A big step is this though specifically for saudi arabia i would definitely say that its a very big staff and its one of the most visible signs. You know modernization efforts by saudi government to date even though there have been a lot of other reforms that have been happening in the last twenty years and your own man and the crown prince as well this is definitely the one that has made global headlines are rightfully so because like you said everybody arabia is is the only country in the world where well need have until two thousand and seventeen been banned from driving so that really big deal its a big deal i lam its been on the table for a while now the authorities have always pushed back against attempts to try and change the situation when it came to women being able to drive what prompted this decision now. Im not sure if this decision was prompted at this very moment in time there might be other ideological and political reasons why it was prompted at this moment in time but why i would like to kind of consider this from an historical point of view in two thousand and eleven as the report suggested also in two thousand and thirteen i was teaching in my classes about saudi womens driving ban and they were still at the time playing videos of themselves on twitter for example to share their experience of driving as a subversive act and the images that ive seen today in relation to this particular news item was also this were also the same they were very much similar to those images i think is something that is to do with the concept of change change is something that happens very slowly but its good that this is happening fighting against patriarchy fighting against male domination and fighting for womens rights are things that wont change overnight they will take time and i think this is just a step forward or its all about step forward lets go to roth now what practical difference does this make to the lives and the freedoms that women enjoy in saudi arabia rotha. Sardou woman driving is a huge achievement for the womens rights activists in the country have been fighting for this more than two decades they one of the biggest issues that theyve talked about is the reality that they face not being able to drive this is a country where Public Transportation is limited where to get anywhere around the country you do need to have to drive and of course that means that you are reliant on your male relatives or male drivers to do so now if youre well off when you are able to have that kind of access then male drivers no problem but for many women even if they are independent and have the money and the means they want to be able to go get into a car and drive just like any other man in the kingdom and for many other women who actually cant afford a driver who find it very difficult to maintain the lifestyle they have with a driver in place that can be very difficult it can be difficult to get a job it can be difficult to maintain a job if you need to be able to pay your way to get to get to get to work on time so this has been a real impediment for those in particular in terms of access to employment but also in situations like Domestic Violence if youre being beaten up how do you get out the house how do you get to the Police Station if you need to get to the hospital you need need Immediate Care you will you are going to be arrested if you end up in a car trying to drive yourself there you will need to find other ways and means to be able to do that this decision would if in completely allows women with the same access as men to drive would provide a historic difference to womens lives or a year or so let me just does not it is not unlike that you would use that if it allows completely the same verse to drive it around to men yes i mean this still is not the nine months to go and the committee has to study the degree says how this is implemented is it going to happen and do you think theres going to be any attempt to push back at it in the next nine months. I definitely do think that its going to happen when a royal decree is issued of this magnitude usually and actually theyve even announced it themselves that the senior scholars and saudi arabia have approved didnt have no objection with islamic law as they call it and so i think that it is going to happen im sure that there are going to be some pushback in certain more conservative segments of Saudi Society who see this. This allowance for women to drive as it moves towards greater independence for for women and saudi arabia which is something that they. Would object to and so i will i definitely do anticipate some resistance from the more conservative sectors of society but in general i think that this nine months is actually a good time to give the Saudi Society time to sort of digest this its been anticipated you know. Thirty forty years. Theyve been talking about this and. You know if they will have to organize the road is going to be you know you can imagine a lot more drivers on the road there are issues charters licenses and driving schools are going to be have the comedy to the female population so i think that there are going to there is going to be some procedural a logistical bureaucratic adjustments that need to happen but i think most importantly in the next nine months there theres going to need to be some education and making awareness in saudi arabia with the public that this is actually a very good step for Saudi Society it is really in the interest of Saudi Society for women to be able to drive for all the reasons that the other you mentioned some interesting terms there. Public Awareness Education is this a country that is genuinely right now reforming and expanding the margins of freedom in general im talking about womens issues and and beyond. I think there are lots of other issues that not just saudi