The WTA finals host revealed its commitment to women’s rights by jailing a female activist

If a record of sexual apartheid is not the ideal look for a nation that must still, occasionally, placate progressives, news of an extreme example – the lengthy imprisonment of Manahel al-Otaibi , a 29-year-old fitness instructor and women’s rights activist – has at least arrived too late to tarnish Saudi Arabia’s latest sporting triumph: buying up the Women’s Tennis Association finals.

In fact, given that country’s hectic promotional schedule, there could hardly have been a more convenient time for human rights organisations to report, as they did last week, that al-Otaibi whose circumstances were for months unknown, is serving 11 years in prison for the “terrorist” offences of wearing “indecent clothes” (ie, not an abaya) and supporting women’s rights. Her sister, Fouz al-Otaibi, fled the country in 2022 to avoid similar persecution. Fouz tweeted last week : “Why have my rights become terrorism, and why is the world silent?”

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Rihanna’s rocking sneakers and you should too! Here’s a look at the shapes and styles of the moment.

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Only women can rid the club of the guardians of the Y-chromosome’s ‘we’ve always done it this way’ misogyny

Here’s a surprise: the Garrick Club is a really lovely place.

It’s full of lively and fascinating people. The staff are superb, the food is great, the wine list divine. The library is to die for (or in), we have the finest theatrical portraiture in the world, sumptuous sitting rooms and chic bedrooms a wallet’s throw from the Royal Opera House.

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Tuesday’s debate on whether the existing rules do not in fact bar women comes amid rising resignations and threats

In May 1924, the Manchester Guardian revealed a “recent innovation in the Garrick Club to admit ladies to one of its rooms” meant that the queen of Romania would be lunching at the club during her visit to London. “What would Queen Victoria have said about such a notion!” the article wondered.

A hundred years later, the club’s lethargic advance towards allowing women into the building on equal terms with men continues. On Tuesday, members will once again vote on the matter.

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State’s fall as the last bastion of access to the procedure in the deep south means women will have to travel farther for care

Rose hadn’t even missed her period when the thought hit her: “I need to take a test.”

The Florida resident, who has two kids, had given birth just three months ago. She thought that she and her husband were being careful. But the pregnancy test confirmed her suspicion: she was pregnant and, she realized, didn’t want to be.

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Think about the silhouette – black makes a caped sleeve or wide-legged trouser feel more wearable

Wearing all black looks chic. It looks cool. I realise that this has not been breaking fashion news since approximately 1957. And I know I sound really basic for saying it aloud. Still, I think it bears repeating. Because sometimes we can’t see the wood for the trees, and it is useful to be reminded that all black can be a sanity-saving wardrobe formula that can be adapted for any occasion and never lets you down.

But do you know the best way to wear black? Sounds like a stupid question. The whole vibe of wearing black is about giving off an air of nonchalance. Like, you know, that you were just born super cool, and your outfits just put themselves effortlessly together without you having to try. But that’s not actually how it works. Black is a brilliant canvas, but to make it sing you need to – whisper it – put a tiny bit of effort in. No one ever need know.

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As the state bans abortion past six weeks of pregnancy, a community care network springs to action in Gainesville

On Wednesday, the same day Florida banned abortion past six weeks of pregnancy, a small group of young people gathered in a reading room in Gainesville, Florida, to listen to a talk about how to induce your own abortion through pills – and how to support your friends going through abortions.

“You don’t have to take them alone,” one organizer, who gave her name as J, told the group of more than a dozen attendees. “We are ultimately here to be establishing a community care network around abortion support.”

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When a group of teenage mothers were evicted from their homeless hostel, Focus E15, they took over a tower block of empty council flats in protest. Ten years on, they are still fighting

On 23 September 2014, protesters entered a disused block of council flats on the Carpenters estate in Newham, east London. The group, Focus E15, was made up of young single mums who had been evicted from a local homeless hostel a year earlier – and campaigners who had fought the eviction with them. When they entered the flats, they were shocked to find that some had newly installed kitchens and the electricity and water were still on.

“We were very angry,” says Jasmin Stone, one of the single mums, who was 20 at the time. “People would cut off their arm to have a home there, and more than 400 flats were empty in the middle of a housing crisis.”

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Her family have been threatened and her team faces increasing risks in Afghanistan, but Zahra Joya knows she must keep reporting from exile

On the nights that she manages to fall asleep, Zahra Joya always returns to Afghanistan in her dreams. On good nights she travels back to Bamyan, her home province, with its green mountains and bright blue lakes, or to her parents as they looked when she was a little girl.

Increasingly though, her dreams are full of roadside bombs or men with guns. Some nights, memories of her last hours in Afghanistan play over and over on a loop: the panicked crowds outside Kabul airport, people being whipped and beaten, the sound of her sisters crying.

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