One of the last male bastions in the US military is about to fall. The US Navy on Tuesday moved to lift a ban on women serving on submarines.
The decision comes after more than a decade in which opponents argued it would be too difficult to have women crew members, citing lack of privacy on submarines, where living quarters are cramped and “hot-bunking” is commonplace. They raised concern about sexual tensions with crews stuck in a confined space often for months at a time. Others argued it would be too costly to provide separate showers, toilets and living quarters.
One of the opponents, Elaine Donnelly, who served on a presidential commission that looked into the issue in 1992, said on Wednesday: “The passageways are such that it would be impossible to pass without touching.”
The Pentagon said on Wednesday night that the Navy had approved a plan that would allow women to serve on submarines. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wrote to Congress on Monday to say he had set the change in motion. If Congress is opposed, it will have to pass legislation within 30 days. If it does not, the removal of the ban will come into immediate effect and training for service on subs can begin.
The Navy has more than 50,000 women in the 330,500-strong service, but although they have been able to serve on warships since 1993 they have been banned from submarines, including nuclear-powered vessels. The only remaining area in the Navy from which women will be barred is the Seals.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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