Dutch Cabinet moves toward burqa ban

 

The Dutch minority government plans to ban Muslim face veils such as burqas and other forms of clothing that cover the face from next year.

 

The ban would make the Netherlands, where 1 million out of 17 million people are Muslim, the second European Union country to ban the burqa after France, and would apply to face-covering veils if they were worn in public.

 

“People should be able to look at each other s faces and recognize each other when they meet,” the interior affairs ministry said in a statement Friday.

 

The ban will also apply to balaclavas and motorcycle helmets when worn in inappropriate places, such as inside a store, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Verhagen told reporters, denying that this was a ban on religious clothing.

 

Geert Wilders  anti-Islam Freedom Party (PVV), which helps give the Liberal-Christian Democrat coalition a majority in parliament, has set considerable political store on getting the so-called burqa ban passed into law.

 

Few Muslim women in the Netherlands wear the Arabic-style niqabs which leave the eyes uncovered and Afghan-style burqas that cover the face with a cloth grid. Academics estimate the numbers at between 100 and 400, whereas Muslim headscarves which leave the face exposed are far more common.

 

The coalition has agreed to submit a new law to parliament next week stipulating that offenders would be fined up to 390 euros ($510), the ministry said.

 

Verhagen said the ban was intended to ensure that a tradition of open communication cherished in Dutch society was upheld, and to prevent people from concealing their identity in order to do harm.

 

Wilders, who condemned Dutch Queen Beatrix for covering her hair with a scarf on a recent royal visit to the Middle East, said on Twitter: “Great news: burqa ban will finally come to the Netherlands Proposal approved by ministers  council. Excellent”

 

Maurits Berger, professor of Islam in the contemporary West at Leiden University, said only a few hundred women wear the full face veil in the Netherlands.

 

“This is highly symbolic, it s part of the deal made with PVV,” Berger said. “We are in the middle of a crisis. There are worse things to tackle.”

 

The minority coalition is at odds with the Freedom Party over where to make further budget cuts, and the scale of the cuts needed.

 

The face-veil law, which still needs to win approval in both houses of parliament, excludes clothing worn for security reasons such as that worn by firemen and hockey players, as well as party clothing such as Santa Claus or Halloween costumes.

 

The ban does not apply to religious places, such as churches and mosques, nor to passengers on airplanes or en route via a Dutch airport, the interior ministry said. ($1 = 0.7615 euros)

 

Suspect in Arizona Shooting Spree Appears in Court

PHOENIX, Arizona: A troubled 22-year-old college dropout made his first court appearance on Monday on five federal charges, including the attempted assassination of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who remained in critical condition with a bullet wound to the head.

His hands manacled together, Jared Lee Loughner said in a strong voice he understood the charges against him involving a shooting spree in Tucson on Saturday that left six people dead and 14 others wounded.

The bloody rampage — at an event Giffords hosted for constituents — has fueled debate about whether heated rhetoric seen in recent political campaigns can lead to violence.

President Barack Obama, who stressed unity after the shootings, plans to go to Arizona on Wednesday to attend a memorial service for the dead, who included a federal judge, a 9-year-old girl and one of Giffords’ young aides.

Last year, Giffords had warned that angry campaign talk had prompted violent threats against her and vandalism at her office.

A police mug shot taken of Loughner after his arrest and released on Monday shows the accused killer, who faces a possible death sentence, smiling broadly.

At his court appearance, Loughner’s lawyer waived a detention hearing. Federal Magistrate Judge Lawrence Anderson ordered Loughner held, calling him a danger to the community.

The judge scheduled a January 24 preliminary hearing.

Having survived a shot to the head at point-blank range, Giffords, a popular 40-year-old Democrat, remained in critical condition at a Tucson hospital.

US: John Boehner elected Speaker in House of Representative

The 112th Congress of the United States was called and John Boehner was elected as Speaker in the House of Representatives.

In his first address as the House’s top member, Boehner focused on cutting the government’s record deficit and creating jobs. He replaced Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat whose party lost to the Republicans last year in the mid-term elections. Our spending has caught up with us, and our debt will soon eclipse the size of our entire economy. Hard work and tough decisions will be required, said Boehner. Before Boehner spoke, Pelosi addressed the lawmakers and introduced Boehner. In the House of Representatives, 87 new Republican members and nine new Democrats were sworn in at noon, shifting control of the chamber officially to the Republican party. Republicans now hold a 242-193 edge in the House.

