Japan anti-high heels campaigner steps up to fight 'glasses ban'

Yahoo – AFP, Kyoko HASEGAWA, December 3, 2019

Yumi Ishikawa, leader and founder of the KuToo movement, is now turning her
attention to glasses (AFP Photo/Charly TRIBALLEAU)

A Japanese woman whose campaign against mandatory high heels in the workplace won broad public support has stepped up her fight against strict corporate dress codes -- including a de-facto ban on women wearing glasses.

Actress and freelance writer Yumi Ishikawa shot to prominence this year with her drive against Japanese office culture, in which high heels are seen as near-obligatory when job-hunting or working in the office.

Known by the slogan "#KuToo" -- a play on words from the Japanese word "kutsu", meaning shoes, and "kutsuu", meaning "pain" -- the campaign was chosen on Monday as one of the buzzwords of the year.

Ishikawa's latest petition to relax the rules, delivered to the labour ministry on Tuesday, has attracted more than 31,000 signatures.

"The root cause of the problem is that (there are companies) that have rules for women only -- such as a ban on wearing glasses or a requirement to wear make-up," the 32-year-old told reporters.

"This practice has to be reviewed," she added.

Campaigners had already submitted a petition to the government in June which called for legislation to declare the obligatory wearing of high heels as harassment.

But Ishikawa said progress had been lukewarm and she was "shocked to see there was no mention of high heels" in the government's draft rules published in October.

An official who received the petition said the labour ministry would "consider the petition as one of the opinions" before making a final decision on new government rules to counter harassment in workplace.

One 28-year-old woman contacted by AFP, who asked to remain anonymous, said glasses were banned at her workplace because they give a "cold facial expression".

"I've been wearing glasses for more than a decade because I suffer from dry eye syndrome. I feel uncomfortable wearing contact lenses and am worried that my eye disease may get worse," said the receptionist.

An official at a major employment agency told AFP that come companies asked receptionists to "refrain from wearing glasses" as part of dress codes that also included a ban on dyed hair or unmanicured nails.

Campaigners have said high heels are akin to modern foot-binding while others have urged other dress codes, such as the near-total donning of business suits for men, to be loosened in the Japanese workplace.

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"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - (Text version)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”

"The Addictive Old Energy" – (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Kryon.com, August 12, 2017

This live channelling was given in Stamford Connecticut

Lee Carroll

To help the reader, this channelling has been revisited [by Lee and Kryon] to provide even clearer understanding. Sometime information is even added or condensed. Often what happens live has implied energy within it, which carries a kind of communication that the printed page does not. So enjoy this enhanced message given in Stamford.

Greetings, dear ones, I am Kryon of Magnetic Service. My partner steps aside as always, and I now give you a message that he is not aware of. The way it works, dear ones, is that the information that is being given from the other side of the veil is information that perhaps you don't expect, and is given in ways that you might not have thought of.

Tonight is a revelation that goes further than ever into the differences between the old and the new energy. Today my partner tried to set the stage [in the seminar] so that you would understand that, before 2012, there was an energy that you no longer have. It's an energy that you are not going to revisit, and it is not coming back. It's a new kind of energy that is beginning to place itself on this planet, and it is filled with a completely new paradigm of reality.

Changing Ideas Create Dysfunction with Many

We've told you in the past that these new paradigms will often create confusion, because things are not as they were. There is often disappointment, and some have said, "Well, things are not happening the way I thought they would for a renewed energy. It isn't like it used to be, is it? I thought it would simply get better." No, it isn't the old paradigm, just getting better. It's a brand new energy beginning with the old leaving.

The new energy is filled with feelings that are completely and totally different, reactions that are totally different and expectations that are totally different. Within these things hides a truth, and the truth is that there is a development going on of the Human spirit itself and about how you are changing your ideas about certain kinds of things. Since these things don't all happen to everyone the same, there is often a period of shift, change and recalibration.

