Women’s progress in not possible without assistance of men: Senior Bangladesh official
By NNN-BSS,
Dhaka, Bangladesh : Education Adviser of Bangladesh caretaker government Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman y said advancement of women could not be possible without the assistance of their counterparts.
"Cooperation of men is very much needed to ensure progress of the women," he said while addressing as the chief guest the inaugural session of the two-day South Asian Soroptimist Conference at the Spectra Convention Centre at Gulshan in the city on Friday.
Soroptimist International Club of Dhaka has arranged the conference as part of its silver jubilee celebration.
Engineering students arrested for misbehaving with tourist at Puri
By IANS,
Puri (Orissa) : Three students of an engineering college in Orissa were arrested for misbehaving with a woman tourist at the temple city of Puri, police said Saturday.
The three are students of an engineering college in Bhubaneswar.
They allegedly misbehaved with the woman tourist when she was bathing in the sea at Puri, some 56 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, an official of the sea beach police station told IANS.
Police arrested the students, Manish Kumar Sharma, Prasant Sharma and Ashutosh Kumar on the basis of a written complaint filed by the husband of the woman.
Why women interact socially better than men
By IANS,
Dubai : Women have higher emotional intelligence than men. That is why they perform better in several areas of social interaction and have a higher sense of well-being and satisfaction, according to a study.
The study, conducted by Kuwait University psychology professor Othman Al-Khudher and colleague Huda Al-Fadhli, found that women perform better in many related areas than their male counterparts.
Raksha Bandhan celebrates women’s role in family: PM
By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has greeted the nation on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, saying the festival celebrates the role of women in the family.
In a message, the prime minister said the festival was an occasion to uphold the traditional values of the country's culture and acknowledge and celebrate the role of women. Raksha Bandhan falls Saturday.
"May this festival bring to all health, happiness, camaraderie and prosperity," Manmohan Singh added.
DTC to give all women free ride on Raksha Bandhan
By IANS,
New Delhi : Women commuters in Delhi would be able to travel free in state-run Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses Saturday on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, the state government announced here Thursday.
Women would be allowed a free ride in all DTC buses and green low-floor buses till 5 p.m. Saturday. Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi is a festival where sister ties a sacred thread on the wrist of her brother and he pledges to protect her.
"The decision has been taken to ensure that women reach their destinations without any hassle," a Delhi government spokesperson said.
Some Madhya Pradesh prisoners to be freed on I-Day
By IANS,
Bhopal : Women prisoners in Madhya Pradesh who have not been convicted for life and who have served over five years of their sentence will be set free on Independence Day Friday.
The government will also free certain other categories of prisoners, an official spokesman said. Those who suffer from serious illnesses like cancer will be unconditionally released.
Woman who sought to abort foetus suffers miscarriage
By IANS,
Mumbai : Niketa Mehta, the Mumbai housewife whose plea for aborting her 26-week-old foetus had been turned down by the Bombay High Court, has suffered a miscarriage.
Her husband Haresh Mehta, 35, said Niketa, 34, had been admitted briefly to a clinic after complaints of severe abdominal pain and there was a miscarriage Tuesday.
"I don't want to go into the details. She is very weak and she has been advised complete bed rest for a month," Haresh told IANS Thursday.
Mentally ill woman kept chained for 15 years
By Jatindra Dash, IANS,
Jagatsinghpur (Orissa) : Kamala Sethi, 26, has spent 15 years chained to a pole by her family that cannot afford medical treatment for her mental illness.
Both her legs have been tied with a rope and a chain connecting it is tied to a wooden pole in a straw-thatched room that the family earlier used as a cowshed in Nacchipur village of Jagatsinghpur district, some 120 km from Orissa capital Bhubaneswar in eastern India.
Men, women divided on sharing housework
By IANS,
Sydney : Young men and women are divided over sharing housework and a woman's right to have an abortion, according to a survey.
"It should come as no surprise that young women are more in favour of domestic democracy than the young men, while also being more supportive of a woman's right to have an abortion," said Chilla Bulbeck of University of Adelaide.
The survey, conducted in 10 countries by Bulbeck and her team, looked at the attitudes of young men and women to a number of gender equality issues.
At your special service, say hotels to women guests
By IANS,
Mumbai : Now women have an added reason to travel alone! Leading Indian hotels are offering exclusive wings, separate floors and specialised services to protect and pamper them - a new concept in the country.
The ITC hotel chain, for instance, has Eva Floors - floors dedicated to women where men are simply not allowed.
"Since security is the prime concern, we bar men from entering this floor. The lifts don't stop at the floor unless you swipe the lift board with your room key card," says Dhunji Kavarna, general manager at Mumbai's ITC Maratha.
Woman injured in crude bomb blast in Nandigram
By IANS,
Kolkata : A woman member of Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) was injured Sunday in a crude bomb blast at Nandigram in West Bengal's East Midnapore district, the police said.
Crude bombing and firing started early Sunday between activists of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Trinamool Congress over land acquisition at five villages of Nandigram - Osmanchowk, Jalpai No. 7, Jadubarichowk, Sonachura and Bhutarmor.
Police still to interrogate Pune call centre rape victim
By IANS,
Pune : Police said Sunday they hadn't found any "corroborative evidence" of rape following allegations that a 22-year-old woman employee of a call centre here had been gangraped by around 10 men, including her cab driver.
The call centre employee of IBM has not yet made a statement to police. She was allegedly raped Thursday night and has been in a state of shock since then.
Women in Hong Kong, China most financially independent: Survey
By DPA,
Singapore : Women in Hong Kong, China and Singapore do not need to rely on their men to pay for their shopping binges, a survey said Sunday.
Across the Asian region, women from Hong Kong are the most financially independent, with 81 percent of respondents paying the bills for their purchases, followed by mainland Chinese at 75 percent.
The survey was conducted by market researcher Synovate with the findings in The Business Times.
Orissa assembly woman marshal to move court
By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : A suspended woman marshal of the Orissa assembly, who had accused the house speaker of sexual harassment, Saturday said she would move court after a human rights panel found him not guilty.
Gayatri Panda, who had in March alleged that then speaker Maheswar Mohanty was sexually harassing her, expressed her dissatisfaction with the findings of the Orissa Human Rights Commission and said she would move the Orissa High Court for justice.
UAE’s first woman athlete in Olympic Games arrives in Beijing
By NNN-WAM,
Beijing : Determined to win, the first woman athlete of the UAE participating in the Olympic Games, Sheikha Maitha bint Mohammed has arrived in the Chinese capital.
She is the only UAE athlete participating in the 67 kg category of taekwondo in the Beijing Olympiad.
Kish Island – a temporary timeout for Iranian women
By Farshid Motahari, DPA,
Kish Island (Iran) : While women in the Iranian capital Tehran are meticulously checked by vice squads for any lapse in the Islamic dress code, those holidaying on Kish Island in the country's south have a temporary timeout in this regard.
"It is such a pleasure to have the scarf so loose on your head and enjoy the sun and wind on your hair. Although only temporary but still it is such a nice timeout for us," said 24-year-old Salomeh who together with her friends, is spending some days on the Gulf island.
Women to row in Kerala boat race
By IANS,
Kottayam : A boat club in Kerala is all set to enter the record books when 116 women will row a 35-metre-long snake boat at the 56th edition of an annual race to be held at the Punnamada Lake in Alappuzha.
Barring four men, who would be standing and controlling the boat, the oars during Nehru Boat Race would be used by only women, Mathew Thomas of the Kumarakom Vanitha Boat Club told IANS.
"This is the first time that an all-women team is handling oars and this is happening for the first time on a snake boat," said Thomas.
Blow to gender equality as more believe women’s place at home
By Venkata Vemuri, IANS,
London : The shine's wearing off Super Moms. It's not just the
men who say this, but a growing number of women too. Both are inclining to agree that a woman's place is more at home, wiping the sheen off the notion of gender equality in developed countries, a Cambridge survey says.
Women key to US presidential elections: poll
By DPA,
Washington : Women hold an important key to winning the US presidential elections in November because neither Democrat Barack Obama nor Republican John McCain has yet won a majority of women voters into their corner, according to a poll.
Obama has won the support of 49 percent of women, while 38 percent are for McCain, according to the poll released Tuesday, commissioned by a coalition of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a female-oriented TV broadcaster, and hundreds of women's organisations.
