Kluft Voted European Women's Athlete of the Year. [The Associated Press] Carolina Kluft was voted Europe's female athlete of the year for 2006. The world, Olympic and European heptathlon champion won all three events in which she competed, including the European Championships in Goteborg, Sweden, to become the first two-time winner in the award's 13-year history. The 23-year-old Swede also won the trophy in 2003 and hasn't lost in a combined event since the 2002 European Athletics Indoor Championships. Kim Gevaert of Belgian finished second in the European Athletics Association poll after winning the 100 and 200 meter double at the Europeans in August. World pole vault record holder and 2005 winner Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia tied for second, while Olympic long jump champion Tatyana Lebedeva was fourth.

Vienna Orchestra Still Reluctant To Hire Women. [Playfuls.com, Romania] January 1 will again see millions of viewers in over 60 countries sit glued to TV screens for the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra's annual New Year's Concert of popular waltz tunes. But one thing they will not see, no matter how closely they look at one of the world's leading orchestras, is women. In 1997 the male-only orchestra, faced with international protests, grumblingly decided to accept women among their ranks. Anna Lelkes, who had played the harp in the orchestra for 26 years, became the first official female "Philharmoniker". Ten years later, there is still only one female orchestra member, again a harpist. This exceptionally low number gives again rise to claims of sexism among the musicians. Many of those fiercely opposed to women disturbing the orchestra's male unity are still active Philharmonics.

Six Thousand Women Missing in Boardrooms, Politics, and Courts. [Guardian Unlimited, UK] The glass ceiling is still holding back 6,000 women from the top 33,000 jobs in Britain, according to new research from the Equal Opportunities Commission. Thirty years after the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act, women are "woefully under-represented" in the country's boardrooms, politics and courts, it says. Help from nannies has not enabled successful women to maintain their careers after having children, the research suggests. The EOC blames a male-dominated culture in the professions for resistance to flexible working.

After 500 Years, First Female Beefeater Allowed. [Houston Chronicle] They're as much a part of the Tower of London as the Crown Jewels, ravens and suits of armor. Since 1485, the Yeoman Warders — all men — have patrolled the parapets and passages of the royal fortress on the banks of the Thames. But the Tower is about to break with tradition, with officials saying it is in the process of hiring its first female Yeoman Warder. The warders, who wear blue and red uniforms and are the subject of countless tourist photos, are known colloquially as Beefeaters because of the rations of meat they were given during medieval times. The woman has not yet been identified, said spokeswoman Natasha Woollard. However, it is known she is currently serving in Britain's armed forces — all warders are also soldiers — and will join the fortress' 35 other warders at the end of the summer. "There were six candidates for the vacancy, and she was the only female," Woollard said. "She was awarded the job on merit — she will replace one who is retiring."

Moira Cameron Named First Female Warder At Tower Of London. [All Headline News] The identity of the Tower of London's first female Beefeater, who will act as a tourist guide, has been revealed. Moira Cameron, 38, is said to "ecstatic" about becoming the first female Yeoman Warder to join the ranks in the guard's 522-year history at the royal London fortress. A friend told Britain's The Sun newspaper, "She loves all the royal history and the culture that the tower represents. But her primary motive in applying for the job was that she wanted to make history. That's the kind of girl she is." To become a Warder you must have served 22 years in the Armed Forces, and Moira - who beat five male candidates to land the $31,000-a-year job - joined the Army at 16 before going on to become a NCO (non-commissioned officer) with the Adjutant General's Corps in Aldershot, Hampshire. However, Moira's appointment has reportedly not been well received by some of the 35 male Beefeaters that she will be joining in September. One member of staff said, "They take the view we should maintain tradition and not make history. She sounds a great girl but it is going to feel distinctly off having a woman amongst us."

Record Number of Women Making Fortunes: Study. [Zee News, India] A record number of women are making multi-million pound fortunes by starting their own businesses, according to a new survey. For the first time, about one in four persons who appear in the annual list of Top 100 Entrepreneurs are women. When the list, published each year by the magazine Management Today, started in 2004, there were 25% fewer women included than today. If this trend continues women are on their way to beating men to becoming the UK's most successful entrepreneurs over the next few decades. More than one million women in Britain are now running their own companies, according to official figures from the Office of National Statistics.