Humanity is slowly starting to feel more compassion and become less critical of others and their cultures. There is a meld happening, but in the process, however, the ones who are not feeling this way stick out. Some of these are so angry at the new energy that they strike out with their frustration in disappointing and inappropriate ways. Some have formed armies and some go it alone, but they are all showing the profound awakening of the changes within dark and light. Imbalance and illogical actions are the result, as there are those who will die to keep things from changing. However, dear ones, that is not what I want to talk about, since we have discussed this before. Those things are going to happen slowly within the perceptions of who you are becoming and the issues that show themselves with the shift of consciousness you are having - the battle of light and dark.

Tonight, I want to talk about a difference between dark and light that is starting to be seen and is even greater than before. It's the way you perceive things in an older energy compared to the way you perceive things in a new energy. Mostly, I want to show you what happens when you drag the old energy into a brand new light - objections!

We've told you before that this is a time where there can be "no more fence sitting". You cannot claim to be a Lightworker, a compassionate person, and then not be compassionate to humanity. You cannot decide one day to be one thing, then another day to be another. That was the way of it in an older energy, and there was great deceit. We've told you before of the drama that people often create over and over, because it suits them and works for them in an older energy. This is because people pay attention to them and they get what they want. But this is changing, and in the new energy these people often find themselves missing out, not included, not being agreed with and being left behind. They discover that the old energies are not commensurate at all with the old reality they had. They are frustrated, since the "old ways" are no longer working.

Old Energy Addiction

Processes and procedures that many counted on, which got results before, are now starting to shift and change and are no longer working. But we've said that before. Tonight, I would like to tell you how addictive the old energy is. I would like to start showing and telling by example, some of the things we have only marginally discussed before. It's time to expand on some interesting issues.

Can Darkness be Addictive?

It's hard to describe how Humans can be addicted to something that is dysfunctional and dark. The night is dark, and if you've survived a certain way because you couldn't see well, and suddenly the light is turned on, many long for the time when it was dark! This is because they knew how to navigate in the dark, but they don't know how to navigate in the light.

There will be those who are used to a paradigm of struggle. This is what they have understood and have felt was normal. So when the light comes and then there is benevolence, joy and compassion, they long for the old days of struggle over and over. It seems unbelievable that someone would want such a thing, when presented with something so much better! Imagine, the end of struggle and suffering, replaced by a benevolent attitude of expectation and light. However, many have spent so much time struggling and suffering, complaining and reacting, that they can't see the light. Even if it's shown to them, they can't understand it and they don't want it. How could such a thing be? Are there examples of this? Yes, there are examples of it, dear ones, that you can see right now.

Current Events

Let's get current and talk about what's happening today. I'm again going to explain something that is seemingly unbelievable and exemplifies the difference between a dark energy and a light energy. Let's look at how addictive the darkness is, even when light could create some amazing solutions to needed issues. Instead, there are some so invested in the old energy, and who wish to wallow in what they used to know, that they can't see the treasure in the light, which is something they have worked for all their lives. Human Beings have an issue: They tend to want something they are used to, not even understanding it's dark and perhaps dysfunctional.

I want to give you an example that's very, very current. Not long ago, approximately 2011, something happened in North Korea. The son of the deceased dictator took over. We're not going to mention his name in the channel, but you all know who I'm speaking of. The boy became an emperor overnight, and he had studied with his ego-based father. He'd also studied in the west, although under another name. So he knows who you are, dear ones, and he knows the culture here in this country. In 2011, one year before the shift, he was at a crossroads. We discussed it with you then, and now we're going to take it to another level.

Let me ask you something. Knowing what he desperately wanted for himself, what would you have done if you were him? Let's review: In 2011 he stands on the precipice of greatness. By 2012, he will be taking over his country, and he's going to be the emperor of all he sees. He has learned what his parent taught him, and all he has done all of his life is watch the egotism of his father. So he has absorbed that method as the way of life for a leader. He needs fame and importance, even more than his father. So, more than anything else he wants to be famous. More than anything else, he wants to be seen and loved by his people. This is what his primary focus is, and what he learned from his father. The mold is set.

