It's 2015, and an airline is reportedly considering segregating its passengers by gender. And while I can't claim to to know anything about the cultural practices in Saudi Arabia, this outrageous policy would fly in the face of decades of progress made for women's rights around the world.

Saudia Boeing 777, by aceebee (Flickr / CC Commercial License)

Saudi Arabia's national airline, Saudia is allegedly considering seating male and female passengers apart from each other, according to Emirates247. The airline has cited complaints from male passengers who don't like unknown men being seated next to their wives when they fly. Saudia assistant manager for marketing Abdul Rahman Al Fahd said, "There are solutions to this problem…we will soon enforce rules that will satisfy all passengers." The airline will supposedly begin having airport staff assign separate seating for men and women, unless they are closely related.

It's not only Muslims that are concerned over seating assignments, but also Orthodox Jews. An El Al Airlines flight in September from New York to Israel was delayed because some men refused to be seated next to women. Their faith forbids it, but where to you draw the line between accommodating someone's faith and interfering with a flight crew, which is a felonious offense? One could easily argue that delaying a flight by the refusal to take one's assigned seat would qualify as interfering with a flight crew's duties to help the plane depart on time. Here's the FAA rule on flight crew disruption:

Federal Aviation Regulations 91.11, 121.580 and 135.120 state that "no person may assault, threaten, intimidate, or interfere with a crewmember in the performance of the crewmember's duties aboard an aircraft being operated."

On December 20th, Delta Air Lines flight 468 was also delayed for the same reason, but was finally resolved when an American passenger offered to switch seats with the man who was assigned to sit by a woman.

What are your thoughts on this? If these men are truly standing up for their faith, should they also inconvenience hundreds of other people in the process? Should they make a personal sacrifice by taking their assigned seat and just dealing with it? Without turning this into a religious flame war, do you have a solution for this? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

Top image via shutterstock

Update: According to a post on Mashable, a marketing manager for the airline is denying their plans to segregate passengers. However, we should be cautions here — companies often deny they're working on a new product or procedure, and then all of a sudden it's introduced as a "surprise."

Paul Thompson is a aviation journalist with over 13 years of experience working in the airline industry, who maintains the website Flight Club for Jalopnik.com. You can contact Paul to submit story ideas, your own "Plane Porn" photos, and comments regarding this or any other aviation topic via email at paul@Jalopnik.com. You can also follow Flight Club on Twitter: @flightclubnews

Five men have been arrested in India and charged with kidnapping and repeatedly raping a Japanese woman, the New York Times reports.

News reports differ on the specifics, but the general outline is consistent: one or two men who said they were tour guides approached the 23-year-old woman in Kolkata, formerly Calcutta. The Guardian reports that she had been studying life in rural India.

"One of the men spoke very fluent Japanese," Pallav Kanti Ghosh, a Calcutta police commissioner, told the BBC. "They took her to Digha [a beach resort] on November 23. There they sexually assaulted her and robbed her of 76,000 rupees [$1201] using her ATM card."

The 23-year-old woman was ultimately taken to the Gaya district in the state of Bihar. "There, the men handed her over to other gang members," Ghosh said.

She was held at gunpoint in a secluded basement, The Guardian reports, for almost three weeks. "When her health condition deteriorated due to repeated rape and poor living conditions, she was brought to Gaya [town] for medical treatment on 20 December," a police officer involved in the investigation told Agence France-Presse.

At this point, the woman was able to contact a group of Japanese tourists who helped her reach the Japanese consulate in Kolkata.

Three of the men were arrested near Bodh Gaya and two in Kolkata, Ghosh told the BBC, further claiming that Indian police are searching for other members of what he called an organized gang officials believe target single women tourists.

Deputy superintendent Alok Kumar Singh told AFP that two tour guides, Sajid Khan and his brother Jawed—32 and 25, respectively—were arrested on Friday. "We have arrested the duo for confining and raping the Japanese student," he said.

