AN EYE ON... divorce

New Zealand: Bidders at a charity auction in Blenheim will be able to buy a divorce donated by a local solicitor. It must be used by the end of 1999, and be amicable and between a couple who have been separated for two years. Last year, the auction offered a vasectomy.

United States: A man is on trial in Janesville, Wisconsin, accused of sexually assaulting his wife. The woman, aged 34, whose name has not been released, says that they agreed to a chaste, sexless marriage, "a Christian marriage of companionship". The 67-year-old man said no such agreement was ever made. He filed for divorce five weeks after the marriage.

Egypt: A court in Cairo has denied a divorce petition from a man who converted from Coptic Christianity to Islam. The Coptic church only rarely allows divorce, while under Islamic law, a man has a right to automatic divorce. But the court viewed his decision to convert while the case was pending as an attempt to circumvent the law. The man claimed his wife was not doing her "marital duties".