THE U.S. State Department has approved of Afghan resident Hamid Karzai's decision to review a law for the country's Shiite Muslim minority that the United Nations says legalises marital rape. The law, which applies to the 19 pr cent of Afghanistan's 33 million people who are still Shiite, says a husband can have sex with his wife every four days unless she is ill. President Barack Obama, who has made women's rights a central part of U.S. domestic and foreign policy, described the law as "abhorrent", Bloomberg reports. The law also forbids a woman from working or being educated without her husband's permission, limits women's property rights and bans them from leaving home without spouse approval, the UN said. The Afghan Justice Ministry said the law isn't being enforced while it is under review, Associated Press reported. 

The man appointed to liquidate Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC wants to hire lawyers in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands to help track down and protect customer assets. The trustee, Irving Picard, who is responsible for conducting an investigation of Madoff's assets and actions, has also recently sought permission to appoint attorneys to represent him in Gibraltar and Luxembourg.  

Lovells, one of London's top firms, appears to be fighting a losing battle with vermin. The firm's London managing partner sent staff an email last year asking them not to leave food on their desks due to a "significant increase in mice sightings", RollOnFriday reports. But after a case of all squeak and no action, mice now have the free run of Atlantic House. Apparently the quiet background murmur of keyboards and conference calls is occasionally punctuated by screams as a rodent is spotted darting from hiding spot under a desk to little crack in the wall.