[Photo credit: AP Images]

He just wanted some candy. According to the New York Post, that's what a drunk Brooklyn man told authorities after leading them on a thrilling five-minute, 35 mph street sweeper chase on Thursday.

"He works for a company doing this, and he has no license," a police source told the paper. "He said he was going to buy candy and got lost."

48-year-old Jerry Mitchell's altered sense of direction might explain why cops found the street cleaner in Nassau County, some 20 miles away from the Brooklyn mall where employees reportedly saw Mitchell "doing doughnuts" earlier that evening.

Mitchell now faces charges of Aggravated DWI and Aggravated Unlicensed Operation. It is unknown whether he was able to find candy.

[Images via NY State Police]

Four major pieces of AirAsia Flight 8501 have been located by sonar in the priority search area, the New York Times reports. Divers had not yet been able to examine the wreckage on Friday.

Officials also said they had recovered 46 bodies, some of which were still belted into their seats. Marsma Supriyadi, director of operations for Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency, said that three of the bodies had been identified: one flight attendant and two passengers.http://gawker.com/airasia-plane-...

"Many of the passengers believed to be still trapped inside the plane's fuselage could be discovered soon," the Associated Press quoted Supriyadi as saying. "God willing, we will complete this operation next week." Flight 8501 was carrying 162 people altogether.

Indonesia's health minister, Nila Moeloek, said autopsies would be performed on some of the victims' bodies to determine what happened to the plane. The AP reports:

Generally, aviation experts say the more passengers, luggage and parts of the aircraft that remain intact, the more likely the plane hit the water in one piece. That would signal problems like a mechanical error or a stall instead of a midair breakup due to an explosion or sudden depressurization.

Controversy has also arisen over whether the plane was authorized to be flying the route it was on when it crashed. Bloomberg reports:

AirAsia was only permitted to fly the Surabaya-to-Singapore route on four days of the week, not including Sunday when the crash occurred, Indonesia's Transportation Ministry said yesterday. Singapore's Civil Aviation Authority contradicted that directive today, saying the airline had been authorized to run daily flights during the winter season under a bilateral air-services accord.

If it is the case that the plane was flying an unauthorized route, "then the onus falls not only on the airline but also on the regulator," Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation research firm Endau Analytics, told Bloomberg. "Somebody clearly didn't do their job."

[Photo credit: AP Images]

Think "White Pride" is racist? Well guess again, bozo, because noted racism experts the Ku Klux Klan say it isn't—and they have the adorable stock photos to prove it!

It's all explained by a new KKK-funded billboard that recently went up in Harrison, Arkansas. "It's NOT Racist to♡Your People" argues the cutesy ad for WhitePrideRadio.com.

And it's not just the Klan who thinks so either. "I don't see it as being any kind of a racism sign," Fayetteville resident Yolanda Riggins told KOLR.

Just what is WhitePrideRadio.com, you ask? From their "About" page:

A lot of people recognize that there is an ongoing program of genocide against white people. There are websites, newsletters, videos, and radio shows, but too many talk about family without including the family.

It has always been our mission to not just promote the white family, but to make them a part of this cause of white Christian revival.

Yep, nothing racist to see here. Just a station providing wholesome family entertainment, like a recent half hour block of neo-Nazi band Skrewdriver.

[Images via KOLR//h/t Mediaite]

ISIS released the latest in a series of propaganda videos featuring British journalist John Cantlie today, this one shot in Mosul in the style of a news report.

In it, Cantlie claims to dispute the reporting of Western media outlets about what is happening in the caliphate.

"The media likes to paint a picture of life in the Islamic State as depressed, people walking around as subjugated citizens in chains, beaten down by strict, totalitarian rule," Cantlie says. "But really, apart from some rather chilly, but sunny December weather, life here in Mosul is business as usual."

Cantlie has been used in other propaganda directed at Western viewers, including a similar video of him "reporting" from Kobani in October.http://gawker.com/isis-releases-...