Women Walk to 'Reclaim the Night'. [BBC News, UK] More than 100 people are expected to take to the streets of Suffolk's county town where five women were killed. "Reclaim the night" marchers in Ipswich will be joined by support groups from across the UK, including Scotland, Cambridge and Birmingham. The march is in response to a Suffolk Police warning it was dangerous to go out at night and expresses solidarity with the Ipswich women's families. Organizer Rebecca Dale said police sent out "the wrong message" as a caution. Ms Dale said: "I believe the police were trying to do their best for women but what they said was wrong.

Female Gang Attack Girl. [Blackpool Citizen, UK] A 15-year-old girl was attacked by three other girls as she walked along Chain Lane in Staining near Blackpool. The girl, who was with a friend at the time, was approached and was told to get out of town, because she was not local. As the girl attempted to walk away, the three girls attacked her from behind, punched her in the face and head, and then kicked her in the face as she lay on the floor. She suffered a broken nose, fractured eye socket and has lost two teeth. The three girls are between 15 and 20 years old.

Baby Rates Doubles in Women Over 45. [Daily Mail, UK] The number of British women giving birth aged over 45 has doubled within a decade, official figures show. The rise is more than found in any other age group over the same period. Experts believe it reflects a growing trend for young women to want a career before starting a family. Advances in fertility treatment have also allowed more women to prolong the childbearing years. However experts warned women against being lulled into a false sense of security and waiting until their forties to conceive. They warned while some women do give birth at this age, many will suffer heartbreak if they then find they are no longer able to have children.

Women Motor On Down to Fix-It Course. [Sunderland Echo, UK] Women may be accused of being worse drivers than men, but how do they fare when they turn their hand to mechanics? A course is being run especially to give them the skills to care for their cars and keep safe. Ian Wilson is a man who knows his motors – and now he's helping others to understand them too. His business "Chicks Who Fix", based at a unit in Phoenix Workshops, Blackhills Road, Horden, teaches women the basics of car mechanics. Putting on new tires, changing oil and air filters, checking brake pads, swapping headlight bulbs and simple dos and don'ts are covered. It may be straightforward stuff, but it's making all the difference to his students. Those enrolled on the course have many different reasons for joining in the lessons. They include divorcees facing the task of looking after a vehicle on their own, wives with clueless husbands, women who have faced breakdowns and those who simply want to be able to fix their car in an emergency.

NPG Pictures Women Writers From 1919-1960. [24 Hour Museum, UK] A new photographic exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery is exploring women writers in the decades after World War One. Women Writers runs until June 17 2006 and presents 24 photos taken between 1919 and 1960, examining the writers’ personalities, their subjects and the social changes which helped promote the growth in women’s fiction. “These portraits illustrate a fascinating period when the field of fiction writing was dominated by women,” said exhibition curator Rosie Bradley. “In a display that includes some rarely seen portraits, unfamiliar faces are connected with many well-loved books.”

Ségolène Royal Shakes Up France's Gender Politics. [The New York Times] Even the middle-aged men seem eager to make a woman their next president. The woman in question is Ségolène Royal, the 53-year-old nominee of the Socialist Party who is turning French political history on its head by turning her sex into an asset. To allay voters' concerns about a tepid economy, high unemployment and pervasive globalization, Royal has portrayed herself as the mother protector of the nation. Royal's electoral prospects may appear surprising in a nation that historically has not championed political equality for women. Women voted for the first time only after World War II. The percentage of women in the National Assembly today is 12.6%. Insulting women in politics has long been a blood sport for men.

Equal Representation for Women. [Sitagita, India] The French cabinet has approved of a proposal whereby men and women will be represented equally in both national and regional politics. This is probably an attempt by the country to be portrayed as a women-friendly country. France is behind 17 other countries in its attempts to bring women to the forefront. The country urgently wants to promote women as is evident from the law which states that any party that fails to have an equal number of women and men candidates for the national elections will be fined! The government has also ordered that the same law apply to the 3,500 towns. There should be an equal number of men and women in all the top-ranking positions. When the new law is enforced, there will be more than 4,000 women entrants in French politics. It is hoped that with more women in the field, women’s rights will gain more focus. The country is gearing up for a woman governmental head also. This should really help the women of the country fulfill their dreams and ambitions!