So, put yourself in his place if you can. You are the boy, and you are able right now to follow the father's lineage for North Korea or enhance it. The boy started making his decisions in 2012, when the decree came down that he was the emperor and chairman of the people's party, you might say. He began to make the decisions of his reign. So, again, you're him for a moment. What could you do, right now, with a clean slate? What would create something that you want more than anything else on the planet - fame, fortune and respect? What could you do that would almost have you worshipped, be idolized, be seen as important, to be "the one"? What could you do right now at that juncture 2012? And I'll tell you - he missed it. He missed it. Everything he wanted was never seen, because it was in the light. Instead, he actually chose his own demise.

If he had seen the light coming, even in his egotistical mindset, if he understood anything about the current feelings on the planet other than his own darkness and subversion, everything would be different today. Think about it for a moment. What would you have done? Here is the option: With total control of his country, he could have been someone that this planet would have put on a pedestal all his life - all his life! The first thing he does is to unify the North and the South Koreans, bringing families together after all of those years of strife. He'd have been known as the benevolent father of the two Koreas - for a lifetime. Then he would drop any ideas of war. He would understand that it's dysfunctional and illogical and would create horror for his people. Instead, he would be the "great leader of world peace" between his "new" country and the west. He would walk into the United Nations in New York City to a standing ovation and cheers all around! A planet would love him. He'd be on the cover of all of the magazines. He'd be seen by everyone as a world hero, worshipped and adored by the planet for doing something nobody ever had the courage to do. He'd be seen as wise before his years, and it would be a decision that would bring him into the light, helping his people into wealth and happiness - which is exactly what he wanted - getting all the accolades that he possibly could have all of his life, going down in history as changing the earth itself. He'd have achieved the ultimate goal of his life.

So, what did he do? Have you read the paper lately? Is the dark so addictive that he couldn't see it? Yes. He never saw it. Immediately, he killed a relative who may have challenged him. He was his "own man", anchored in the dark, and he completely missed his opportunity. Everything he ever wanted as a young man, as trained by his father so well, everything he ever wanted was in his grasp in that year and the decisions he made instead found him wallowing about in what used to work. However, he is now a pariah for the old energy, raising his hand, making trouble for the planet, thinking that this is what he's supposed to do - and he won't last long. I want to tell you this is how addictive the old energy is. The box of gold was right in front of him and he missed it.

Is He Alone? How About You?

What kind of addiction does the old energy have for you? Are you continuing to do things that you think are absolutely correct, working with perceptions that have been given to you in an old energy that you are still wallowing in? Of course, reading this you will say, "Not me." Remember the Korean leader. He still thinks he is right and never saw it. How invested in struggle are you? I have some news. You can't do it for long. First, you lose friends. You can't claim to be one thing and be another anymore.

So let's start extending this teaching. If the darkness is so attractive, is it affecting anything else? The answer? It is absolutely affecting everything else. There's an entire industry we have told you about that will eventually fail because it has been developed in an older energy, worked in an older energy, and has no integrity. The industry is Big Pharma. We've told you that its fall is imminent and the attributes will come from the ones within it, who will expose it. When this actually happens is up to you, since this is free choice of the developing consciousness of your country. However, let's look for a moment, not at the event, but what it may then lead to.

Big Pharma is invested in an old idea that designer chemistry is the answer to healing. This idea has been prevalent for decades and many feel that it is the highest technology available. However, instead, and in the light, there starts to appear another idea entirely: The Human body has an unrealized awareness and it is actually the master healer! The Human body is designed to self-correct. So, therefore, don't put foreign chemistry into it, but instead find out how to give it elegant, specific instruction sets to heal itself. Make them high-technology instruction sets to inform it to heal itself!

This is homeopathy expanded, you might say. There are processes coming that understand that this Human body of yours is so much better than any chemist has ever realized, and the new energy is starting to expose this fact. The answer to healing is not chemistry. The answer to health and healing is by addressing the "smart part" of the Human body, giving it instructions to utilize former unknown systems that are ready to create spontaneous remission and beyond.