Women”s participation in the Olympics … an ambitious dream comes true
By Mutaz Alshabrawi, KUNA,
Kuwait : A law passed in 404 BC stipulated that sportsmen and their coaches had to participate naked in the Olympic Games, to force women to stay away after Kalipatera disguised herself as a man to enter the stadium and watch her son compete.
Women found violating this order were thrown off the mountain, and as this sixth part of the KUNA report will show, women were not only banned from participating in the games, but also from entering the city of Olympics -- all except the priestess of the temple and her virgins.
Sari-wearing women may face jail if new Nigerian law passed
By Fakir Hassen, IANS,
Johannesburg : Indian women in their traditional saris with midriffs showing may find themselves falling foul of Nigerian law if a bill currently under discussion in that country is passed.
Tourists in towelling wraps and Nigerian women in traditional dress with their stomachs exposed could also find themselves behind bars for three months or subjected to fines of $100, according to the Media24 News Service here.
Woman kills herself after poisoning her children
By IANS,
Agra : A woman poisoned her two children before hanging herself in this Uttar Pradesh town, police said Wednesday.
Sanjeev Choudhary, a banker, reached home Tuesday evening to find his wife Sudheera hanging from the ceiling and his two children lying dead on the bed.
Superintendent of Police B.P. Ashok said Sudheera, in her early 30s, had poisoned her children - two-year-old Bittoo and 11-year-old Akanksha. She then hit them on the head with a hammer to ensure they were dead.
Three Muslim women in Man Asia long list
Three Muslim women in Man Asia long list
New Delhi: Three Muslim women found themselves among the 21 selected for Man Asia Literary Prize. The long list of 21 unpublished works includes work from Anjum Hasan, Daisey Hasan, and Salma.
The 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize long list was chosen from submissions received from all over Asia. The largest single group of submissions was from India, followed by the Philippines.
A short list of five works will be announced in October 2008 and winner awarded in November.
Missing Pakistani woman arrested in Afghanistan
By NNN-PTI,
New York : A Pakistani woman, who mysteriously disappeared from Karachi five years back, having alleged links with the Al Qaeda, has been arrested on charges of attempted murder and assault of US soldiers and FBI agents working in Afghanistan.
Thirty-six year old Aafia Saddiqui, a neuroscientist trained in US, who was arrested here after being brought from Afghanistan last evening, will be produced before a court tomorrow, South District of New York Attorney Michael J Garcia said. If convicted, she could get prison sentence of 20 years on each of the two charges.
Oestrogen relieves psychotic symptoms in women
By IANS,
Sydney : Oestrogen estradiol, when combined with anti-psychotic drugs, seems to be effective in treating women with schizophrenia, according to a new study.
The link between oestrogen and mental illness was recognised more than a century ago. However, scientific evidence backing oestrogen as a mental illness therapy has only recently emerged.
"Epidemiologic observations of sex differences in the onset and course of schizophrenia prompted exploration of oestrogen's role in schizophrenia," the study authors wrote.
Tamil writer on Man Asia long list
By IANS,
Chennai : Rokkiah Malik who writes under the pseudonym Salma is one of the eleven Indian authors contending for this year's Man Asia Literary Prize with her book "Midnight Tales"
Rokkiah, who is a top official of the Tamil Nadu welfare department, was first published in the late '90s. She caught public imagination with her feminist poetry collections like "Oru Maalaiyum Innoru Maalaiyum" and "Pachai Thevathai".
Rokkiah, who is a top official of the Tamil Nadu welfare department, was first published in the late '90s. She caught public imagination with her feminist poetry collections like "Oru Maalaiyum Innoru Maalaiyum" and "Pachai Thevathai".
Troubled for dowry, woman commits suicide
By IANS,
New Delhi : Beaten and assaulted for not bringing dowry, a 24-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself in the city, Police said Monday.
Deepa locked herself inside a room in her house in Timarpur area in north Delhi late Sunday. When her husband Girish Kumar tried to call her, she did not respond, the police said.
Kumar immediately made a call to Deepa's parents, who stay a few miles away from their house.
"After reaching there, they broke open the door and found Deepa hanging. They brought down the body and called the police," a police officer said.
Woman snatches loaded pistol from miscreant
By IANS,
Lucknow : In an incident straight out of a Bollywood film, a woman snatched away a loaded pistol from a miscreant as he attempted to rob her in the posh Gomtinagar area of Lucknow Sunday evening.
The woman, Surajwanti, in her 30s, told the police: "I was returning from a hospital along with a friend, Pushpa, on a cycle rickshaw when two motorcyle-borne persons intercepted us." said Surajwanti.
One of them tried to pull a gold chain from Pushpa, while the other pointed a pistol at Surajwanti and asked her to hand over her gold chain.
Rahul lends an ear to ’empowered’ Bangladeshi women
By IANS,
Dhaka : Rahul Gandhi, general secretary of India's Congress party, is on a "learning visit" to Bangladesh and he is doing what he does back home - listening to stories of impoverished women and how they became financially independent.
However, those he met at Kapasia in Gazipur subdivision near here are better off than Kalavati, the woman in Maharashtra whom he spoke about in the Indian parliament July 22. Kalavati's husband had committed suicide over his inability to repay a farm loan.
The women here are covered by the Grameen Bank, the rural credit network of Bangladesh.
Exhibition portrays facets of women in Indian popular art
By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS,
New Delhi : Want to see how women can be provocative, trendy and empowered at the same time through popular art? Visit the ongoing exhibition here, showing them in all their incarnations in various media.
The genre of popular art, a form of alternative art, is relatively new, but it is fast carving a niche for itself.
It can be anything - right from memorabilia and miniatures to the collector's hobby art - like personal collections of stamps, postcards, coins, textiles, prints and posters, to name a few.
Sex worker battles for her sisterhood
By Kavita Bajeli-Datt, IANS,
New Delhi : She has seen it all - police brutality, harassment and clients with no knowledge of condom use. Now Kala fights for herself and for the over 5,000 women in the sex trade in Bangalore - for security and better health.
For this 28-year-old sex worker, who announced at a health conference here that she is HIV positive, the ignorance of one of her clients cost her dear.
Woman helps cops nab son wanted for rape
By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : A woman helped the police arrest her son, who had allegedly raped a woman in Orissa's Balasore district after tying her to a tree, an official said Thursday.
Nitay Mohanty, 22, a resident of Abhayamahai village tied the 35-year-old woman to a tree in an isolated area near the village and allegedly raped her July 24. Balasore is about 200 km from here.
He then fled and hid at his uncle's house in Keodanal village in neighbouring West Bengal.
His mother, Chhayamani Mohanty, 50, expressed her desire to help police.
Gene exposes women with migraine to increased cardiac risk
By IANS,
Washington : Women with migraine seem to be at a greater risk of heart disease and stroke if they possess a certain gene, according to a new study.
Researchers followed 25,001 white women for the occurrence of heart attacks and ischemic stroke. About 18 percent had a history of migraine while 40 percent with active migraine reported migraine with aura.
Woman held in hoax email threat case in Kolkata
By IANS,
Kolkata : A woman was held by the Kolkata Police Wednesday in connection with the hoax e-mail threat about serial bombings in the city.
"We have detained Sabitri Dandapath, 40, for interrogation. She used to maintain the register of the cyber café and worked as a domestic help at the owner's residence. We are interrogating her to get more information about the case," Kolkata Police Deputy Commissioner (Detective Department) Dilip Adak said.
Pregnant woman among seven massacred in Uttar Pradesh
By IANS,
Bulandshahr : Seven members of a family, including a nine-month pregnant woman, were massacred in an Uttar Pradesh village Tuesday, the police said suspecting it to be related to a property dispute.
The brutal killings took place at around 2 a.m. in Bararai village in Bulandshahr district, when the family members were sleeping. Bararai comes under Aurangabad police station. Bulandshahr is some 190 km from state capital Lucknow.
Woman kills two children, self in Tripura
By IANS,
Agartala : A woman poisoned her two teenaged children and then killed herself in Tripura, which is witnessing an increase in the number of suicides, police said Tuesday.
Laxmi Sarkar, 27, killed her two children and then committed suicide late Monday in Kalyanpur in west Tripura, a police spokesman said. She reportedly took the extreme step due to abject poverty.
