Pakistan Olympic Association Determined to Empower Women in National Sports
New Age Islam News Bureau
9
Jun 2020
BAME women were more likely to believe they would end up in more debt after the pandemic and to worry about paying the rent. Photograph: LaylaBird/Getty Images/iStockphoto
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• Pakistan Olympic Association Determined to Empower Women in National Sports
• First American Woman, Kathy Sullivan, 68, to Walk in Space Reaches Deepest Spot in the Ocean
• UK Black, Asian And Minority Ethnic Women Suffer Harder Financial Hit in Covid-19
• Court Orders Release of Egyptian Influencer Haneen Hossam On Bail
• Small Boats and Female Workers Hardest Hit byCovid-19 Fisheries Impact
• Men, Know Your Place: Turkey's Women Take On Sexism With Satire
• ‘Transgender Women Are Women’: Daniel Radcliffe & Other Celebrities Respond To J.K. Rowling’s Tweets
• Two American Women, Cynthia D. Ritchie And Joanne Herring Who Created A Stir in Pak Politics
• Female Truckers Group Hands Out PPE To Fellow Drivers on Florida’s Turnpike
• Philadelphia’s Nina Ahmad Poised To Win Auditor General Democratic Nomination Over Pittsburgh’s Michael Lamb
Compiled ByNew Age Islam News Bureau
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Pakistan Olympic Association Determined To Empower Women In National Sports
June 8, 2020
By Sohail Ali
LAHORE, Jun 08 (APP): Recognizing the paramount importance of women’s role in sports, Pakistan Olympic Association continues its endeavor to bring Pakistani sports women to limelight both on and off the field of play and such efforts have brought honor for the country and the Olympic Family as Maj. (R) Dr. LubnaSibtain, Member POA Medical Commission, has successfully completed IOC Diploma in Sports Medicine.
She was enrolled on this Two-Year Long-Distance Learning Diploma as part of the Sports Medicine and Protection of Clean Athletes program of the International Olympic Committee, said Secretary, POA, Muhammad Khalid Mahmood here on Monday.
The program is another extraordinary venture supported by the International Olympic Committee for capacity building of the NOC and Olympic Movement of Pakistan.
“Pakistan Olympic Association is delighted to congratulate Maj. (R) Dr. LubnaSibtain for successfully completing diploma in Sports Medicine organized under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee. This two-year Long-Distance Learning Program will enable Dr. LubnaSibtain to assist the sports family of Pakistan in particular the athletes and their entourage to better understand the aspect of sports medicine.”
https://www.app.com.pk/poa-determined-to-empower-women-in-national-sports/
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First American Woman, Kathy Sullivan, 68, to Walk in Space Reaches Deepest Spot in the Ocean
By Heather Murphy
June 8, 2020
The first American woman to walk in space has become the first woman to reach the deepest known spot in the ocean.
On Sunday, Kathy Sullivan, 68, an astronaut and oceanographer, emerged from her 35,810-foot dive to the Challenger Deep, according to EYOS Expeditions, a company coordinating the logistics of the mission.
This also makes Dr. Sullivan the first person to both walk in space and to descend to the deepest point in the ocean. The Challenger Deep is the lowest of the many seabed recesses that crisscross the globe.
Dr. Sullivan and Victor L. Vescovo, an explorer funding the mission, spent about an hour and a half at their destination, nearly seven miles down in a muddy depression in the Mariana Trench, which is about 200 miles southwest of Guam.
After capturing images from the Limiting Factor, a specially designed deep-sea research submersible, they began the roughly four-hour ascent.
Upon returning to their ship, the pair called a group of astronauts aboard the International Space Station, around 254 miles above earth.
“As a hybrid oceanographer and astronaut this was an extraordinary day, a once in a lifetime day, seeing the moonscape of the Challenger Deep and then comparing notes with my colleagues on the ISS about our remarkable reusable inner-space outer-spacecraft,” Dr. Sullivan said in a statement released by EYOS Expeditions on Monday.
In 1978, Dr. Sullivan joined NASA as part of the first group of U.S. astronauts to include women. On Oct. 11, 1984, she became the first American woman to walk in space.
“That is really great,” Dr. Sullivan said after she floated into the cargo bay of the shuttle Challenger, about 140 miles above Earth.