Republicans Set to win House, Gain in Senate

WASHINGTON: Americans unhappy with the economy are poised to hand control of the House of Representatives to Republicans in elections today, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said.

Fifty percent of likely voters said they will choose a Republican candidate when they vote while 44 percent said they will pick a Democrat, the national survey showed.

Republicans are likely to win some 231 seats in the House and take control of the chamber, the poll projected. Ipsos pollster Cliff Young predicted Democrats would hang on to control of the Senate with either a margin of 52 seats to 48 for Republicans or 53-47.

Obama has enjoyed one-party rule in Washington since taking power nearly two years ago. The election result, if it plays out the way the pollsters say it will, would mark a stark reversal of fortunes for him.

Tough political battles seemed to loom ahead over taxes, spending and deficits when a new Congress takes power in January. And Republicans might seek to repeal parts of Obama’s signature achievement, his healthcare overhaul.

There was some talk among Democrats of a mid-course correction by Obama.

“He has a good sense of perspective about the challenge of midterm elections and about the need going forward to make some adjustments and corrections. And you’ll see those play out over the course of the next few weeks,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Whoever wins, Americans reeling from a 9.6 percent jobless rate want to see the economy on the mend. By a margin of 62 percent to 33 percent, they believe the country is on the wrong track and 47 percent cited the economy as the biggest problem facing the United States today.

The economic woes are taking their toll on Obama, who says his policies need more time to work and that Republicans would take America back to economic policies he believes are discredited.

The poll said 50 percent of those polls believed the Obama administration has made the economy worse than it was before, while 26 percent said Obama has made it better.

Obama’s own job approval ratings continue to lag. The poll found that 45 percent of Americans approved of the way Obama is doing his job, versus 51 percent who said they disapprove.

In a sign that Obama has some work to do to improve his fortunes ahead of his 2012 re-election campaign, 52 percent of those surveyed did not think Obama will win re-election in 2012, the poll found. This included 34 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of Republicans.

US Senator to freeze promotions in defence dept.

US Senator Jim Webb is threatening to freeze high level US defence department promotions and hiring in a dispute over plans to close a military command in his state.
Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat, says he can not get answers about the planned closing despite weeks of asking. Webb wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday, saying he would impose a Senate hold, or freeze, on new nominations until he gets the information. The Senate must approve top civilian and military promotions. Webb opposes plans to close the Joint Forces Command, based around Norfolk. The Pentagon has ordered the closure as part of a cost-cutting plan.

Obama to campaign for embattled U.S. Senate leader

SAN FRANCISCO: President Barack Obama will campaign on Friday for embattled Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, entering the fray of one of the most closely watched races in next month’s congressional elections.

In Nevada, a state with the nation’s highest unemployment rate and the highest rate of home foreclosures, Reid, a Democrat, is slightly trailing Republican Sharron Angle with just 11 days to go before the Nov. 2 elections.

A defeat for the Senate’s highest ranking Democrat would be a major blow for Obama, who worked closely with Reid and other congressional leaders to craft last year’s $814 billion economic stimulus package and reforms of the healthcare and financial regulatory systems.

“Senator Reid is somebody who has obviously done a lot to ensure our success in the United States Senate; (who) was a supporter, somebody who urged the president to run

US congressmen seeks explanation from Facebook

WASHINGTON: Two members of the US Congress have asked Facebook to explain how applications transmitted information about users to advertising and Web tracking companies in violation of the social network’s rules.

Representative Joe Barton, a Republican from Texas, and Representative Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, asked Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to reply to 18 questions about what they called a “privacy breach.”

Facebook on Monday acknowledged that some popular third-party applications had passed on user identification (UID) information but played down the privacy implications.

“Nevertheless, we are committed to ensuring that even the inadvertent passing of UIDs is prevented and all applications are in compliance with our policy,” Facebook engineer Mike Vernal said in a blog post.

“Our policy is very clear about protecting user

Thai PM Abhisit Faces Court

BANGKOK: Thailand’s prime minister is due in court on Monday as his party tries to fend off a possible ban that threatens to further shake the kingdom’s fractured political landscape.

Abhisit Vejjajiva, alongside other executives, faces a five-year ban from politics and the ruling Democrat Party could be dissolved if it is found guilty of corruption by the Constitutional Court.

The premier is set to be a witness for the defence in what could be the final hearing before judges rule on the case, which centres on claims of misuse of a 29-million-baht (900,000-dollar) state grant in 2005.