In separate incidents, two middle-aged women also committed suicide in west Tripura allegedly due to poverty, police said.
Most women, children in Bihar are anaemic: study
By IANS,
Patna : Sixty-seven percent of women and 78 percent of children in Bihar, one of the most underdeveloped states of India, are anaemic, according to a report.
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) III by the Mumbai-based International Institute for Population Sciences has revealed that of the anaemic children, 30 percent are mildly anaemic, 47 percent are moderately anaemic and two percent have severe anaemia.
Women behind Baghdad blasts, death toll rises to 19
By KUNA,
Baghdad : Monday's blasts that targeted Shiites on a religious visit to Baghdad were carried out by three women, a security sources confirmed Monday.
Meanwhile, the death toll of the blasts which took place in National Theatre Square, Al-Alawiyah Square, and Kahramanah Square rose to 19, while 40 other people were injured, medical sources in Ibn Al-Nafees and Al-Kindi hospitals said.
The sorry state of Delhi’s women labourers
By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS,
New Delhi : They live and work in the capital, but the city's 200,000 women labourers - most of whom work at construction sites - along with their children are some of the worst sufferers when it comes to health indices.
Nearly 48 percent of them got married before the legal age of 18, and 46 percent of the ones among them who were mothers also had their first baby before that age, says a new study carried out by voluntary organisation Mobile Creche.
Six Nepali girls detained, released
By IANS,
Lucknow : Six Nepali girls were detained here on suspicion that they were being flown to the Middle East for flesh trade but were let off after questioning "as nothing suspicious" emerged, the police said Friday.
A team of the Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB), after a tip off from a NGO, stopped a bus Thursday afternoon and took the girls to the Ghazipur police station for questioning.
"The girls maintained that they were going to Dubai as they had a job offer," police spokesperson Ghulam Abbas told IANS.
Young woman’s semi-nude body found hanging from tree
By IANS,
New Delhi : The semi-naked body of a young woman was found hanging Wednesday from a tree in a public park in northwest Delhi. The police suspect she could have hung herself after being sexually assaulted.
The victim, who appeared to be in her early-20s and was yet to be identified, was found hanging around 9.35 a.m. from a tree in Sector-3 Rohini, a stone's throw away from the Jaipur Golden Hospital.
She might have hung herself with the sari she was wearing, a police official said.
Malaysian Indian woman seeks help for kidney treatment
By IANS,
Kuala Lumpur : A desperately ill Malaysian Indian woman suffering from kidney failure has sought the help of the public and the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) for raising funds so she can be treated in an Indian hospital.
P. Sivasakthi tried the traditional medicine route but now finds that she can no longer avoid dialysis, surgery and a possible kidney transplant.
Former Kerala minister acquitted of misbehaviour with woman official charge
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Former Kerala transport minister A. Neelalohithadasan Nadar was Tuesday acquitted by a fast track court here of charges of sexually harassing a senior woman official in 1999.
Nadar had appealed to the court after a lower court found him guilty two years ago and sentenced him to three years imprisonment.
Government for harsher punishment for throwing acid on women
By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Monday informed the Supreme Court it was willing to amend penal laws to provide for harsher punishment for throwing acid on women - a crime the apex court has described as "worse than murder".
Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran told the bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan that unlike as in the normal penal laws, the government even wanted to put the onus on the person accused of throwing acid to prove his innocence.
500,000 Women die annually due to pregnancy, birth complications
By IRNA,
Tehran : United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative in Iran Mohamed Abdel-Ahad in his speech on the occasion World Population Day ceremony held here at Tehran University said out of 190 million women who become pregnant annually, more than half a million die from complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
~Youth Views~ Iranian women a force to be reckoned with
By Talajeh Livani, CGNews,
Iran's parliament convened last month for the first time since the April 2008 elections. The results of the parliamentary elections are in and all the votes have been counted. Surprisingly, or perhaps alarmingly, women now account for a mere 2.8 percent of this new conservative-dominated parliament. This is a decline from the already low 4.1 percent representation in the previous Iranian parliament.
Antony orders probe into woman army officer’s allegations
By IANS,
New Delhi/Chandigarh : Defence Minister A.K. Antony Wednesday ordered the Indian Army to probe allegations of "physical and mental torture" levelled by a woman captain against three senior male officers, even as the army said the investigations had begun.
"The minister has taken a serious view of the matter and ordered that it be thoroughly investigated and a report presented to him," a defence ministry official said in New Delhi.
In Chandigarh, a senior officer said the investigations had already begun.
Women scavengers make new beginning, join mainstream
By IANS,
New Delhi : For Usha Chaumar, a former woman scavenger who now lives a life of respect and sells home-made pickles for a living rather than carry human excreta, the change she is happiest about in her life is that people now offer her water in the same glass as they drink from - a sign that she is accepted in the society.
"I couldn't imagine that people would invite me to their homes, and what's more, offer me water in a glass that they use themselves!" said a confident looking Chaumar, dressed in a blue sari, at a press meet in the capital Tuesday.
Woman with son jumps before train, killed
By IANS,
Kolkata : A woman, along with her one-and-half-year-old son, committed suicide Tuesday by jumping before a train in West Bengal's Hoogly district allegedly following dowry demands from her in-laws, the police said.
"Punam Sahu jumped in front of a passenger train along with her one-and-half-year-old son at Hoogly's Gobra Station Tuesday. She was being allegedly pressurised by her in-laws for dowry," a police official said.
Sahu went to live at her parental house after her husband was detected with cancer a few months ago.
Woman army officer alleges sexual harassment
By IANS,
Chandigarh : A captain in the Indian Army Tuesday alleged she was being sexually harassed by three senior officers and was being illegally confined in her unit in Kalka town in Haryana, 30 km from here.
Captain Poonam Kaur, who is serving in an army supply and transport unit located at Kalka, made the allegations against her commanding officer Col. R.K. Sharma, Lt. Col. Ajay Chawla and Major Suraj Bhan.
Kaur told IANS on phone that she was being physically and mentally harassed by these officers as she turned down their physical advances.
Crime against women rises alarmingly in Assam
By IANS,
Guwahati : The Assam government Tuesday admitted that the number of dowry cases in the state have trebled in the past six years, while that of rape has nearly doubled, causing concern in the society traditionally known for respecting women.
"We are seized of the disturbing statistics and have taken steps to reduce crime against women by setting up all-women police stations, besides opening a female counselling centre at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters here," state government spokesman Rockybul Hussain, who is the forest minister, said Tuesday.
Indian woman jailed for financial fraud in Leicester
By IANS,
Leicester : Indian origin woman Daksha Saujani, a tax official here, has been jailed for two years for siphoning off more than 116,000 pounds of the public's money into her family's bank accounts.
The mother-of-three exploited her position of trust while managing a team at the Inland Revenue's family tax credit department. The crimes financed "a lifestyle she wasn't entitled to" and enabled her to send her youngest son to private school.
Jharkhand gets first woman Chief Justice
By IANS
Ranchi: Gyan Sudha Mishra, the first woman Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court, was Sunday sworn in by governor Syed Sibte Razi at the Raj Bhawan here.
Mishra is the sixth Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court after the state was carved out from Bihar Nov 2000.
Mishra was enrolled as lawyer in 1974 in Patna High Court. She was elevated to the post of judge in 1994 after which she was transferred to Rajasthan High Court.
Her father, S.C. Mishra, was Chief Justice of Patna High Court.
Islamists oppose women as heads of state, government
By IANS,
Dhaka : Women should be debarred from holding office as heads of government or state, an Islamist party has said in Bangladesh, where women have headed governments between 1991 and 2006.
The election law should be amended to make women ineligible to hold these offices, the Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan (BKA) Saturday told a government panel led by Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed, currently holding a dialogue with political parties.
Ahmed performs prime ministerial functions in a caretaker government holding office since January last year.
Indian origin woman in Thailand’s richest list
New York, July 11 (IANS) A 28-year-old Indian origin businesswoman has made it to the list of the 40 richest people in Thailand compiled by the Forbes magazine.
Nishita Shah, managing director of diversified GP Group, and her family are ranked 19th with a net worth of $375 million. At 28, she is the youngest among the richest in the Southeast Asian country.