She later became the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Dr. Sullivan had a longstanding fascination with the ocean — before becoming an astronaut, she participated in one of the first attempts to use a submersible to study the volcanic processes that make the ocean crust, according to Collect Space, a space history site.
Tim Shank, a biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, called Dr. Sullivan a “consummate leader” in the study of the world’s oceans. There is currently only one submarine in the world that can reach the Challenger Deep, he said.
“I’m thrilled to hear that she was in it,” he said. “Anytime we can reach such extreme places on Earth to learn about them, it’s a major event.”
The Challenger Deep was discovered by the H.M.S. Challenger, a British ship that sailed the globe from 1872 to 1876. Since then, many expeditions have sought to measure the fissure’s depth, prompting disagreements not only about the precise figures but also over who truly was the first to reach the deepest point.
In April 2019, Mr. Vescovo, Dr. Sullivan’s diving partner, said he was; the “Titanic” director James Cameron disagreed, insisting he had gone deeper in 2012.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/08/science/challenger-deep-kathy-sullivan-astronaut.html
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UK Black, Asian And Minority Ethnic Women Suffer Harder Financial Hit in Covid-19
8 Jun 2020
Black, Asian and minority ethnic women in the UK are suffering greater financial and psychological consequences from the coronavirus pandemic than their white counterparts, polling suggests.
Research has already shown that BAME people are at more risk of dying from Covid-19 than white Britons. Now data collected by Survation on behalf of the Fawcett Society suggests they are suffering other effects disproportionately.
Of people who were not in employment due to disability or were retired, more than three times as many BAME women as white women reported that they had recently lost support from the government (42.5% versus 12.7%).
Overall, BAME women as a whole were most likely to believe they would end up in more debt after the outbreak, struggle to make ends meet in the next three months, and be worried about how to pay the rent or mortgage, the analysis, to be published on Monday, found. They also reported the lowest levels of life satisfaction and happiness.
Dame Donna Kinnair, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: “This new evidence shows that those in power have avoided tackling the issues of systemic racism and structural inequalities for far too long, and this avoidance has worsened outcomes for BAME women in particular. Nurses, some of whom are BAME women themselves, see this in their work every day.
“The message is clear: equality and inclusion are the bedrock for good health, prosperity and a cohesive society. It is time for us to all talk seriously about the racism disadvantage some women face compared to the privilege of others, and take action.”
The analysis, carried out by the Women’s Budget Group, Fawcett Society, Queen Mary University of London and London School of Economics, was based on a poll of 3,280 people.
It found that of those having to go out to work, concern about having to do so was highest among BAME people, with 65.1% of BAME women and 73.8% of BAME men reporting anxiety about doing so, compared with 60.9% of white women and 52.9% of white men. BAME women working from home were more than a third more likely than white women (41% to 28.2%) to say they were working more than before the pandemic.
It was not just a lack of government support that BAME women complained about. Just under half (48.3%) of BAME women, compared with 34% of white women, said they had lost support from other people.
Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: “As the government relaxes the lockdown, it must consider the impacts on different ethnic groups and also adopt a gendered approach. The unequal impact of this crisis is driven by existing structural inequalities and discrimination in our society.”
The report points out that many people had already lost their jobs when the government’s furlough scheme was announced and that the recently employed are not covered by it. Additionally, it highlights that a 20% salary cut is substantial for those already on low pay.
Its recommendations include removing barriers to social security, increasing economic support, and ensuring that people can work or isolate safely.
Mary-Ann Stephenson, director of the Women’s Budget Group, said: “It is particularly concerning that BAME women are reporting limited access to support from the government. It is crucial that the government carries out and publishes meaningful equality impact assessments on the impact of both the virus itself and their policies in response to it.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/08/coronavirus-uk-bame-women-suffer-harder-financial-hit
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Court orders release of Egyptian influencer Haneen Hossam on bail
8 Jun 2020
A Cairo court ordered on Monday the release of Egyptian TikTok influencer Haneen Hossam on EGP 10,000 bail.
The 20-year-old influencer was detained in early May pending investigation after being charged with inciting debauchery, human trafficking and immorality.
The Cairo University archaeology student, who has 1.2 million followers on the social media app TikTok, posted a video recruiting women to join a group she created on short video sharing platform Likee with the purpose of promoting the platform in return for payment.
The general prosecution said previously that it found WhatsApp conversations on her phones discussing agreements with those in charge of a social media app to lure young girls to make friends with the app’s followers, taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic and society’s economic condition.
