All About Women | Women

From the Indian Express:

Prison authorities are all set for the inauguration of Maharashtra’s first open jail for women at Yerawada Central Prison in Pune. The open jail is scheduled to be inaugurated on January 26, 2010.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Inspector General of Police (Prisons) Uddhav Kamble appreciated the state government for approving their proposal for an open jail for women.

“The main benefit is that women prisoners will now get remission in their punishment. So far, this facility was only for male prisoners as the state has four open jails for men,” Kamble said.

“Besides reduction in prison term, the open jail will also help in improving the living condition of women prisoners. Those eligible for open jail will be given training in farming, painting, weaving and other skills. The women prisoners will also be given remuneration for their work. They will be equipped with new skills and knowledge which will also improve their physical and mental conditions,” he said.

From the Star News Group:

CITIZEN of the Year for 2009 and a ‘Living Treasure of Greater Dandenong’ Sister Ann Halpin died on Thursday at the age of 60.

Sister Halpin was born on 15 May 1939 in St Kilda and was the eldest and only girl of six children.

In 1974, she became the principal of St Mary’s Primary School in Dandenong. After finishing more study, Sister Halpin started helping in parish pastoral work in the Dandenong area.

She worked closely with refugees and migrants and found that many women felt isolated and lonely due to language and cultural barriers.

She approached her colleagues about her findings and the Presentation Sisters vacated their house in Langbourne St to develop it into a drop-in centre for isolated women and named the home Wellsprings.

In 1995, Wellsprings opened on Friday mornings for two hours, with 10 women attending. In 2000, Wellsprings opened 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with more than 90 women attending. Currently, more than 200 people attend.

Her ongoing commitment to the community led to her involvement in International Women’s Day, World Refugee Day, Seniors Week and Poverty Week.

Updated on : Saturday, December 19, 2009

KIEV: Severe weather has continued to hit Europe for a second consecutive day. The cold front comes amid forecasts of more snowfall one week ahead of Christmas.

Severe weather continues to affect parts of Europe. There have been traffic disruptions in Paris, and various cities in Poland and Ukraine are forecasting even more snowfall.

Snow and slippery roads cause hazardous driving conditions, and many drivers have not switched to winter tires Temperatures dropped to minus-12 degrees Celsius in parts of southern Poland.

Some people had to abandon their cars and take public transportation, only to find themselves freezing for up to an hour at bus stops.

The Eiffel Tower is closed until further notice because of the heavy snowfall. But some tourists are enjoying the white Christmas they dreamed of.

In Poland, the cold snap caused major disruptions to traffic. Temperatures plummeted in the capital Warsaw, where heavy snow caused havoc on the roads.

Trains also ran into trouble. In the southwestern city of Wroclaw, temperatures fell to minus 12 degrees Celsius and caused trips to be delayed up to two and a half hours.

Train commuter of Wroclaw in Poland said, "No one is coping well with this. Particularly the railways, they're not coping."

In Ukraine, armored vehicles from the Emergency Control Ministry were dispatched to help motorists stuck on the roads.

The weather has also been deadly. On Thursday, nine people were killed in separate accidents triggered by the cold.

From Thaindian News:

As India hotly debates whether to induct women fighter pilots, a look around the world reveals they have been so fearsome in some places that they came to be branded “nigh witches”. Pakistan and China already have them, but they have never faced direct combat.

“If women are trained in the same manner, then you cannot discriminate against them for just being women. China has inducted them, the US Air Force has women fighter pilots; then how can one say that India cannot have women fighter pilots?” Ranjana Kumari, chairperson of the Centre for Social Research, told IANS.

This month, Defence Minister A.K. Antony told parliament, “It has to be a conscious decision. Earlier we did not have women officers, but now we have women officers and we are thinking of expanding their roles.”

At present, the IAF has 748 women officers in all arms, barring the fighter stream.

This year Pakistan commissioned seven women fighter pilots, breaking into another male bastion. The women fly F-7s, a Chinese version of the Russian MiG-21.

China’s first batch of 16 women fighter pilots debuted during its National Day parade this year. They too are yet to see combat.

The erstwhile Soviet Union, which formed three regiments of women combat pilots who flew night missions and were so successful that the Germans feared them, calling them “Nachthexen” or night witches. Present-day Russia, however, has no woman fighter pilots.

The US Air Force allowed women to fly jets way back in 1993. According to information in the open domain, of the more than 14,000 pilots in the US Air Force, around 3,700 are fighter pilots. And of them, 70 are women. Many of the women fighter pilots of the US Air Force have flown bombing missions over Afghanistan after 2001.

The IAF has a good number of women military aviators flying helicopters and transport aircraft. But the issue of inducting women fighter pilots remains unresolved.