Kerala to recruit more women as police officers
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala will induct more women in the state police force for maintenance of the law and order situation of the state. Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan announced in the state legislative assembly Wednesday that the government has initiated measures to increase the number of women police officers.
The Kerala Police Act would be amended soon to enable the public service commission (PSC) to invite applications from women for the posts of sub-inspectors, he said.
At present women are not recruited directly as sub-inspectors.
World’s most lucrative women’s golf Tour to debut in China
By IANS,
Beijing : The world's most lucrative women's golf tour arrives in China this October. The inaugural Grand China Air Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) that features world No.2 Annika Sorenstam and the sixth-ranked Tseng Yani, will be held from October 24-26 at Hainan West Coast Golf Club in Haikou, the capital of the island province of Hainan.
The tournament featuring 63 of the world's best players will compete for $1.8 million.
Yemen: government discuss seats allocation for women in councils
By NNN-SABA,
Sana'a : The Yemeni government discussed on Tuesday's meeting, headed by Prime Minister Ali Mujawar, the report on reviewing the study of COTA system to allocate seats for women in the elected councils.
The report, presented by Minister of Social and Labor Affairs, was referred to a ministerial committee for revision.
The cabinet affirmed its support to woman and the importance of expending the political participation of women in the elected councils with an average of 15 percent.
Poor woman sells child for husband’s memorial service
By IANS,
Patna : A poor Hindu woman in Bihar sold her infant son to raise money to perform the 'shradh ceremony' (memorial service) of her husband. But she was arrested before she could hand over the child to a childless couple, a police official said Tuesday.
Parvati Devi (name changed)-- in her early 20s and a resident of Patwa Toli in Gaya town, about 100 km from here -- said she was forced to sell her 45-day-old son due to abject poverty.
When tremor hits, femininity shines
By Zhan Yan, Xinhua,
Beijing : When William Shakespeare wrote "frailty, thy name is woman," he may have no idea what women could do at times of extreme adversity.
As the 8.0-magnitude earthquake rocked southwest China's Sichuan province May 12, it let out not only the devastating power from the depth of the earth, but also the incredible strength within women.
A two-month-old girl baby was found on the day of the quake under the ruins in Longwan village in Beichuan county. She survived because she was shielded by her mother, who died protecting her.
Delhi Metro to have ‘ladies only’ seats
By IANS,
New Delhi : The Delhi Metro Monday complied with a long standing demand of female commuters and announced that all its trains would have seats reserved for women.
“Some women are facing problem in the Metro and they have complained to (Delhi chief minister) Sheila Dikshit and our managing director E. Sreedharan. Hence the reservation,” DMRC spokesman Anuj Dayal told IANS.
Mystery shrouds death of woman in fall from moving train
By IANS,
Lucknow : Mystery shrouds the death of a 30-year-old woman who fell from a moving train on the outskirts of Kanpur Sunday.
Government Railway Police (GRP) officials claimed that the woman, Amina Khatoon, was mentally unstable and fell from the train by accident.
Canadian women tourists robbed in Lucknow
By IANS,
Lucknow : Two Canadian women tourists were robbed in the Uttar Pradesh capital late Sunday night, police said.
The incident took place in the central Hazratganj locality of the capital at around 11:30 p.m. when the tourists from Ottawa, Canada, were returning to their hotel in a cycle rickshaw.
"According to the complainants, Gillian and Catherine, two motorcycle borne men intercepted them and snatched their purses," additional superintendent of police Paresh Pandey told IANS.
China-based Indian woman runs in Olympic torch relay
By M.R. Narayan Swamy, IANS,
New Delhi : Business executive Meena Barot Monday created history by becoming the only Indian to take part in the Olympic torch relay in China, a moment she called the "most beautiful" in her life.
Cheered and clapped by thousands of Chinese and a handful of expatriates, Barot, 36, who lives in China, ran with the Olympic torch for around 50-60 metres in Lanzhou city in Gansu province around 8.30 a.m. (6 a.m. IST).
Slow exercise beneficial for menopausal women
By IANS,
Washington : Scientists seeking to delay or reduce age-related muscle deterioration in menopausal women are examining the effects of different exercise regimes.
Alexander Sänger's research group from University of Salzburg has investigated two such methods. Hypertrophy resistance training is a traditional approach designed to induce muscle growth and 'SuperSlow(r)' which involves much slower movement and fewer repetitions of exercises.
Woman kills lover in head-on crash, court told
By DPA,
Wellington : A 37-year-old New Zealand woman drove her car 13 km with her lover hanging onto the bonnet, before deliberately staging a head-on crash to kill him, a court was told Monday.
Cindy Marcia Fairburn denied during trial in the New Plymouth district court having murdered Darren Paul Maxwell, 42, in August by crashing into an oncoming sports utility vehicle the driver of which was seriously injured in the incident.
Indian woman runs in Olympic torch relay
By IANS,
New Delhi/Beijing : Calling it "the most beautiful moment in my life", business executive Meena Barot Monday became the only Indian to take part in the Olympic torch relay in China.
Barot, 36, ran 50-60 metres in Lanzhou city in Gansu province, cheered and clapped by thousands of Chinese.
"It was like a celebration. I have never seen anything like this in my life. It is the most beautiful moment of my life," Barot told IANS over telephone.
Barot, who moved to China in March 2005 and speaks Mandarin fluently, was ecstatic that she could keep her torch.
Girls allege sexual exploitation in north Gujarat college
By IANS,
Ahmedabad : As many as 23 girls studying in a training college in Mehsana district of north Gujarat have fled their hostel, complaining of sexual molestation by the institute's managing trustee.
The students of the K.B. Dave Adhyapan Mandir, a co-education primary teachers' training college at Pilvai in Vijapur sub-district, 190 km from here, ran away from their hostel Saturday night and took shelter at the home of their college-mate Kinjal Patel in Sabarkantha district.
One arrested for molesting woman in hospital
By IANS,
New Delhi : One man was arrested for allegedly molesting a woman Sunday at the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital here, the police said.
An altercation broke out between the woman, who had come for her son's treatment, and a worker in hospital's canteen over the rate of eatables she had bought.
“One person was arrested on the basis of complaint lodged by the woman,” the police said.
Intrepid French woman unveiled Tibet for the world
By IANS,
Chennai : The 73rd birthday of the 14th Dalai Lama is being marked by the University of Madras and Alliance Francaise here Sunday with a three-day festival of Tibetan culture.
The festival began with a presentation on an extraordinary French woman, who was one of the only two French explorers to be able to reach the forbidden land of Lhasa in the hundred years between 1846 and 1950.
Gandhi, Nehru inspired Malaysian woman entrepreneur
By IANS,
Kuala Lumpur : Malaysian woman entrepreneur G. Vimalah Nair attributes her early inspiration to portraits of Indian leaders, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru among others, put up at home by her grandfather.
She has been through years of hardship since - to win the RM 30,000 ($9,300) Woman of the Year award 2008 Saturday.
It is given annually by the Women's Institute of Management (WIM).
Nair, 55, told the audience of the hardships she endured while young, being married off at 17, only to meet with tougher times.
Dalit woman commits suicide to evade rape attempt
By IANS,
Lucknow : A Dalit woman committed suicide Saturday by setting herself on fire in Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad district to evade a rape attempt by her neighbour, police said.
Family members alleged that she took the extreme step to evade a rape attempt by a neighbour in Faizabad, about 150 km from here.
"The woman, in her dying statement to the magistrate, seconded the allegations made by her husband Rajaram, but died before naming the person," Faizabad police chief R.K.S. Rathore told IANS.
Women’s help cells to come up in Uttar Pradesh
By IANS,
Lucknow : Grappling with incidents of crime against women, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to set up a women's help cell in every district of the state, an official said Saturday.
"The move intends to check various manifestations of violence against women, particularly dowry harassment and female foeticide," R.K. Mittal, commissioner social welfare department, told IANS.
The exercise to set up the upcoming help cells would soon be initiated, he added.
All-women’s team gears up to scale greater heights
By IANS,
New Delhi : One has a doctorate, another is an instructor with a US-based adventure club -- eleven women from diverse backgrounds with a common passion - scaling heights - have come together for a mountaineering expedition to a peak in Himachal Pradesh.
Cheering and geared up to scale the 6,349-meter Phawararang peak, the women will start their journey July 5 and are expected to be back July 25 - roughly in three-weeks.