The prosecution added that there were three accounts on different online applications including Instagram and Tiktok containing many pictures and videos of Hossam dancing and singing in a suggestive manner to get followers and likes.
The prosecution also found a bank transfer statement of $3,600 received from the aforementioned app in exchange for the videos she recorded.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/371708/Egypt/Politics-/Court-orders-release-of-Egyptian-influencer-Haneen.aspx
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Small boats and female workers hardest hit by Covid-19 fisheries impact
8 Jun 2020
Small fishing boats, fish markets and female workers are among the categories worst affected by the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis on the world’s fisheries, research has found.
Supply chains around the world have been disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and artisanal fishing – small boats – has borne the brunt, according to the annual report on fisheries by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). While industrial fishing fell only by about 6.5% in April, a large proportion of small vessels around the world have been in effect confined to port, and their markets are uncertain.
In parts of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, more than 90% of small-scale fishing fleets have had to stop fishing owing to a lack of markets and falling prices.
The closure of restaurants, hotels and catering has cut off markets for small boats and led to falling prices, and the resulting disruption has led to an increase in waste, according to an appendix to the annual report, published on Monday for World Oceans Day.
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Some of these effects are hard to quantify as yet. The main report was prepared before the coronavirus crisis hit, so the appendix contains only preliminary information rather than extensive research, but it indicates a growing difficulty for many small fishing fleets around the world.
Women make up at least half of the labour force in fisheries and fish farms, and have been particularly affected by the Covid-19 crisis, according to the report. The economic impact of restricted sales and the difficulty of finding routes to market has been compounded by the closure of processing operations and markets, where many women are employed, and by the risk of infection they face when working in fish processing warehouses or markets. Many have had to work longer hours under unsafe conditions.
Countries are urged to keep their supply chains running and their borders open to trade in fish – about 38% of fish is internationally traded – to help small-scale fishers cope amid the crisis.
While small fishing fleets have faced hardship, some massive industrial trawlers have kept up their operations – Greenpeace recently tracked the movements of some mega trawlers around the UK coast – to the consternation of local fishing fleets.
Philip Evans, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “This continuing industrial fishing activity is in the context of an ocean in crisis, with many fish populations already on the brink of collapse. Once the pandemic is over, attention must turn again to reforming global fisheries governance and placing at least 30% of the world’s oceans off limits to fishing activity, to give fish populations space to recover from decades of destructive industrial fishing activity.”
Around the world, fish consumption reached a record high last year, according to the FAO’s report. Per capita consumption hit 20.5kg for the year and is expected to increase, with total fish production predicted to rise to 204m tonnes in 2030, which would be an increase of 15% on 2018.
Fishing was worth about $400bn (£316bn) around the world in 2018, according to the report, of which close to half was from fish farming, in which China is the global leader.
“Fish and fisheries products are recognised not only as some of the healthiest foods on the planet, but also as some of the less impactful on the natural environment,” said Qu Dongyu, the director general of the FAO.
But more effort is needed to improve the management and rebuilding of fish stocks, or increased consumption will come at the expense of serious damage to fish populations. More than a third of fish stocks globally are fished at unsustainable levels, according to the FAO.
There has been some success in the past year in fostering more sustainable fisheries, according to the report, which points to tuna fisheries, of which two-thirds are now fished at sustainable levels. While insufficient, that represents substantial progress, as the proportion fished sustainably has risen by 10 percentage points in two years, the report says.
“The improvement, the fruit of contributions from many stakeholders, attests to the importance of active management to reach and maintain biological sustainability, and serves to underscore how urgently we must replicate such approaches in fisheries and regions where management systems are in poor shape,” said Manuel Barange, the director of the FAO’s fisheries and aquaculture department.
Despite the report’s upbeat findings, concerns remain around the fishing of tuna, as the Guardian has reported, highlighting the difficulty in squaring the global demand for a sustainable source of protein and the poor governance that prevails in many fishing areas.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/08/small-boats-women-workers-hardest-hit-covid-19-fisheries-impact
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Men, Know Your Place: Turkey's Women Take On Sexism With Satire
Andrew Wilks
June 9, 2020
Fed up with lifetimes of patronising put-downs and well-meaning but chauvinistic remarks, Turkish women flooded to Twitter recently with humorous messages reversing the bias of everyday sexist language.
