26.01.10 / News / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
A French parliamentary committee has recommended a partial ban on women wearing Islamic face veils.
The committee’s near 200-page report has proposed a ban in hospitals, schools, government offices and on public transport.
It also recommends that anyone showing visible signs of “radical religious practice” should be refused residence cards and citizenship.
The interior ministry says just 1,900 women in France wear the full veils.
In its report, the committee said requiring women to cover their faces was against the French republican principles of secularism and equality.
“The wearing of the full veil is a challenge to our republic. This is unacceptable. We must condemn this excess,” the report said.
The commission called on parliament to adopt a formal resolution stating that the face veil was “contrary to the values of the republic” and proclaiming that “all of France is saying ‘no’ to the full veil”.
Presenting the report to the French National Assembly, speaker Bernard Accoyer said the face veil had too many negative connotations.
“It is the symbol of the repression of women, and… of extremist fundamentalism.
“This divisive approach is a denial of the equality between men and women and a rejection of co-existence side-by-side, without which our republic is nothing.”
The report is expected to be followed by the drafting of a bill and a parliamentary debate on the issue.
The BBC’s Hugh Schofield, in Paris, says the reasoning behind the report is to make it as impractical as possible for women in face veils to go about their daily business.
There is also a fear that an outright ban would not only be difficult to implement but would be distasteful and could make France a target for terrorism, our correspondent says.
France has an estimated five million Muslims – the largest such population in Western Europe.
Months of debate
The report follows months of public debate, including President Nicolas Sarkozy’s intervention, saying all-encompassing veils were “not welcome in France”.
However, he did not explicitly call for a ban, saying “no-one should feel stigmatised” by any eventual law.
Opinion polls suggest a majority of French people support a full ban.
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Find out about different styles of Muslim headscarf
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However, the parliamentary deputies have recommended that – for now – restrictions should be limited.
The committee suggests a ban inside public buildings, with those who defy the ban denied whatever services are on offer there – for example state benefits.
There are several types of headscarves and veils for Muslim women – those that cover the face being the niqab and the burka. In France, the niqab is the version most commonly worn.
The niqab usually leaves the eyes clear. It is worn with an accompanying headscarf and sometimes a separate eye veil.
The burka covers the entire face and body with just a mesh screen to see through.
The issue has divided France’s political parties.
The Socialist opposition has come out officially against a ban, saying it would be difficult to enforce. It says it is opposed to full veils in principle, but some members have expressed fears about any ruling that could stigmatise Muslim women.
Meanwhile, the head of Mr Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP party has already presented a bill in parliament supporting a full ban on grounds of security.
26.01.10 / News / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
The Ethiopian jet that crashed into the sea off Beirut on Monday did not fly in the direction suggested by Beirut’s control tower, Lebanese officials say.
Ministers said the pilot of the Ethiopian Airlines jet was asked to correct his course, but turned in the opposite direction.
It is not clear why this happened, or if it was beyond the pilot’s control.
The authorities continue to search for the bodies of the 90 people on board the plane, who are all feared dead.
At least 24 bodies have been pulled from the sea so far. The authorities are also looking for the plane’s flight recorders.
‘Fast and strange turn’
Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi told the Associated Press news agency that the Beirut control tower had asked the pilot “to correct his path, but he did a very fast and strange turn before disappearing completely from the radar”.
On Monday, Defence Minister Elias Murr said the pilot of the plane had failed to follow instructions on take-off from the control tower for unknown reasons.
“A command tower recording shows the tower told the pilot to turn to avoid the storm, but the plane went in the opposite direction,” he said. “We do not know what happened or whether it was beyond the pilot’s control.”
Ethiopian Airlines said late on Monday the pilot had more than 20 years of experience, AP reports.
Gone
The Addis Ababa-bound flight plunged into the Mediterranean shortly after take-off from Beirut in a storm.
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ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES
State-owned carrier flying to 56 destinations
Operates only Boeing aircraft
First crash since 1996, when hijacked plane ditched into sea off Comoros
Good safety record, considered an exception among African airlines
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Flight ET409 disappeared from radar screens some five minutes after take-off at about 0200 on Monday (0000 GMT), near the village of Naameh, about 3.5km (2 miles) from the coast.
Eyewitnesses said they saw the plane fall into the sea in flames.
Some relatives of those on board have been asking why the plane was allowed to take off in such poor conditions, the BBC’s Andrew North in Beirut reports.
Officials said that 83 passengers and seven crew were on board the Boeing 737-800, which can take up to 189 passengers. Most of those on the flight were Lebanese or Ethiopian.
The UK Foreign Office said there was one British national and one person of dual nationality on board.
The other passengers included citizens of Turkey, France, Russia, Canada, Syria and Iraq, Ethiopian Airlines said in a statement on its website.
Among them was Marla Pietton, the wife of the French ambassador in Beirut.
Some of the foreign passengers are reported to be of Lebanese origin.