Remember my channelling given on the "youthing template" or the fact that you all have dormant "genesis cells" within your body (cells that have the full body blueprint and a source for very young stem cells)? These both were expositions of systems that are smart and ready to create new cells and healing in ways that will seem miraculous! But they need to be "instructed". 

Funding Will Trail for Awhile

How much money do you think is invested in the old ways? Right now, there is an industry of investment that is going to fail. So, do you think all this money will then be invested into the new methods? The answer is NO, not right away. Just like the North Korean leader's blindness, the old ways are just too addicting. "Keep it the same," they will yell. "The fall is temporary," they will say. "It always worked before, and it always will." Many investors will lose fortunes. The dysfunction is already being seen clearly. When you turn on your media at night, much of what you hear in the commercial breaks is how the chemistry didn't work! Now you get a chance to join others and sue the pharma companies for bad chemistry! You think something is beginning to break? It is. You see, they are already wallowing in something that's going to make them fail. They are advertising how broken the very system is. Both big pharma and their investors don't see the light coming yet, even though it is becoming dysfunctional before their eyes.

Major Medicine Has the Same Addiction

Think about those who have studied medicine. They study for years and years, then they take oaths that say, "Do no harm." They become fine physicians doing their very best to help humanity. Then along comes an amazing non-standard healing revelation, but it doesn't suit them because it was not what they were taught would work. In fact, many of them were told during their training that it doesn't work at all! In an older paradigm, their medical education, taught by instructors who they respected, informed them that homeopathy and all that it represented wasn't science at all. Many will still believe this, even with overwhelming new evidence that there are things they simply didn't know back then. So, expect many doctors to also reject new provable science! The reason is because they are wallowing in their addiction to what they thought was accurate and what they thought worked. It's almost a betrayal for them to even examine it! It's a betrayal of those very good teachers who told them something completely different.

Younger doctors and researchers will come along and say, "Look, I can prove this new approach to you. Just look at this, look at this proof we have. Take a day with me and look at this amazing proof!" Many physicians will say, "No thanks." Younger researchers will say, "Why not? It won't hurt you to see it!" And they'll say, "Because I don't believe it." This scenario doesn't even make sense, but it represents how addicting the old energy is. Watch for it, even within your own physicians. Human nature says that if it worked before, it's going to work again. "This is what I understand. This is what I do. Don't show me anything new because I was taught that what you have simply cannot work."

Dear ones, physics and biology discoveries will change everything, and suddenly the sun comes out [a metaphor]. Suddenly, there are new ideas. Can you imagine telling some of the greatest inventors in history to cease and desist? Could you tell the Wright brothers they were crazy? Two bicycle makers should stop trying to create powered flight? Should someone have told Louis Pasteur to stop believing in "germs"? How stupid can you be - invisible microorganisms? It's fantasy! Can you look at Tesla and say, "That's foolishness! You're going to electrocute people with that system"? Well, there are those who actually said those very things to all of them! The doubters were invested in old paradigms that were so addicting that they actually believed them. It's the same attitude as what is coming soon. So now let's switch and make it a little more personal.

Personal Metaphysics

Dear ones, if you've grown up in metaphysics, perhaps you call yourself a learned, educated, shamanic one. If you've been doing it for years, you know the processes and how they work. Perhaps you've been a healer for a very, very long time and you're proud of your knowledge? You should be. You've helped the planet, you've helped all those around you. Then suddenly, the energy itself begins to shift. The frequencies of energy that you have been working with, which connect you to "the source”, begin to move. Things start to slow down or not work at all. Yet when somebody shows this to you, instead of looking at it and saying, "Show me more," you say, "I'm shutting the door on this because I don't want to go there. Energy is always the same. It's fine for me. It will return to the way it was. I'm just a little out of sorts at the moment. I'll wait."

So I will ask: Is it working for you? Is life joyful? Healers are starting to lose the connection that they have had. Even meditators are starting to ask where Spirit has gone: "I sit down and I don't feel it anymore." We have been telling many of you for years now to expect the "frequency of God itself, inside you, to start vibrating at a higher level”! It is beginning to get higher than you ever thought it could be, but you continue to tune-in to the older, lower frequency, expecting everything to work. It won't!