but many countries have to face with their tackling with in terms of gender politics in terms of womens rights i do think that there has been a great progress in terms of change within saudi i know this from the perspective of films that were made for example within the country the first ever film for example was made by a woman high fall mansurs film called wild show that came out in two thousand and twelve in which she kind of the picks those issues around gender segregation driving ban and other issues including forced marriage child brides and so on so there are lots of other issues but i think the key question that i would like to focus on is this idea of the middle east or the arab world or saudi arabia in this case being kind of regarded or talked about or percy it as the backwards kind of culture that needs to change i was really particularly kind of surprised today to see a comment from as the report suggested from the United States and one of the governmental departments said this is a great progress in terms of the right direction i think we really need to stop for a minute and this kind of think about who decides on what is right and what is wrong what those Cultural Values are that makes things right or wrong and obviously really reinforcing by talking about saudi arabia or any part of the arab world or the middle east in that regard are we talking about them in a really kind of backlash way that would put all reinforce those stereotypes are we recreating those with our language that we used to talk about these progressives elements the media in general has been nice not necessarily helpful in representing saudi in particularly positive ways but i think this is a big step or an amazon view youre coming to the right place with the rounds gershon about how we frame things im so glad youve raised the lets. Has put things into a broader perspective and that seems to be the way were going now with this because allowing women to drive is in line with a Broader Program called vision twenty thirty its promoted by the Saudi Crown Prince mohammed bin salamander it aims to modernize Saudi Society for the First Time Ever last week women were allowed into a sports stadium for example as part of Saudi NationalDay Celebrations up to now sports arenas have been strictly men only the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund for example announced a plan this month to invest in the entertainment sector public cinemas are banned in the kingdom saudi leaders have confirmed plans to build more resorts and the recreation city dedicated to sports culture and entertainment the crown prince also launched a crackdown on dissent though social media reports say political rivals critics clerics even have fallen victim the reports say at least ten scholars were detained including the popular sound man allowed to have more than fourteen million twitter followers let me take that question to roth while women may be able to drive next year like you said social media reports say some pretty prominent figures are being put in jail even economists like asama zammit for this agreeing with the countrys economic reform process is there so you know let me put the question again to you is this a country that is really reforming or is this you know some see a cynical p. R. Move well ill put it in a slightly different way when we talk about reform in saudi arabia we have to ask how much are they really reforming so when we talk about him for instance just talk about the driving for instance they could have said that women are allowed to drive and tomorrow women are allowed to drive as women with International Arrivals licenses can take to the road but instead they said theyll take thirty days to review the decision and that means they could be spending that time to come up with ways to restrict womens right to drive. By june two thousand and eighteen well actually see what the reality is like for that reform but in general around the country inside arabia we know that while it has always been for the last how many decades that has embraced what we consider to be modern Society Technology and so on so he has been very brazen of such things they have at the same time doing credibly repressive over the years weve seen prominent human rights defenders like mohammed the tiny like. Many other human rights i defenders who have been arrested who are now spending ten to fifteen Years Imprisonment and in the last year or so weve seen many more activists defend people on twitter expressing their peaceful opinion who have been arrested or continue to be harassed and intimidated by the authorities so while sarge arabia does have a vision twenty thirty it does is talking about reform in the country in a variety of ways that we form package the understanding of what reform means has to be about human rights for all both men and for women and designing a package of reforms that actually see that reform come to reality not ones that actually restrict the reform itself. You mention the pushback from some conservative quarters none wondering will this sort of moving crease the tensions within Saudi Society between the government and some of the conservative quarters you know i think that there is that least some level of polarization that exists in Saudi Society between. Traditional saudis and i think its very visible even when you are in now. Or in more of the inland areas and so i do. Anticipate that there will be definite tension which is why its very important for the media to play a very Important Role as i mean if you fill my life from our viewers give us an idea well though some of those visible signs that. You would see that perhaps not everyone is aware of terms of differences between job done real job the being you know on the west coast and we all being in the east of saudi arabia well i think generally