Seasons Greetings Dear Readers!

Good cheer to each of you throughout the Holiday Season and the New Year. Thank you for your faithful readership again this year. I am truly grateful. In return I wish you and your loved ones a blessed Season.

AUTHOR’S CASTLE CORNER

This time is very, very busy for me as I pull together the women leaders in Africa manuscript. It has to – and is – begin to look like a book. I am currently doing multi-tasks with it: researching countries’ progress since the Beijing Conference; editorial work on the rest of the manuscript; working with the map artist on a map reflecting incidence; and most exciting, once again working the Associated Press on acquiring images of women leaders.

Reminder: Do you have all of your Christmas gifts purchased? Is there someone you know that would appreciate receiving a book? Why not send a copy of one of my autographed books? All of my books are on sale at half price only to Newsletter subscribers.

Would you consider making a charitable donation this year? Why not consider purchasing one of my books at half price and donating it to your local library.

You may make a charitable donation to me, personally, and to society at large, simply by requesting your local library to purchase one of my books. Print the appropriate advertisement page from the websites of either AuthorsDen or McFarland. Thank you to those subscribers who have already made this contribution.

FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS

Unfortunately, women are still blowing themselves up for their respective causes.

1) On November 23, 2006 Breitbart.com reported, “A Palestinian grandmother blew herself up in the Gaza Strip, lightly wounding three Israeli soldiers, in the first suicide attack claimed by Hamas in almost two years. The mother of nine and grandmother of 41 became the oldest Palestinian suicide bomber at the age of 57, approaching troops operating to curb daily rocket attacks, the army said.” You may read the entire article by pasting the following link in your browser: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/23/061123191646.uun5bkuy.html

2) A November 21, 2006, article, “Female Shiite Assassination Groups Dispatched to Baghdad” by Abdul Hameed Bakier, tells about “Recent chatter on jihadi forums points to a new organized death squad in Iraq. The new group is allegedly composed of Shiite female assassination units that will target Sunnis.” This article can be found at http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2370211

FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION (FGM)

From time to time, I read encouraging news about eradicating FGM. Such was the case on November 24, 2006 on the BBC new site: “Muslim scholars from around the world have called for female genital mutilation to be banned and those who carry it out to face punishment. At a conference on the subject in the Egyptian capital Cairo, the scholars said governments should enforce existing laws against the practice.” This article can be found at this address: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6176340.stm

Blessings for the Season,

R