Cantlie was held captive in Syra once before, in July 2012, but escaped with help from the Free Syrian Army, the BBC reports, and was captured again when he returned later that year.

[Image via YouTube | h/t Ned Donovan]

Edward W. Brooke III, a Massachusetts Republican—and, in 1966, the first African-American to be elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote—died in his home yesterday morning. Brooke is also the only black senator to have ever won re-election. He was 95.

Longtime ESPN anchor Stuart Scott died this morning at the age of 49 after a lengthy battle with cancer, the network reports.

Scott was born in Chicago and raised in North Carolina. He worked at ESPN for 22 years and leaves behind two daughters—Taelor, 19, and Sydni, 15.

At this year's ESPYS, Scott accepted the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance just after undergoing a round of cancer surgery.

"When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer," he said. "You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live."

[Photo credit: AP Images]

Living up to his unofficial reign name, Cool Pope Francis announced 15 new cardinals from all over the world today, including many developing countries like Vietnam, Panama and Cape Verde.

"[C]oming from 14 countries from every continent, [the new bishops] manifest the indissoluble links between the Church of Rome and the particular Churches present in the world," said Francis on Sunday, Vatican Radio reports.

According to one Vatican watcher, the pontiff's choices came from "typically overlooked places."

"[Cool Pope] Francis' pattern is very clear," analyst John L. Allen told CNN, "He wants to go to the geographical peripheries rather than places that are already top-heavy with cardinals."

Speaking with the Wall Street Journal this week, Catholic University of America professor Chad Pecknold called choosing cardinals "the most important thing a pope does."

"If the pope is the football coach, the cardinals are the star players," said Pecknold, "They move the ball forward in the life of the church."

[Image via AP Images]

Presumably hoping to capture the Christmas spirit one last time, a tragically un-Santa-like California woman reportedly stripped nude and tried to shimmy down her estranged ex's chimney yesterday, becoming stuck in the process.

Tony Hernandez of Woodcrest, California says he awoke early Saturday morning to the cries of his ex-girlfriend, who doesn't live with him and he didn't want inside his house.

"She said, 'I'm trapped in the chimney,'" Hernandez told KCBS-TV, "so I tried to get her out from the top but it was too hard."

It eventually took firefighters two hours to rescue the unnamed 35-year-old—who reportedly "removed her clothes to aid her descent"—from the 12-inch-by-12-inch chimney.

The woman suffered only minor injuries, but according to KABC-TV, "the damage to Hernandez's chimney is expensive, and he says it will have to be rebuilt."

[Image via CAL FIRE Riverside//h/t Daily Mail]

The Daily Mail has interviewed one of the litigants in a Florida lawsuit against the prosecutors of investment banker and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who she says provided her to Prince Andrew, Duke of York, as a sex slave. The woman, Virginia Roberts, 30, was underage at the time.

The Mail reportedly spoke to Roberts about her experience working for Epstein a year ago, but the paper was not able to publish the account until now. Roberts says she was introduced to Epstein by Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of disgraced media mogul Robert Maxwell. (In 1991, Robert Maxwell was found dead in the sea after going missing from his yacht, 3 billion pounds in debt.)http://gawker.com/lawsuit-prince...

Ghislaine Maxwell, Roberts alleges, worked as Epstein's madame. "She said she worked for a very wealthy gentleman called Jeffrey Epstein who was looking for a traveling masseuse and I'd get training and be paid large amounts of money," Roberts told the Mail.

"Jeffrey said he wanted to be my mentor," says Miss Roberts. "I felt that he and Ghislaine really cared for me. We'd do family things, like watch Sex And The City and eat popcorn.

"But it was a sick family. I was a paedophile's top girl, being trained up for a British Prince. He trained me to do whatever a man wanted. I was worried, but I would do anything to keep Jeffrey happy and keep my place as his No 1 girl."

