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Mideast Muslims outraged, see 'conspiracy' after woman leads prayers in U.S. 05:56 PM EST Mar 19 NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Muslims in the Middle East on Saturday angrily denounced prayers led by a woman in New York City the day before as a violation of Islam. One Egyptian newspaper, Al-Messa, reported the news of Amina Wadud leading Friday prayer services on its front page, with the emphatic headline: They are tarnishing Islam in America! It referred to Wadud as "the deranged woman." A female Islamic law professor condemned the act as apostasy, explaining that a woman's body...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A female bartender who refused to wear makeup at a Reno, Nevada, casino was not unfairly dismissed from her job, a U.S. federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday. Darlene Jespersen, who had worked for nearly 20 years at a Harrah's Entertainment Inc casino bar in Reno, Nevada, objected to the company's revised policy that required female bartenders, but not men, to wear makeup. A previously much-praised employee, Jespersen was fired in 2000 after the firm instituted a "Beverage Department Image Transformation" program and she sued, alleging sex discrimination. In a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of...

Former executive at the London offices of Merrill Lynch has lost her £7.5m ($14.6m) sex discrimination case against the US investment bank. An employment tribunal dismissed Stephanie Villalba's allegations of sexual discrimination and unequal pay. But the 42-year-old won her claim of unfair dismissal, resulting from her sacking in August 2003. The part victory is likely to reduce her compensation to about £50k, a fraction of what she was demanding, damages will be decided in the New Year. The action - the biggest claim heard by an employment tribunal in the UK - had been viewed as a potential landmark...

Key points • Hereditary heir to British throne criticises those with 'ideas above their station' • Such as former secretary, who is claiming unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination • More unwelcome ructions from Clarence House for Monarchy Key quote"People think they can all be pop stars, high court judges, brilliant TV personalities or infinitely more competent heads of state without ever putting in the necessary work or having natural ability. This is the result of social utopianism which believes humanity can be genetically and socially engineered to contradict the lessons of history." - Prince Charles PRINCE Charles’s latest pronouncement on...

LONDON, England (AP) -- A woman who worked as a secretary for Prince Charles' royal staff has filed a complaint alleging sex discrimination and unfair dismissal, officials said Tuesday. Elaine Day worked as a personal assistant during her five years in employment at Clarence House, Prince Charles' London residence, before she left earlier this year.

<p>Don't blame girls, women By Jacqueline E. Woods The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is troubled by recent suggestions that girls and women are somehow to blame for the fact that boys are not excelling in certain academic areas. Is there a "gender war" being waged against boys, as some have claimed? Gender inequity in education is a complex issue. Two years ago, AAUW published "Beyond the 'Gender Wars,' " a summary of the views of some of America's foremost researchers of boys and girls regarding a range of gender-equity questions. One of the major conclusions shared by these researchers was that we do not need to "fix the boys" or "fix the girls."</p>

Augusta National Golf Club is putting its money where its mouth is in its fight with a women's group pressuring the club to admit a female member. Club chairman Hootie Johnson announced Friday that because corporate sponsors of the Masters' telecast are being pressured by the National Council of Women's Organizations, the 2003 tournament will be shown without sponsors or commercials. At least golf fans will benefit from the fight. The 2003 telecast would have contained its normal four commerical minutes per hour. With 12 1/2 hours of live programming, that's 50 minutes of commericials that will not take golf...

Let's make sure boys get to university Stephen T. Easton National Post The last decade of the 20th century saw a profound change in the enrollment structure of Canadian higher education. From 1987 to 1997, total university enrollment increased from 486,000 to 573,000. At the same time, the percentage of women enrolled increased from rough parity in 1987 to a level where there are now 120 women for every 100 men on campus. Remarkably, the national average is is reflected faithfully at the provincial level. This may be a boon for the social lives of the young men, but the...

A pregnant secretary was not the victim of sex discrimination when she was fired by a boss who wanted to reassure his wife he wasn't romantically involved with the woman, a state appeals court has ruled. The Supreme Court's Appellate Division said in a 5-0 decision Tuesday that Mayra Rivera-Maldonado was fired because the physician she worked for was trying to save his marriage not because of discrimination. The court reversed the state Division of Human Rights' finding that Dr. Rainer N. Mittl, an ophthalmologist, discriminated against Rivera-Maldonado. The agency had awarded her more than $178,000 in back pay and...