Kuwait initiative creates first sports clubs for women in the country

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  May 9, 2013: Kuwait's Qadsiya Club women basketball team listen to their coach, during the Women's Games, at Salwa Al Sabah Sports Center in Qurein, Kuwait. The event is part of a new initiative launching sports leagues for women, including basketball, table tennis and athletic leagues for the first time in Kuwait illustrating how the landscape for women athletes is improving across the Persian Gulf where hard-liners have long opposed women playing sports.AP

KUWAIT CITY –  Muneera al-Shatti  has loved playing basketball since she was a child but it wasn't until Thursday that she had chance to show off her skills at a public arena in Kuwait.

As part of a new initiative launching sports leagues for women, al-Shatti and her teammates from Salwa Al-Sabah club downed Qadsiya club 63-13 in a game that attracted several hundred men and female fans. The initiative to launch basketball, table tennis and athletic leagues for the first time in Kuwait illustrates how the landscape for women athletes is improving across the Persian Gulf where hard-liners have long opposed women playing sports.

Several of the players, in deference to the conservative Muslim culture that is common across the Persian Gulf, wore leggings and covered their heads with hijab. Others, however, wore shorts and T-shirts.

"A competition like this should have happened a long time ago," said al-Shatti, who has played in tournaments overseas and only heard about the league in her home country while playing in neighboring Bahrain. "But I am glad it finally took place. We've been trying to do this for a long time and they have promised that more sports will be included in future leagues."

Helped by government support, increased education and erosion of traditional values, football leagues for girls in the Gulf have started up in Qatar and United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia -- which long barred girls from playing any sports -- recently announced it would allow sports in private schools as long as they abide by the rules of Shariah, or Islamic law.

Saudi Arabia's decision is part of a wider package of reforms targeting women with the aim of ending discriminatory practices that have contributed to a host of health problems, including obesity and diabetes. The private schools' announcement also follows a decision last year in the kingdom to allow two female athletes to compete in the London Olympic Games following months of intense pressure from the International Olympics Committee.

Still, women's sports remain nearly an underground activity in the kingdom, which is home to Islam's holiest site in Mecca.  Only the largest female university in the kingdom -- Princess Nora Bint Abdul Rahman University -- has a swimming pool, tennis court and exercise area for its students. No other university in Saudi Arabia has sports facilities for female students and staff.

Women are also bound by strict rules when it comes to their attire, so they cannot, for example, be seen by men while jogging in sweat pants. Female athletes cannot register for sports clubs or league competitions. They are banned from entering national trials, making it impossible for them to qualify for international competitions.

Kuwait is typical of the struggle women have endured in the Gulf.

The 1970s were described as the golden era where women were allowed to freely participate in sports in Kuwait, according to Naeema al-Sabah, the head of the Women's Sports Federation. But in the ensuing decades, the influence of Islamic hard-liners grew in the country and sports for women all but disappeared. Hard-liners believe that sports will promote immoral behavior and uniforms inappropriately reveal female bodies.

The low point came a few years back when a Kuwaiti women's football team was publicly denounced after returning from playing a regional tournament in neighboring United Arab Emirates.

"We're taking baby steps toward progress," al-Sabah said. "As with any society that is religiously strict, we need to test the waters and take small steps. Everyone in Kuwait now values sports. You see people walking and jogging every day. There is this increasing interest in playing sports in general."

Al-Shatti said the best sign that things are changing was the number of women and girls who turned out for the basketball game. A music teacher who also cycles and jogs with her husband, al-Shatti is only hoping to get more chances to play.

"It felt like the first step toward a better future for sports for us here in Kuwait," she said after her team's victory.

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Homeowner where 3 women were found was no stranger

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  This undated combination photo released by the Cleveland Police Department shows from left, Onil Castro, Ariel Castro, and Pedro Casto.The three brothers were arrested Tuesday, May 7, 2013, after three women who disappeared in Cleveland a decade ago were found safe Monday. The brothers are accused of holding the victims against their will. (AP Photo/Cleveland Police Department)The Associated Press

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  Sheriff deputies stand outside a house in Cleveland Tuesday, May 7, 2013, the day after three women who vanished a decade ago were found there. Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, who went missing separately about a decade ago, were found in the home just south of downtown Cleveland and likely had been tied up during years of captivity, said police, who arrested three brothers. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)The Associated Press

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  Brittany Moore uses her cell phone to snap pictures of a house where three women escaped Tuesday, May 7, 2013, in Cleveland. Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, who went missing separately about a decade ago, were found Monday in the home just south of downtown Cleveland and likely had been tied up during years of captivity, said police, who arrested three brothers. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)The Associated Press

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  A sheriff deputy stands outside a house where three women escaped Tuesday, May 7, 2013, in Cleveland. Three women who went missing separately about a decade ago were found in the home Monday just south of downtown and likely had been tied up during years of captivity, said police, who arrested three brothers. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)The Associated Press

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CLEVELAND –  In the tight-knit neighborhood near downtown where many conversations are spoken in Spanish, it seems most everyone knew Ariel Castro.