Think about it, really. What's your joy factor? If you are tuned to the higher frequency, you are going to feel it! If God is real to you and the frequency has started to lift, and the veil is starting to be lighter, the older ways won't be near as effective. The magnetic grid of the planet has shifted, allowing new consciousness, and everything is becoming tuned for the old soul and the Lightworker. Have you taken advantage of it? Have you looked at yourself and said, "Alright, okay, all the things that I knew, maybe, just maybe they've changed a bit." Or do you say, "I know what I'm doing. I've had years of experience and this is the way things work." Is this too personal to examine?

Old souls are the ones listening and reading this. You are the ones who will eventually move into the light, but the old energy is so addicting, so addicting! In almost all of your dealings, things are beginning to change.

Can you believe the story of the North Korean leader having turned down being adored by the whole planet all his life - having everything he ever dreamed of in a heartbeat? He never saw it coming because he only knew what worked in the dark. He only knew old consciousness thinking. What I'm telling you is this: If you are a Lightworker, it's time to step into the light. The things that you thought you knew well may have shifted slightly. This includes what you believe is "truth". When you start to turn on the light in a dark room, you see new things. Perhaps your "truth" was based on seeing things dimly in the dark and assuming what they were? But when these same things are illuminated, and you clearly see them, truth becomes fully revealed! Truth can change based on the revelations of time. It changes when the light is turned on.

The one who steps into the light is going to live a lot longer, dear ones, because it's going to be frustrating to stay in a place that you don't understand or that's getting worse just because you think you know what you're doing and won't change. This ages all of you.

So the plea is this: There is an entourage around you, which comes from the Creative Source. It's here because your soul has a piece of God in it and it's busting to get out of the box you keep it in! The box is called old, addictive energy. Break the box! Listen, you will never have to unlearn what you know, but in the process of looking at the light, you can enhance what you know and go to the next level in beauty and joy in a smooth transition, not a hard one. This is a new energy and new paradigms are just waiting for you. Just waiting!

I speak to the healers still using all of the methods they used to, just because those methods worked and worked for years. Now we're saying, "How would you like to double the efficiency of everything you are doing?" Some say, "I would, but I know this old way better than I know anything else, and that is why I'm going to stay with it. It's good enough for me." Let me tell you something, old soul. You were born to be here during the shift and this transition to move into the new paradigms and to show the light to others. That's why you are here, and that's why you were born. It doesn't serve humanity or the planet to stay in the dark just because you are "used to it".

Listen, I tell you that the hands of transition from the Creative Source are outstretched to you. They are saying, "This is why you're here! Walk into the light without fearing what it might bring. It will not upset what you have learned already and will enhance it greatly. In the process you, yourself, will start to change. There will be more joy in your heart, more compassion and more knowledge. Think about this."

Imagine a balance that you've never had before. Imagine a maturity where new, intuitive information flies at you from sources that you don't even know about yet. These are things that you've asked for. What did you try lately in the last 20 years that didn't work? Are you going to try it again? The answer is NO. And we say why? You say, "Because it didn't work." Did you ever consider that it may have been bad timing? You simply tried it too soon. Try it again. Don't base your future on what happened in the past. It needed the new energy.

Meetings like this are given for good reasons, so you can meet and know each other and find the Light. You get to be with other people of like-mind who may help you find balance because they may know something that perhaps you don't. Two or more together can create more. That's why you're here. That's why you have chosen to continue reading this.

I leave it there. It's a time of great love, of great change and the beginning of great compassion. Here you are in a world where the majority of citizens and countries want to get along - and that's new. In the past, one unbalanced leader has been able to take the whole world and put it at war for years. Now, suddenly, that is unacceptable. Instead, you've got the entire planet that really wants peace. They want something for their children that other generations never had. Culture after culture, different though they are, they understand the premise that war does not work, and never has. An earth that collectively feels this way will eventually snuff out the ones who would want it otherwise.

