Man stands trial for murdering wife in New Zealand

WELLINGTON, June 2 (Xinhua) -- A man stood trial on Tuesday in Auckland on charges of murdering his wife and abandoning his young daughter at a railway station in Melbourne.

Nai Yin Xue, 55, of Chinese origin, was charged with murdering his wife An An Liu, 28, in September 2007.

When asked to enter a plea in the High Court in Auckland on Tuesday, Xue denied that he was guilty, saying that he was innocent, Radio New Zealand reported.

The jury has been selected and is made up of 12 women.

Qian Xun Xue, 3, was found alone in Melbourne a few days before her mother's body was discovered in the boot of a car in Auckland, according to the report, which did not tell when the body was found.

Xue was arrested months later in the United States.

No further reports about the case are available.

Nagging wife for sale

BEIJING, March 16 (Xinhuanet) -- "Nagging Wife. No Tax, No MOT. Very high maintenance -- some rust," says an advertisement a British builder puts up for sale of his wife and in return he gets several offers.

Bates, a self-employed builder from Gloucestershire, fed up with his wife's complaints for doing something small advertised her for sale in a small ad in Trade-It, more usually used to buy and sell cars or household goods.

The 38-year-old self-employed builder from Gloucestershire, southwest England, snapped after his wife Donna, 40, got on his nerves while she was watching television and decided to place the ad as a joke.

"She was nagging me for doing something small, while she was watching some rubbish on TV. So I just thought I'd put an ad in to get rid of her.

"I didn't think anyone would ring up but I've had at least nine or 10 people calling about her. It's gone mad. There was no one I knew -- just people asking, 'Is she still available?'"

The couple married last year.

(Agencies)

Saudi man splits up with wife through SMS

BEIJING, April 10 (Xin***) -- A Saudi man divorced
his wife via text message, *** it the first known case of snapping nuptial
ties through the modern technology in Saudi Arabia.

The man was in Iraq when he sent the SMS "I divorce
you" writtenthrice through a text message to his spouse. He followed up
with a telephone call to two of his relatives, the daily Arab News reported.

A court in the Red Sea city of Jeddah finalised the
split after summoning the two relatives to check they had received word of the
husband's intention, the *** said.

Saudi Arabia practises a strict form of Islamic
Sharia law, under which a man could divorce his wife by simply saying "I divorce
you" three times.

(Agencies)