“We are satisfied with the facts we have presented to the court and confident our party has done nothing wrong,” Democrat lawyer Virat Kalayasiri said.

The party faces accusations that it paid 23 million baht to advertising firms, despite only having permission to spend 19 million on billboard marketing.

Thailand’s Election Commission (EC) in April called for the party to be abolished over the claims as well as a separate case alleging an undeclared political donation.

Abhisit on Sunday rejected accusations that a member of his party had attempted to influence the court’s decision.

“It is not necessary to do that. The Constitutional Court should be independent and we do not want to see any lobbying,” he said on his weekly television show.

The Prime Minister added that the court is likely to reach a verdict next month.

Judicial rulings have played a pivotal role in shaping the kingdom’s politics in the past.

The Democrats, Thailand’s oldest party, came to power two years ago after controversial court decisions ousted allies of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was dislodged in a 2006 military coup.

Two premiers were deposed from office by the judiciary in 2008 — one of whom, Samak Sundaravej, was removed for taking payments for hosting TV cooking shows.

Uncertainty over the government comes at a difficult stage for the deeply divided country.

April’s EC intervention coincided with a tense standoff between troops and “Red Shirts”, which descended into violence that left over 90 people dead and almost 1,900 injured during two months of unrest.

Experts question whether powers thought to support Abhisit’s ruling coalition — including the military and Yellow Shirt movement, representing the Bangkok elite in palace circles — would allow the Democrats to be toppled.

Author and former Thai diplomat Pavin Chachavalpongpun said he does not believe the party will be disbanded.

“What is the point of staging a military coup in the first place when they know the party they rely on will have to be dissolved?” he said.

However, he said one potential motive would be as a gesture to the Red Shirts to rebuff allegations of double standards in the legal system.

Pavin said “even then, they will have a plan B”, with rumours that a new party would swiftly rise from the ashes of the old.

“They will still carry on the mission of maintaining the status quo but that is a deeper, more complicated game. I still don’t believe that the Democrat party will be dissolved,” he said.

Michael Montesano, of the Institute of South East Asia Studies in Singapore, said: “It is possible that there will be dissolution of the Democrat Party and it could happen for one of several reasons.”

He said it could be that the Yellows “decided that the Democrats and Abhisit had outlived their usefulness”, or the judge makes the decision on the basis of the law. Another reason would be as a concession to reconciliation efforts.

Montesano said it appears a new party — “Democrat in all but name” — would try to boost its electoral chances ahead of next year’s poll.

But Montesano said those involved still had not managed to reach out to the rural poor and working class.

“There is every indication that the Democrats and their allies do not really know what to do in order to reshape the political landscape so that they can win the next election.” he said.

Top US lawmaker says leaks paint ”outdated” Pakistan picture

WASHINGTON: A top White House ally in the US Congress warned Monday against judging Pakistan”s role in the Afghan war by “outdated reports” in a massive cache of leaked Pentagon documents on the conflict.

“Some of these documents implicate Pakistan in aiding the Taliban and fueling the insurgency in Afghanistan,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, a Democrat, said in a statement.

“It is critical that we not use outdated reports to paint a picture of the cooperation of Pakistan in our efforts in Afghanistan,” he stressed, adding that Pakistan had “significantly stepped up its fight against the Taliban.”

“While we still have concerns about Pakistan”s efforts against the Afghan Taliban, there is no doubt that there have been significant improvements in its overall effort,” said Skelton.

The lawmaker also slammed the whistleblowing website Wikileaks for “recklessness” in making public the roughly 92,000 Pentagon files and field reports, billed as perhaps the largest leak in US military history.

“Our nation”s secrets are classified for a reason, and the release of classified documents could put our national security-and the lives of our men and women in combat-at serious risk,” Skelton said in a statement.

At the same time, Skelton said the “troubling” documents seemed to support his criticisms of the war effort since it began in late 2001, but insisted US President Barack Obama”s troop “surge,” announced in December 2009, would right the faltering campaign.

“Under the new counterinsurgency strategy implemented earlier this year, we now have the pieces in place to turn things around. These leaked reports pre-date our new strategy in Afghanistan and should not be used as a measure of success or a determining factor in our continued mission there,” said Skelton.

Pakistan needs 40 runs to beat Australia

LEEDS, England: Pakistan is on the verge of its first test victory over Australia in 15 years, requiring 40 runs to level the two-match series with two days remaining following impressive performances from Mohammad Aamer and Imran Farhat.

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Pakistan needs 40 runs to beat Australia

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