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Festival day in rural north-east Thailand is traditionally a day of feasting and dancing. For Lek Sankaprom, it is also an annual homecoming.

She has spent the past 14 years living in Switzerland, running a restaurant in Basel with her Swiss husband.

But on festival day she is happy to be back home, picnicking outside with her friends and family.

Lek is not alone in her choice of partner. Of the 540 households in Baan Jarn, at least 100 can boast a foreign son-in-law, almost invariably living in Switzerland.

Like clockwork, the wives come home every year bearing gifts.

To many Thais, Baan Jarn is known as the Swiss village - though it is surrounded emerald-green rice paddies rather than snow-capped mountains.

Scores of tall white-washed villas with tiled roofs stand out from the normal wood-and-concrete homes built in the area.

Wedged between her greying Swiss husband and her somewhat tipsy friends, 39-year-old Lek frowned when asked about local attitudes to those who marry foreigners.

"It's normal here. They accept me," she said. "I have many friends here who also married foreign men."

'Growing trend'

The spread of foreign husbands is sending ripples through many villages in Isaan, a region of north-east Thailand where rural poverty has often forced both men and women to seek opportunities elsewhere.

Researchers believe at least 15,000 Isaan women are married to foreign men, part of a growing trend over the last few decades.

These women are known as "mia farang", or foreigners' wives.

The men typically take their wives back home with them, but the couples often send money to Thailand, which pays for houses, cars and even roads.

Their remittances inject around $35m a year into the region's economy, according to the government's National Economic and Social Development Board. This amounts to 6% of the agricultural region's annual economic output.

The windfall has prompted the governor of Roi Et province, where Baan Jarn is located, to try to recruit mia farang to promote regional handicrafts and tourism.

He argues that they can become ambassadors for a region of Thailand that sees few of the 10 million foreign tourists that arrive in the country annually.

The idea has already run into problems because few foreigners' wives live locally, while many of those who do take a dim view of the governor's emphasis on profits.

Sex-trade 'links'

Behind the economic data lies a tangled tale of social norms and discrimination.

In this region of Thailand, relationships between foreign men and Thai women are often viewed through the lens of the country's booming sex trade.

Although everyone insists their sister or daughter met their foreign partners while working as maids, cleaners or cooks, suspicions die hard.

In Baan Jarn, local residents bristle at questions about the trade that lies behind the lofty villas and brand new motorbikes.

"Go away, I don't want to talk to journalists," said one young man, his friendly smile quickly dissolving into a hard stare.

One resident explained that recent media reports had distorted the village's image, by suggesting that many young women wanted to become mia farang.

Researchers say much of the stigma attached to these relationships has begun to fade in recent years, although the stereotypes have yet to completely go away.

"Society has changed in the last 30 years. Now you have television [and] the internet," said Decha Vanichvanod, director of the research centre which commissioned the survey of foreigners' wives.

"People say, okay, if you want to marry, it should be your own choice."

Local officials in Baan Jarn point to the positive qualities of the foreign sons-in-law whose wealth has transformed the village in the past 20 years.

"Even the old men are starting to change their attitude," said Saksri Khomdet, a village chief.

"Before they worried that the women would move overseas and not be treated respectfully," he said.

But foreign husbands say local people's acceptance of them is often more about hard currency than Isaan customs.

They point out that the Roi Et governor's enthusiasm for mia farang is mostly based on their economic yield.

"Sure, everyone wants a foreign son-in-law. They know it means a ready source of income," said a German who married a local woman three years ago.

By Simon Montlake
Baan Jarn, Thailand

BBC News

Vietnam's first condom vending machine has been put into operation at a bar in the capital, Hanoi, as part of a national campaign to reduce HIV rates.

Correspondents say the use of condoms in Vietnam is low, partly due to the stigma of buying them, and a perception amongst men that they degrade virility.

Some 80,000 people have been diagnosed HIV-positive in Vietnam, according to official reports.

Independent experts say nearly four times as many are probably infected.

More condom dispensers are to be installed in bars, cafes and public toilets in Hanoi as the campaign continues.

"I am very surprised and curious to find out how it works - it's very useful thing to have," engineer Le Van Dy, 65, told Reuters news agency.

"This trade needs to be kept secret and done fast. It is very awkward to buy the stuff from pharmacies," he said.

BBC News

Sex, violence and swearing has increased significantly in US movies over the past decade, a study suggests.

Ratings have also become more lenient during the period, according to a study by Harvard University.

Researchers suggested that the "ratings creep" indicted the Motion Picture Association of America was relaxing ratings standards.

They called for improvements to the current US system that rates new films for suitability.

Animation

The research carried out by the Kids Risk Project at the Harvard School of Public Health found that films rated parental guidance (PG) and parental guidance for children under 13 (PG-13) had become more violent between 1992 and 2003.