He played bass guitar in salsa and merengue bands. He parked his school bus on the street. He gave neighborhood children rides on his motorcycle.

And when they gathered for a candlelight vigil to remember two girls who vanished years ago, Castro was there too, comforting the mother of one of the missing, a neighbor said.

Neighbors and friends were stunned by the arrest of Castro and his two brothers after a 911 call led police to his house, where authorities say three women missing for about a decade were held captive.

Castro and his brothers, ages 50 to 54, were in custody Tuesday but have not been formally charged.

Ariel Castro was friends with the father of Gina DeJesus, one of the missing women, and helped search for her after she disappeared, said Khalid Samad, a friend of the family. He also performed music at a fundraiser held in her honor, Samad said.

"When we went out to look for Gina, he helped pass out fliers," said Samad, a community activist who was at the hospital with DeJesus and her family on Monday night. "You know, he was friends with the family."

Tito DeJesus, one of Gina's uncles, said he played in a few bands with Castro over the last 20 years. He remembered visiting Castro's house after his niece disappeared, but he never noticed anything out of ordinary, saying it was very sparse in furniture and filled with musical instruments.

"That's pretty much what it looked like," DeJesus said. "I had no clue, no clue whatsoever that this happened."

Juan Perez, who lives two doors down from the house, has known Castro for decades.

"He was always happy, nice, respectful," Perez said. "He gained trust with the kids and with the parents. You can only do that if you're nice."

He said Castro had an ATV and a motorcycle and would take children on rides. Nothing seemed wrong with it then, he said, adding that he now thinks that was one way Castro tried to get close to the children. He also worked until recently as a school bus driver.

Castro's personnel file with the Cleveland public school district, obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information request, shows he was hired in 1990 as a bus driver after saying on his application that he liked working with children.

The personnel file includes details on his dismissal, approved by the school board last fall after he left his bus unattended for four hours.

Police identified the other two suspects as the 52-year-old's brothers, Pedro Castro, 54, and Onil Castro, 50.

Lucy Roman lives next to a house that she said is shared by Pedro Castro and his mother. She said police arrested him Monday night.

"I feel sorry for her," Roman said of the mother. "She's a very nice lady."

Several residents said they saw Ariel Castro at a candlelight vigil for the missing girls.

Antony Quiros said he was at the vigil about a year ago and saw Castro comforting Gina DeJesus' mother.

One neighbor, Francisco Cruz, said he was with Castro the day investigators dug up a yard looking for the girls.

Castro told Cruz, "They're not going to find anyone there," Cruz recalled.

Castro's Facebook page identifies him as a Cleveland resident and graduate of the city's Lincoln-West High School. His interests include Virginia Beach, the Chinese crested dog breed and Cuban-born salsa singer Rey Ruiz.

On April 11, he wrote to congratulate "my Rosie Arlene" and wish her a fast recovery from giving birth to "a wonderful baby boy. That makes me Gramps for the fifth time. Luv you guys!"

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Associated Press writers Mike Householder, Thomas J. Sheeran, Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Cleveland and Meghan Barr and Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pa., contributed to this report.

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Beyond the girlfriend getaway: best bucket list adventures for women only

Up until just a few years ago, the phrase “girlfriend getaway” conjured up images of a group of women pampering themselves with spa treatments, wine tasting, or shopping the day away.

While such trips are still a significant part of an exploding travel industry catering to women, more female travelers are upping the ante when it comes to adventure. Increasingly, women are opting for high-octane excursions like trekking in the Himalayas, horseback riding in Iceland, or heli-hiking in the Canadian Rockies, all of which appeal to a growing segment of travelers looking for an adrenaline rush along with some female bonding.

“I have a multi-sport Thailand trip that includes living with elephants for four days and a multi-sport Iceland trip that involves hiking followed by viewing the Aurora Borealis from a natural hot spring,” Emilie Cortes, president of Call of the Wild, a pioneer in women’s adventure trips, told FoxNews.com. 

“Both are in 2014, and even though we haven’t even advertised them yet, they’re basically pre-sold and nearly full based on repeat customers. There is no way that would have been the case in 2009.”

Indeed, “women are getting gutsier than we used to be” when it comes to travel, notes Marybeth Bond, a National Geographic author and founder of The Gutsy Traveler, a website and resource for women travelers. “It used to be that women only traveled to visit someone, a family member or a girlfriend. Now we travel just to explore.”

