In a first for the Israel Air Force, a female pilot has been appointed deputy commander of a combat squadron by the head of the IAF, Maj.-Gen. Amikam Norkin. The officer, “Capt. Y,” an F-15 navigator, will serve in the Spearhead Squadron, which flies F-15 fighter jets out of Tel Nof Airbase in central Israel. Currently serving in an operational capacity at IAF Headquarters, she will be promoted to the rank of Major in the summer and return to the skies. Capt. Y (her full name not disclosed for security reasons), is 27 years old and is from Tel Aviv. She is married to another IAF pilot and her grandfather, Maj. Shimon Ash served as a reserve pilot in a Skyhawk Squadron at Tel Nof Airbase during the Yom Kippur War. His plane crashed some 10 kilometers east of the Suez Canal, north of the Ismailia-Tasa road. While the remains…

Female veterans from the Vietnam War got recognized Tuesday for their service. About 70 women gathered at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ honor annex in Kansas City and thanked for what they have done. “Particularly with my era, so many Vietnam vets were being picked on. When I got out, I never made any kind of a big deal whatsoever about being a woman veteran,” said Teresa Curl, who served as an Army medic during the Vietnam War. Curl has spent more than five decades serving and volunteering in any way she could to support our armed forces. Her dedication was recognized Tuesday as she was presented with a Quilt of Valor. There was also a special pinning ceremony for each and every one of these women. Triumphant may be the best way to describe the mood in the room. All the women cheered each other on as they…

THE Irish Government has paid out €30,000 to a woman who had to travel to Britain for an abortion after a fatal foetal abnormality diagnosis. Siobhan Whelan was refused a medical abortion despite learning that her unborn son had holoprosencephaly – a congenial brain disorder. The Wexford woman, who was told her child would likely die in utero or soon after birth, was forced to travel to Britain for a termination in 2010. Following the procedure in Liverpool, Ms. Whelan brought a complaint against the Irish State to the UN Human Rights Committee, who concluded that her human rights had been violated. The Committee said that the Irishwoman had been treated in a “cruel, inhuman and degrading” manner. Today, the Irish Government confirmed it paid Ms. Whelan a sum – understood to be €30,000 (£26,500) – following the UN’s decision in June. In a statement, Ms. Whelan said: “The human…

According to UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics, women account for less than 30% of the world’s researchers. Naledi Pandor, the South Africa minister for science and technology has called for gender evaluation in science education to see what is causing low science enrollment among women in higher institutions of learning. “Let us insert a gender eye,” she advised during the Who will do 21 Century Science: International Perspective from Women in science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics STEM Igniting Conferences Start- Ups in the Middle East and Africa session at the World Conference of Science Journalists in San Francisco, California last week. The conference with the theme Bridging Science and Societies brought in science journalists from across the globe Naledi urged that the science discipline in the 21 century had to include women and black people, else the world will continue missing out on talent and it does not make sense to…