Women

In a precedent for this male-dominated culture, the likeness of a woman will appear on a South Korean bank note, specifically the central bank's 50,000-won bill. The bill, worth about $36, will show a portrait and the work of painter and calligrapher Shin Saim-dang, who died in 1551. She has long been praised as a model of Confucian ideals.

There was a bit of a street brawl outside a pub, nothing too unusual on the face of it, except for what happened next. After pushing a few men out of the way, the 40 or so attackers revealed what they were really after: young women at the bar, whom they slapped, pummeled and yanked by the hair, in what they later justified as a bid to safeguard traditional Indian culture.

First there was the "healing through laughter" seminar. Then "Orit the Carpenter," sort of a lesbian Martha Stewart, took the microphone and yelled, "We have seen our share of candidates over the years . . . all oozing testosterone and ego. But I have news for them: We, the woman, can do this!" Later, transsexual pop star Dana International performed a bouncy disco song and announced, "I now formally invite you to the diva sisterhood."

Kim Bain-Moore is making history as the first woman to compete in the Bassmaster Classic, but many of the 50 male anglers she is fishing against aren't happy about it. They insist they have nothing personal against the 28-year-old Australian native; they just don't think she deserves a shot at the $500,000 first prize and the endorsements that come with a Classic victory.

Women in strained marriages are more likely than other wives to have high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease, researchers said today. Researchers at the University of Utah studied more than 300 couples who had been married for more than 20 years. Each couple answered questions about their relationship and mental state and took lab tests.

With AIDS vaccine efforts at an impasse, microbicides -- virus-blocking gels inserted into the vagina before sexual intercourse -- have risen from their own string of setbacks to once again offer hope of preventing HIV infections, at least in women. Microbicides blocked the primate form of the virus in monkeys in studies reported online Wednesday in the journal Nature and last month at an AIDS meeting.

Iraq's minister of state for women's affairs said Monday that she planned to withdraw her resignation after receiving pledges from aid organizations to help women. Nawal Samarai quit last month to protest the lack of resources for women, accusing the government of not making their needs a priority. But the Sunni Arab activist decided to return to her job after getting pledges for funds and support from international aid organizations.

One night. Fifteen fierce female comics. And it's all premiering tonight at . . . the Echoplex? Exactly! Breaking out of the regular comedy club is part of the idea behind "Elle O Elle" (LOL), a new bimonthly comedy show taking up residence at the Echo Park music venue. Sponsored by feminist pop culture magazine Bust and put together by the production team Comedy Is the New Black, Elle O Elle is an experiment with not only venue but also format, bringing together some of L.A.'

Friday night, as rapper Nina Dioz was making her U.S. debut at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, she slammed her microphone down midsong and started yelling expletives at the sound engineer from the stage, telling the crowd, "This place doesn't want me to give you the show you deserve." She had been asking for the bass to be turned up, to no avail. Nina Dioz, 23, is Mexico's answer to Grammy-nominated powerhouse M.I.A.

Two women, one a noted cancer researcher and the other an electrical engineering expert and veteran academic administrator, were nominated Friday to become chancellors at UC San Francisco and UC Davis, respectively. Currently, only one woman, Marye Anne Fox at UC San Diego, heads any of the system's 10 campuses.