Rita Levi Montalcini

From Fox News:

Levi Montalcini, who also serves as a senator for life in Italy, celebrates her 100th birthday on Wednesday, and she spoke at a ceremony held in her honor by the European Brain Research Institute.

She shared the 1986 Nobel Prize for Medicine with American Stanley Cohen for discovering mechanisms that regulate the growth of cells and organs.

Final Resting Place of Cleopatra

Further to my previous posts, comes this update from the Egyptian State Information Service:

Dominican archaeological mission has discovered new leads that could help in detecting the burial place of legendary Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and her Roman lover Mark Antony.

The mission has uncovered an alabaster head of the last Queen of Egypt in addition to 22 bronze coins bearing her face and a headless statue of the queen and another mask that could probably be that of Mark Antony, said Zahi Hawwas, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

The most important find made by the expedition was the discovery of a large graveyard outside a temple called Tabusiris Magna, which lies 30 kilometers from the port city of Alexandria in northern Egypt, he said.

So far 27 tombs have been unearthed in the area, besides burial chambers and 10 mummies, he added.

The place seems to have been a cemetery for nobility and senior employees during the Ptolemaic era in the history of ancient Egypt, he said.

And this from Yahoo News:

Archaeologists looking for the tombs of the celebrated queen of Egypt and the Roman general will begin excavating three sites at a temple where tombs may be located, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said in a statement Wednesday.

Cleopatra and Mark Antony, whose relationship was later immortalized by William Shakespeare and then in a movie with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, could have been buried in a deep shaft in a temple near the Mediterranean Sea, the council said.

Female Buddhist Masters

From the Gaea News:

The 800-year-old Tibetan Drukpa lineage of Buddhism - based in Nepal and practised in Bhutan and India - is empowering women, reviving the ancient tradition of women masters and monks that the Buddha encouraged.

Its head, the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, has set a precedent by giving the order to its first ever woman master.

‘In Tibetan Buddhism, we have no tradition of ‘bikshunis’ or women monks who practise the rigours of the faith and become masters on a par with men. But Buddhism is a very modern religion,’ the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, who was born in Himachal Pradesh, told IANS in the Nepal capital.

‘Buddha Sakyamuni (Gautam Buddha) treated his disciples equally, irrespective of gender.

Women in Bolivia

From RHReality Check Org - excerpt from the Blog of Teresa Lanza:

Early this year, the new Bolivian Constitution entered into force, after a process that lasted more than two years. At a referendum held on January 25th, 61% of Bolivans approved the new Constitution, which for the first time dedicates a chapter to women's rights. The new Constitution contains several clauses that upTold the health and rights of women including:

• a clear separation between State and Church


• the entitlement to sexual and reproductive rights for men and women


• the right to life not limited by the expression "starting at conception," which was proposed by conservative groups and would outlaw abortion in the country


• the right to physical, psychological and sexual integrity


• the right of women to live free from discrimination, violence, sexual coercion and emotional abuse


• a provision that guarantees pay equality for women and women


• the economic value of women's work in the home as a source of wealth


• the right of women, married or unmarried, to land ownership.
  

Government and Congress will now start issuing norms regulating the implementation of the Constitution. Catholics for the Right to Decide Bolivia will continue working in collaboration with other women's organizations to ensure that these norms respond to the interests of women and girls.

Killed for Eloping

From CBS News:

A Taliban firing squad killed a young couple in southwestern Afghanistan for trying to elope, shooting them with AK-47s in front of a crowd in a lawless, militant-controlled region, officials said Tuesday.The woman, 19-year-old Gul Pecha, and the man, 21-year-old Abdul Aziz, were accused by the militants of immoral acts, and a council of conservative clerics decided that the two should be killed, officials said.

The two had hoped to travel to Iran, which borders their home province of Nimroz, but their parents sent villagers to bring them home, said Sadiq Chakhansori, the chief of the provincial council. Once back home, the pair was either turned over to the Taliban by their parents or the militants took them by force, the officials said, providing slightly varying accounts. Riflemen in the remote district of Khash Rod shot them Monday, said Chakhansori.

Afghan Women: The Fallout

The fallout from the protests against the new "marriage" law in Afghanistan has been immense. Below you will find a number of articles reporting on this increase in violence against women.

From The Independent:

"Afghanistan has been called the most dangerous country in the world in which to be a woman. The violence meted out to female demonstrators in Kabul yesterday and the weekend murder of Sitara Achakzai, an elected politician and women's human rights advocate, merely serve to secure the country's claim to this unwanted title.

