Though it wasn’t deafening enough to mark the official opening of journalism’s summer Silly Season, a recent chorus of articles improvising on the Dominique Strauss-Kahn topic does merit the momentary elevation of the discerning reader’s eyebrow. Come on colleagues: this caper is sensational and dramatic enough on its own to …
Gender
With NY Case In Doubt, Strauss-Kahn Faces Attempted Rape Charges In France
Just as the legal outlook for ex-International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn started looking brighter in the U.S. with news prosecutors’ case against him for sexual assault may not get to a court, DSK’s horizon seriously darkened back in France. On Monday, as various signs accumulated suggesting his political career …
Legal Holes Develop In the DSK Case, But Will Women Care?
News of the prosecution’s weakening sex assault case against former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn–and the consequential court decision Friday morning to lift his house arrest awaiting trial–have added a new jolt of drama to what already had been a sensational story followed closely on both sides of the …
Early French Reaction To News That DSK Case May Collapse
(UPDATED: 11:50 a.m. EDT)
Reaction in France to the bombshell news from U.S. that prosecutors’ case against former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn for attempted rape and sexual assault was nearing collapse has thus far been muted—though that’s certain to change when the nation’s talking heads awake …
After Beheading, Indonesia Bars Maids from Work in Saudi Arabia
A woman, beheaded by the sword thousands of miles from home. This, at last, proved too much for Indonesia. For years, this Southeast Asian nation has been sending its citizens to work in Saudi Arabia and, for years, migrant workers there complained of poor working conditions, abuse and violence. But the surprise execution of Ruyati …
In Saudi Arabia, Hip Hop Takes On Weighty Subjects, Like The Mall
Anywhere else in the world, a hip-hop song about going to the mall would be laughed off the airways. In Saudi Arabia, it gets banned. Mamno3 al Shabab (“guys not allowed,” in the transliterated lingo of international texting, which uses numbers like 3 for sounds that don’t exist in English), one of the latest hits the latest single …
“Atomic Anne” Lauvergeon Replaced As Head Of Nuclear Giant Areva
Anne Lauvergeon–longed ranked by international publications as one of the most influential and powerful women in global business—will be replaced as chairman of Areva, the one-stop nuclear giant she created in 2001. Thursday’s announcement by France’s conservative government to part with Lauvergeon when her current contract …
Clinton Condemns Use of Rape, Sexual Violence in Libya Conflict
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi are using rape as a weapon of war. In a statement released Thursday, she says the United States is “deeply concerned” about reports of “wide-scale” rape in the Libyan conflict. Citing the International Criminal Court’s findings and the case of Eman al Obeidi, she …
Honk If You Support Saudi Women!
If a group of Saudi activists get their way, this Friday June 17 will mark the start of Women2Drive, a campaign to get the country’s women behind the wheel. The call to action came after the arrest and detention Manal al-Sharif, a 32-year-old tech specialist, who last month posted a YouTube video of herself driving a car. Saudi …
Despite His Dire Legal Problems, Could DSK Return To Politics?
Please read the entire story before putting the vats of tar to boil and splitting the pillows for their feathery content.
My current piece on time.com isn’t making the argument that Dominique Strauss-Kahn should return to politics once his current legal battle is over (which at any rate, if things go badly for him, could be several, …
Another FIFA Fiasco: Iran Women Banned from Olympic Qualifier Over Headscarves
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week joined the chorus of critics blasting soccer’s governing body, lashing out at FIFA for banning the Iranian women’s national team from an Olympic qualifier on account of their headscarves. The team forfeited the qualifier against Jordan last Friday because they would not play without their …
In Saudi Arabia, Lingerie Reveals All
Majid wants to show me a negligee. Its on sale, and comes with a racy black and red striped thong. When I demur, he eagerly shows me a frilly lace concoction in yellow and tells me that it matches a bra that is also on sale. Quickly he jets a look at my figure, enveloped in a voluminous black abaya and ventures a guess. “D cup?” He …
The DSK Effect: French Media Starts Reporting the Peccadilloes (and Pedophilia) of Politicos
The after-shocks of the rape charges against ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the U.S. seem to be eroding France’s unwritten media rule against publicly delving into the private sexual affairs of national politicians. This week, the press has paid rapt attention to allegations of criminal sexual behavior by two French political …