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Saudi Arabia breaks new ground by hosting first-ever Arab Fashion Week

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Fashionable women, dark-haired Saudis and blonde Eastern Europeans alike, fill the gold-trimmed halls of Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel, marking the start of Saudi Arabia’s first-ever fashion week. Models and make-up artists, preparing for the inaugural Saudi episode of Arab Fashion Week, said they were surprised the event was taking place in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom.

“We are so excited because this is the first fashion week in Saudi Arabia, so we are making history,” model Anita Dmycroska said. Strict social restrictions have eased dramatically under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has reined in religious police, introduced public concerts, and lifted bans on cinemas and women driving.

Yet, restrictions persist. Tuesday’s reception was open to men and cameras, but only women are permitted at catwalk events and outside photography is barred. Women in public places in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, wear abayas — loose-fitting, full-length robes symbolic of piety.

With recent reforms, women in some cities have begun to don more colourful abayas, sometimes trimmed with lace and velvet or left open to reveal long skirts or jeans. No abayas will feature on the catwalk. The event hosts invitation-only fashion viewings and a Harvey Nichols pop-up store in a tent that was still being erected hours before the first show.

Another tent holds the catwalk, featuring designers from Brazil, Lebanon, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

The event, initially scheduled for last month, was postponed because of delays in issuing visas. Industry figures from Italy, Russia and Lebanon flocked to Riyadh, many for the first time, to admire the work of local and international designers. Layla Issa Abouzeid, Saudi Arabia country director for the Dubai-based Arab Fashion Council (AFC) organising the event, said 1,500 people were expected to attend, including 400 from abroad.
She hopes the event will bring revenue into the kingdom and highlight local talent. “[When] people go to Paris on the Paris Fashion week, the hotels are fully booked,” she said. “I want to create the same demand in Saudi Arabia, twice a year. I want to create a platform for the local designers to go worldwide.”

Lebanese designer Naja Saade came to Riyadh to display his couture collection. “I’m very proud to participate in this first edition of Arab Fashion Week in Saudi Arabia, because it’s a part of the revolution of the women in this country,” he said. By bringing talent from Europe and placing international brands on the same catwalk as Arab brands, he hopes to elevate local fashion designers. AFC wants to introduce fashion courses, internships and scholarships to Saudi Arabia and develop a fashion district in Riyadh.

Mumbai Fashion Designer Arrested for ‘Sexually Assaulting’ His 2 Teenage Daughters

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The alleged crime came to light when the elder of the two sisters, who is 17 years old, told her mother about the ordeal last week.

A 42-year-old fashion designer was arrested in suburban Vakola for allegedly sexually assaulting his two daughters, police said on Tuesday.

The alleged crime came to light when the elder of the two sisters, who is 17 years old, told her mother about the ordeal last week, said a police official. The younger sister is 13 years old, he said.

When the woman confronted her husband about it, he abused her, after which she took both the girls to the Vakola police station and lodged a complaint, said senior inspector Kailashchand Avhad.

Police registered a case of sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) against the man.

The elder girl, who is a class XI student, told police that her father had sexually assaulted her many times in the last two years, the officer said.

He allegedly threatened to stop paying for her education and even throw her out of the house if she complained.

In November last year, the accused tried to sexually assault her younger sister too, she told police. The accused was arrested on April 8 and a special court for the POCSO Act sent him in police custody till April 12, Avhad said, adding that that probe is underway.

Big Directors, Producers, And Heroes Use Studios As Brothels : Sri Reddy

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On Saturday, Telugu actress Sri Reddy stripped naked in front of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce as a mark of protest against the existing casting couch in the film industry. Another point that she wanted to put forth is that native Telugu actress should be given more roles than outsiders.

Following her ‘stripping’ episode, earlier in the day today, she resorted to her Facebook page to inform the audience and media that her landlord has asked her to vacate the house. “My owner called me and told to vacate my house,what a great people..he is working as an ias ..such a narrow minded people..U dnt even imagine how rude talking..Big people game started (sic),” wrote Reddy on her social media page.

However, Sri Reddy’s act did not go down well with Movie Artists Association (MAA) and they have banned her for the brazen act. In fact, MAA has even threatened that they would suspend any member who worked with her.
Sri Reddy spoke about how a top producer’s son forced her to maintain physical relation with him in the studio and many such scandalising revelations.