26.01.10 / Cricket / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
DUBAI: ICC Cricket Committee chief
Clive Lloyd and advocate Brent Lockie will investigate the England team’s
complaint against the Decision Review System fiasco in their fourth and final
Test with South Africa in Johannesburg.
“Advocate Brent Lockie and
Clive Lloyd will carry out an independent and comprehensive investigation into
the procedural issues involving technology and the decision review system (DRS)
as applied during the fourth Test between South Africa and England in
Johannesburg following receipt of an official complaint from the England and
Wales Cricket Board (ECB),” the ICC said in a statement.
England
complained after South Africa captain Graeme Smith was given not out after
swinging at a ball that went to the wicket-keeper.
England,
believing he edged it, asked for a review but third umpire Daryl Harper upheld
the on-field official’s decision. It is alleged that Harper had not turned up
the TV feed volume and therefore did not hear the edge. Smith went on to score a
hundred.
The ICC received England’s complaint on January 17. Lockie
is a senior barrister from Edinburgh and a member of the ICC Code of Conduct
Commission. He is also a Disciplinary Tribunal Member for Cricket Scotland and
has vast experience in adjudicating on cricket related matters, while Lloyd is a
former West Indies captain and match referee.
“The ICC has appointed
two eminent individuals to investigate the exact circumstances relating to the
application of the DRS in Johannesburg,” said ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat.
“The DRS is a ground-breaking system which was introduced to
eliminate the obvious umpiring errors. The majority of players and officials who
experienced the system in the southern hemisphere summer, have expressed
qualified support for using the system.
“While this feedback is
positive and reassuring, we understand the need to continue enhancing the system
in these early days and I’m sure this independent investigation will assist in
that regard,” he added.
The exact parameters and timeframe of the
investigation will be determined in due course.
26.01.10 / News / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
A suicide car bomber has killed at least 18 people and injured 80 at a government forensics centre in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, police say.
The attacker apparently tried to drive through a police checkpoint and blast walls protecting the centre in the Kerrada district.
The building was badly damaged by the massive blast, and the rubble is being searched by rescue teams.
On Monday, bomb attacks near well-known hotels in the city killed 36 people.
This is the latest in a series of attacks on official buildings, including those to do with crime and punishment.
The justice ministry was badly damaged in October by a huge truck bomb, and a court complex was hit in December.
There have been fears that attacks will increase as the parliamentary election approaches in March and those predictions seem to be coming true, the BBC’s Jim Muir reports from Baghdad.
‘Vehicles in flames’
An Iraqi military spokesman, Maj Gen Qassim Atta, said the suicide bomber had raced his vehicle towards the Criminal Evidence Department on al-Tahariyat Square at 1045 (0745 GMT).
One of Monday’s victims was a former national basketball team player
Most of the casualties were staff from the forensics centre, he said, adding that it had been targeted by two bomb attacks in the past.
Hassan al-Saidi, a mechanic who works in the area, said he had seen at least five vehicles in flames and more than a dozen people wounded by flying glass.
“I’ve heard many explosions in the past but nothing like this,” he told Reuters news agency.
The Associated Press news agency reported that rescue teams in blue jumpsuits were combing through the debris of the three-storey building as a crane removed some of the fallen blast walls.
Funerals have been taking place on Tuesday for victims of Monday’s attacks.
Grieving relatives held a funeral procession through Baghdad for Monthir Ali Shnawa, a former Iraqi national basketball team player.
In another development, the body of executed Saddam aide Ali Hassan al-Majid is due to be collected by a family member on Tuesday, AP reports.
A grave has been dug for “Chemical Ali”, who was hanged on Monday, in his home town of Tikrit, the agency adds.
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26.01.10 / News / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
US President Barack Obama is to announce a three-year partial spending freeze aimed at reducing the country’s $1.4tn (£860bn) budget deficit.
His first State of the Union address, on Wednesday, will reveal the details.
Officials have told US media that defence, some health care programmes and the massive economic stimulus package will be unaffected.
Critics said the planned savings, expected to cut no more than $15bn off next year’s budget, were insufficient.
But officials said the plan would result in savings of about $250bn during the next 10 years.
The spending freeze covers many domestic programmes and departments to which Congress allocates budgets each year, including agriculture, transportation and education and national parks.
Security and defence spending, foreign aid, social security and spending on health care for the poor and retired would be exempt.
Mr Obama is facing mounting criticism for the amount of government spending and growing budget deficits.
The 2009 fiscal year saw a record $1.4tn shortfall and an even bigger one is forecast for 2010.
The freeze could make the president rein in his ambitious reform agenda, especially with regards to education and the environment.
But one administration official said it was like a family in tough times deciding on its budget.
“That’s the decision-making process the president and the economic team went through,” Associated Press quoted the unnamed official as saying.
“It’s the very same process American families have gone through for the past several years.”
Republicans say the cuts are insufficient.
“Given Washington Democrats’ unprecedented spending binge, this is like announcing you’re going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner.
In graphics
