Beijing

China makes it easier for couples to say ‘I do’

On Wednesday, China eliminated a much-resented requirement for couples to obtain their bosses’ approval before tying the knot, prompting thousands of couples to wed in what, for some, was also a celebration of the retreat of outside interference in their private lives.

Couples lined up as early as 5 a.m. outside marriage registration offices. Restaurants and hotel banquet halls were booked solid in major cities, and Beijing’s streets were clogged with flower-bedecked motorcades.

The new marriage rules are among social reforms that increasingly are freeing private lives from unpopular government controls. Also beginning Wednesday, couples won’t be required to get health checks to marry or get government mediation when attempting to divorce.

New Hampshire

Libertarians choose ‘free state’ for migration

A group of libertarians announced a project Wednesday to get 20,000 Americans to move to New Hampshire and work to transform it into a “free state” with fewer laws, smaller government and greater liberty.

New Hampshire, whose motto is “Live Free or Die,” beat out nine other finalists for the Free State Project. Wyoming was runner-up in balloting conducted by about 5,000 members of the project around the country, vice president Elizabeth McKinstry said.

The 5,000 members have already pledged to move to the selected state, Free State Project organizers said. They hope to increase their numbers to 20,000 within two years and start transforming the state into a national model of liberty.

Indonesia

Third death sentence issued in Bali bombings

A top organizer of last year’s deadly nightclub attacks on Indonesia’s Bali island was sentenced early today to death by firing squad.

Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas, was “proven guilty of planning a terrorist action … and we the judges sentence him to death,” Judge Cokorda Rai Suamba said.

Ghufron is the third defendant in the case to be sentenced to death for the Oct. 12 attack that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. Sixteen others have received prison terms ranging from seven years to life.

Washington, D.C.

Higher suicide rates linked with implants

A series of studies has found a surprisingly high suicide rate among women who have had cosmetic breast implants, sparking a new controversy about the procedure just as the Food and Drug Administration weighs whether to allow silicone gel implants back on the market.

The latest study, published Wednesday, found that Finnish women who had cosmetic implants were more than three times more likely to commit suicide than the general population — in line with findings from a similar study of Swedish women and one of American women conducted by the National Cancer Institute.

California

Schwarzenegger gives plan for taking office

Buoyed by a new poll that has him leading all recall candidates less than a week before the election, Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday outlined what the first 100 days of a Schwarzenegger administration would look like.

“We are ready to take office,” he told a crowd of about 400 supporters in Sacramento.

The actor repeated a number of pledges made earlier in his campaign. On his first day in office, he said, he would repeal the tripling of the state car tax, then move to have the state budget audited and call a special session of the Legislature to deal with spending cuts.