In a country plagued by violence against women and where conservative attitudes persist, tens of thousands of mostly female social media users adopted #ErkeklerYeriniBilsin – Men Know Your Place – to put men at the heart of common sexist expressions.
The trend was launched last week when a user named Ruq posted “My husband can work if he wants” – a not-so veiled dig at men who consider themselves enlightened because they “allow” their wives to work.
After being retweeted more than 11,700 times, the sentiment caught on as people posted images such as a bridegroom showing off an engagement ring to a circle of adoring male friends.
Social media-savvy local authorities soon joined. Bodrum municipality boasted of public lighting that would mean “men can wander the streets safely”, while Sisli council in Istanbul jokingly trumpeted the arrival of pink male-only buses.
“Even in the most repressive periods in Turkey, women have managed to lift the veil of the oppressive atmosphere with very creative campaigns and actions,” said opposition MP FilizKerestecioglu.
CananGullu, president of the Turkish Federation of Women’s Associations, praised the reactions of women “shackled” by sexist language.
“The contribution of local authorities’ messages has raised awareness about the rhetoric that women are subjected to,” she said.
EsinIzelUysal, from the We Will Stop Femicides platform, said the campaign reflected women’s frustration at the lack of accountability for the “violence we encounter in every domain, the sexist statements”.
The hashtag showed how people can find ways to resist when the usual methods of protest are limited, said Lisel Hintz, an assistant professor in international relations at Johns Hopkins University.
She commented on “the attention-grabbing humour they use in doing so, which encourages sharing and thus amplifies the message in an online forum, inverting and subverting quickly recognisable power structures.”
Cases of murdered women – usually at the hands of a boyfriend, husband or ex-partner – create headlines on a near daily basis in Turkey.
Despite the ratifying the Istanbul Convention on preventing violence against women in 2011 and laws to protect them, 474 women were murdered by men last year, according to We Will Stop Femicides.
The number of femicides – the murder of women by men because of their sex – has risen steadily over the last decade, the platform said.
Since 2008, most murderers of women in Turkey – 62 per cent – have been their male partners. Another 28 per cent of killings were carried out by other family members.
The World Health Organisation says 38 per cent of Turkish women experience violence at the hands of a partner in their lifetime, compared to 25 per cent across Europe. Women’s groups and police have reported a rise in violence under coronavirus “stay at home” orders.
“Even in ‘usual’ conditions, for women the home can be as dangerous as it is outside due to male violence,” said MsKerestecioglu, who has criticised the lack of support during the pandemic for women at risk. “Domestic violence is the deadliest form of violence.”
The movement from villages to cities in recent years has transformed Turkish society, offering women more opportunities to work and have a life outside the family.
While overseeing this change, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has also sought to impose the roles of mother and homemaker on women. In the past, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has described working women as “rejecting motherhood” and declared childless women “incomplete”.
“In recent years, women have become politically subordinate due to religious conservatism and we have become a country that is pumped by the different perceptions of sects and religious communities,” she said.
Responding to the anti-sexism hashtag, Kadem, an AKP-backed women’s association, said the hashtag campaign had “reached a level that will undermine the values we believe in. We condemn and reject this situation.”
https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/men-know-your-place-turkey-s-women-take-on-sexism-with-satire-1.1030994
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‘Transgender Women Are Women’: Daniel Radcliffe & Other Celebrities Respond To J.K. Rowling’s Tweets
Jun 9, 2020
Daniel Radcliffe, star of the Harry Potter film franchise, is the latest to speak out after author J.K. Rowling posted a thread on Twitter, which has been widely criticized as transphobic. Radcliffe posted his response via The Trevor Project, an organization dedicated to helping LGBTQ+ youth in crisis.
Rowling took to Twitter on Saturday, June 6, to repost an article with the headline ‘Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate’.
‘People who menstruate.’ Rowling wrote in her response, ‘I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?’
‘If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.’
The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women — ie, to male violence — ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences — is a nonsense.
I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it’s hateful to say so.’
Radcliffe took to The Trevor Project, an advocacy group for LGBTQ+ youth in crisis, to post a statement, directly addressing Rowling’s tweets, and declaring ‘Transgender women are women’:
‘While Jo is unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken, as someone who has been honored to work with and continues to contribute to The Trevor Project for the last decade, and just as a human being, I feel compelled to say something at this moment.
Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I. According to The Trevor Project, 78% of transgender and nonbinary youth reported being the subject of discrimination due to their gender identity. It’s clear that we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities, and not cause further harm.’
He went on to share resources from The Trevor Project on supporting transgender and non binary people, and also said he is ‘deeply sorry’ to fans who feel this has tarnished the book series for them. He said on the fan experience:
‘If you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred.’
His full statement can be read at The Trevor Project. Daniel Radcliffe is a long-time supporter of The Trevor Project, having been honored with the Trevor Hero Award in 2011, Radcliffe has advocated for LGBTQ+ youth with the organization since 2009.
Other Potter stars have also responded to Rowling’s tweets. Katie Leung, who played Cho Chang in the Harry Potter series, posted a variety of organisations supporting Black transgender people:
Noma Dumezweni, who played Hermione Granger in the first run of both the West End and Broadway productions of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, chose to highlight various high-profile transgender activists and individuals in her response to Rowling:
1. Dear Jo - Marsha P. Johnson. Sylvia Rivera. Indya Moore. Angelica Ross. Tamara Adrián. Rebecca Root. Isis King. Laverne Cox. Caitlyn Jenner. Lily and Lana Wachowski. Trace Lysette. Andreja Pejic. Tracey Norman. Janet Mock. APRIL ASHLEY... etc, etc, Wikipedia..
2. As I honour mine, and the trans friends in my life. I’ll defer to THEIR LIVED EXPERIENCES, not their erasure. And these are just the WOMEN! There is Magic in listening. This [world] has stories for millennia. I know You Know All this...with love. Nx #TransRightsAreHumanRights’
‘I know you and I know you aren’t speaking out of hate. But I do have a different point of view about this. Gender can be “real” without being established irrevocably at birth by one’s chromosomes or one’s genitals. The brain is also an organ that determines gender. (1)
(2) Once someone transitions to make their physical body reflect their gender identity, then the “sex” they then express is real. Trans women ARE real women, in their minds and in their bodies. Medical intervention on one person does not invalidate any who don’t need it.’
Various other Harry Potter fans, fan groups and influencers have spoken out on the tweets also, including The Harry Potter Alliance, an activist group helping to equip fans with the resources and knowledge to take on various social justice issues. The organization posted their response via a Twitter thread:
The tweets have been widely criticized by a number of celebrities, including Jameela Jamil, Jonathan Van Ness, Halsey, Anthony Rapp, Sarah Paulson, Whitney Cummings, and more.
In December, Rowling was also criticized for tweeting in support of Maya Forstater, who did not have her contract renewed at an international thinktank after a series of tweets, and lost her employment tribunal after her opinions on sex were ruled “absolutist”.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmapocock/2020/06/09/transgender-women-are-women-daniel-radcliffe--other-celebrities-respond-to-jk-rowlings-tweets/#274d90942d8e
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Two American Women, Cynthia D. Ritchie And Joanne Herring Who Created A Stir in Pak Politics
Sabir Shah
June 9, 2020
LAHORE: Pakistan-based American blogger and journalist, Cynthia D. Ritchie, is not the first American woman who has literally created a stir in Pakistan’s ever-turbulent and eventful political arena during the course of country's action-packed history, research conducted by the "Jang Group and Geo Television Network" reveals.
More than three decades ago, another American socialite, television talk show host and businesswoman, Joanne King Herring (born 1929), had also flashed headlines, predominantly in foreign Press though, for her long association and political relation with the-then Pakistani President, General Ziaul Haq. However, Herring was in the news for different reasons.
Cynthia Ritchie, as we all know, has levelled allegations of rape and assault against some top Pakistan People’s Party leaders, including the likes of former Premier Yousaf Raza Gillani, former Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, and former Health Minister, Makhdoom Shahabuddin.
Incidentally, like Cynthia Ritchie, Joanne Herring had also hailed from the American State of Texas! Both have worked in media and both had access to the cozy Pakistani power corridors.
Joanne Herring had also served as the honorary Consul at the Pakistani Consulate-General in Houston, and was also the recipient of a prestigious civil award “the Quaid-e-Azam Medal” for her services.
In its August 12, 2014 edition, on General Zia’s birthday, the esteemed “Forbes” magazine of United States had insisted she was appointed by General Zia against Foreign Office protocols.
Since it was a tamed and censored Pakistani Press under General Ziaul Haq, a lot about Joanne Herring and her activities could not be reported locally.