President to visit women’s first education institute
By IANS,
Pune : President Pratibha Patil will arrive here Friday on a three-day visit, her first to the city after she assumed the country's highest office, to attend a function at India's first, over a century-old education institution for women.
On the day of her arrival, India's first woman president will grace the commemoration ceremony of Maharshi Karve Stree Shikshan Sansthan, marking the 150th birth anniversary of Maharshi Dhondopant Karve, the founder of this institute which was the country's first to impart women's education.
President to visit India’s first women’s education institute
By IANS,
Pune : President Pratibha Patil will arrive here Friday on a three-day visit, her first to the city after she assumed the country's highest office.
On the day of her arrival, India's first woman president will grace the commemoration ceremony of Maharshi Karve Stree Shikshan Sansthan, marking the completion of 150 years of the country's first institute for women's education founded by Maharshi Dhondopant Karve.
WTA may have to find a new sponsor
By IANS,
London : The Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which became the richest association in women's sport three years ago with Sony Ericsson as its title sponsor, is waging a losing battle to convince the mobile telephone company to renew its contract.
The joint-venture company, which had signed a $93.3 million deal with the WTA, has two more years of its contract to run, and it is highly unlikely to go beyond 2010, reports The Guardian.
Malaysian Indian woman hangs herself with wedding sari
By IANS,
Kuala Lumpur : A Malaysian Indian had a massive heart attack when he saw his wife had hanged herself using her wedding sari.
T. Selvatharan thought that his wife K. Komathy, 33, had left the bedroom to drink water at dawn on Tuesday. When she did not return and he went out to check, he found her hanging by the ceiling fan.
"She had been seeking treatment for depression," the husband, 47, told Tamil Nesan newspaper, while recovering at a hospital in Johor Baru.
American Muslim activist lauds Kuwaiti womens political engagement
By Nawab Khan, KUNA,
Brusels : A leading Muslim woman activist in the United States has underlined the important political role played by women in the Gulf countries particularly in Kuwait.
"We believe that the Gulf is very important because it is a prosperous region of the world and secondly there are some women activism coming out, specifically from countries like Kuwait," Daisy Khan, Executive Director, American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA) told KUNA in an interview in Brussels Tuesday. She noted that Kuwait is at the forefront of promoting a parliamentary system.
36 Indian women WHO worked as scavengers to walk on ramp
By NNN-PTI,
United Nations : Thirty-six Indian women, rescued by a non governmental organisation from the degrading task of manually cleaning human excreta, are all set to walk on ramp with leading models before representatives from more than 150 countries here.
The women, rescued by Sulabh International Social Service Organisation from Alwar in Rajasthan, yesterday met diplomats and dignitaries at the United Nations and talked about the changes which, they said, had made them for the first time feel like human beings.
Women politicians make significant presence in Europe
By Xinhua,
Paris : Spain's first woman Defence Minister Carme Chacon, one of the nine female ministers in Spain's 17-member cabinet, attracted world attention when she showed up in April, pregnant for seven months, to inspect the troops.
The political world was even more surprised when Mara Carfagna, a former Italian showgirl who finished sixth in a Miss Italy contest, was appointed Italy's Minister of Equal Opportunities.
Burqa-clad Sumaiya makes history by securing 12 MBBS medals at AMU
By Rahat Abrar,
Two sparking eyes popping out of traditional Muslim attire burqa (veil) got the attention of the former first citizen of India, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Wipro Chief Azim Premji and the audience as Sumaiya, a girl student with hijab, got as many as 12 medals in the prestigious MBBS course at the 58th annual convocation at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Her magnificent feat indicates that Muslim girls are also advancing in the field of education. A female can pursue the studies of MBBS by wearing traditional Hijab (Burqa).
Women better than men in clinching business deals
By IANS,
London : Although few women occupy top slots in corporate hierarchies, a new study shows that they may be more accomplished in negotiations than their masculine counterparts.
Yael Itzhaki of Tel Aviv University carried out simulations of business negotiations among 554 Israeli and American management students at Ohio State University and in Israel, reported EurekAlert.
Woman accuses grandson of rape in Delhi
By IANS,
New Delhi : In a bizarre case, a 28-year-old man was arrested Wednesday after his 78-year-old grandmother accused him of rape in their southwest Delhi home, the police said.
The victim in her police complaint said her grandson Kuldeep consumed alcohol and raped her late Tuesday in their Jaffarpur Kalan home when his wife and one-year-old daughter were away.
The police said the elderly woman was taken to the Rao Tula Ram Hospital, where doctors confirmed a sexual assault.
President meets UN-bound former women scavengers
By IANS,
New Delhi : President Pratibha Patil has met 30 women from Rajasthan who have been liberated from the age-old inhuman practice of manual scavenging and are all set to walk the ramp at the United Nations General Assembly hall witn some wellknown models.
Assuring them that the manual scavenging practice would soon be abolished completely in India, the president told them that she would also discuss the matter with the government.
The 30 women were selected as part of a social reform initiative of the Sulabh sanitation movement.
India’s first ‘women-IIT’ being set up in Maharashtra
By IANS,
Nagpur : Even as there is talk about starting new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and increasing the number of seats in the existing ones, a move is afoot to open the country's first all-women engineering and technology-oriented institute in Amravati, President Pratibha Patil's hometown in Maharashtra.
Delhi woman arrested in Punjab for tearing off clothes
By IANS,
Bathinda (Punjab) : A woman was arrested here Tuesday after she tore off her clothes in front of the district police chief's office to press her demand for action on her complaint.
The police registered a case of obscenity against Pinky, a Delhi resident, and arrested her.
Pinky had earlier created a flutter outside the office of the district police chief, alleging that the police were not taking action on her complaint that her minor daughter Jyoti was being forcibly kept by a Bathinda resident.
NCW upset with ‘obscene’ depiction of women
By IANS,
New Delhi : Alarmed over the rise in "obscene" depictions of women in the print and electronic media, including in television soaps, the National Commission for Women (NCW) wants a self-regulatory board to keep a check on this.
NCW Chairperson Girja Vyas Tuesday demanded a change in the existing legislation. She also suggested stiff penalty and punishment for violators.
"In today's world, the depiction of women is done in obscene ways through various mediums," she told reporters here.
She said soap operas either show woman as a vamp or a simple innocent girl.
Legalise polygamyous marriages to protect women: Australian cleric
By IANS,
Sydney : An Islamic leader in Australia has said that polygamous marriages exist in the country and the government should legalise them to protect the rights of women.
Islamic Friendship Association of Australia's Keysar Trad told a programme on the Triple J radio station that polygamists in Australia's Muslim community would like their relationships to be legalised as otherwise in the case of the man's demise, women were left in a vulnerable position.
Over 4,900 cases of missing Kerala women: minister
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Over 4,900 cases of missing women were registered in the various police stations in Kerala in the past two years, state home minister Tuesday informed the Kerala Assembly.
State Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, in a reply to a question by lawmaker K.K. Shailaja, said that of the 4,942 cases of missing women, 4,487 women were traced.
Shailaja said that of late there has been an increase in women being exploited and being forced into sex rackets.
"This is reaching dangerous levels," said Shailaja.
First female four-star U.S. Army general nominated
By SPA,
Washington : America's first female four-star general has been nominated, the Pentagon announced Monday.
U.S. President George W. Bush nominated Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to serve as head of the Army's supply arm, CNN reported.
By law women are excluded from combat jobs, the typical path to four-star rank in the military.
Organisations structured to keep women down: study
By IANS,
Sydney : Why there are so few women in top positions in companies may have more to do with their hierarchical structure rather than attitudes to women, a new study contends.
The study, by Terry Fitzsimmons of the University of Queensland, has sought to understand gender inequality at workplaces and the barriers preventing women from obtaining top leadership positions.
The challenges encountered by women rising through company hierarchies are not entirely explained by existing theories, which claim that inequality stems from social stereotypes and culture, Fitzsimmons said.
Kuwait opens door for first batch of Police Women Institute cadets
By NNN-KUNA,
Kuwait : Kuwaiti Minister of Interior Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid Al-Sabah has issued a decree to open the door for the first batch of cadets of its Police Women Institute.