The New York Post reported in 2011 that Epstein and Prince Andrew celebrated the registered sex offender's release from jail with a party at his $50 million East 71st Street mansion. Epstein plead guilty in 2008 to a single charge of soliciting prostitution. He served 13 months in jail.

Roberts alleges that she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew three times, the first during a visit to London. "Andrew was making eye contact with me at every chance and concentrating on my plunging V-neck top," she told the Mail. "He didn't ask me anything about myself. I just sat there with a smile frozen on my lips. Ghislaine had whispered, 'The Prince seems really interested in you.'"

Roberts claims that Epstein paid her about $15,000 for sleeping with the Prince, the Mail reports. Also: "There is no suggestion that the Prince knew that Epstein paid her."

The second time she was coerced into having sex with the prince was at Epstein's Manhattan apartment, Roberts claims; the third alleged time was on Epstein's Caribbean island, where a group of Russian models were flown in for an orgy.

Buckingham Palace has "emphatically denied" the accusations, the Associated Press reports. Prince Andrew, meanwhile, has had to cut his ski vacation short to tell his mother (Queen Elizabeth II) that he did not have sex with underage girls, the Mail reports.

"I'm not going to be bullied back into silence," she said in a statement provided to The Guardian by her lawyers. "I am going to name every guy who deserves to be named when I go to court," she told the Mail.

[Photo credit: AP Images]

Our media criticism in these parts often accuses television of being so lacking in basic sensibility that it has become post-human. Stuart Scott's death at 49 prompted a reminder that, yes, these are real people on TV; there's no more accurate a depiction of this than the tentative and often fragile on-air reactions of people who knew Scott to the news that he was dead.

Above is the video of Scott's ESPN colleagues, including Hannah Storm and the NFL Countdown crew, reacting to the news. Below is Scott's longtime SportsCenter partner Rich Eisen, now on NFL Network, responding to the news.

[ESPN, NFL Network]

On Friday, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton appealed to the "tradition, honor, and decency" of his force, asking them to refrain from using the funeral of murdered officer Wenjian Liu as a venue for protest. On Sunday, thousands of cops rejected that request, turning their backs to Mayor Bill de Blasio as he spoke at the service.

As photos from the event show, numerous officers turned away from a screen broadcasting the Mayor's eulogy for Liu, although reporters at the scene say "the majority" of the NYPD did not.

Thousands of officers turn their backs as Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at Officer Wenjian Liu's funeral. pic.twitter.com/8NLELidFeZ

— Mike Balsamo (@MikeBalsamo1) January 4, 2015

AGAIN: NYPD Turn Their Backs on De Blasio at Fallen Officer's Funeral [PHOTOS] - http://t.co/MWsCowZess pic.twitter.com/UOfyHLDf6Y

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) January 4, 2015

#NYPD cops turn their backs on Mayor @BilldeBlasio at Det. Wenjian Liu's funeral, defying @CommissBratton's plea. pic.twitter.com/Kzmex1deSV

— Nicole Fuller (@nicolefuller) January 4, 2015

Last weekend, police staged a similar protest at the funeral of Rafael Ramos, the other officer killed in Brooklyn last month. In his plea, Bratton called that performance an "act of disrespect" that "stole the valor, honor, and attention that rightfully belonged to the memory of Detective Rafael Ramos's life and sacrifice."

According to the Associated Press, Liu's funeral was delayed until Sunday so that relatives could come from China, where he married just two months ago.

"He is my soul mate," said widow Pei Xia Chen. "My hero."

[Image via AP Images]

According to the New York Times, at least 6,500 new condominium units are scheduled to hit the Manhattan market below 96th Street in 2015—the most since 2007 and twice as many as last year, which is great news if you can afford a condo.

"From one-of-a-kind boutique buildings to soaring luxury towers, an incredible variety of new development will enter the marketplace," Kelly Kennedy Mack, president of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, told the Times. From "boutique" to "luxury," you say? Truly, New Yorkers are spoiled for choice.