Many historians, journalists and authors have written that throughout the 1980s that the attractive Herring had almost single-handedly created the entire United States support for the Mujahideen in Afghanistan by assisting the US representative, Charlie Wilson.
She convinced Wilson to persuade Washington DC to train and arm the freedom fighters in Afghanistan so that they could fight in the 1979 Soviet-Afghan War. Her contacts with General Zia dated back to the early 1970s, when the Pakistani military ruler was serving as a Brigadier-General and contingent commander of Pakistani Army in Jordan.
In 1980, General Zia had even reportedly held a dinner in honor of Joanne Herring in Islamabad. She defended General Zia’s action on many occasions and paid rich tribute to him in her 2011 autobiography “Diplomacy and Diamonds: My wars from the ballroom to the battlefield.”
She had written: “Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was tried by his own judges and convicted of murder. The Holy Quran serves as the unofficial Constitution of Pakistan. It exacts an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. If you murder, you must die. The only thing Zia did was to not commute Bhutto's sentence. In a country whose constitution demanded capital punishment for murder, Zia could not violate the Law.”
In his book “Charlie Wilson’s War,” eminent American journalist (late) George Crille reveals: “Herring was said to have been a most trusted American adviser in President Zia’s administration. It was Herring who acquainted US politician Charlie Wilson with Zia who later secured major funding for Pakistan's anti-Communist policies. Over the years, Herring's influence on Zia and his military administration grew further, and Zia became so enamoured with her that he would interrupt cabinet meetings to take her call.”
In his book “Strategy, diplomacy, humanity: Life and work of SahabzadaYaqub Khan, “former Pakistani Foreign Minister, General (retd) Sahibzada Yaqub Khan had viewed: “She absolutely had his ear, it was terrible!”
Controversial Pakistani diplomat Hussain Haqqani had described Herring as "known more for glamour than for her political wisdom. Zia showered her with hospitality to use her connections. She knew little about the country and inaccurately described Pakistan as an "Arab nation" in her memoirs.”
About 91 now, Herring is portrayed by actress Julia Roberts in her 2007 film “Charlie Wilson Wars.” Since the 9/11-episode, Herring has stated that she "did not make Al-Qaeda and that she could not predict the future.
(References: Journalist Philip Sherwell’s December 2, 2007 article in British newspaper “The Telegraph,” Joanne Herring’s 2011 book “Diplomacy and Diamonds: My wars from the ballroom to the battlefield, “author SemmaSirohi’s August 2003 article in “Outlook India” and controversial Pakistani diplomat Hussain Haqqani’s book “Magnificent Delusions”)
By the way, apart from the two above-mentioned American women, Joanne Herring and Cynthia Ritchie, a few other ladies of foreign origin have also been an integral part of the Pakistani political system’s history.
Ms. Viqar-un-Nisa Noon (born in Austria as Victoria in 1920) was married to Pakistan's Seventh Premier Sir Feroze Khan Noon in 1945.
She died in year 2000, and was an eminent socialite who initiated many welfare projects for poor and downtrodden masses till she lived.
Naheed Mirza (1919-2019), the second wife of first Pakistani President and Fourth Governor General, Iskander Ali Mirza (1899-1969), was an Iranian by nationality.
In October 1954, while in West Pakistan, Iskander Mirza's second marriage took place in Karachi after he fell in love with an Iranian aristocrat, NaheedAmirteymour.
Naheed was a close friend of Begum Nusrat Ispahani Bhutto (1929-2011), second wife of PPP founder, former Pakistani President and Premier, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1928-1979).
This book was written by IskanderMiza’s son Humayun Mirza, who writes: “Nahid Iskander was also the cousin of Nusrat Bhutto. Although Nusrat was 15 years younger to Nahid, she got married a few years earlier than her elder relative in September 1951.”
While airing a report on Naheed Mirza’s obituary on January 25, 2019, “Samaa Television” had mentioned: “The book says that Nahid was the second wife of the president and they married after his son, Enver Mirza, died in a plane crash on June 4, 1953. When they first met, she was married to Lieutenant Colonel Afghamy, a military attaché at the Iranian embassy in Pakistan. Mirjaveh, which is the main crossing point between Iran and Pakistan, was ceded to Iran under the presidency of Iskander Mirza. Nahid Mirza played an instrumental role in the deal, Ahmed Yar Khan writes in Inside Balochistan. According to historians, she is the one who introduced Iskander Mirza and Ayub Ali Khan to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.”