There are several underlying reasons for the trend. First, as record numbers of women reach retirement age, many are discovering travel as a way to reconnect with female family members or friends, and to refocus on themselves after decades of balancing work and family obligations. Shifting cultural norms also play a role, says Beth Whitman, founder of women’s travel website Wanderlust and Lipstick and tour operator WanderTours. 

“There’s been this acceptance that it’s ok to leave your husband at home and even your young children and go to a yoga retreat, or take a solo trip or with your sister or mom or friend, and have that ‘me’ time,” Whitman notes.

Pop culture has provided inspiration, too. It’s been years since Sex and the City steamed up television and movie screens, but women still flock to New York City with their girlfriends to follow in the footsteps of Carrie Bradshaw and Co. The blockbuster success of Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir-turned-movie "Eat, Pray, Love" also sparked thousands of women to visit Italy, India, and Indonesia in search of their own potentially life-changing adventures.

Whatever the motivation, the travel industry has responded to the growing demand.

Traditionally, only a handful of women-centric tour companies, including the Bend, Ore.-based Call of the Wild and Adventure Women, were in existence; nowadays, there are dozens.

Whitman, for example, founded Wanderlust and Lipstick in 2007 after hosting women’s travel workshops for nearly two decades. In addition, some larger tour companies, such as Canadian Mountain Holidays, have created women-only itineraries.

The business travel market also has fine-tuned its focus on female travelers. In 2012, the Four Seasons Hotel in Houston launched its “Gal on the Go” program, which randomly selects female business travelers for a no-cost upgrade to its women-only floor, whose rooms are equipped with extras such as yoga mats, makeup kits, and fashion magazines. And since 1995, the Wyndham Hotel Group has catered specifically to its female clientele with its Women on Their Way website, a resource full of travel resources for women.

Tour operators note that a majority of their women travelers are generally aged 45-65, though travelers in their 20s, 30s, and all the way up to their 70s, aren’t uncommon. While many sign up for tours with a female friend or family member, a growing number are booking trips as solo travelers. In fact, Annapolis, M.D.-based operator Women Traveling Together, which was founded in 1997, states on its website that women traveling by themselves account for 80 percent of its total customers. (Most of the company’s 2013 departures, incidentally, are sold out.)

Whitman notes that many customers on who book women-only WanderTours trips are “divorced, widowed, or [have] husbands [who don’t] like to travel.” Often, the experience is to start out strangers and end up friends because “they get into this safety net where other women are so supportive, and there are tears at the end because they don’t want to leave. It’s a great bonding experience,” Whitman says.

Whether women are traveling on their own or with a buddy, they should take time to properly vet the tour operator prior to booking, travel experts note. According to Bond, travelers should ask about “group size, what meals are included, is there a single supplement, may I talk to someone who has been on the trip last year? And read the itinerary – are you going to be on and off a bus? Finally, how much of [the company’s] business is repeat business?”

Indeed, doing a little homework ahead of time helps pave the way for an epic adventure – which, in turn, is likely to keep the wanderlust stoked for the next trip.

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Baylor women complete 2013-14 recruiting class with addition of guard from Florida

Published April 17, 2013

Associated Press

WACO, Texas –  Standout prep guard Ieshia Small has signed a national letter of intent with Baylor, completing the Lady Bears' five-player recruiting class.

Small is a 6-foot guard from Florida High in Tallahassee, Fla., where she averaged 25 points, nine rebounds, 5.4 assists and five steals a game as a senior. She was a McDonald's All-American, Florida's Gatorade Player of the Year and ranked No. 3 nationally at her position.

Small, who signed Wednesday, played on the same AAU team with current Baylor freshmen Niya Johnson and Alexis Prince. The rest of the Lady Bears' new recruiting class signed during November's early period.

Brittney Griner, the three-time All-American and two-time AP player of the year, is one of five Baylor seniors who played their last game in the NCAA tournament.

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Libyan mufti criticizes UN document on women

TRIPOLI, Libya –  Libya's supreme religious cleric is calling on Muslim nations to reject a United Nations document on women's rights, saying that it counters Islamic law.

Mufti al-Sadiq al-Ghiryani issued a fatwa, or religious edict, against the document set to be signed by nations at the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women this month.

While Islamic jurisprudence prefers witnesses for a divorce, the mufti says the U.N. document insists on judicial interference.

The edict issued Monday criticizes the document's references to inheritance and its equating of men and women. Al-Ghiryani says this puts full burden on women to share equally in terms of domestic spending.

The mufti also condemns the document's wording on sexual freedoms and the rights of children born out of wedlock.

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