Something Else to Learn About French Women: No Reading in La Toilette. [Chicago Tribune] She may be the president and CEO of Clicquot Inc. She may have turned Veuve Clicquot into one of the leading brands of Champagne in the U.S. But it's her authorship that has turned Mireille Guiliano into a hero of women. Guiliano, who is French by birth, is the writer behind the 2004 phenomenon, "French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure" (Knopf, $24.95, 272 pages). In it, she detailed her secrets for staying fit -- sans dieting. And now, she has delivered a sequel, "French Women for All Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes & Pleasure" (Knopf, $24.95, 368 pages), in which she offers yet more ideas for successful eating plus a slew of fashion and lifestyle tips, also culled from her heritage as an effortlessly stylish French woman.

Handicapped Woman Stuck in Elevator for Three Days. [The Associated Press] A trip to the local bakery turned into a nightmare for a 19-year old handicapped woman who spent three days trapped in the elevator of her suburban Paris apartment. The woman, identified only as Safiatou, went missing on Dec. 19 when she left her home in the Courtille housing project, east of Paris, to buy a loaf of bread. An elevator repairman discovered the mentally handicapped woman, shivering and dehydrated, on Dec. 22.

Germany to Offer Working Mothers Maternity Benefits. [International Herald Tribune] In a country in which deaths have exceeded births since 1973, the coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel decided in the summer to allocate billions of euros for maternity benefits. The money becomes available Jan. 1 at one second after midnight. The government hopes that this "elterngeld," or parents' money, will give professional women an incentive to stay home from work for a year and look after their children. If a new mother does so, she will receive 67% of her net salary up to a maximum of €1,800, or about $2,370, a month. The measure will cost the state €3.5 billion. But Ursula von der Leyen, the German family minister, calculates that Germany may be able to raise its birthrate from 1.37 children per woman if financial aid and day care centers are made available, as they are in France, where the birthrate is 1.9, and in Sweden, where it is 1.75.

Germany Unlocks Horror Tale of World War II "Comfort Women". [Monsters and Critics.com, UK] Breaking a long-time taboo in the world of Nazi horrors, German history officials unveiled an exhibition on the 'comfort women' exploited by male concentration- camp inmates. Between 300 and 400 women were forced to provide sexual services to queues of slave laborers from the Nazi armaments factories. 'These brothels were provided as a 'performance incentive' so that the male prisoners would increase their output,' said Horst Seferens of the Brandenburg Monuments Foundation, which funded the exhibition at the Ravensbrueck Concentration Camp Memorial. Most male prisoners never admitted after their release that they had exploited the women, who also kept the story of their shame secret. The Nazis employed hundreds of thousands of Jews and political prisoners to keep their weapons factories running. The women were selected from Ravensbrueck camp, the main Nazi site for detaining women, and sent to 10 other concentration camps. 'In the story of the concentration camps, the SS's exploitation of women inmates for men inmates has been just so covered up and avoided by everyone,' said Insa Eschebach, head of the memorial. 'And what did come out was just so distorted and prejudiced against the women.' Items in the show include eyewitness interviews, some of the Nazis' index cards on the victims describing them as 'brothel women,' and the vouchers that were given to male inmates to be redeemed in sexual services. Historians said the story had so embarrassed the women that the Nazis responsible were never prosecuted after the War. The camps were run by the SS, the Nazi Party's own paramilitary organization.

Two Women Injured in Candle Fire. [Kathimerini, Greece] A mother and daughter were taken to the hospital suffering from serious burns after their fifth-floor apartment in Nea Smyrni, southern Athens, caught fire. The fire broke out a few minutes into the New Year when a candle was knocked over and set alight nearby napkins in a blaze that quickly spread to the whole apartment, firefighters said. The mother, aged 66, and her 35-year-old daughter suffered the injuries when they tried to put out the blaze themselves.