“I am a victim. One of the producers’ sons used me in the studio. Studio belongs to the government; they have assigned the property to the guy. Why is the government giving studios?” Sri questioned.

She also assured that she will reveal the name of the person but at the right time. “I will provide photos also. That is my Brahmastra,” she said.

Talking in detail about the incident, where the top producer’s son allegedly exploited her sexually, she said, “He used to take me to the studio and he used to f**k me. He is the son of a top producer who is ruling the Telugu film industry. He used to force sex (on me). He would ask me to come to the studio and I said I will go only to talk, not for any sexual act. But after going there, he used to force (me to have) sex.”

She further added, “Studios are the safest place to use for sex. Big directors, producers and heroes use studios as brothels. It’s like a red-light area. And it is the safest place because no one will come inside; police also will not check, and the government is not taking this as a big issue.”

Unhappy with the native talent being ignored, Reddy said that North Indian actresses always have an upper hand over them because they agree to sexual favours. She has also accused of the top four film families in the Tollywood of crushing fresh talent.

Reddy questions the MAA’s decision of banning her and said that this film body offered her crores of rupees for settlement and not approach the media. “I did not do it only for myself, I did it for all the girls and women who are facing this problem,” she said.

Though her act has been canned as a publicity stunt, she reveals that she had four offers in hand when she decided to voice her opinion. “I will fight till my last breath. They have already smashed my career. If I get any offer, then I will do, otherwise I will go back to TV but I will not stop fighting,” she said.

Sri Reddy was a news presenter and anchor before she entered films.

Indian nurse jumps to death in UAE

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An Indian nurse has committed suicide by jumping off a hospital’s rooftop in Al Ain city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the media reported.

The woman, identified as Suja Singh, was in her early 40s and hailed from Kerala. She jumped from the hospital’s building on Sunday afternoon, the Gulf News reported on Monday citing hospital sources.

Suja Singh is survived by two children who study abroad. No immediate reason for the suicide was ascertained.

An official spokesperson of the hospital where she worked confirmed the incident and said she was working as a head of nurses since January.

“The entire hospital is in shock… We are fully supporting the family of the victim in this difficult time. Suja Singh had no issues with the hospital or any of its members. She was working fine,” the official said.

According to the daily, Suja Singh was a divorcee. The hospital approached her children abroad but they were reportedly not ready to receive the body.

The hospital said the family didn’t want to take the body to India and was planning to arrange her burial in the Emirate.

Woman Attempts Suicide After Co-Workers Spread Rumours Of Extra-Marital Affair At Workplace

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Never-ending taunts and harassment from co-workers drove BPO employee Trushali Manjrekar, 38 to attempt to kill herself by overdosing on pills on Sunday. She had previously reported the harassment at the Vikhroli Parksite police station, but the cops reportedly did not act on it. Now, Navghar police have registered the matter and are probing it further.

Trushali resides in Mulund East and works for a reputed BPO. In the suicide note found by the cops at her home, she wrote, “Colleagues repeatedly spread rumours about me being in a relationship with other employees in the company. I am frustrated with this. I constantly raised my voice against it, but nothing changed.”

This caused trouble in her marriage too, as her husband Shailesh had also begun doubting her. However, Trushali was saved in time on Sunday because of Shailesh.”I was trying to contact Trushali around 6-6.30 pm on Sunday, but she wasn’t answering my call. I got worried and called my neighbour for help,” he said, adding, “One neighbour found the door closed. He broke it open, and found Trushali lying on floor with medicine strips around her. He immediately shifted her to Ashirwad hospital.”

Akhilesh Kumar Singh, DCP (zone-7) said, “We are checking the status of the complaint made by Trushali in Parksite police station and will act accordingly”. Trushali is currently under observation in an ICU. Navghar cops have made a diary entry of the incident.

15-day parole for Sasikala after husband dies

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AIADMK’s jailed leader V.K. Sasikala was granted parole for 15 days on Tuesday to attend her husband M. Natarajan’s last rites, Bengaluru Central Jail Chief Superintendent M. Somashekar said.

Natarajan, 74, died on Tuesday in Chennai after he was hospitalized on March 16 for chest infection and kept on ventilator support.

His body is to be taken to his village in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, about 350 km south of Chennai, for last rites.

