Mali

While rights groups are celebrating a newly-adopted family code in Mali that changes marriage laws and expands girls' rights, Muslim leaders and youths have vowed, even threatening violence, to block the code from becoming law. The code - under discussion for 10 years before its adoption on August 3- includes more than 1,100 new articles, including setting the legal minimum age for marriage at 18, abolishing the death penalty, recognizing only secular marriages and expanding inheritance rights to girls. The code must be approved by the president to become law. (IRIN)