New Age Islam News Bureau
1
Sept 2013
After the end of the grace period for illegal workers to correct their statuses could leave some Saudi women without their private drivers. (File photo: AFP)
• Somalia: Rape and Sexual Violence a Constant Threat for Displaced Women
• Need To End All Acts of Violence against Women: Congress President
• Early Marriages: Sindh Lawmakers Plan To Pass Bill
• Muslim Family, St Hug's Fuss over Girl's Dress
• Saudi Arabia: Laws to Force Families to Accept Freed Female Inmates
• Children of Saudi Mothers Are Saudis
• Saudi Working Women and Female Students Worried As Crackdown on Drivers Looms
• Rabbis across US to Devote Holiday Sermons to Women’s Prayer Rights in Israel
• Female Expat Principal Sacked Saudi Female Teachers
• Women’s Salaries Highest in Tabuk
• Nigeria: 13-Year Old Miss Adeife Visually Impaired Author Calls for Quality Education
• Nigeria: Woman Docked for Stealing, False Pretence
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/woman-admits-perjury,-aided-minnesotans/d/13303
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Woman Admits Perjury, Aided Minnesotans Recruited to Fight in Somalia
September 01, 2013
A 23-year-old woman admitted Thursday that she lied to a grand jury investigating the long-running case of young men who left Minnesota to join a terrorist group in Somalia.
Saynab Hussein pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis to one count of perjury. She admitted that in June 2009 she lied when she told a grand jury she did not know anyone who raised money for the travelers, when she actually helped raise money herself.
Hussein, who is pregnant and studying nursing, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. A sentencing date has not been set.
Hussein was charged Wednesday, making her the 21st person to be charged in the government's investigation into efforts to recruit fighters and raise money for al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida-linked group at the heart of much of the violence in Somalia in recent years.
Since late 2007, at least 22 young men have left Minnesota to join the terrorist group, which at the time was fighting Ethiopians who were assisting Somalia's former government.
Some of these Minnesota men have died, some remain at large and others were among those prosecuted in what the FBI has said is one of the largest efforts to recruit U.S. fighters to a foreign terrorist organization.
The investigation began in fall 2008. That October, Shirwa Ahmed of Minneapolis detonated a bomb in Somalia. Authorities said he was the first known U.S. citizen to carry out a suicide bombing, and they believed he was radicalized in Minnesota.
The following month, the case became public when families of some of the travelers came forward to say their sons were missing.
Hussein was among several people called to testify before a grand jury in the months that followed. Prosecutors have said in the cases of other defendants that the investigation was fast-moving at the time, as authorities were trying to make sense of what was going on and stop other men from leaving Minnesota.
Hussein, who has permanent resident status in the U.S., remained free on bond.
Her attorney, John Lundquist, said in a statement that Hussein was 19 years old when she appeared before the grand jury.
"Telling an untruth is totally out of character for her, but she was young, naive and terrified," he said. "She made a mistake." and deeply regrets it," he said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201308310133.html?aa_source=slideout
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Somalia: Rape and Sexual Violence a Constant Threat for Displaced Women
September 01, 2013
Women and children living in Somalia's makeshift camps for displaced people face a high risk of rape and other sexual violence, Amnesty International said today after returning from a research trip to the country.
The organization's researchers spoke with dozens of women and girls who felt at risk of sexual violence. Some of them, one as young as 13, had recently been raped. Most victims said they hadn't reported the attacks to the police because they feared being stigmatized and had little confidence in the authorities' ability or will to investigate.
"Women and children, who have already been forced to flee their homes because of the armed conflict and drought, now face the additional trauma of living under threat of sexual attack," said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's Senior Crisis Adviser.
"Many of the women we met live in shelters made of cloth and plastic sheeting which provide no security at all; in the context of the lawlessness which generally prevails in the country and the lack of security in these camps, it is hardly surprising that these horrific abuses are occurring."
One 14-year-old girl living in a displacement camp in Mogadishu was raped in the shelter where she lives as she was recovering from an epilepsy attack in late August.
She told Amnesty International: "I woke up to find a man who was undressing me and I tried to scream but he grabbed me by the throat and so I could not scream. My cousin (aged 4) woke up and he told her to be silent. He did his business and then ran away."
The girl's grandmother told Amnesty International the neighbours who had been woken by the girl's scream saw a man aged about 30, wearing a kikoi (a traditional loin cloth) and carrying a bakor (a walking stick with a hand-grip), leaving the shelter and running away.