The decree constitutes a landmark move in the history of the Kuwait police force, director-general of Saad Al-Abdullah Academy for Security Science Youssef Al-Madhahka told reporters here Monday.
"This is a qualitative move in supporting and rehabilitating the human resources of the Interior Ministry so that they could meet all security needs.
Woman strangled to death in Delhi
By IANS,
New Delhi : A 25-year-old woman was found strangled to death in her east Delhi house Monday. Her parents alleged she was murdered by her husband for not fulfilling dowry demands.
Police said the body of Sunita was found in her Kalyanpuri home Monday morning. Sunita was married to Bhaleshwar, an employee with a private firm in Noida, four years ago.
Bhaleshwar is missing from the house since the incident.
Maldives woman kept confined in room for 12 years
By IANS,
Male : A 30-year-old Maldivian woman was kept confined in her room for 12 years by her family. She was discovered only last week after a complaint.
The Gender Ministry is investigating the case reported on Kinbidhoo island of the Thaa atoll. The 30-year-old woman is the daughter of one of the Island Chiefs of Kinbidhoo, according to the Haveeru Daily.
Ministry officials observed that the room where she was kept hadn't been cleaned for a long time and even her clothes were filthy. Her bed was covered with a sheet of linoleum, which was torn in several places.
Everest climber alleges police misbehaviour in Orissa templettt
By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Kalpana Dash, who became the first Oriya woman to scale Mount Everest last month, was allegedly manhandled and abused by a policeman at a temple in the state's Keonjhar district, her brother said Monday.
Kalpana had gone with her mother, brother Pradeep and uncle to the Maa Tarini temple in Ghatagon in Keonjhar Sunday to offer prayers for her good health. While she was praying, a constable forcibly dragged her out and paid no heed to her pleas even after the mountaineer revealed her identity, Pradeep told the police.
Use of women for trafficking drugs via India on rise
By Mayank Aggarwal, IANS,
New Delhi : Powerful cartels from West Africa are increasingly using human carriers, especially women from Southeast Asia, to smuggle drugs via India, warns the country's Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
"The use of human carriers, specially women, for drug trafficking is on the rise. Nigerian gangs are sending cocaine and heroin through Southeast Asian women," A.P. Siddiqui, NCB's deputy director, told IANS ahead of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking June 26.
Women claim fraud, lay siege to police station
By IANS,
Namakkal, Tamil Nadu : At least 500 woman laid a siege to a police station here in rural Tamil Nadu, demanding action against people who allegedly swindled over 600 womens' self-help group members of about Rs.1 million. The police later swung into action and arrested eight people, including six women.
The suspects were arrested after agitating women alleged that they had parted with amounts ranging from Rs.1,000 to Rs.5,000 per head, against promises of being given house plots, the police said Sunday.
British MPs to hear about female foeticide in India
By IANS,
London : Claims about rising incidence of female foeticide in India are to be presented to British MPs.
A report by the international charity ActionAid and the International Development Research Council (IDRC) of Canada claims female foeticide is so common that in Punjab only 300 girls survive for every 1,000 boys among high-caste families.
The report, titled 'Disappearing Daughters', is to be presented to MPs belonging to Britain’s all-party group on population, development and reproductive health Monday.
Two Indian women killed in UAE road accident
By IANS,
Dubai : Two Indians were killed and three were seriously injured when the car they were travelling in fell into a gorge near the border between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman.
Anoopa, 24, an engineer with a Dubai-based engineering firm and her domestic help Pushpa, 50, died in the accident that took place Saturday. According to reports, Anoopa's husband Shibu Varghese, who was driving, lost control of the vehicle in the Al Rouda area in Hatta.
Woman alleges gang rape, police file molestation complaint
By IANS,
Noida : A 22-year-old woman was gang raped by a 'godman' practising occult and his associates but the Uttar Pradesh Police registered a complaint of molestation, the victim's family alleged here Saturday.
Om Prakash, the victim's husband, said his wife had gone to Jhulla, a neighbour in village Sirsa Khanpur of Greater Noida district, to get medicines for him Thursday night.
"The 'tantric' (occult practioner) asked me to accompany him to a forested area to collect herbs for the medicines to cure my husband," the 22-year-old victim told IANS.
UN call to end violence against women in war
By Xinhua,
United Nations : The UN Security Council has said that systematic rape and other forms of sexual violence against women during armed conflicts can constitute war crimes and called on the international community for greater efforts to combat the "silent war".
"Violence against women has reached unspeakable and pandemic proportions in some societies attempting to recover from conflict," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday while addressing a Security Council debate on sexual violence in armed conflict.
‘Why aren’t more Indian women empowered?’
By IANS,
New Delhi : Indian women have reached the highest office, yet why isn't this empowerment trickling down to all levels, asked Syria's first lady at an interaction with women journalists here Thursday.
A former investment banker, Asma Akhras al-Assad, 33, arrived nearly an hour late at the Indian Women's Press Corps, but stayed on longer than the scheduled period. She is accompanying her husband, President Bashar al-Assad, on a five-day state visit to India commencing Tuesday evening.
DMK calls for 33 percent reservation for women
By IANS,
Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu) :The DMK, the ruling party in Tamil Nadu and an important ally of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Sunday called for 33 percent reservation for women in parliament and legislative assemblies.
A resolution passed at the DMK's womens' meet here, urged the central government "to first pass a law on this".
After that, "all the parties can together consider and decide if there can be reservation within reservation", the resolution said.
Women’s body not to send team to Rajasthan
By IANS,
New Delhi : The National Commission for Women (NCW) Sunday said it had not received any complaint from the Gujjar community of police atrocities on their protesting women, but added that it had given suo moto orders that the women be treated humanely and according to the law.
NCW chairperson Girija Vyas told IANS Sunday that they had first given the instructions to the Rajasthan police “ten days ago”, when 26 women from the Gujjar community were arrested for stopping railway traffic near Bandikui in Dausa district for nearly six days.
Government’s gift for rural brides: pregnancy test strips!
By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS,
New Delhi : Call it a thoughtful wedding gift. The government will give packets of pregnancy test strips to rural women on the occasion of their marriage - to reduce unwanted pregnancies and maternal mortality across India.
"It's a known fact that 53 percent of Indian women get married before reaching the legal age of 18 and have their first baby by 15 or 16 years of age. The problem is really huge in rural India," Health Secretary Naresh Dayal said.
Woman raped by three men in Delhi
By IANS,
New Delhi : A 40-year-old woman was allegedly raped by three men including a 65-year-old in Trilokpuri area of east Delhi, police said Saturday.
"The senior citizen who is accused of rape is related to the victim's son-in-law. The victim's daughter had got married a year ago and at present is going through a marital discord with her husband. The victim had gone to the house of a relative of her daughter's in-laws," a police officer said.
US Women Favor Obama
By Prensa Latina,
Washington : Most US women would vote for Democratic candidate Barack Obama in November general elections, according to surveys released Thursday.
A Gallup poll indicates that the Illinois senator was backed by 51 percent of women, while Republican presidential candidate John McCain barely got 38 percent.
Comparing these figures with a previous survey, the Afro-American politician expanded his lead from 5 percentage points to 13.
A Rasmussen Reports survey showed similar results (52 percent of women favoring Obama and 39 percent for McCain).
Women’s commission to act against erring officials
By IANS,
New Delhi : The National Commission for Women (NCW) will take action against two senior Haryana officials for not giving the correct sequence of events that led to the death of a woman in mysterious circumstances at a businessman's home.
Suspecting the case to be of murder, instead of suicide as reported by the Haryana police, the commission said it was aghast that Rosila Kujur, who was a Christian, was cremated rather than buried.
Yemen To Appoint Five Women In Local Authority Positions
By Bernama,
Sana'a : Local Administration Minister Abdul-Qader Hilal revealed Wednesday a plan of appointing five women as deputies and assistants deputy governor in the capital Sana'a and the provinces of Aden, Ibb, Taiz, and Hodeidah, Yemen News Agency (SABA) reported.
Delivering a speech in the opening of a meeting of the Ministry's women leaders, Hilal affirmed the importance of the meeting to increase the political participation of Yemeni women.
Women’s self-help groups shore up farm communities
By V. Vijayalakshmi, IANS,
Pune : The woes of the agricultural community in rural Maharashtra may be far from over, but a Mumbai-based trust is helping out a sizeable number of farm families through women's self-help groups (SHGs).
