Jeddah - A teenage girl defied a Saudi ban on women drivers to save her father and brother from the freak floods that killed 122 people last November.

Malak Al-Mutairi took some rope and drove her father’s GMC to the low-lying Qous Valley where water had nearly submerged the car her family was standing on top of.

She parked her car at an elevated position on the road and waded into the water as far as she could before throwing the rope to her brother, Al-Madinah newspaper reported. The brother tied the rope on the car and then Malak slowly towed the vehicle out of the water. When her brother fell into the water she returned to help him.

There were other submerged cars with people inside them crying for help. Despite her father’s pleas not to return, Malak managed to tow eight more cars with dozens of people inside to safety.

“I had to brave the terrifying floods and rain to rescue my father because no one responded to his call for help,” said Malak.

“My father had taught me how to drive cars when we went on picnics to deserts. I am sorry that I could not help more people because by the time I towed eight cars the water was too high.”

Al-Mutairi was proud that his daughter had saved many people. “My daughter has a strong personality. Nothing, even floods, deters her when she is determined to do something. No ordinary girl would have accomplished what she did in such weather,” he said.

Hind Al-Doussary, a woman rescued by Malak, said her driver could not do anything to save her and her children. She said if it was not for Malak all of them would have drowned.

SOURCE:
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=129832&d=19&m=12&y=2009&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom

Cairo - Imagine “Men in Black” meets hijabs and neon eyeliner. Dressed in identical black suits, white-collared shirts, and silver head scarves, Dwleat Nanvey and Maha Hamied are part of Egypt’s growing corps of “lady guards,” trained to provide protection to high-powered Arab women.

Visitors clamped in one of the ladies’ vise-grip handshakes will notice a golden pin on her lapel – a soaring falcon, her employer’s symbol. The Falcon Group, as the Egypt-based security company is known, is pioneering a new model of protection – the female-guard unit - that both signals and supports the rising status of women here.

Dubai – Women’s College (DWC) graduate Rafia Al Mulla is among that rare breed of people with a drive to succeed no matter what obstacles come their way.

Having just turned 21, she is among the nation’s youngest successful entrepreneurs. She owns and runs YogurBerry, a franchise business based in Dubai Festival City’s Festival Centre. YogurBerry is an international frozen yoghurt brand operating in 11 countries. Rafia’s franchise is the only one in the UAE.

Rafia graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Real Estate Management from DWC this month. She has been selected as the class valedictorian for the college’s graduation ceremony being held in February. She also holds a higher diploma in business.

"This new fund has tremendous potential to bring about concrete and sustainable changes in women's lives."

A new fund managed by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Monday announced over 9 million U.S. dollars in grants to support initiatives in 26 countries to empower women, ranging from boosting their political participation in Bosnia and Herzegovina to assisting those denied inheritance and property rights in Afghanistan.

The Fund for Gender Equality is a 68-million-dollar multilateral initiative, currently funded by the governments of Spain and Norway, designed to promote innovative programs focusing on women’s economic and political empowerment at local and national levels.

“Very impressive efforts to advance women’s political and economic empowerment are underway in every corner of the world,” said UNIFEM Executive Director Ines Alberdi. “Yet this work is critically under-funded.”