Another woman, a mother of five, told Amnesty International that she managed to fight off an armed man who entered her shelter and tried to rape her in early August. During the struggle she sustained gunshot wounds to both her hands. She was three months pregnant at the time of the attack and lost her baby as a result.
Though camp residents went to the police to report the attempted rape, the police failed to investigate.
Investigations, prosecutions and convictions for rape and other forms of sexual violence are rare in Somalia, so survivors have little incentive to file complaints with the police. Some women have faced additional abuse and stigmatization if they do report the crime.
Police practices in Somalia often compound the stigma associated with survivors of sexual violence who can be subjected to insensitive and intrusive questioning. Few female police officers are available to deal with sexual assault cases in spite of their frequency.
According to the United Nations, there were at least 1,700 cases of rape in IDP (internally displaced persons) settlements in 2012 in Somalia, with at least 70 per cent of these being carried out by armed men wearing government uniforms. Nearly a third of the survivors are reported to be under the age of 18.
"The inability and unwillingness of the Somali authorities to investigate these crimes and bring the attackers to justice leaves survivors of sexual violence even more isolated and contributes to a climate of impunity in which attackers know they can get away with these crimes," said Donatella Rovera.
"Concrete action must be taken to ensure justice for the victims and to send a strong and unequivocal message that sexual violence cannot and will not be tolerated."
Two decades of conflict and periodic drought have forced hundreds of thousands of Somalis from their homes into sprawling, overcrowded camps for displaced people where security is lacking and humanitarian conditions are dire. Though security conditions have improved, there are still over a million people displaced within Somalia today.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201308301455.html?viewall=1
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Need To End All Acts of Violence against Women: Congress President
September 01, 2013
Against the backdrop of rising crimes against women, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said making laws for their empowerment is not enough as they will have to be implemented properly on ground.
“We realise that by just making laws and announcing policies would not be enough to empower women. Along with it, policies and laws will have to be implemented properly on ground,” she said while addressing a gathering at the launch of the Ahimsa Messenger scheme, under which volunteers will be created to spread awareness on women’s issues.
“We should end all acts of violence against women and initiate all steps so that women feel safe and become fearless, empowered and they are given the respect,” Ms. Gandhi said.
The Congress president’s statement on the issue comes at a time when the number of incidents of crime against women is witnessing a rising trend.
Urging the people to launch a “social revolution” for empowering women, the Congress president said, “The most fundamental issue that the mindset and old thoughts of our society have to be changed. Giving women equal status as men is a very big challenge and the wall of discrimination amongst women has to be demolished.”
Ms. Gandhi said it is the collective responsibility of all women to initiate this process of giving equal status to women right from their homes.
“We all know that the social outlook of our children is formed inside the four walls of our homes. The girl in the family should be given the same status as that of her brother in a family. Girls too have a right to get education, development and employment as that of the boy in the family,” she said.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/need-to-end-all-acts-of-violence-against-women-sonia/article5078869.ece
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Early Marriages: Sindh Lawmakers Plan To Pass Bill
August 31, 2013
HYDERABAD: Sindh minister for women development Rubina Qaimikhani has stated that a bill, banning child and forced marriages, will soon be tabled in the Sindh Assembly. At a press conference on Friday, she said that the new law, if passed, would place 18 years age limit for marriage. If anyone infringes upon the law, they will be sentenced with one year imprisonment and a huge fine. She said that a consultative session with the civil society, media and ulema has been scheduled for next week. The meeting, she added, will finalise the draft proposals for the legislation.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/597630/early-marriages-lawmakers-plan-to-pass-bill/
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Muslim Family, St Hug's Fuss over Girl's Dress
BY KIMBERLEY HIBBERT Observer Writer hibbertk@jamaicaobserver.com
September 01, 2013
COME the start of the new school year tomorrow, Dauriyah Dyer may not have a smooth transition into the system because of her Islamic faith.
Having earned a place at St Hugh's High School through the recent sitting of the Grade Six Achievement Test, Dyer was more than excited to be entering high school until she and her mother found out that St Hugh's will not adjust the style of the tunic to suit her religion's requirements.
Latoyka Dyer, Dauriyah's mother told the Jamaica Observer that under Islamic laws, once a female enters puberty she is required to cover her entire body except for her face and hands. Dyer said that because of this law, she has, requested that the uniforms blouse sleeves be extended to Dauriyah's wrists and the tunic be lengthened to her ankles.
Dyer, however, said that since she had made her request known on July 3, the school's principal, Elaine Cunningham has refused to meet with her to come to an amicable solution about the uniform adjustments.