The SHGs, being funded by the Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan, have instilled confidence in thousands of poor farm families by forging a tie-up with Big Bazar, one of India's biggest retail outlets for supply of homemade products.
Girls fare better in maths in countries where women are more equal
By DPA,
Florence (Italy) : Girls are better than boys in reading, but they also can keep up with boys in mathematics when the genders are on a more equal footing in their native countries, according to research published in the Science journal.
The data came to light on closer examination by Luigi Guiso of European University Institute in Florence of data of a Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study published in 2003. At the time, the maths and reading skills of more than 276,000 boys and girls aged 15 from 40 countries were compared.
The Widow Colony: stories of the widows of 1984 anti-Sikh violence
By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net
The worst thing for the victims is that their stories will be forgotten. Their suffering will not be recorded. May be more than justice, it is the fear that their stories will not be preserved. The newspaper accounts and future historian will just reduce them to numbers.
Before we can begin to seek justice we need to listen to the stories of sorrow, pain, suffering, loss, anger and betrayal. Documentary ‘The Widow Colony’ attempts to document the loss of some of the widows of anti-Sikh violence of 1984.
Women’s cricket team prepares for busy schedule ahead
By IANS,
Mumbai : The women's cricket team will participate in two training camps ahead of their busy international schedule that starts with the England tour in August.
The team will tour England (August), Australia (November) before the World Cup in Australia (March 2009) and the ICC World Twenty20 in England (June 2009).
‘Kidnapped’ woman found in Gurgaon
By IANS,
Ghaziabad : A woman, who was suspected to have been kidnapped after her car was found in Hindon river here, was living in Delhi's suburb Gurgaon, said a police official Wednesday.
Aditi Tyagi, 21, an executive with a call centre at Noida, another Delhi suburb, tried to hoodwink her parents by abandoning her car June 9 in Hindon river, the police said.
After surveillance of her mobile number, she was found living with a man in Gurgaon, said Superintendent of Police (City) Vijay Bhushan.
Cuddalore decks up for DMK women’s meet
By IANS,
Cuddalore : Preparations are on in this coastal town for a key meeting of the women's wing of Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK that is headed by its influential leader and Rajya Sabha MP M.K. Kanimozhi.
The daughter of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi will preside over the June 14-15 conference that is expected to draw some 500,000 women, Health Minister M.R.K. Paneerselvam said here.
Among those expected to address the gathering are the chief minister and senior members of the Karunanidhi cabinet besides Kanimozhi.
Muslim women of the world urged to unite
By NNN-Bernama,
Kuala Lumpur : Collective action among Muslim women around the world is necessary to bring out women's issues for serious, indepth discussion, says the executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), Daisy Khan.
Muslim women represented half of the world's Muslim population and therefore their issues were societal and serious, she said in an interview with Bernama here Tuesday.
Online group takes fight against gender crimes to the streets
New Delhi/Mumbai, June 10 (IANS) Women in India's commercial capital are being encouraged to fight against gender violence and demand police assistance to secure their rights by a group of social crusaders who came together through a social networking site.
In a novel move, Fight-Back, a Facebook community of people fighting against gender atrocities, distributed wallet cards to women in Mumbai that have phone numbers of police help lines set up to tackle gender crimes, with the help of the Rotaract Club, a voluntary organisation engaged in service to the society.
Congress gears up to support women’s quota bill
By IANS,
New Delhi : The ruling Congress party Monday said it would support with all its "strength" the Women's Reservation Bill to provide 33 percent seats for women in parliament and legislative assemblies.
At a meeting, the party's women ministers and senior MPs, including those who are members of the Parliament Standing Committee on the bill, discussed the Congress strategy to push the legislation. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi also attended the meeting held at the party headquarters here.
Iranian women pilgrims visit Baqi Cemetery for first time
By IRNA,
Tehran : Iranian woman pilgrims entered the Baqi Cemetery in Medina, Saudi Arabia, for the first time on Sunday night in the presence of Chairman of Experts Assembly Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
The Baqi is well-known as graveyard of members of the infallible household of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), including four Imams and the beloved daughter of Prophet Mohammad, Hazrat Zahra (SA).
Women are banned from entering the cemetery.
Women in Germany earn 22 percent less than men: EU official
By IRNA,
Berlin : Women in Germany are significantly being paid less than men, European Union Social Commissioner Vladimir Spidla told the Hamburg-based Die Welt newspaper on Monday.
The average hourly salary of German women is 22 percent below the level of men, the top EU official said.
Only Estonia, Cyprus and Slovakia have a greater wage gap. On the average, women earn 15 percent less than men in EU countries, Spidla added.
He urged employers to follow the principle of 'same work same pay'.
MWL Chief hints at allowing women in future dialogues
By IINA,
Makkah : There will be programs and projects for dialogue and women will be allowed to contribute to the dialogue in affairs of their concern, said Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdulmohsen Al Turki, Secretary General of the Muslim World League. The present goal is to formulate strategic programs and projects of future dialogue, Dr. Al-Turki said while addressing a press conference at the conclusion of the International Islamic Dialogue Conference here Friday.
Five women students harassed for suspected Maoist links
By IANS,
Kolkata : Five women students of Jadavpur University claimed they were harassed by the police in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district for allegedly having Maoist links.
The incident took place at a house near the university where the five students - Debolina Chakrabarty, Jayeeta Das, Roopa Basu, Somdatta Mukherjee and Anwesha Sarkar - were running the Matangini Mahila Samity, a women's outfit working against land acquisition in Nandigram, Singur and other places in West Bengal.
Ranchi CBSE topper Shaista Sultana has ambition to join NASA
By Tarique Anwar, TwoCircles.net,
Patna: Shaista Sultana, a resident of Rahmat Colony in Doranda, Ranchi, created a history by topping Ranchi in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) 2008 examination.
Help at hand for estranged Indian wives of NRI men
By Shubha Singh, IANS,
Young Indian women who have followed their non-resident Indian (NRI) husbands abroad sometimes find that a matrimonial dispute can leave them without the wherewithal to contest a divorce case or file for custody of their children. In some cases, the distressed women are unable to fight for their rights because of some lacunae in their immigration papers.
Pakistani govt committed to root out black laws and anti-women: minister
By NNN-APP,
Islamabad : Minister for Women Development Ms Sherry Rehman said that the present government was strongly committed to rooting out all black laws and anti-women practices from the society.
Speaking as chief guest at a seminar on “Situation of Violence Against Women in Pakistan” organized by Aurat Foundation here at a local hotel, she said that women related issues are mainstream issues which swept under the carpet.
Global Summit of Women awards influential figures
By Xinhua,
Hanoi : The ongoing 18th Global Summit of Women (GSW) granted here Friday Global Women's Leadership Award to Mozambique prime minister, Vietnam's Women's Leadership Award to a former vice state president, and Entrepreneurship awards to a Japanese businessman, and a Vietnamese woman.
Congress asks Kerala women’s panel chief to step down
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : State Congress chief Ramesh Chennithala Friday asked Kerala State Women's Commission chairperson Justice D. Sreedevi to quit after the panel decided to recommend a minimum age for girls to become nuns.
Chennithala termed the recommendation as the latest instance of the Left government using its power and clout over government-controlled bodies to hit out at the minorities.
Global Women Summit in Vietnam
By Prensa Latina,
Hanoi : Almost 1,000 representatives from 70 countries are meeting in Vietnam starting today to discuss the role of women in global economy, and particularly in Asia, as part of the 2008 Global Women's Summit.
The three-day forum will be focused on the exchange of experiences and contacts with practical goals, said Irene Natividad, president of Global Women's Summit, a non-profit making organization to promote female development.
GfK official: Number of women Internet users on rise
By Xinhua,
Hanoi : The number of women using the Internet has been on the rise in the past eight years, according to Zhao Xiaoyan, senior vice president and director of the Global Research and Consulting GfK Roper of the United States on Friday.
At a plenary session of the three-day Global Summit of Women, which opened here on Thursday, Zhao said in 2000, only 17 percent of women in GfK worldwide survey said they had used the Internet in the past 30 days. The number rose to the present 49 percent.
Leaders highlight public-private partnership targeting women
By Xinhua,
Hanoi : The close partnership between governments and private companies and non-governmental organizations are of importance to advancing women's economic opportunities, ministers to the ongoing 18th Global Summit of Women (GSW) said here Friday.