We've told you what is coming. We've told you that the wild card that you call Trump has more things that are wild, coming. This creates major shift in an old system. We told you that almost a year ago. We told you that the dark army will be defeated, and we told you to expect major shift.

So, dear ones, this is the juncture between dark and light at a time perhaps that you didn't expect to hear it. We tell you that things are changing fast and if you wish to control that which is the reality of your life, you have every option to drop the barriers and see what's new. You have the ability to begin to understand better why you're here and to take the hand that is outstretched to you called the Creative Source.

The New Children

This darkness that you grew up in, are you understanding and realizing that your children will not have that? There are children coming into this new energy right who will never experience the darkness. They will only know the new magnetic grid; they'll only know the innate smart body that heals itself. They will intuitively know that war solves nothing. They're going to fight the darkness greater than anything that you are doing. There will be no understanding at all of some of your attitudes, because the children will only see the logic of the light. Their patience will be limited for those who are still addicted to something they never experienced and which intuitively does not work.

They may have nothing to do with metaphysics and everything to do with the new Human Being. They may not be spiritual, yet they will have everything to do with God inside. That is the new Human, where spirituality is not necessarily a choice, but rather something that is inherited as truth. It's something they are born with - an innate understanding that they are a piece of the creator, that balance and peace is the primary object of all Humans. They will look at you and say, "Doesn't everyone know this?"

Does that sound like the old energy you grew up in? Dear ones, don't wait for the kids. We need you now to be mature enough to see the light, drop the old, and meet the new energy head-on.

And so it is.

KRYON

Saudi Arabia's next revolution: female taxi drivers

Yahoo – AFP, Anuj CHOPRA, October 12, 2017

An employee of Careem, a car booking service, talks during a training session for
 new female drivers at their Saudi offices in Khobar City on October 10, 2017 (AFP
Photo/FAYEZ NURELDINE)

Khobar (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - Hunched over platters of dates and Arabic coffee, Saudi women raring to drive once a government ban ends next June signed up for another revolution —- to be the kingdom's first female cab drivers.

King Salman last month decreed that women will be allowed driving permits, a historic reform that could put not just millions of women behind the wheel but potentially many more into the workforce.

Sensing a lucrative opportunity, ride-hailing company Careem says it plans to hire up to 100,000 female chauffers to lure new clients in the gender-segregated kingdom.

This week, the company invited AFP to its first recruitment session in the coastal city of Khobar, which attracted a diverse crowd —- from housewives to working women —- who already have foreign driving licences.

"For years I felt helpless. My car would be parked outside and I could not drive," said Nawal al-Jabbar, a 50-year-old mother of three, sipping coffee from a thimble-sized cup.

A chorus of hoots and claps erupted in the auditorium as the women, who learned about the recruitment by word-of-mouth, watched news footage on a projector screen of last month's royal decree.

"It felt like we had woken up in a new Saudi Arabia," Jabbar said.

An instructor stood next to the screen, holding up a smartphone to show the inner workings of the app.

The firm plans to add a new "Captinah" button to the app next June that would allow customers to choose women chauffeurs. The option will only be available to other women and families, Careem spokesman Murtadha Alalawi said.

Around 30 women registered for the event in Khobar.

A Saudi woman registers to take part in a training programme for new female drivers 

at Careem, a car booking service, at their Saudi offices in Khobar City on October 10, 

2017 (AFP Photo/FAYEZ NURELDINE)

Many arrived unaccompanied by men, something not commonly seen in a country where male "guardians" have arbitrary authority to make crucial decisions on behalf of women.

'Rite of passage'

"This is a rite of passage for women," said Sarah Algwaiz, director of the women chauffeurs program at Careem, referring to the reform.

"For women to drive their own cars signals autonomy, mobility and financial independence."

The Gulf kingdom was the only country in the world to ban women from taking the wheel, and it was seen globally as a symbol of repression.