"When I spoke to her (principal) on July 3 she told us that she is not saying we can do it and she's not saying we cannot do it, she has to speak with the ministry first and contact us and we are to give her a week. Up to now we haven't heard anything from the principal and that was eight weeks ago. On July 26 my husband and I went to the Ministry of Education and spoke to an education officer and was told that our daughter had the right to wear her uniform according to the telling of our religion.
"On July 30, my daughter, accompanied by one of my Muslim sisters went to St Hugh's and was told that the ministry had no right to tell her where the sleeves should go and that they would draft up a letter and contact us further, but when I attempted to give them my e-mail address so they could forward the letter to me, they refused to take it and said they would call me back but I have not heard from anyone since. I have made numerous calls to the office and left messages and none have been returned," she said.
Dyer said that she believes the school's actions are deliberate attempts to frustrate her as school officials keep using an example of other Muslim students who have attended St Hugh's but did not fuss about the school's uniform.
"I believe the principal and other administrators are intentionally ignoring me. I also believe this is an attempt on their part to frustrate me so that we will give up. Their statement to us was that other Muslim students in the past went to St Hugh's and didn't have a problem with the uniform so they don't see why we're making a big deal. They want me to allow my daughter to come to school in short sleeves and I cannot do that, I will not disobey my creator to please St Hugh's," Dyer said.
When the Sunday Observer contacted the school, the principal's secretary said that Cunningham was in a meeting. The secretary, however, went on to say that Dyer is a troublemaker and the school cannot bend the rules to suit one individual.
"Let me tell you straight, she is a troublemaker. I have been here for 13 years and four Muslim students have passed through the school and none of them have had a problem with the uniform. We can't make adjustments for one individual, or else we will have to do it for all," the secretary said.
Sheryl Broomfield, secretary to education minister Ronald Thwaites said that the Chief Education Officer Dorret Campbell has been notified about the situation and the uniform will not be adjusted, but an alternative has been offered to Dyer.
"The sleeves of the uniform will not be adjusted because the school's style is style. However, the ministry and St Hugh's have offered to allow Dauriyah to wear her Islamic dress to school. In the meantime, Mrs Campbell and Mrs Cunningham are currently having dialogue with regard to the issue," Broomfield said.
Dyer, on the other hand, said that she has heard about the offer but she wants her daughter to wear her uniform and she feels disrespected that it is the ministry which made the offer and not the school.
"St Hugh's has not come to me directly and said anything as they see me as a troublemaker because I'm standing up for my daughter's right. She wants to wear her uniform and she deserves to, because she earned her place there. They cannot use the example of the other Muslim girls in my case; it has no basis and I know the law. They need to have a meeting with me; all of us are adults so I don't see the problem," Dyer said.
Dyer maintained that until St Hugh's contacts her directly, Dauriyah will wear her uniform with the sleeves at her wrists and the tunic at her ankles.
"My daughter's uniform will stay the same way until they call me in and I want everything in writing. Until Mrs Cunningham writes a letter saying she can't come to school like that, she will continue to wear the uniform that way. I've read no rule that states that the sleeves cannot be long. They don't have to like me but they have to educate my child," she said.
Dyer further added that because of her persistence she does not want unfair treatment to be meted out to her child when she begins school.
"I don't want any of them there to show her any bad face or treat her indifferent and I will be on the lookout for that," she said.
Dyer said it is common for Muslim girls to be ostracised at schools in Jamaica, but she is not afraid to stand and defend her child's constitutional right.
Apart from coverings, Islamic laws require clothing for women to be loose enough so as not to describe the shape of the woman's body, thick enough so as not to show the colour of the skin it covers, or the shape of the body which it is supposed to hide, and should not be such that it attracts men's attention to the woman's beauty.
http://news.silobreaker.com/muslim-family-st-hugs-fuss-over-girls-dress-5_2267072622900543490
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Muslim-family--St-Hug-s-fuss-over-girl-s-dress_14978219#ixzz2ddqRsXnF
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Saudi Arabia: Laws to Force Families to Accept Freed Female Inmates
September 01, 2013
RIYADH – The Directorate General for Prisons has formed a committee to draft laws to force families of female inmates to receive their daughters back after their release from prison.
The committee will have representatives from the Directorate General of Prisons and the ministries of justice and social affairs, according to spokesman of the Directorate General for Prisons Col. Ayoub Bin Naheet.
