1st Ld: Legislators approve China's first law against domestic violence

Chinese top legislature on Sunday adopted the country's first bill against domestic violence in a landmark move to bring traditionally silent abuse victims under legal protection.

The legislation was approved Sunday afternoon with landslide majority at the end of a week-long bimonthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee.

"The country prohibits any form of domestic violence," reads the new law, which formally defined domestic violence and streamlined the process for obtaining restraining orders - measures long advocated by anti-domestic abuse groups.

Domestic violence is defined as physical, psychological and other harm inflicted by family members, with beatings, injuries, restraint or forcible limits on physical liberty as well as recurring invectives and verbal threats listed as examples. Endi