Sasikala is currently serving a four-year sentence since February 15 last year after the Supreme Court upheld her conviction in a corruption case.

India stun Japan 4-2, enter women’s Asia Cup final

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Kakamigahara: The Indian women’s hockey team continued its splendid run and came up with an over-all performance to stun defending champions Japan 4-2 in the semi-final of the Asia Cup hockey tournament, here Friday.

Goals from Gurjit Kaur (7th, 9th minutes), Navjot Kaur (9th) and Lalremsiami (38th) ensured India’s entry into Sunday’s final where they will face China.

India had earlier defeated an unpredictable China 4-1 in the league stage of the tournament.

Against Japan, the Indians got off to a rollicking start by earning back-to-back penalty corners to put pressure on the host nation.

Dragflicker Gurjit Kaur gave India a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute when she improvised the injection to send the ball past Japanese goalkeeper Akio Tanaka.

Two minutes later, Navjot Kaur doubled India’s lead when she struck a field goal from a perfect assist by forward Vandana Katariya.

Almost immediately, India won a penalty corner and Gurjit was yet again on target as she gave India a commanding 3-0 in no time.

India won another penalty corner in the first quarter but this time Tanaka made a fine save.

While the first 15 minutes belonged to India, the defending champions made a strong comeback in the second quarter.

Japan unleashed a well coordinated attack on the Indian defence and found space for Shiho Tsujii to score past Indian custodian Savita in the 17th minute.

The next few minutes saw India’s defence put to test by the Japanese.

Yui Ishibashi gave India jitters when she scored another field goal to close the gap to 2-3 in the 28th minute.

From there on, the Indians were needed to play cautiously and not make impulsive decisions. This was exactly what they did after the 10-minute break at halftime.

While Savita made a brilliant save to deny Japan from a penalty corner at the start of the third quarter, Lalremsiami scored a sensational field goal in the 38th minute to extend India’s lead to 4-2.

The final 15 minutes of the match continued to remain tense as Japan won two penalty corners but Savita stood like a rock in front of the goal to deny the hosts.

(PTI)

Saudi Arabia to allow women to drive

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Royal decree announcing decision signed by King Salman will be effective immediately but rollout will take months.

by Al Jazeera

In a reversal of a longstanding rule, Saudi Arabia has announced that it will now allow women to drive.

In a royal decree signed by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the order said it will be effective immediately but the rollout will take months, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.

A high-level committee of ministers has been set up to examine the arrangements for the enforcement of the order.

The committee will take up the recommendations within 30 days from the date of the decree, and will be implemented between 23 and 24 of June 2018, based on the Islamic calendar.

The decree said that women would be allowed to drive “in accordance with the Islamic laws”.

The announcement follows a gender-mixed celebration of Saudi National Day over the weekend, the first of its kind, which aimed to spotlight the kingdom’s reform push, analysts said, despite a backlash from religious conservatives.

Women were also allowed into a sports stadium – previously a male-only arena – to watch a musical concert, a move that chimes with the government’s “Vision 2030” plan for social and economic reform as the kingdom prepares for a post-oil era.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world which does not allow women to drive.

While there have been restrictions imposed on women drivers, some female activists have defied the ban leading to their arrests.

Women drivers have previously been arrested and cars have been confiscated, activists said.

In 2016, Alwaleed bin Talal, an influential Saudi prince called for an “urgent” end to the ban, saying it is a matter not just of rights but economic necessity.

“Preventing a woman from driving a car is today an issue of rights similar to the one that forbade her from receiving an education or having an independent identity,” Alwaleed said.

“They are all unjust acts by a traditional society, far more restrictive than what is lawfully allowed by the precepts of religion.”

He also detailed the “economic costs” of women having to rely on private drivers or taxis, since public transit is not a viable alternative in the kingdom.

Using foreign drivers drains billions of dollars from the Saudi economy, Alwaleed said.

He calculated that families spend an average of $1,000 a month on a driver, money that otherwise could help household income at a time when many are making do with less.

“Having women drive has become an urgent social demand predicated upon current economic circumstances,” said the prince.

A slow expansion of women’s rights began under the late king, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who in 2013 named some women to the Shura Council, which advises the cabinet.

Abdullah also announced that women could for the first time vote and run in municipal elections.