Out of perceived social stigma, many families abandon the female members who have served prison terms. Nearly 61 percent of female inmates released from prisons face the likelihood of being shunned by their families, an Arabic language daily newspaper quoted Col. Bin Naheet as saying on Friday.
The prisons directorate spokesman said that he expects that a law will soon be issued to allow female inmates to choose between returning to a guest house or their families.
“The main reason for families’ refusal to accept a released inmate is ignorance on Shariah matters. They are not aware that every human being can make a mistake and it is necessary to forgive after the end of the punitive period so that the one who has committed the mistake is not driven to hate society and is able to start a normal life again,” Col. Bin Naheet was quoted as saying. He said the Director General of Prisons Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Muhammad Al-Hamzi is keen to develop services provided to released inmates.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20130901178940
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Children of Saudi mothers are Saudis
September 01, 2013
With regard to the article "The expat principal and expulsion of Saudi teachers" (Aug. 31), the author seems to be very concerned when Saudi women teachers are fired and expelled from school. But does anyone care when the children of Saudi widows who were married to non-Saudis are expelled from the country? Children of Saudi mothers and non-Saudi fathers are not given Saudi nationality. When their father dies they either have to leave the country or reside here on a residence permit with their mother as their sponsor. When she dies, they will be sent on final exits or live at the mercy of another sponsor. Saudi women are citizens of the country and their children are also Saudi.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20130901178833
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Saudi Working Women and Female Students Worried As Crackdown on Drivers Looms
September 01, 2013
RIYADH — A number of Saudi working women and female students said they are worried the inevitable inspection campaigns following the end of the grace period for illegal workers to correct their status could leave them without their private drivers. They said many drivers are violators of residency rules but they need them to get around, according to Al-Jazirah Arabic daily.
An official in the Ministry of Labor confirmed that the inspection campaign will deal with all workers who have not corrected their status without exception once the grace period ends at the beginning of the new Hijri year (Nov. 4).
However, some of the women who could be affected as a result said they cannot afford to purchase a car and recruit a driver.
Others said recruiting a private driver is not enough as their family has more than one female member who need transport regularly.
They added that even if there is a driver under the sponsorship of the family, their families seek the help of several other private drivers to ensure all their female members make it to school, university or work on time.
They demanded that the drivers of private cars be exempt from the inspection campaign and that offices be opened for drivers offering reasonable rates, especially as rent-a-car offices charge at least SR50 a trip.
Economic expert Abdullah Al-Khaldi suggested exempting private drivers from the inspection and rectification campaign that the Kingdom is witnessing for expatriate workers.
He said the situation could cause an economic burden, especially since many Saudi families do not possess the money to purchase a car and bring a driver under their sponsorship.
He demanded that a government agency be opened that will have private drivers under its sponsorship so that the citizen can rent a driver at reasonable prices instead of resorting to illegal workers.
He said the agency should not charge its drivers high fees as the taxi companies do. The charges should be reasonable, not exceeding SR1,000 a month for customers, said Al-Khaldi.
There is already a high rate of absenteeism among female students, teachers and employees in general, said Al-Khaldi. He believed that if private drivers were not exempted from the inspection campaign, absenteeism would increase further.
He pointed to other Gulf countries that allow women to drive.
Amal Muhammad, 33, a teacher, said cracking down on private drivers without finding alternative solutions would lead to difficulties.
She said: “We rely on them when going to and returning from school.
“We cannot afford to purchase a car and recruit a driver.”
Khulood Ahmad, 28, another teacher, said: “We cannot afford to buy a car and the private drivers use their car to transport us.
“The majority of Saudi families cannot purchase their own cars. There is a dire need to find a solution to this crisis that we are going to face as working women in the Kingdom.”
Three-year contracts
The Ministry of Labor has stipulated three-year contracts for Saudi women working in lingerie shops.
“The contract for women employed in shops selling lingerie and women’s accessories should be for three years and during the first year, the employer should provide necessary training to the workers,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said the employer should also register the workers in the social insurance system.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20130831178804
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Rabbis across U.S. to devote holiday sermons to women’s prayer rights in Israel
September 01, 2013
New campaign aims to galvanize support for greater religious tolerance in Israel, specifically at Western Wall.
The struggle for women to pray as they see fit at the Western Wall will be the focus of High Holy Day sermons at congregations across the United States, as part of an organized campaign to galvanize support for greater religious tolerance in Israel.