They also concluded there was also more sexual content in films rated PG, PG-13, and R, which requires children under 17 to be accompanied by an adult.

Kimberly Thompson, from the Kids Risk Project, said: "It's time for a significant research effort to explore the development and creation of a universal media rating system."

Animated films rated G - for family viewing - were also found to contain more violence than non-animated films with the same rating.

The study concluded: "Parents must recognise their responsibility in choosing appropriate films with and for their children, and in discussing the messages in films with children to mediate any potential adverse effects and reinforce any potential beneficial effects."

BBC News

The number of new cases of sexually- transmitted diseases diagnosed every year in Birmingham and the Black Country has gone up by 70% since 1997.

Figures from the Department of Health revealed a rise of 44% in Shropshire and Staffordshire during that time.

There has been an increase of 35% in Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

The independent MP for Wyre Forest, Worcestershire, retired GP Dr Richard Taylor, said the rise is "terrifying".

Dr Taylor, who is a member of the Commons Health Committee, said: "What has really alarmed me is the return of syphilis.

"This is a medieval disease which was virtually conquered back in the 1950s."

He also claimed people have become a "bit blase" about using condoms.

Dr Taylor added: "They were warned about HIV, and the epidemic didn't emerge as feared.

"In fact HIV is still a potential worldwide epidemic, as the situation in parts of Africa tells us. Other diseases can also be extremely serious."

Education revamp

The committee conducted an inquiry into the treatment and prevention of sexually-transmitted diseases last year.

In its report it said teenage sexual advice clinics run by health workers should be established at secondary schools and nightclubs.

The MPs also recommended another revamp of school lessons which, they say, often concentrate on the biological aspects of sex, without giving enough time to the emotional aspects.

Dr Taylor said that during the inquiry he was stunned at people's lack of awareness about how STDs are contracted.

He added: "We spoke to people who believed that if the girl was on the pill, to prevent pregnancy, it would prevent sexually-transmitted diseases."

A total of 18,484 new cases are diagnosed every year in the region.

BBC News

A German company that offers alibis for love rats who want a fling on the side has proved so successful that it is now expanding abroad.

The Perfect Alibi agency has been such a success in providing straying Germans with plausible excuses for a weekend away that it is to open an office in Austria next month.

Perfect Alibi head Jens Schlingensief says he gets around 350 customers a month coming to him for the perfect excuse to give their wives, husbands or partners.

The lies can cost as little as £5 for a reassuring SMS to be sent to a distrustful spouse, or as much as £40 for an invitation to a weekend seminar.

Schlingensief says: "The favourite of our services is the written invitation. First we send an invitation for a business meeting and include with it a description of the seminar and the costs.

"While the partner believes their loved one has gone to Hamburg for the weekend for example, our customer is free to take their lover wherever they like."

Perfect Alibi employers then sit by a fake telephone all weekend fielding calls from partners by pretending to be the hotel receptionist and then secretly transferring the calls to the customer's mobile.

Schlingensief says he does not know his clients personally and the majority use his services over the internet. But he says he does ask for enough information to make sure his alibis are "watertight".

"I have to know enough about the client to make sure his or her alibi fits. There's no point sending a fork-lift truck driver to a doctor's conference," he said.

And Schlingensief says he doesn't suffer any sleepless nights over the fact that he provides people with bare-faced lies.

"Lies, necessary lies, is something you can discuss for a long time. That is a moral aspect. But I don't have any such thoughts. We are providing a service in modern-day Germany."

Ananova.com

Free condoms are to be given to young people in North Yorkshire to cut the number of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

Under the Selby and York primary care trust's campaign, condoms will be given to people thought to be most at risk.

They include young people between the ages of 16 and 25, homeless people and those travelling abroad.

The NHS trust said one-third of 16 to 19 year olds use no contraception the first time they have sex.

The NHS trust has launched a 10-year "teenage pregnancy strategy" for the City of York and North Yorkshire.

The strategy's main aim is to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies across North Yorkshire though education, guidance and advice.

BBC News

The number of people being infected with sexually transmitted diseases in Leicestershire is rising.

Figures from Eastern Leicester and Leicester City West Primary care trusts show a rise in the number of people attending health clinics.

About 10,000 people attended the clinics in 2000, but that rose to 14,000 last year.

Health experts say there was an increase in the number of men with chlamydia, gonorrhoea, HIV and herpes.

For women, chlamydia and HIV were on the rise.

BBC News

Mobile phone giant Vodafone is barring its customers from logging onto adult websites through their handsets in a bid to keep children away from porn.

Vodafone users will need to prove they are over 18 before firewalls are lifted on pornographic websites or chat rooms dealing with adult themes.

