A criminal gang in India has adopted an unorthodox, yet effective, method to avoid arrest: having women strip naked to distract police. The group is a timber mafia, dedicated to illegally chopping down trees in an eastern India forest in the Jharkhand state. The women are paid to strip in front of officers who are too embarrased, or too distracted, to hunt the criminals down, allowing more than enough time for escape.

New gender equality laws were submitted to Beijing, following a meeting of lawmakers. State media reports sexual harassment offenses face crimimal charges under changes to laws aimed at protecting women's rights.

The Associated Press report that grapefruit makes women appear younger. A study by the Smell and Taste Institute in Chicago was conducted to determine what makes a women smell young. Institute director Dr. Alan Hirsch reportedly smeared several middle-aged woman subjects with broccoli, banana, spearmint leaves, lavender and grapefruit.

Inspired by those sporting signs on roadsides such as, "Will work for food," a Nebraska man is seeking the one thing he's willing to work for - a wife. And he's apparently willing to do whatever it take to find one. Harold is 45, single, and in the market for a spouse. His efforts include the purchasing of a billboard with the message "Wife Wanted: willworkforawife. org, 'Walk by Faith, Not by Sight. '"

Modjadji VI, the South African queen believed to make rain, has died in hospital, just two years after being crowned. Makobo Modjadji was a descendant from a line of rain queens dating back at least 200 years, and the youngest ever to head southern Africa's only female dynasty ruling the Balobedu people in the country's northern Limpopo province.