United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)’s Goodwill Ambassador and Say NO Spokesperson Nicole Kidman raised more than US$175,000 today for programmes to address violence against women and women’s empowerment in China. Attended by more than 200 guests, the charity fundraiser took place during her first visit to Hong Kong, and was organized in cooperation with the luxury watch manufacturer OMEGA. The event also featured a private concert by Nicole Kidman’s husband, Grammy Award–winning singer Keith Urban.

“I feel passionately about support for UNIFEM because the work to empower women and advance their human rights is so important,” said Nicole Kidman. “Together with OMEGA we are in Hong Kong to raise awareness and also vital funding for UNIFEM’s projects in China.”

“This Hong Kong benefit for UNIFEM highlights what we can do together to build support for effective programmes that help women live free from violence and realize their rights,” said Joan Libby-Hawk, Public Affairs Chief, UNIFEM. “Together we can show what an impact a global community can make.”

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Say No To Violence.org

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Susan notes: this article is about one of my favourite Twitter friends Uzm Atcha (aka @LHjunkie). She's a 21-year-old firecracker, blogger and activist living in the UAE. She writes for Mideast Youth, manages the March 18 Movement campaign, and supremely commands Mideast Tunes, a platform for regional underground musicians and the subject of this article. Find her on Twitter or Facebook; read her recent AWR guest blog post here: Give Me Something To Defend. (And oh yeah, she's one of da coolest chicas I know!)

A three-piece rock band from Dubai, a punk band whose lyrics deal with Islam and a Palestinian gypsy band who remix Arabic folk songs are just three of the groups on a new website set up by a student in Dubai to use the medium of music for social change.

Uzma Atcha, 21 (pictured at left), a Pakistani living in Dubai, and Esra’a Al Shafei, 23, a Bahraini, joined forces to launch Mideast Tunes, a platform for musicians in the region.

“The Middle East is one of the most misunderstood places on the planet,” said Miss Atcha. “There have been generations of hatred and animosity between ethnic groups and religious sects so we wanted to try to break those down by using a language everyone can relate to – music.”

The site, launched in March, invites artists to subscribe and post their biography, photo and music. Before entries go online, they are vetted by Miss Atcha and Miss al Shafei.

“We don’t judge them in terms of our taste, we just want to make sure they are a creditable act,” said Miss al Shafei. “Also we tend to prefer underground acts who wouldn’t normally get any exposure, as well as those who deal with issues like religion, politics or society in general.”

The women said they wanted to recognise musicians who had something to say. “A lot of the music we hear on the radio or on TV is synthesised pop,” said Miss Atcha. “It has no meaning. Regional talent gets overshadowed by this.”

Mideast Tunes can be played through an online radio portal called Revolt Radio, based in Saudi Arabia, or downloaded with an iPhone “app”.

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By Anna Seaman
The National

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Give Me Something To Defend (a blog post by Uzma Atcha)
More About Music on AWR

THIS weekend in Rome a married teacher will become Italy's first woman priest when she is ordained in a church not far from the Vatican.

Maria Longhitano, 35, is a member of Old Catholic Church, an order that broke away from the main body of the Catholic Church in the 19th century.

The ordination will not be recognised by the Vatican. But Mrs Longhitano hopes it will help to shatter the stained-glass ceiling by breaking down "prejudice" in the Roman Church.

Having a woman ordained in Rome is interesting timing in what has become a fierce fight.

During the week, the Catholic archdiocese of Chicago denied burial in a Catholic cemetery to an American woman ordained as a priest. Janine Denomme was a priest for five weeks before she died of cancer. She was ordained by a group called Roman Catholic Women Priests.

The Pope is opposed to women as priests. Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, even banned official discussion of the issue.

But demands for equality won't stop. As more Protestant denominations ordain women - even homosexual women - the Catholic Church's teaching on the all-male priesthood has come under renewed attack, with some leading lay Catholics claiming the ordination of women is a matter of simple justice. They also argue banning women priests is against Biblical doctrine.

This month, a group of Austrian Catholic bishops urged the Vatican to rethink the issues of celibacy and women priests. They called for discussion of "broad reforms".

Bishop Pat Power, the Catholic auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Canberra-Goulburn, recently wrote that reform in his church would involve much more than just "tinkering around the edges".

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Sunday Herald Sun

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The mothers of three Americans jailed in Iran for 10 months left for home Friday, getting one last chance to embrace their children but failing to secure their immediate release.

 

In a glimmer of hope, Iran announced that two of its nationals held in Iraq by U.S. forces for years were freed Friday. The release raised the possibility that a behind-the-scenes swap was in the offing or that their release was a gesture of goodwill in an attempt to free the Americans.

The Iranians' release "may have some diplomatic effect on this case," the Americans' lawyer, Masoud Shafii, told The Associated Press.

The U.S. has said it is not offering a direct swap, and Iranian officials made no public connection between the freed Iranians and the Americans.

How can mainstream young Muslim students get heard when fundamentalists often have a stranglehold on their groups and societies? Saniya Gour, 17, an east London A-level student, has struggled. "Everyone where I live is so extreme. There are very few who are not hardline about things. And, as a girl, they don't want to hear what you have to say. I go to Leyton Sixth Form College and when I asked one of the heads of Isoc (the Islamic Society) if I could speak, he said no. They don't even like me talking to guys. They say: 'You're wearing a headscarf, you shouldn't be talking to boys'."

However, Saniya and other young Muslims now have a national forum where they can learn leadership skills and how to speak up. The Young Muslim Leadership Network (YMLN), funded by the Government as part of its controversial Prevent programme designed to stop violent extremism, is working hard to make its mark. It needs to. Early soundings by some of its two dozen members show that it is up against powerful forces.

The network was founded last year for young people aged 16 to 21, and has three groups – two in London and one in Birmingham. The central London group is researching university Islamic societies, and members have been shocked at what they have found. Hazura Bazeer, 18, a member of the central London branch of the YMLN, is in her final year at Coombe Girls' School in New Malden, Surrey, and has a place to study medicine at King's College, London. She says: "In one case that we heard of, a girl was slapped in the face for not wearing a headscarf, and, in one society, women were not allowed to speak and had to hold up their questions in writing."

On many campuses, societies are run by extremists, and moderate Muslim students avoid them. Such students also know that these societies are now closely monitored by the authorities – even more so after the recent University College London-educated alleged "underpants bomber" – and worry about the consequences of membership.

She points out that a lot of societies don't have any election process. "There is no democracy," she claims. "Posts are just handed on, so it is all just a vicious circle."

Her group is sending out a questionnaire to students and consulting on what changes people would like to see. It is also planning to visit more open Isocs, such as those at Oxford and Cambridge, in order to produce a code of good practice. "These societies have a lot of potential and ought to be a really cool part of university life."