In the News

Feminist author Betty Friedan dies at 85

WASHINGTON – Betty Friedan, whose manifesto “The Feminine Mystique” became a best seller in the 1960s and laid the groundwork for the modern feminist movement, died Saturday, her birthday. She was 85.

Friedan died at her home of congestive heart failure, according to a cousin, Emily Bazelon.

Few books have so profoundly changed so many lives as did Friedan’s 1963 best seller. Her assertion that a woman needed more than a husband and children was a radical break from the Eisenhower era, when the very idea of a wife doing any work outside of house work was fodder for gag writers, like an episode out of “I Love Lucy.”

The book “opened women’s minds to the idea that there actually might be something more,” said Kim Gandy, current president of the National Organization for Women, which Friedan co-founded. “And for the women who secretly harbored such unpopular thoughts, it told them that there were other women out there like them who thought there might be something more to life.”

Army teaches troops how to pick a spouse

WASHINGTON – U.S. Army chaplains are trying to teach troops how to pick the right spouse through a program called “How To Avoid Marrying a Jerk.”

The matchmaking advice comes as military family life is being stressed by two tough wars. Defense Department records show more than 56,000 in the Army-active, National Guard and Reserve-have divorced since the campaign in Afghanistan began in 2001.

Officials partly blame long and repeated deployments that started after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and stretched the service thin.

The Army hopes the “no jerks” program will help couples decide if they are ready for a long-term commitment and can cope with the unique stresses of military life.

Iran reported to U.N. over nuclear arms fears

VIENNA, Austria -The International Atomic Energy Agency reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council on Saturday over fears it wants to produce nuclear arms, raising the stakes in the diplomatic confrontation and prompting Tehran to threaten immediate retaliation.

Of the board’s 35 member nations, 27 voted for referral, reflecting more than two years of intense lobbying by the United States and its allies to enlist broad backing for such a move.

Washington critics Cuba, Venezuela and Syria voted against referral, and the other five nations abstained.

After years of opposition, Russia and China backed the referral last week, bringing support from other nations, including India, which had been waiting for their lead. But in return, Moscow and Beijing demanded that the Americans-and France and Britain, the two other veto-wielding Security Council members-agree to let the Iran issue rest until at least March.

1,000 feared lost on doomed Egyptian ferry

SAFAGA, Egypt – The series of tragic errors that apparently claimed more than 1,000 lives on an Egyptian ferry escalated when the crew decided to push across the Red Sea despite the fire burning in the aging vessel’s parking bay, survivors said Saturday.

The Al-Salaam Boccaccio 98 had sailed only about 20 miles from the Saudi shore, but its crew instead tried to reach Egypt’s shores 110 miles away. Only 376 survivors had been rescued by late Saturday.

Despite the fire, the ship had managed to get within about 55 miles of the Egyptian port of Hurghada, according to official accounts.

Four Egyptian rescue ships reached the scene Friday afternoon, about 10 hours after the ferry was believed to have capsized.

Many survivors complained that crew members discouraged them from putting on life jackets and said they did nothing to put lifeboats in service when it became obvious the ship would sink.