speaking i mean obviously there are conservatives and liberals and realises well but if i were to generalize out say that you this is new to be more liberal in their lifestyles in there theyre just saying the compounds that they where they host. You know the lifestyle there are a lot more open a lot more flexible for families and as opposed to more traditional lifestyles that where women cover completely including their faces and their hands and there are theres a great greater restriction for them to be able to get scholarships and travel abroad really study abroad theyre in they dont send their daughters the they get married earlier so there are many different lifestyle differences and there is there is very obvious pose nation in the country in terms of lifestyle so i do anticipate seeing. You know considerable resistance from the more conservative sex side of society which is why its really important to spend the next several months educating them on the Practical Implications of will be able to drive and how it will greatly benefit the economy and Saudi Society as a whole there really needs to be a very formal sense of educating the public on why do these kinds of reforms are in the best interest of the nation. I let me mention the minutes ago we have to be very careful about the sort of terms we use about what is the right direction how much consensus then is there within Saudi Society about what is the right direction for reform i mean some people would prioritize this sort of issue as being one of the numbers of forty five thousand which is just way too low i mean refugee organizations like yours are you now going to absolutely push to try to get as close to the cap is close to the limit just as possible given it. Yes i mean we recognize that we are dealing with Political Forces that are anti refugee so we are pushing for at least seventy five thousand to be accepted you know if we had gotten one hundred ten thousand with president obama had a decree that would have been great just this morning we had a press conference with congressman Jan Schakowsky with faith leaders with refugees pushing for president and congress to open the door to refugees to not shut the door to them so we will continue doing everything in our power mobilizing our constituents asking for our people and faith leaders on the ground as well to be calling their members of congress and pushing for a higher number a more appropriate number of seventy five thousand i want to put something to you at the u. N. Last week President Trump said for the cost of resettling one refugee in america the u. S. Can help more than ten migrants in their home regions how do you respond to that sort of a comment. Those now the study that those numbers are based on is very flawed they have a history of putting out anti muslim anti refugee anti immigrant studies so first of all the numbers which those are based on is flawed second i remember a part of his comment said something about putting refugees in safe zones that are near their country whats safe zones is he talking about these safe zones dont exist if there were safe zones then there wouldnt be refugees coming and fleeing their home countries and trying to go into other places and other countries where they can have some sense of stability so you know using that kind of that kind of Analysis Part of it i remember was asking people that you know if people have the potential to be safe near to home with they prefer that wolf course that were going to say that but those possibilities just arent there and so it actually resettlement has been proven to be very Cost Effective and in the long run and the fact the refugees contribute so much to the American Economy proves that so i would absolutely disagree with us to to stick and i would say that is actually more Cost Effective to resettle the refugees in the United States not to mention that it aligns better with our values of liberty and welcome and being a model for stability for other countries around the world so it just absolutely makes sense to continue the Refugee Resettlement program and to continue the numbers that weve seen in the past instead of the slow number right now that were talking about gets to you on the Program Water joining us there from washington d. C. Thanks so much. Thailands former Prime Minister. Has been handed a five year jail sentence after being found guilty of negligence she wasnt in court to hear the verdict after fleeing thailand last month. Convicted of mismanaging a rice subsidy scheme that cost the country billions of dollars. Members of parliament in uganda have brought for the second day running. What happened during a debate over changes to laws that take the age limit the president s which is currently seventy five years old the current leader of any is seventy three and hes seeking an amendment to the law so he can run for a sixth term in office. Or i stay with us on this news hour because head. Thank you thank. You k. s Opposition Leader as he calls for greater accountability by governments gaged in conflicts around the world. Well tell you about the canadian airplane manufacturer thats been hit with a massive hike in duty by u. S. Regulators. And the reigning n. L. B. Champions the chicago cubs play out a thriller against the Louis Cardinals reaction coming up in school. The caucasus appears to be a Meeting Place now of the cold winds blowing out of russia and the war. Result shows not much to remember it will develop the is cold enough coming out to russia and the mountains high enough to give a bit of snow think or to mostly they were talking about rain showers from georgia across probably. To the north of iraq in the next day or so they tend to fade out is a one day event and then friday looks a lot drier south of that of course its still sunshine the temperature forecast in