Those prepared to speak out against the Shia Family Law are being intimidated and threatened. Like those who have spoken out before, they are labelled as "infidels" and "un-Islamic" by those claiming to protect their nation and its honour, who see controlling women's thoughts, movements and lives as part of that effort. It is this corruption of honourable intention that makes Afghanistan so dangerous.

From Syracuse.com:

Dozens of young women braved crowds of bearded men screaming "dogs!" to protest an Afghan law that lets husbands demand sex from their wives. Some of the men picked up small stones and pelted the women.

"Slaves of the Christians!" chanted the 800 or so counter-demonstrators, a mix of men and women. A line of female police officers locked hands to keep the groups apart.

The warring protests Wednesday highlighted the explosive nature of the women's rights debate in Afghanistan. Both sides are girding for battle over the legislation, which has sparked an international uproar since being quietly signed into law last month.

From The Guardian:

Hundreds of angry Afghan women gathered outside the Kabul mosque run by a hardline Shia cleric today to protest against a law that human rights organisations claim legalises marital rape.

About 200 women chanted slogans and carried banners outside the imposing Khatam Al Nabi mosque and seminary run by Mohammad Asif Mohseni, the cleric who has strongly promoted a law that also bans women from leaving their homes without the permission of their husbands.

Meanwhile, a roughly equal number of largely male counter-protesters shouted "Allahu Akbar" and furiously protested against what they see as largely foreign pressure to impose western cultural norms on Afghanistan. According to Associated Press, some of the women were pelted with stones by opponents.

Maria Solkis

From CNW Group:

KIA Canada today announced that Maria Soklis has been named Chief Operating Officer and Vice - President. Theannouncement was made by Mr. Jay Chung, President and C.E.O. of KIA Canada. Ms. Soklis is the first female to ascend to the position of COO and Vice-President within the KIA Motors' International Organization. "Maria Soklisbrings outstanding leadership skills, sound business judgement and integrityto the COO position which will enable her to lead KIA Canada to new heights,"said Jay Chung.

"Through her leadership and guidance KIA Canada hasexperienced record sales growth and she has been instrumental to the ongoingoverall improvement in dealer satisfaction which was reflected in KCIreceiving the 2007 CADA Award for Most Improved Franchise. During her tenureat KIA Canada, Ms. Soklis has led KCI to a 26.9 per cent increase in salesthrough to 2008 and a 6.2 percent increase in sales for the first quarter of2009. This was a significant achievement in a market that posted an overallindustry decline of 21.8 per cent last quarter. Maria accepted the Global Subsidiary of the Year Award on behalf of KIA Canada in 2008. This award isgiven in recognition of the highest professionalism and best overall businessperformance among KIA Motors' entire sales subsidiaries world wide."

Anne Boleyn - A Scandalous Life

From the Telegraph:

Salacious details of how Anne Boleyn was said to have cheated on Henry VIII with her own brother are contained in documents which have been put on the internet for the first time.

An official account of her trial in 1536, including graphic claims of incest, features in an online exhibition to mark the 500th anniversary of the Tudor monarch's accession to the throne.

Anne's relationship with Henry set the course of British history, triggering England's split with Rome amid his divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon.

 

The collection also includes a court document relating to that divorce and a letter dealing with his later plans to cut ties with his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, because of disappointment in the bedroom.

There is also a section of Valor Ecclesiasticus, the valuation of church lands before the dissolution of the monasteries, which has been described as Henry VIII's equivalent to the Domesday Book.

They have been digitised as part of an online exhibition showcasing parchments from Henry's reign which are held by National Archives to mark the anniversary of his accession in 1509.

Eileen Driscoll

From the Telegraph:

Eileen Driscoll, 90, was part of a team of Women's Royal Air Force who treated injured servicemen while they were being flown home from the front line.

The group - dubbed The Flying Nightingales - risked their own lives to help evacuate more than 100,000 wounded soldiers from the battlefields of Europe.

Despite their bravery, the nurses were paid the equivalent of less than 3p per day and were not eligible for medals because they held no official rank.

Last year seven of the surviving The Flying Nightingales were presented with achievement awards by the Duchess of Cornwall at a ceremony in London.

But Eileen, from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, was overlooked by officials - so her daughter Diane Owen stepped in and arranged for her to be honoured.

Now Eileen has finally received her Lifetime Achievement Award by the Ministry of Defence.