But perhaps this cynicism is misplaced. After all, only 500 "ultraluxury" units—those priced at $5,000 per square foot or more—are expected to be coming to market this year. Only 500! That's less than 10 percent of all new development! "There is a misperception that the market is swinging drastically toward the high end," Mack said.http://gawker.com/the-worst-buil...

And indeed, half of the new units will be in the highly-accessible "middle luxury" segment, the Times reports—between $1,700 and $2,300 per square foot. That's practically affordable housing! Anyway, yeah, total misperception. No idea where people might get that idea.

[Photo credit: AP Images]

A car transporter ship was deliberately grounded off the Isle of Wight on Saturday evening after it began to list, the BBC reports. The Hoegh Osaka had left port in Southampton less than an hour before.

Two of the 25 safely-rescued crew were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, Ingar Skiaker, chief executive of Hoegh Autoliners, told the BBC. The ship is now listing at more than 50 degrees.

"Our vessel developed a severe list shortly after she left port and the pilot and the master took the decision to save the vessel and its crew by grounding her on the bank," Skiaker said. "This showed great skill and seamanship on behalf of our crew when faced with such challenging circumstances."

"Our chief concern now is to ensure there is no environmental damage from this incident," he added. According to the BBC an official from the Maritime Coastguard Agency said there was no environmental damage.

The 51,000 ton ship currently also contains 1,400 cars. The BBC reports that salvage operations are expected to take several days.

[Photo credit: Getty Images]

Here is a video of a man challenging a Disney character actor to a push-up contest and losing. Lesson: do not challenge a man whose job it is to portray the strongest man in town to a push-up contest.

Then again, this particular Gaston also got owned by a little girl who explained the plot of Beauty and the Beast to him.

His commitment to character is impressive. Also: he looks like John Travolta?

[Image via Disney/YouTube]

If you've followed the news lately, it can be tough to maintain faith in America's courts, but one judge in Massachusetts is doing his best to renew the public's trust, one fly pair of kicks at a time.

This week, Framingham District Court judge and presumed hypebeast Douglas Stoddart accepted a pair of Nikes as collateral from a man unable to present monetary bail, the result of a quick brainstorming session.

"I'll give you a chance to be creative," Stoddart told Jason Duval, jailed over $450 in outstanding court fees. "If you can come up with a creative idea to convince me that you'll come back, I'll work with you."

After a brief break, Duval offered to trade his fresh Christmas sneakers—"valued at around $85"—for his freedom.

"OK," said Stoddart, "we'll take them."

Other forms of bail that Chill Judge probably would have accepted: Supreme crewnecks, Beats by Dre, limited edition vinyl collectables.

[Image via Framingham Police//h/t Daily Mail]

On Friday, a police union president sent a blistering email to Pittsburgh's Chief of Police, writing, among other things, "your actions raise serious concerns" and "enough is enough!" The top cop's transgression? Being photographed with a sign reading "I resolve to challenge racism at work" and "#endwhitesilence."

"The chief is calling us racists," Officer Howard McQuillan told KDKA-TV. "He believes the Pittsburgh Police Department is racist. This has angered a lot of officers."

This weekend, Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay penned a lengthy response to McQuillan's email, similar to one shared by Nashville's Chief of Police last month. In it, McLay apologized to anyone who was offended while defending the photo and its message, stating, "The reality of U.S. policing is that our enforcement efforts have a disparate impact on communities of color" and "unconscious bias applies to how we deal with the public."

"The sign indicated my willingness to challenge racial problems in the workplace," wrote McLay. "I am so committed. If there are problems in the PBP related to racial injustice, I will take action to fix them."

Subject: Race and Police...

To: Bureau of Police

It appears my having been photographed with a sign supporting racial justice at work and "white silence" has offended some. If any of my PBP family was offended, I apologize. You are very important to me and I would never hurt you purposefully. Let me explain the back story:

I stopped at a coffee shop at First Night, and ran into the group seeking people of all races to join the discussion about racial inequality and injustice. We spoke for a few minutes about how implicit, or unconscious bias results in misunderstanding on all sides, and how the need is for dialogue to clear up misunderstanding. They asked for me to take a picture holding a sign.