The public-private partnership is essential because governments do not have sufficient resources to deal with challenges faced by women, GSW president Irene Natividad said at the summit's plenary session in Vietnam's capital Hanoi.
Women trap shooters disappoint at world cup
By IANS,
New Delhi : Indian women shooters disappointed in the event on the first day of the World Cup being held at Suhl in Germany.
Shagun Chowdhary had the best performance among the three Indians in the event held Thursday. The Jaipur girl shot 61 (19, 21, 21) to finish 38th.
Seema Tomar shot a poor 57 (20, 21, 16) to finish 44th, just two ranks above Shreyasi Singh who was placed 46th. Shreyasi, who started shooting just a year back could manage a score of 50 (16, 17, 17).
Women join ranks of computer gamers and branch out
By DPA,
Berlin : Computer gaming remains predominantly the realm of men. But a closer look at the culture reveals some surprising trends among female gamers.
True, many women have no interest in gaming. Many of those who do tend toward games like the Sims, a blockbuster that focuses on social relationships.
Global Woman Leaders Strive For Bigger Role In Asia-Pacific
By Bernama,
Hanoi : Over 940 woman business, professional and governmental leaders from 72 countries and regions are seeking practical solutions and strategies to enhance their role in the Asian-Pacific region, Xinhua news agency quoted Global Summit of Women (GSW) President Irene Natividad as saying Thursday.
More Women Occupying Key Postions In Business Sectors
By D. Arul Rajoo, Bernama,
Hanoi : The number of women involved in businesses worldwide and occupying key decision-making positions are rising steadily, with more having the power to decide purchases made by their companies, the Global Summit of Women was told today.
Summit president Irene Natividad said the majority of new small businesses in the United States were owned by women while one third of companies in Vietnam were headed by them.
African delegates expecting high from women’s summit
By Xinhua,
Hanoi : Women are still victims of poverty and disparity, First Lady of Burkina Faso said here Thursday at the opening of the pre-summit ministerial roundtable of the Global Summit of Women.
The Summit, which is to kick off later Thursday, gathered over 900 businesswomen, professionals and government leaders from around the world to talk about women's development and other issues.
Five women held for cheating
By IANS,
New Delhi : Five women and a man have been arrested here for allegedly cheating a number of men by taking money from them on the pretext of giving them membership in an exclusive 'friendship club', police said Wednesday.
Police said Sushil Kumar Bhamri, 42, was the kingpin of the racket, which he run from a rented accommodation in Karol Bagh. He had hired five women - all in their mid-20s - to run the 'friendship club'.
Seven mobile phones, four notebooks and seven debit cards were recovered from them.
Maid’s paramour held for drugging women employers in south Delhi
By IANS,
New Delhi : A paramour of a domestic maid, who allegedly drugged and looted her two women employers by mixing sedatives in the supper at their south Delhi home last month, has been arrested on charges of trying to sell stolen goods, police said Wednesday.
Rahul Paul, a 22-year-old from West Bengal, was arrested Tuesday near a shop in Ashram area where he had gone to sell the articles stolen from the rented accommodation of Sharan Suri and Saloni Mahajan.
Two stolen laptops, four mobile phones and five credit cards were recovered from him.
Study finds evidence of centuries-old brawl over women
By IANS,
Washington : Brawling over women is as old as history, settled with fisticuffs or a verbal spat, but our ferocious ancestors brutally maimed or killed rivals for them.
For instance, a mass grave unearthed by a Durham University team indicates that primitive men did their rivals to death to possess their women.
The research focused on 34 skeletons found buried in Talheim, in Germany's south-west. Genetic evidence from their teeth suggested they were massacred in a tribal clash around 5000 BC.
About two million women trafficked every year: UN
By DPA,
New York : An estimated two million women are caught each year in the worldwide sex industry while countless children and other women are forced into low-waged jobs, the UN said Tuesday in a renewed effort to fight human trafficking.
The UN said there are no accurate statistics, but the number of women trafficked across borders each year could be twice as high if the count includes those forced into domestic situations.
Parliamentary panel hears pleas on Women’s bill
By IANS,
New Delhi : The parliamentary committee dealing with the Women's Reservation Bill seeking 33 percent reservation for women in the parliament and state assemblies met Tuesday to hear representations from women's group.
"We deposed before the committee and gave our suggestions on the Women's Reservation Bill," said Annie Raja, general secretary, National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW).
Kerala women’s body wants minimum age for nuns
By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The Kerala State Women's Commission has asked the state government to ensure that girls who want to be nuns are at least 18 years old.
"We have received complaints and the recommendation that we gave to the state government is based on it. Action will be taken against those parents who send their daughter who is below 18 years to become nuns," commission chairperson D. Sreedevi told reporters here Tuesday.
Council of Europe to hold conference on violence against women
By KUNA,
Paris : The Council of Europe will hold in Strasbourg, June 10, the closing conference of its Campaign to Combat Violence against Women, the Council announced here Tuesday.
The Council said that the aim of the conference is to assess the results of the campaign and the measures taken by the Council of Europe and its member states to protect women against violence.
Two arrested for assaulting American woman in Chennai
Chennai, June 2 (IANS) Two people were arrested for allegedly assaulting and molesting an American woman, the police said here Monday.
According to official sources, Kelly Laurel Baker, 26, a US citizen complained that she had been kidnapped by two men, Jose Mathew, 43, and S. John, 35, from the bar of an upmarket hotel May 24.
She was found waylaid with bruises a day later. Baker claimed she had a memory blackout following attempts to outrage her modesty and was robbed of an expensive digital camera and mobile phone, police sources said.
Orissa woman gives birth to identical triplets
By IANS,
Jajpur (Orissa) : A 24-year old woman in Orissa's Jajpur district has given birth to identical triplets, a rarity that occurs once in three million births, a health official said here Monday.
The woman, Santilata Mahalik, a resident of Kunida village, gave birth to three sons Sunday through a normal delivery in the community health centre at Sukinda, 140 km from here.
Islamabad beauty is new Miss Pakistan World
By Gurmukh Singh, IANS,
Toronto : Natasha Paracha from Islamabad has been crowned the new Miss Pakistan World in an annual beauty pageant which, according to its founder, would enable Pakistani women "to stand up for change and progression" in a society that frowns on such events on its soil.
The 23-year-old graduate from the University of California at Berkeley replaces Mahleej Sarkari who created quite a stir last month when she called Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf a hunk and expressed a desire to date him.
Indian woman in Oman kills children, attempts suicide
By IANS,
Dubai : An Indian woman in Oman murdered her two children and then attempted suicide. She has been arrested.
The woman, identified by her neighbours as Priya from Kerala, killed her two children Friday morning at her home in the Muttrah locality of the Omani capital of Muscat, the Khaleej Times newspaper said.
She had reportedly informed the police and her friends and relatives in Oman and in India about her intentions before committing the crime.
The two children, a boy and a girl, were students of Class 2 and kindergarten, respectively, at the Indian School in Muscat.
Woman tourist dies at the Taj Mahal
By IANS,
Agra : A woman tourist from Indore died after she slipped and fell on the marbled surface of the Taj Mahal after the city was hit by rain and thundershowers.
Hasina Bano Chaudhary lost her balance and fell from the main marble structure Saturday.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel guarding the monument tried to take her to the hospital, but she collapsed at the main gate due to profuse bleeding from the head.
Last week, a south Indian tourist slipped and suffered a fracture at the Taj.
‘Indian farm women work more but earn less’
By Brij Khandelwal, IANS,
Agra : Indian women work more but earn less than men, says an eminent agricultural economist. In his latest book he shows how women continue to get a raw deal despite putting in longer hours and work that is critically more important for the farm sector and the family.
Moroccan women seek their way between Islam and feminism
Kenitra/Sale (Morocco), June 1 (DPA) A young woman passes in a sleeveless shirt and a knee-length skirt, her hair flowing down her back.
Another woman of the same age follows in a loose tunic and pants, the Islamic headscarf covering every strand of her hair.
An older woman wears the traditional djellaba, a long outer robe with full sleeves, her hair in a bun. Some women wear the strictest Islamic dress, covering themselves in black from head to toe, with only the eyes visible.