on their debts.

Judge Jacqueline Smart at South Shields county court has decided that the MBNA credit card company cannot demand the repayment of a customer's debt.

It tried to force Mrs Lynne Thorius to repay the £8,000 she owed on her card.

But the Judge decided there had been an unfair relationship between Mrs Thorius and MBNA because of the way she had been sold payment protection insurance.

Read more @ BBC News

Dozens dead in Indonesian quake

At least 75 people are dead and thousands are trapped under rubble after a strong earthquake shook the island of Sumatra, officials say.

The epicentre of the 7.6-magnitude quake was about 50km (30 miles) off the coast of the Indonesian island, near the city of Padang.

There are reports of widespread destruction to buildings and bridges.

It comes hours after a tsunami triggered by a separate South Pacific quake killed more than 100 people.

A tsunami watch issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in the wake of the Indonesian quake has been lifted.

Read more @ BBC News

London Justice Daphne Wickham rejects petition to have defense minister arrested for alleged war crimes, says he enjoys diplomatic immunity, cannot be prosecuted. Ruling said to coincide with UK Foreign Ministry recommendation

The London Court on Tuesday rejected a petition filed by a Palestinian attorney against Defense Minister Ehud Barak, demanding he be arrested for war crimes.

A Defense Ministry source said the petition was denied following a recommendation by the British Foreign Office.

Justice Daphne Wickham ruled rejected the claim altogether, saying that while the papers filed with the court seemed "serious," under international law Barak has diplomatic immunity and therefore cannot be prosecuted.

The petition, filed by Attorney Michel Massiah on behalf of Palestinian families hurt during the Gaza war, claims that Barak was the defense minister in the previous government as well, which was responsible for the IDF operation last December.

Read more @ ynetnews

The UN's main human rights watchdog has begun a debate on a damning report into Israel's military operation against Gaza eight months ago.

It is seen as a test of US engagement with the Human Rights Council, which was shunned by President George W Bush.

The US, which is Israel's main ally, has criticised elements of the report.

The report, widely lauded by human rights groups, accuses both Israel and its militant Palestinian adversary Hamas of war crimes in the campaign.

Read more @ BBC News

British Asians are hiring contract killers to carry out up to 100 murders in India every year, according to campaigners in rural Punjab state.

BBC Asian Network understands targets such as family or business associates are lured to the sub-continent, where assassins can be hired for just £500.

Punjab Police deny corruption allows the British Asians to evade justice.

Scotland Yard says it is aware of the problem. The Foreign Office says six British nationals are missing in India.

A member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, British-born Jassi Khangura, has investigated the trend which he believes claims the lives of between 50 and 100 overseas Indians every year.

Read more @ BBC News

As the UN climate summit in Copenhagen approaches, exhortations that "we must get a deal" and warnings that climate change is "the greatest challenge we face as a species" are to be heard in virtually every political forum.

But if you look back to the latest definitive check on the planet's environmental health - the Global Environment Outlook (Geo-4), published by the UN two years ago - what emerges is a picture of decline that goes way, way beyond climate change.

Species are going extinct at perhaps 1,000 times the normal rate, as key habitats such as forests, wetlands and coral reefs are plundered for human infrastructure.

Aquifers are being drained and fisheries exploited at unsustainable speed. Soils are becoming saline, air quality is a huge cause of illness and premature death; the human population is bigger than our one Earth can currently sustain.

So why, you might ask, are the world's political leaders not lamenting this big picture as loudly and as often as the climate component of it?

Has climate change hijacked the wider environmental agenda? If so, why? And does it matter?

Read more @ BBC News

Security and intelligence experts are deeply worried by a new development in suicide bombing, the BBC has learned.

It has emerged that an al-Qaeda bomber who died last month while trying to blow up a Saudi prince in Jeddah had hidden the explosives inside his body.

Only the attacker died, but it is feared that the new development could be copied by others.

Experts say it could have implications for airport security, rendering traditional metal detectors "useless".

Last month's bombing left people wondering how one of the most wanted al-Qaeda operatives in Saudi Arabia could get so close to the prince in charge of counter-terrorism that he was able to blow himself up in the same room.

Western forensic investigators think they have the answer, and it is worrying them profoundly.

The explosives, they believe, were detonated by mobile phone.

Read more @ BBC News

More than 10,000 people turned up for a free meal which was on offer in the centre of Middlesbrough.

Over the past six months 200 community groups have been growing fruit and vegetables as part of a multi-million pound healthy eating project.

The resulting harvest was being cooked up in a giant free food giveaway in the town's Centre Square.

Middlesbrough Council, which hosted the event - dubbed Town Meal - said it was delighted with the attendance.

Read more @ BBC News

A South African man is planning to marry four women in a two-day wedding ceremony, starting on Sunday.

Zulu businessman Milton Mbele, 44, is to marry the women aged between 22 and 35 in Ntlane village in Kwa-Zulu Natal and says he loves them all.

The brides are to take their vows together, answering "we do" when asked if they take Mr Mbele as their husband.

Polygamy is common in parts of Kwa-Zulu Natal but only the first wife is legally recognised.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, an ethnic Zulu, has three wives.

But it is not usual to marry more than one woman at the same time.

The four brides - Thobile Vilakazi, Zanele Langa, Baqinisile Mdlolo and Smangele Cele - all know each other.

Mr Mbele has paid a total of 33 cows in ilobolo, or bride-price, for his soon-to-be-brides...

Read more @ BBC News