Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know you Needed

Saudis order 40 lashes for elderly woman for mingling
A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.
According to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan, troubles for the woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, began last year when a member of the religious police entered her house in the city of Al-Chamli and found her with two unrelated men, "Fahd" and "Hadian."
Fahd told the policeman he had the right to be there, because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam, according to Al-Watan. Fahd, 24, added that his friend Hadian was escorting him as he delivered bread for the elderly woman. The policeman then arrested both men.
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam called Wahhabism and punishes unrelated men and women who are caught mingling.
.
Woman's Tap Dance Classes Confused With Lap Dances
A woman is experiencing a case of mistaking identity; not of her personal identity, but of what her business offers.
When Helen Hart tried to jumpstart business at her house by putting up a sign for adult tap dancing classes, the 79-year-old grandma started fielding calls for adult lap dancing services.
"I get maybe three to 17 [calls] a week," Helen said. "I'm nearly 80, so age does mean something. Can you imagine a man coming to the door and I open the door and I go, 'Yeah?' He goes, 'Oh, never mind.'
"The average age for Helen's tap-dancing students is about 60 years old, a Bible is prominently displayed 10 feet from the entrances and inspirational messages can be seen throughout her house -- anyone who had the wrong idea would be quickly corrected when they reached the front door.
Some of her students don't think it would be such a bad thing if people thought they were coming by as part of a lap dance service. "At my age, it's a little flattering," laughed Jane Viar.
Helen says when men call, she just tells them to bring their daughters over so she can teach them to tap dance. That usually ends the conversation.
VIDEO
.