Lift ban on school sports for girls, King's council tells Saudi govt

Saudi authorities have been asked by the King-appointed Shura Council to consider lifting a state school ban on sports for girls, in a religiously conservative country that included women in its Olympic team for the first time only two years ago.

Under a strict interpretation of sharia, Saudi women are banned from driving and must gain formal permission from a male relative to leave the country, start a job or open a bank account. But King Abdullah is pushing cautious social reforms improving women’s rights in the face of conservative resistance.