You have to be home every night by 10 p.m. and can only use the phone for 10 minutes a night. These are examples of the real life circumstances South Asian American women find themselves in. Melindah Sharma and Carol Gomez, founders of the Boston-based Trafficking Victims Outreach & Services Network, spoke at the Pell Center recently on the issues of immigrant exploitation, trafficking, and domestic abuse that affect society today.

White Sands Missile Range, N.M. – During World War II, 75,000 American and Philippine troops were captured by Japanese soldiers in 1942 on the peninsula of Bataan in the Philippines. After three months of continuous fighting without food, medicine, or ammunition resupply, the Japanese soldiers forcibly took the allied troops over against their will.

Super-sized fast-food combos. Piles of pasta. Dessert. Dining out can be a disaster for those waging war against the waistline.

But a new Web site _ healthydiningfinder.com _ allows consumers to plug in a city or zip code, and up pops a list of restaurants in the area with a selection of menu items that meet certain healthy criteria, such as lower calories and fat content.

It was Wednesday evening. 8:30 p.m. to be exact. Girls were sprinting in their least graceful strides with one leg in a leotard and the other limping along desperately trying to keep up with her show-off counterpart. This marked the fourth consecutive day of four hour rehearsals, hence the indifference of seeming less than poised.

* Twenty percent off the total price of your purchase when you open a credit card.
* Ten dollars off today’s purchase just for trying on a pair of pants.
* A $25 coupon just to keep you coming back.

It certainly seems as though shopping is better in the winter, judging from some of the special offers from Newport’s retail stores.