For decades, hardliners cited austere Islamic interpretations to justify the ban, with some maintaining women lack the intelligence to drive and that allowing them to would promote promiscuity.

"Society portrays women to be strong when it's convenient and weak when it's convenient," said trainee Jabbar.

"I say if you can depend on a female doctor to deliver a baby, then you can depend on a woman to drive a car."

The lifting of the driving ban has been widely credited to 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who styles himself as a moderniser in the conservative kingdom, where more than half the population is aged under 25.

Prince Mohammed has cracked down on dissent while also showing a rare willingness to tackle entrenched Saudi taboos such as promoting more women in the workforce.

Becoming a chauffeur would mean "extra income", said Banain al-Mustafa, a 24-year-old medical lab technician who obtained her license while she was studying in West Virginia in 2015.

Sarah Algwaiz, director of the women chauffeurs programme which trains new 

female drivers at Careem, a car booking service, at their Saudi offices in Khobar

 City, on October 10, 2017 (AFP Photo/FAYEZ NURELDINE)

"I drove for two-and-a-half years," she said, including once on her own in a nine-hour road trip from New York to West Virginia.

"If I can drive there, why not in my own country?"

Cultural backlash

The reform is in line with the kingdom's Vision 2030 programme that seeks to elevate women to nearly one-third of the workforce, up from about 22 percent now.

Authorities have highlighted the economic benefits of the reform as the kingdom reels from a protracted oil slump; Saudi families would no longer need foreign chauffeurs, often a major source of financial strain.

Riyadh is moving to bring female driving instructors from abroad, local media reported, and Princess Nourah University said it will inaugurate a women's only driving school.

Authorities this week warned against violations of the ban until it is formally lifted after a woman was filmed driving out of a luxury hotel in Riyadh.

Careem said it would wait for government regulations to be formally announced before putting female recruits behind the wheel.

Its rival Uber is reportedly planning a similar initiative to recruit female drivers.

The new Careem recruits in Khobar were seemingly unperturbed by pockets of resistance from men or sexist comments on social media over women driving.

"Look at how women's abayas have evolved -- different styles and colours -- despite strong resistance," Jabbar said, referring to the traditional black gown.

"After a while, even women drivers will become a new normal."

Saudi women raring to drive once a government ban ends next June sign up to be the kingdom's first female cab drivers pic.twitter.com/YwRzw74HSG

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 12, 2017

For Manal al-Sharif who led campaign against ban on female drivers in S. Arabia, time for women to be silent is over https://t.co/9Jzk8O9beC pic.twitter.com/aSCu8hYUms

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 12, 2017

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"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - (Text version)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”

Kuwait 'ice ladies' lace up for world hockey tournament

Yahoo – AFP, Salima Lebel, October 8, 2017

Members of Kuwait's women's ice hockey team take part in a training session
at the ski lounge in Kuwait City on September 29, 2017

In their red, white and blue uniforms, Kuwait's first female ice hockey team is training hard in the desert ahead of their debut world tournament later this month.

Affectionately dubbed the "ice ladies" by local media, athletes in hijab or with their hair hastily tied in topknots pull on their helmets before taking to the rink in the Kuwaiti capital -- where temperatures top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on a sunny October afternoon.

"It's totally new, girls playing this sort of demanding sport here in Kuwait and in the Gulf, but it goes to show that in sports there is truly no difference between men and women," said team player Bahar al-Harban.

Women on ice have grabbed headlines in the Gulf this year, with UAE national Zahra Lari gaining popularity on social media -- and through a Nike campaign in the Middle East -- as the Emirates' first female figure skater and the first international figure skater to compete in hijab.

Kuwait's women's ice hockey team will play their first international game on October 30 at the Ice Hockey World Championship in Bangkok, according to the state-run KUNA news agency.

Slow but steady

Fifty-six Kuwaiti women between the ages of 15 and 30 are now the proud owners of team jerseys emblazoned with their names on the back -- some of them mothers who frequently bring their children to training.

But while the athletes have the support of their teammates and, increasingly, of their communities, what they lack is their own training facility. For now, they still rent the ice rink in a state-run ski lounge.