The campaign is being spearheaded by Jewish Voices Together, a New York-based organization established several months ago to demonstrate solidarity with Women of the Wall, the pluralistic women’s prayer group that has been at the forefront of the battle to wrest control of Judaism’s holiest site from the ultra-Orthodox.
In March, after close to a dozen women were detained at the Western Wall for praying out loud and wearing prayer shawl and phylacteries, Jewish Voices Together, founded and headed by Iris Richman, a Conservative rabbi and attorney, organized rallies in support of Women of the Wall at various locations around the U.S. The organization comprises rabbis of all denominations.
The title of its latest campaign is “100 blasts of the shofar/100 rabbinic voices for justice! Speak out for religious tolerance in Israel and Women of the Wall” – and its goal is to get 100 rabbis in the U.S. to devote their sermons over the upcoming Jewish holidays to women’s prayer rights in Israel. According to Richman, the effort has already surpassed that milestone, with 127 rabbis, as of this writing, agreeing to participate in the campaign, including congregation leaders outside of the U.S., in Canada, Australia and Israel. Among the participants are 64 Conservative rabbis, 38 Reform and two Orthodox.
Richman estimated that anywhere between 50,000 and 100,000 worshippers would be attending services at the participating congregations.
Asked to explain the timing of the initiative, she said: “The High Holy Days are a time of great Jewish unity in the U.S. The summer is over, people come back to their communities, they join together for meals with families and friends, and if they will participate in a synagogue at any time during the year, they will certainly do so at this time. Especially with the developing events in Israel, this is a propitious time to all come together and learn together about what we can all do to support Israel and help build a better Israel.”
Are you hoping to pressure on the government of Israel through this initiative?
“A theme of this campaign is ‘many voices, one heart.’ It's important for Israelis to understand the depth and urgency of the desire of U.S. Jews to feel welcomed in Israel and to have a place at the Kotel and not be shunted aside or abused. It's important for U.S. Jews to express that we support Israel as our Jewish homeland and dedicate ourselves to actions that contribute to building a better Israel.”
What is your view of the recent decision by Israel's Religious Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett to set up a provisional platform for non-Orthodox services at the wall?
“Any increased space or accommodation by the government for non-Orthodox Jews is a positive development, if it is free from conditions. However, Minister Bennett's statement in his press release that as a result of building a platform at Robinson's Arch, non-Orthodox worshippers would be barred from the Kotel, if endorsed by the Prime Minister, would have to be regarded as a ‘Trojan horse’ and deemed entirely unacceptable. Judge Moshe Sobel ruled in April that the prayer practices of Women of the Wall were entirely legal. I'm not an Israeli lawyer, but I don't understand how Minister Bennett can properly overrule Judge Sobel's decision when the government never even appealed that decision.”
You're aware, I'm sure, that there are no more than a few hundred Women of the Wall activists in Israel, and this is one of the reasons government and other officials feel there is no reason to come up with a plan to address the needs of this one special group.
“I've heard similar views expressed before and I find that troubling and naive. In the U.S. today we are commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. The march was attended by ‘only’ 250,000 people of the then-total U.S. population of more than 189 million. Should they have been dismissed as irrelevant too? Polls in Israel have indicated that a majority of the Israeli population supports the religious rights of Women of the Wall. As I understand any experience of change, any time even a few hundred activists have the support of a majority of the population in a democracy, the government needs to respect and act in accordance with the will and needs of the majority.”
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/.premium-1.544206
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Female Expat Principal Sacked Saudi Female Teachers
Khaled Al-Sulaiman
September 01, 2013
A German woman who is the principal of an international private school had on Tuesday sacked seven Saudi women teachers under the pretext that their services were no longer required after they had spent two years teaching at the school.
It was pointed out that these women were forcibly expelled from the school premises to the point that they were not even allowed to put on their Abayas.
Regardless of the truthfulness of this story and the absence of a testimony from the principal, the system, according to best of my knowledge, does not allow the appointment of a foreigner as a principal of a regular school in the Kingdom. Therefore the presence of this German woman as a school principal is a gross violation of the system, unless this system is too weak to cope with the power of the German machines.
The expulsion of the Saudi women teachers, no matter what its reasons might be, is simply shameful. It is not right that such an incident would take place at an educational institution, which should be a place for good behavior, not quarrels.
The Ministry of Education is required to reveal to us the true story and tell us how a foreign woman was allowed to take up the highest managerial position at a school. How can the principal kick out Saudi women teachers, who are contracted and registered with the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), without referring first to the labor laws that organize the contractual relationship between private schools and the Saudi teachers?
