CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Charleston radio station is observing Valentine’s Day with a reminder that Cupid sometimes misses his mark. WKLC-FM, better known as Rock 105, is giving away a free divorce.

Valentine’s Day isn’t all hearts and flowers, says WKLC Program Director Jay Nunley. There is a darker side, he said, “where maybe you despise your spouse and resent the entire day.”

Through 4 p.m. on Thursday, Valentine’s Day, applications for the free divorce will be accepted on the classic rock station’s Web site, http://www.wklc.com. The winning name will be drawn at 5 p.m.

Nunley cautions that this is a real divorce and people shouldn’t enter if they aren’t serious. Also, people expecting a long, drawn-out legal battle should hire a lawyer because the Rock 105 contest is for a relatively uncomplicated divorce.

Charleston attorney Rusty Webb will handle the actual filing.

“Sure we can give away concert tickets, and we do,” said Nunley. “That’s going to make you happy for a little while. This is the chance to make someone happy for the rest of their life.”

CAIRO (AFP) – An Egyptian woman is seeking clarification from a court on whether her husband’s declaration of divorce by text message is legally valid, a state-run newpsaper reported on Thursday.

After missing a call from her husband on her mobile phone, Iqbal Abul Nasr received a text message from him saying “I divorce you because you didn’t answer your husband,” Al-Akhbar said.

In line with sharia (Islamic law) men do not need to go to court to file for divorce. A unilateral declaration of divorce by a man, repeated three times, formally ends a marriage.

It was the third time Abul Nasr, an engineer from Cairo, received a divorce text message from her husband, prompting her to seek a legal decision from the a family court on the status of her marriage.

If the court declares the couple divorced, it would be the first reported case of divorce by SMS in Egypt.

The subject of divorce by SMS has been highly debated across the Muslim world and some Islamic countries like Malaysia have banned the practice.

According to Egypt’s state-run statistics bureau, a couple files for divorce every six minutes in Egypt.

VIENNA (Reuters) – Want to get divorced but not sure how it works? Need advice on how you discover if your partner is cheating on you?

Help is at hand in Vienna where the world’s first “divorce fair” opened its doors on Saturday.

Titled “New Beginning”, the fair hopes to attract those wanting or having to separate. Untying the knot has never been so easy.

Visitors have a chance to speak to lawyers and counsellors as well as private detectives and real estate agents.

Dating agencies advise on how to find love again, travel agencies on how to spend holidays without a partner.

A paternity testing firm helps those seeking certainty about their offspring while a party organiser gives tips on how to celebrate the break-up in style.

Many visitors making their way from stall to stall already had experience of parting ways with a loved one. Silvia, 49, got divorced six years ago and is in a new relationship.

“I just wanted to get some information ahead of time, just to be prepared for the eventuality that such a terrible thing could happen again,” said Silvia, not giving her full name.

“Normally you don’t think of these things, you have butterflies, you love each other, you want to live together. But I already got burned.”

Around half of all Austrian marriages end in divorce. The rate is even higher in the capital Vienna where 66 percent of all couples opt to break up.

Organiser Anton Barz got the idea for the fair when he heard friends talk about their experiences during break-ups.

“There were so many stories and people needed to go to one place, then to another, and then somewhere else again to get all the information together, which was really painful for them,” said Barz, who used to organise wedding fairs.

“So I thought: Let’s have a divorce fair.”

MEDIATOR HELP

Besides getting one-on-one advice, visitors can listen to talks from charities on what a divorce is like for the children involved or how a mediator can help.

The two-day fair, which moves to the central Austrian city of Linz in three weeks, has touched a nerve around the globe.

“I had requests for information on how to hold a divorce fair from Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Australia and even California,” said Barz.

A disillusioned air surrounded many visitors to the Viennese fair including a 63-year-old man who is separated from his second wife.

“My wife doesn’t want get to divorced because she is hoping to get my pension,” he said, without wishing to give his name.

“My lawyer told me I am the biggest idiot ever because I got married the second time round and asked me how I could do such a thing?”

But others were not yet ready to give up on matrimony.

“I never wanted to get married in the first place — and now I have been married three times and I have four children,” said 49-year-old Gabriele Komma.

She divorced nearly a year ago “but I would get married again. After all, hope is the last thing that dies.”

VIENNA (AFP) – Vienna is to host what organisers have dubbed the world’s first “divorce fair” this month, aimed at couples whose wedding dreams have turned sour and who need help in untying the knot as painlessly as possible.

At the October 27-28 event, would-be divorcees can consult, anonymously if they wish, a whole host of lawyers and mediators on their rights and obligations, and seek advice on frequently difficult questions, such as alimony and child access.

They can also consult experts on how best to organise their new post-married lives.

Nearly 50 percent of all marriages in Austria end in divorce — the figure is 66 percent in Vienna — and the two-day fair is being held under the motto: “Start your life afresh”. Organisers are hoping it will bloom into a twice-yearly event.

Up to 20 exhibitors have so far registered, not only lawyers and mediators, but also estate agents, life-crisis experts and — reflecting the messier side of divorce — private detective firms and DNA laboratories offering paternity tests.

The archdiocese of the city of Vienna will also have a stand, as will a company offering package holidays for freshly divorced people.

There will also be a series of lectures ranging from a children’s view of divorce to single-parenting.

NEW YORK (AFP) – Talk about burying the past. A New York divorcee has come up with a solution for failed marriages — a miniature coffin to lay those unwanted wedding rings to rest.

“Give a dead marriage its proper, final resting place,” the company offering the miniature caskets says on its website.

“The Wedding Ring Coffin is the perfect gift for yourself or a loved one for bringing closure after a divorce. It’s time to bury the past and move on to a new tomorrow,” it says.

The 15 by five centimeter (six by two inch) solid wood coffin has a black velvet ring insert, a choice of six brass plaques inscribed with messages including “I do NOT!” and “Six feet isn’t deep enough,” and costs 30 dollars.

“It’s a way to acknowledge the death of a marriage and to physically and symbolically close the lid on that chapter of your life,” Jill Testa, who came up with the idea, told the New York Post.

“Most people just stick their rings in the bottom of their jewelry box, in a corner of a sock or underwear drawer,” added Testa, who surprisingly describes her own divorce after 20 years of marriage as amicable.

Her company, Wedding Ring Coffin, even offers cards inviting people to join in your marriage wake, featuring the slogan: “You’re invited to my divorce party. Join me as I close the lid on my marriage.”

THE HAGUE (AFP) – Celebrity ex-wives will urge anguished divorcees to burn their wedding gowns in an act of liberation as part of a new series planned for Dutch and French television.

“Ex-Wives Club” will see three famous divorcees, including Rosalie van Breemen, the former spouse of actor Alain Delon, advise other women on how to get over their break-up, Dutch programme makers RTL said on Tuesday.

The show begins on channel RTL 5 on Monday and a version starring the ex-wives of American actor George Clooney, English singer Brian Ferry and a former minister is also being considered for French channel TF1.

“A pilot show has been taped and TF1 will probably make a series,” Van Breemen told Dutch news agency ANP.

In the show, she helps the divorced contestants express their anger in several ways, including by burning their wedding dresses, RTL said.

The former model told the Dutch news agency ANP that the French version would be more restrained than the original, something she regretted, saying the Dutch show was “more harsh and dramatic”.