Fifty-six Kuwaiti women between the ages of 15 and 30 are now the proud 

owners of team jerseys emblazened with their names on the back -- some of 

them mothers who frequently bring their children to training

"We need facilities dedicated to training women to convince families that that their daughters need to be involved in sports," said Sheikha Naima Al-Sabah, president of the Kuwaiti Women's Sports Authority.

"We initially faced some resistance due to social traditions, but the culture of women in sports is spreading and we're not regular faces at Asian tournaments," she told AFP.

"So we are progressing, but slowly, because some of our girls immediately marry at a certain age -- or because they choose to wear hijab in a world where you're not allowed into certain sports if you choose to wear hijab".

International basketball governing body FIBA in May rescinded a ban on hijab and other forms of religious headcovers, which on the grounds that they could potentially fall off and pose a risk to players.

But with its oversized jerseys, shin guards and helmets, hockey is a good fit for many of the Kuwaiti national team players.

"As you see, the uniform totally covers everything," said team player Khaleda Abdel Karim​​ during a break in practice.

"So I personally find no difficulties at all in that sense," she smiled, adding that the team had received strong support from both Kuwait's government and the public.

Despite the warm welcome the team has received, the women are still fighting to both secure the best for their athletes -- and to overcome culture challenges both at home and abroad.

"In order to get the best results, you need to be given the best training," said Sheikha Naima of the sports authority.

"What we need are good coaches, professional trainers. I don't want... just any coach​ for my girls".

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"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - (Text version)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”

Saudi university to open driving school for women

Yahoo – AFP, October 1, 2017

A Saudi woman drives her car along a street in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah,
 on September 27, 2017 (AFP Photo/Reem BAESHEN)

Riyadh (AFP) - A university in Saudi Arabia has said it will open a driving school for women, in a first for the ultra-conservative country after a ban on women driving was lifted.

"Princess Nourah University is preparing to set up a driving school in cooperation with the relevant authorities," the women's university said on Saturday.

"This is the first such announcement following this week's order by King Salman to allow women to drive," it said.

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday said it would allow driving permits for women under a royal decree to take effect in June, sparking euphoria and disbelief among activists who long fought the ban.

The Gulf kingdom was the only country in the world to ban women from taking the wheel, and it was seen globally as a symbol of repression in the Gulf kingdom.

Princess Nourah University says it has more than 60,000 female students in Riyadh and other cities.

Tuesday's decision is expected to push women into the workforce and boost car sales, especially in the coming months before a scheduled imposition of a government value-added tax in January 2018.

Car makers including Nissan, Chevrolet and Ford have rushed to congratulate Saudi women, as millions of women are expected to hit the road in the kingdom in coming years.

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"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - (Text version)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”

Saudi Arabia to allow women to drive: state media

Saudi Arabian state media says provisions are being made for driving licenses to be issued to woman. The ultra-conservative kingdom is the only country in the world where women are not allowed behind the wheel.

Deutsche Welle, 26 Sep 2017

A Saudi woman at the wheel (picture-alliance/dpa)

Citing a royal decree, Saudi state media on Tuesday reported that women would be allowed to drive.

"The royal decree will implement the provisions of traffic regulations, including the issuance of driving licenses for men and women alike," the Saudi Press Agency said.

The highly conservative Muslim kingdom has some of the world's tightest curbs on women's freedoms, and is the only country in the world where they are not allowed to drive.

A ministerial body is to be formed to give advice within 30 days, with the order to be implemented by June 2018, according to state news agency SPA.

Approval needed

Under the country's guardianship system, male family members - normally a woman's father, husband or brother - must give their permission for her to study or travel.

However, the kingdom appears to have relaxed some rules as part of its "Vision 2030" plan for economic and social reforms championed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The news was welcomed by the US State Department which called it "a great step in the right direction."

Last November, Saudi Arabia's outspoken Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, called for an "urgent" end to the ban on women driving.

rc/kms (AFP, dpa)

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"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - (Text version)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”