Popular Women-Only Weeks in Tuscany. [Emediawire] The International Kitchen's President Karen Herbst says, "Travel for women exclusively has increased dramatically in the past few years. I think the success of our past Women Only Weeks is a real indicator that this trend will only continue to grow. We provide a venue for women travelers where they are totally comfortable." The value price for these Italian cooking holidays is also a tremendous motivator in the choice of this deluxe culinary vacation.

Brothel Owners Take Amsterdam to Court Over Threatened Closures. [The Associated Press] A group of brothel owners representing nearly a third of the "windows" prostitutes in Amsterdam's famous Red Light District have filed legal protests against a city decision to revoke their licenses. "The court has told the city that all operators of the 37 cafe and brothel businesses who have received closure notices — are fighting it," the city said in a statement. "The city...will wait with further measures until the court has ruled." The Dutch government legalized prostitution in 2000 to make it easier to tax and regulate. But prostitutes remain a magnet for crime and Amsterdam city authorities have been conducting a financial review of all property owners in the district since early last year.

Find Out How Dutch Business Women Mix Business and Pleasure. [WebWire] The Dutch magazine Salomé is a glamorous magazine for strong, ambitious and self-made women who want to know more about business, money, art, enjoying life and beauty; these are also the five main topics of the magazine. Salomé combines business and glamour: how to earn (more) money, do business more efficiently and how to spend the money made so far. Salomé is NOT another fashion magazine that advises what dress to wear. According to Sally Daftari, editor in chief of Salomé, women are tired of reading fashion-only magazines. “Self-made women want a magazine with content. They are sick and tired reading about the latest lipstick and adulterous men, they want to read about business issues and stay up to date on financial topics. Salomé is the first Dutch women’s magazine focusing on business issues. Next to the business tips, Salomé also demonstrates how to live a glamorous life. After all, we are women!”

Young Women Opt for Abortion. [Aftenposten, Norway] More than half of ethnic Norwegian women under age 25 choose abortion if they get pregnant, according to a new study. The professor behind the study calls the statistic "surprising" and "worrisome." A woman's right to choose abortion is deeply engrained in Norwegian society, but it's only most common among young women and women with little education, says Professor Anne Eskild of Akershus University Hospital. Eskild's study marked the first time that researchers tracked the incidence of abortions and births among ethnic Norwegian women. Results showed major differences between those who chose to abort and those who chose to give birth. More than half of pregnant women under 25 chose abortion, a rate double that for pregnant women over 40. The abortion rate for women under age 20 was nine times higher than that for women over 40. Only 2.9% of women with a university education chose abortion, according to the study.

Women 'Still Held Down by Glass Ceiling'. [Scotsman, UK] Hundreds of women were "posted missing" from top jobs in Scotland in a report which underlined how the equality gap still exists in the workplace. In its annual survey of power jobs in the private and public sectors, the Equal Opportunities Commission (Scotland) said that if women were to break the through the infamous "glass ceiling" holding them back, hundreds more female judges, senior police officers, council leaders, MPs, MSPs and company directors should be appointed. The EOC Scotland also complained that asking for flexible working conditions still often spelt "career death". According to the report, "Sex and Power: Who Runs Scotland? 2007", women account for just under 12% of Scotland's senior judges and police officers and barely 21% of secondary head teachers.

Woman Aged 67 Gives Birth to Twins in Spain to Become World's Oldest Mother. [International Herald Tribune, France] A 67-year-old Spanish woman became the world's oldest mother after she gave birth to twins in the northern city of Barcelona. The woman, whose identity has not been revealed by Sant Pau hospital, gave birth by caesarian section having previously undergone in vitro fertilization in the United States, according to the national news agency EFE.

World-Class Midfielder Mostrom Retires. [The Associated Press] Malin Mostrom, one of the world's top female midfielders, said she is retiring from soccer. The 31-year old was a member of the Swedish team that finished second in the 2003 World Cup in the United States. Mostrom also won a silver medal at the 2001 European Championship and two (European) Women's Cup titles with her club team, Umea. Mostrom scored 21 goals in 113 games for Sweden. This year she finished ninth in FIFA's World Player of the Year vote won by her Umea teammate, Marta of Brazil,