Is the wall of the Saudi individual so low that every short person can jump over it?
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20130831178817
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Women’s salaries highest in Tabuk
September 01, 2013
RIYADH — According to statistics released by the Ministry of Labor, the average salary of women working in the private sector is SR2,613 a month, while Tabuk registered the highest average salary for women in the country at SR3,598, Al-Watan newspaper reported.
The Eastern Province came in second place with an average salary of SR2,848 and Riyadh was third with SR2,793. Makkah came in fourth place with an average salary of SR2,695 and Asir was fifth with SR2,192, followed by Al-Jouf (SR2,085) and Madinah (SR2,007) in seventh and eighth places.
Average salaries for women in the private sector were SR1,952 in Qassim, SR1,865 in Al-Baha, SR1,827 in Jazan, SR1,749 in the Northern Frontier Province and SR1,715 in Hail. Najran came last with SR1,539.
The report also said the petroleum sector was the highest paying sector for women with an average salary of SR16,000, while the insurance and real estate sectors averaged SR6,394. The personal business sector came third with an average salary of SR3,021 and the electricity, gas and water sector was fourth (SR2,963) and the wholesale and retail sector came fifth (SR2,348).
The farming, forestry, and fisheries sector came next with an average salary of SR2,256, followed by the transportation and storage sector (SR2,189).
The construction sector came last with an average salary of SR1,876.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20130831178808
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Nigeria: 13-Year Old Miss Adeife Visually Impaired Author Calls for Quality Education
September 01, 2013
Abuja — Miss Adeife Adeniran, a visually impaired Nigerian student in South Africa and author, has urged the Federal Government to provide quality education for people living with disabilities.
Adeniran, in Abuja on Friday, said that adequate training and quality education were crucial to the lives of people living with disabilities.
She said that with quality education, the disabled would actualise their potential and contribute meaningfully to the society's development.
"It is our right to get quality education. We don't need pity from the people; we need the opportunities and necessary assistance.
"My parents gave me the needed attention, education, love, care and these got me to where I am today.
"In South Africa, we have the Ministry for Women, Children and People Living with Disabilities, the country had attention for these classes of people to enable them meet their needs.
"In Nigeria, because the Ministry of Women Affairs is not named like that of South Africa, that is why much attention is not being given to the disabled", she said.
Adeniran, therefore, called on the Nigerian government to rename the women affairs ministry like that of South Africa to enable it to serve the people concerned effectively.
Adeniran, 13, who said she became blind when she was five years old, added that she had no regrets over her fate adding that her effort had brought glory to Nigeria.
She advised parents not to discriminate against their challenged children but love them equally.
She reminded parents that "if you don't give love and care to your disabled children at home, they will seek that love outside and it can expose them to evil and corruption."
Adeniran said parents should not be ashamed of having children with disability, adding that "God loves them; therefore, you must love them too.
"If you reject them and make them feel unwanted, God will not be happy with you.
"God that gave them to you will provide you with the means of taking care of them.
"Introduce them to your friends and colleagues just as you do other children. You never know who God will use to lift your family."
She said that being disabled had conferred some qualities on those in that reality of life as they could easily say the bitter truth."
She, however, advised the disabled to be hard working with a view to making their parents and the nation proud.
On her book titled: "Can you imagine", she said it was aimed at telling the people that "there is ability in disability", among others.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201308310174.html
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Nigeria: Woman Docked for Stealing, False Pretence
September 01, 2013
A 38-year-old woman, Sherifat Akintunde, was on Friday docked at an Ikorodu Magistrates' Court, Lagos, over alleged theft and false pretence.
The Prosecutor, Sgt. Iyabo Johnson, told the court that the accused, who lives at Ketu area of Lagos, committed the offence on Aug.19 in Ladega Market Ikorodu.
She said the accused had pretended to be a prophetess and asked one Mrs Morilat Adegoroye to run round the market seven times, to prevent her husband and son from going insane.
The Prosecutor said the accused also told the complainant to surrender her nylon bag containing four dozens of underpants, N25,000 cash and a Nokia phone worth N2,500 to her.
She said the accused later disappeared with the bag. Johnson said the offences contravened sections 285 and 312, of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
Section 312 provides 15 years imprisonment for false pretences, while section 285 prescribes three years jail term for stealing.
The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Magistrate, Mr B.A. Sonuga, granted the accused bail in the sum of N100,000, with one surety in like sum, and adjourned the case to Sept. 12.(NAN)
http://allafrica.com/stories/201308310190.html
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