Saudi women take the wheel as longstanding driving ban ends

Saudi women drove to work and ran errands on Sunday, relishing the freedom to move about without relying on men after the kingdom lifted the world’s last remaining ban on women driving.

It’s a historic moment for women who have been at the mercy of their husbands, fathers, brothers and drivers to move around. The ban had relegated women to the backseat, restricting when they could meet friends, where they could spend their time and how they could plan out their day.

Belarus police arrest over 400 protesters; many are beaten

Police in Belarus cracked down hard Saturday on opposition protesters who tried to hold a forbidden demonstration in the capital — a human rights group said more than 400 people were arrested and many were beaten.

The demonstrators had hoped to build on a rising wave of defiance of the former Soviet republic's authoritarian government, led by President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled since 1994.

India plans surrogacy ban for foreigners, unmarried couples

The Indian government plans to ban foreigners, single parents and gay couples from using India's surrogacy services under a proposed law intended to protect poor women from exploitation.

Only infertile couples who have been married for at least five years could seek a surrogate, who must be a close relative, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said Wednesday.

Parts of India ban daytime cooking as hundreds die of heat

With sizzling temperatures claiming more than 300 lives this month in India, officials said they were banning daytime cooking in some parts of the drought-stricken country in a bid to prevent accidental fires that have killed nearly 80 more people.

The eastern state of Bihar this week took the unprecedented step of forbidding any cooking between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., after accidental fires exacerbated by dry, hot and windy weather swept through shantytowns and thatched-roof houses in villages and killed 79 people. They included 10 children and five adults killed in a fire sparked during a Hindu prayer ceremony in Bihar's Aurangabad district last week.

Rights group: Release Indian folk singer accused of sedition

An international rights group on Tuesday demanded the release of an Indian folk singer arrested on charges including sedition for writing songs criticizing a state official for not banning liquor sales.

Police arrested S. Kovan on Friday for accusing J. Jayalalitha, the chief minister of southern Tamil Nadu state, and her government of profiting from state-run liquor shops at the expense of the poor. A large number of poor people die in India every year from drinking cheap tainted liquor.

AP Interview: Iran partially opens stadium doors to women

A limited number of Iranian women will be allowed to watch Volleyball World League games in Tehran later this month, a senior government official has told The Associated Press, part of a government move to allow women and families to attend male sporting events.