The sign indicated my willingness to challenge racial problems in the workplace. I am so committed. If there are problems in the PBP related to racial injustice, I will take action to fix them.

To me, the term "white silence" simply means that we must be willing to speak up to address issues of racial injustice, poverty, etc. In my heart, I believe we all must come together as community to address real world problems; and I am willing to be a voice to bring community together.

I saw no indictment of police or anyone else in this sign, but I do apologize to any of you who felt I was not supporting you; that was not my intent.

The reality of U.S. policing is that our enforcement efforts have a disparate impact on communities of color. This is a statistical fact. You know, as well as I, the social factors driving this reality. The gross disparity in wealth and opportunity is evident in our city. Frustration and disorder are certain to follow. The predominant patterns of our city's increased violence involves black victims as well as actors. If we are to address this violence, we must work together with our communities of color.

We, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, need to acknowledge how this reality feels to those impacted communities. Crime and disorder take us to the disadvantaged communities, which are predominantly those of color. The disparities in police arrest and incarceration rates that follow are not by design, but they can feel that way to some people in those communities.

I know, because I have been there too. My own street drug enforcement efforts were well intended but had an impact I would not have consciously chosen. In retrospect, we should have been far more engaged with those in the communities where we were doing our high-impact, zero tolerance type policing; to obtain the consent of those we were policing.

We will be engaging in training to refine our policing efforts in the near future. In the mean time, simply approach your job mindfully, with a continued motivation to protect and serve.

Please beware also, race impacts how we view one another, and unconscious bias applies to how we deal with the public. It can also impact how we judge one another; I intend we will confront both through training.

I support your efforts to keep our communities safe, and will back your best efforts to do so. I trust and have faith in you. I also support efforts to improve and restore the communities' perceptions of justice. The next time you see me engaging in discussions supporting social justice, please remember, we all all guardians of the constitution. This is the mission we all took an oath to uphold.

Please forgive me if I have offended, as that was not my intent. I will be visiting all of the Zones and work units in the coming couple weeks to allow opportunity for open discussion, and look forward to being able to talk these tough issues through.

In the mean time, thank you for your service!

[Image via Facebook]

Police are trying to find the son of a Manhattan hedge fund manager who allegedly shot his father to death inside a multimillion-dollar Sutton Place apartment Sunday.

Thomas Gilbert Sr., the founder and president of Wainscott Capital Partners, a $200 million healthcare fund, was found dead in his apartment Sunday afternoon. Cops say a woman—identified by the Wall Street Journal as "the alleged shooter's mother"—discovered Gilbert's body and called 911.

Police believe 30-year-old Thomas Gilbert Jr. killed his father during an argument about their relationship and fled the building on foot. He's been on the run since around 3:30 on Sunday, the New York Daily News reports.

[image via Shutterstock]

A group of passengers traveling from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco said they were trapped inside an airplane more than a day when the airport was shut down by fog this weekend.

Passengers on the Etihad Airways flight say airline officials stuck them on a tarmac in Abu Dhabi and toyed with them for hours—12 hours.

"They kept telling us that we were going to leave, you know 15 minutes from now, 20 minutes from now, 30 minutes for now, for 12 hours," passenger Thomas Piani told reporters in San Francisco after finally landing in the city on Saturday evening.

The airline also allegedly refused to feed the passengers during the delay.

EY183 on runway for 9 hours. Terrible service and crew won't serve food. Now further delays as they replace (unserved) food. @EtihadAirways

— Sujatha (@SuzeTwtr) January 3, 2015

According to the AP, the passengers were told they had to stay on the grounded plane because the airport was already at capacity with other stranded travelers.

Etihad later released a statement blaming the "severe disruption" on "extraordinary weather conditions" and promising to waive change and cancellation fees.

[image via AP]