The gambit to loosen social restrictions, which had so far not translated into more political and civil rights, seeks to push criticism over a recent political crackdown out of the public eye, some observers said.

Saudi Arabia has some of the world’s tightest restrictions on women, despite ambitious government reforms aimed at boosting female employment.

Under the country’s guardianship system, a male family member – normally the father, husband or brother – must grant permission for a woman’s study, travel and other activities.

But Saudi Arabia appears to be relaxing some norms as part of the Vision 2030 reform plan.

Widespread sexual harassment still persists in Delhi: study

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Violence-against-women

Washington/New Delhi: Sexual harassment remains a pervasive problem in Delhi despite tougher laws being enacted after the gruesome Nirbhaya rape and murder case in 2012, according to a new study that found 40 per cent of female respondents were sexually harassed in the past year.

About 40 per cent of women surveyed in Delhi said they have been sexually harassed in a public place such as a bus or park in the past year, with most of the crimes occurring in the daytime, researchers said.

Further, 33 per cent of women have stopped going out in public and 17 per cent have quit their jobs rather than face harassment in public places.

“What this means is that women, despite Nirbhaya, are still afraid,” said Mahesh Nalla, from the Michigan State University in US.

Nirbhaya became the pseudonym given to the gang rape victim whose death in 2012 brought worldwide attention to violence against women.

“Women in India do not feel safe being in public spaces, which is clearly a human rights issue,” Nalla said.

While sexual harassment is a problem experienced by women worldwide, it may be more prevalent in emerging democracies such as India and other countries in South Asia where women are becoming more involved in the workforce, said Nalla.

“The problem is intensified by the existence of a cramped, inadequate public transportation system, massive youth migration to urban areas and the fact that India is a traditional patriarchal society where many still believe a woman’s place is in the home,” he said.

Nalla and Manish Madan, assistant professor at Stockton University, surveyed about 1,400 men and women in the capital city of New Delhi on a host of issues including perceptions and history of sexual harassment, use of public transportation, safety in public spaces and police effectiveness in dealing with these concerns.

Researchers found that 40 per cent of female respondents were sexually harassed in the past year and 58 per cent were sexually harassed at least once during their lifetime.

Respondents were asked to gauge the seriousness of sexual incidents ranging from whistling to asking a woman for sexual favours to patting her buttocks or squeezing her breasts.

While both men and women generally considered all incidents serious, men considered them considerably less serious, illustrating “a disjunction between how males and females think,” Nalla said.

Sexual harassment of women in public spaces in India and elsewhere in South Asia – known as “Eve teasing” – has long been a common occurrence, particularly by groups of young male perpetrators, he said.

The December 16, 2012 rape and murder of Nirbhaya by a group of men on a moving bus in Delhi brought about new laws for rape and criminalised voyeurism and stalking.

However, despite these efforts, sexual harassment continues on a broad scale, the study suggests.

The research was published in the journal International Criminal Justice Review.

(Agencies)

FLO Bangalore organizes discussion on women’s mental health

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FICCI-FLO

Bengaluru: FLO Bangalore is focusing on managing Mental Health this March. With the members of the FICCI Ladies Organisation being largely entrepreneurs and senior professionals – a focus on mental health and its management was essential. In a first ever synergy, the traditional and the modern techniques would come together.

Master Akshar from the Akshar Power Yoga Academy and Dr. Sabina Rao, join to address the women of Bangalore of a holistic strategy to manage the challenges of a modern life.

While modern technology should make our life easier, but the challenges have really made our life more stress full.

Mental Health has been under increasing focus internationally and at home in India. Deepika Padukone became the first ever actress in recent memory to speak out about depression and having gone through the same in her life. Drawing from her own experiences, the actress has now opened her own NGO that will focus on spreading awareness about mental health and provide help to those suffering from depression and other forms of mental illness.

“Mental Health should not be considered a stigma. Neither should a person seeking mental help assistance be considered insane or mad,” says Rati Dhandhania Mundrey, Chairperson FLO Bangalore. “Mental Health is a challenge that needs to be taken as seriously as any other physical ailment. FLO members are senior professionals and entrepreneurs and lead busy and stressful lives. It is hoped that this synergy of the traditional and the modern would be able to help the women of today, deal with an increasingly demanding and complex world.”

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