Mali: Backflip on Women's Rights

From Daniel Howden @ the Independent:

Muslim leaders in Mali were declaring victory yesterday after seeing off a new law that would have improved women's rights in the country.

President Amadou Toumani Touré refused to sign a new legally binding family code, passed earlier this month by parliament, that would have meant women no longer had to obey their husbands. The new code instead called for husbands and wives to "owe each other loyalty and protection".

The President was forced to back down after a string of mass protests in the mainly-Muslim West African nation.