This is what another former Pakistani Prime Minister, Firoz Khan Noon (1893-1970), had written in his book “From Memory,” which was published in 1966: “No account of Iskander would be complete without a mention of his beautiful and talented wife, Nahid. She kept open house and a magnificent table, which suited the large and hospitable heart of Iskander.”
Former Pakistani First Lady, Nusrat Bhutto, had met Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1949, when he (Bhutto) had returned to Karachi from Berkeley University (United States) to attend his sister's wedding.
Born to parents of Kurdish-Iranian heritage and pampered by her elder sisters, Nusrat Ispahani completed her senior Cambridge exams at the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Bombay, but did not go to college.
Archival accounts shed a lot of light on how Nusrat took on political roles while her husband was still in power, including a position in the cabinet.
When Bhutto was dethroned and subsequently imprisoned by General Ziaul Haq’s regime, Nusrat was faced with a choice – go abroad or live in Pakistan but stay out of politics. Nusrat chose to continue her husband’s legacy and struggle for his release.
After many important political figures had left her husband’s political entity, the PPP, Nusrat had tried to glue the party loyalists together.
Last but not least, siting Pakistani Premier Imran Khan’s first wife, Jemima Marcelle Goldsmith (born 1974), had also stolen a lot of limelight before and after tying knot with the 1992 World Cup-winning Cricketing hero.
She and Imran had married on June 21, 1995, but on June 22, 2004, it was announced that the couple had divorced ending the nine-year marriage.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/670121-two-american-women-who-created-a-stir-in-pak-politics
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Female truckers group hands out PPE to fellow drivers on Florida’s Turnpike
June 8, 2020
Members of Real Women in Trucking were posted at Florida’s Turnpike rest stop at Turkey Lake Plaza to give out much-needed personal protective equipment to a group of people they say has been overlooked throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
From the warehouse to local stores, truck drivers have been on the road delivering goods. They say the pandemic had made their jobs more difficult.
"We don't feel appreciated. Some of the showers and restrooms at truck stops are closed, it's bad," said Ray Sanchez who drives a truck from Miami.
"When they're going to pick up and deliver, some of the facilities are taking their temperatures and requiring them to wear masks. I've even encountered drivers having to put a dirty sock on their face or a dirty t-shirt," said Desiree Wood.
Those experiences motivated Desiree Wood, President of Real Women in Trucking, to partner with Florida's Turnpike Enterprise to collect and distribute donated PPE and supplies to truck drivers.
With vans filled with much-needed supplies, Real Women in Trucking plan to continue traveling across the country delivering PPE to truck drivers who need them. The group is expected to give out about 15,000 PPE kits.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/06/08/female-truckers-group-hands-out-ppe-to-fellow-drivers-on-floridas-turnpike/
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Philadelphia’s Nina Ahmad Poised To Win Auditor General Democratic Nomination Over Pittsburgh’s Michael Lamb
June 8, 2020
By Jon Delano
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — It’s been almost a week since the Pennsylvania primary, and we still don’t know the winner of the only contested statewide race.
It’s very close but Ahmad — a Muslim woman who earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and later became deputy mayor of Philadelphia — is now poised to become the Democratic Party’s first woman of color to win the nomination for one of the state’s top executive offices.
“I am a woman who is an immigrant to this country and who is deeply grateful to this country and Pennsylvania,” Ahmad told KDKA political editor Jon Delano on Monday.
The mother of two, Ahmad is a geneticist who believes her skills will help her audit government agencies as auditor general.
“I bring, as I said, a broad experience of being a scientist who looks at data and uses that to say that we can have a government that delivers for everyone,” Ahmad said. “I deeply believe that we can have a government that takes care of our most vulnerable, that is not only compassionate but cost-efficient.”
Ahmad is passionate about education and women’s rights, having witnessed the treatment of women in Bangladesh’s war for independence.
“Two hundred thousand women and girls were brutalized in that war by the genocidal army, and that has made me a firm advocate for women,” Ahmad said. “I continue to do so. I serve on the National Organization for Women’s board because that playing field is not level yet. Not just for women, but for many marginalized groups.”
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/06/08/nina-ahmad-poised-to-win-auditor-general-democratic-nomination/
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