NY Times: Saudi Arabia Debates Women's Right to Drive

By HASSAN M. FATTAH

Published: September 28, 2007

Whether the newly open discussion signals that women will actually be driving soon remains to be seen.

Click here to read all about it

How do you say "good for you" in German?

Merkel angers China on Dalai Lama

Putting successful women between a rock and a hard place

Interestingly enough, this piece was published in the NY Times's "Fashion and Style" section

Putting Money on the Table

By ALEX WILLIAMS

Published: September 23, 2007

With rising incomes, young women discover the pitfalls of “dating down.”

Read it and weep.

The things that some of us take for granted...

Published yesterday on the BBC News website:
Women challenge driving ban

Saudi women rely on relatives or chauffeurs to drive them around

A group of women in Saudi Arabia is for the first time to lobby the kingdom's government for the right to drive cars.

Read the entire article here

Back to the subject of "gender imbalance"

From the BBC News website

Chinese woman's 'needle ordeal'

Doctors in China have discovered 26 sewing needles embedded in the body of a 31-year-old woman.

They think they were inserted into Luo Cuifen's body when she was a baby by grandparents upset she was not a boy.

Some of these needles have penetrated vital organs, such as the lungs, liver and kidneys. One has even broken into three pieces in the woman's brain.

The needles were discovered only when Ms Luo went to hospital complaining of blood in her urine.

She was given a routine X-ray, which revealed the needles. Up until then she had been in good health.

Read the entire article here - including links to articles on how China is waking up to the problem of female infanticide, aka, "gender imbalance"

Nina Simone - 'nuff said

She made her life count for something - a true heroine

Jane Tomlinson loses cancer fight

Jane Tomlinson obituary

Terminal cancer sufferer Jane Tomlinson has died aged 43, following a seven-year battle with the disease.

The married mother-of-three, who was made CBE for charitable services in June, had raised £1.75m in a series of gruelling challenges.

Read the rest of this BBC article here

First female Beefeater

On a lighter note...this just in from the BBC website:

Beefeater makes history at Tower

Miss Cameron beat five men to the job

The first female Beefeater has made history by officially going on duty at the Tower of London.

Moira Cameron, 42, from Argyll, beat five men to the £20,000-a-year job as Yeoman Warder.

She said it was a "great privilege" to work and live at the Tower as she donned the famous blue and scarlet uniform for her first duties on Monday.

Miss Cameron joined the Army aged 16 and served the required 22 years in the Forces to become eligible for the post

Read the rest here