It claims to be the first mobile phone operator in the world to launch a system to control internet access.

A filter will be used to identify websites of a pornographic nature.

Access denied

Customers will be unable to access adult websites unless they specifically "opt in" and demand that the cyberspace blindfold is removed.

To remove the electronic filter, Vodafone customers will have to provide their credit card details either online, over the phone or by visiting a high street outlet.

Vodafone is banking on the fact that only adults have access to a credit card, although it admits this system of verification is not failsafe.

Al Russell, head of content services at Vodafone UK, accepted that children could use their parent's credit card to register.

"There has to be an element of parental supervision", he said. "They will also be able to spot on their credit card bill whether it has been used as part of the verification process."

Content control

There are around 47 million mobile phones in use in the UK, and more than 16 million of them have some form of internet access. This is expected to accelerate as more hi-tech "third generation" handsets scour the market.

Vodafone's decision to stop access to "unmoderated" chat rooms is designed to prevent paedophiles using handset technology to "groom" children for abuse.

Its new Content Control system came into force on 2 July and is born out of a code of practice agreed by the UK's six largest mobile phone operators in January.

With the explosion in new technology and now handheld internet access, child porn offences have rocketed by 1,500% since 1988, according to children's charity NCH.

John Carr, internet consultant for the charity, said: "What we would like now is for the mainstream internet industry to do the same thing."

Other mobile operators say they are currently working on similar content control barring devices.

BBC News

The sexual health of people living in the North West has reached crisis levels, according to experts.

The warning comes as a study by the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University revealed an increase in HIV infections.

The number of new HIV infections in the region was the biggest since regional monitoring began in 1996.

A total of 725 new HIV and Aids cases were reported in 2003 - a regional increase of 18% from 2002.

There are now 2,988 people in the North West living with HIV/Aids, which is also the highest level since regional figures became available in 1996, and a 23% on last year.

Other sexually transmitted diseases, such as chlamydia and syphilis, are at epidemic levels in some parts of the region.

The centre's Professor Mark Bellis said: "Over the last ten years sexual health in the North West has deteriorated rapidly and is now at crisis levels.

"We urgently need better sex education in schools, widespread promotion of condoms in the media and additional investment in increasingly overstretched treatment services."

He was backed by a host of sexual health experts from across the North West.

Professor Qutub Syed, director of the Health Protection Agency North West, said: "The increased incidence of sexually transmitted infections in the North West and across the country is truly shocking.

'Sexual lottery'

"People need to wake up to the reality of a very serious situation and start taking responsibility for their own actions and for those of their partners."

"HIV is not something that happened in the 1980s. It is a real and present danger and we are seeing more and more new cases, year after year.

"There are also significant levels of syphilis and chlamydia in Manchester and other major centres.

"People must understand that unprotected sex is a lottery and a gamble that is not worth taking."

Safer sex plea

Dr. Penny Cook, Senior Lecturer in Communicable Diseases at John Moores, who compiled the latest figures, added: "A significant number of people are continuing to ignore the advice about safe sex.

"These risks are unnecessary when STIs can be prevented by simply wearing a condom during sex whoever you are, whoever you're with and wherever you are."

Regional Director for Public Health John Ashton said parents had to teach their children about the need for safer sex.

He said: "I am concerned that although the North West was at the leading edge when it came to responding to this epidemic in the 1980s, complacency now seems to have set in.

"This is part of a wider problem that in this country, parents do not talk with their children about matters to do with sex.

"Not to do this is putting our young children at risk."

HIV/Aids rates in the North West COUNTY 2003 2002 % increase Cumbria 75 63 19 Lancashire 458 398 15 Merseyside & Cheshire 580 467 24 Greater Manchester 1703 1371 24 Out of region 112 98 14 Unknown 60 32 88 TOTAL 2988 2429 23 Source: Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University

BBC News

A Czech condom manufacturer has been distributing penis-measuring postcards in thousands of pubs and clubs.

The cards issued by Pepino condom company have a centimetre scale to measure length and four openings to measure girth, according to Czech daily Lidove Noviny.

They carry the slogan "Be a man, measure yourself. It's worth it," and award points for length and girth. It encourages men to add up their total to see how they measure up and which group they belong to.

The lowest category is 'primates', followed by 'jackals', 'boars', and 'bulls' at the top.

The company wants the target audience of 15-30-year-old men to send text messages with their details. They'll then be entered into a prize draw.

Josef Vybranec, head of Pepino's parent company Olza Trading, told the paper the campaign had been a huge success.

"Several thousand text messages have arrived in the first week. So far, the measurements put most of the men in the 'boar' category," he said.

The company is printing a million of the cards and plans to distribute them in magazines also.

"We wanted to have a more entertaining promotion and so far there have been no complaints," said Vybranec.

Ananova.com