(AFP) Several thousand Turkish Cypriots marched on Friday to protest a new regulation allowing pupils to wear Islamic headscarves in secondary schools, a move critics say threatens the community’s secular traditions. The rule, introduced in March in the breakaway Turkish Republic of […]
(Euronews) In the heart of Germany’s capital, a heated political debate has reignited over the boundaries of religious freedom in the public sphere. The Bundestag’s Green Party group has submitted a motion to abolish Berlin’s Neutrality Act (“Neutralitätsgesetz”), a law that prohibits […]
(Brussels Times) The province of East Flanders has introduced a ban on wearing religious and political symbols in provincial education, aimed at ensuring philosophical neutrality, a decision approved by the provincial council on Wednesday amid some controversy. Coalition partner Vooruit voted against […]
(GB News) NHS staff have been encouraged by top management to fast for Ramadan, to display “allyship” with Muslim colleagues. The “NHS Ramadan Challenge” called on NHS staff to join Muslims in fasting during the Islamic holy month in a poster circulated […]
(GB News) NHS staff have been informed how to convert to Islam in a guide made by the NHS Muslim Network. The Network’s “Guide for New Muslims” tells NHS staff that converting to Islam will be the “best decision you ever make” […]
(Euronews) The Greens party’s group in the Berlin House of Representatives has made a motion calling for the abolition of the so-called Neutrality Act, a law that prohibits civil servants from visibly wearing or displaying religious symbols while at work. The 2005 […]
(Canadian Press) Quebec’s minister responsible for secularism says the government isn’t ruling out expanding its religious symbols ban to include daycare employees. Jean-François Roberge says “everything is on the table” when it comes to strengthening secularism in the province, including extending the […]
(AFP) A French court ruled that a Muslim school could continue to receive state subsidies after local authorities in 2023 cut funding over alleged “serious breaches” of teaching rules, the court and its management said. Private schools can receive state subsidies in […]
(Canadian Press) Education Minister Bernard Drainville’s bill to extend secularism in Quebec schools is far from reaching consensus. While the list of people calling for the legislation to go further is growing, others are calling for it to be withdrawn altogether. In […]
(Montreal Gazette) Hearings into new legislation reinforcing secularism in schools Thursday rapidly took on the makings of an encore performance of the 2019 debate over Bill 21 on state secularism, with groups pro and con coming forward to push their views on […]
(AFP) On the outskirts of Paris, 44-year-old French Muslim weightlifter Sylvie Eberena concentrates hard and pushes 80 kilos of bar and weights clean over her veiled head. The single mother made her four children proud when she became the French national champion […]
(European Conservative) On Thursday, April 3rd, the European Parliament’s Strasbourg plenary adopted a resolution to condemn Iran for executing hundreds of political prisoners each year and to call for revoking the death sentence of two prominent activists facing imminent execution. However, when […]
(Knoxville News Sentinel) Though she was awarded more than $70,000 from the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, Layla Soliz’s case is far from over because, for her, it was never about the money. She is seeking to amend the sheriff’s office policy on […]
(Morocco World News) Marine Le Pen has called on Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood in France, expressing urgency that her party has been saying this for years. The leader of the National Rally (RN) parliamentary group addressed the […]
(CTV) Montreal City Hall has officially removed a welcome sign that depicted, among others, an image of a woman wearing a hijab. “The poster did not meet the desired objective,” said Catherine Cadotte, a press attaché for Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante. She […]
(CBC) The Quebec government has put forward legislation that would extend the province’s ban on the wearing of religious symbols to support staff in schools, and prohibit students from having their faces covered. Under Bill 94, the ban would apply to all staff […]
(WBIR) Knox County has agreed to pay a Muslim woman $71,500 in a partial settlement agreement after she brought a federal lawsuit against the county and its sheriff in October 2024 for publishing a mugshot of her without her religious headscarf. While […]
(Politico) French Prime Minister François Bayrou convened key Cabinet members on Tuesday after divisions among ministers over banning athletes from wearing hijabs during sporting events spilled into public view. “There’s only one line within the government … no visible religious symbols should […]
(European Conservative) Islamist demands in the world of sports reached a new milestone in France with the interruption of a regional football match by Muslim players for breaking the fast during Ramadan. Meanwhile, ministers are clashing over the legislative framework for wearing […]
(GB News) A former headteacher who urged pupils to “recite the Koran” and “wear hijabs outside of school” has been appointed as the chairman of Ofsted. Sir Hamid Patel will take up the interim role while a successor for Dame Christine Ryan […]
(Middle East Eye) A new promotional video by a Dutch modest clothing brand featuring the Eiffel Tower draped in an Islamic headscarf has sparked a barrage of anti-Muslim criticism and commentary in France this week. The realistic animation by Merrachi, which caters […]
(Canadian Press) The Quebec government has announced a new committee to make recommendations on how to strengthen secularism in the province, including by possibly restricting public prayer. Amid a flurry of concern over religious practices emerging in Quebec public schools, Secularism Minister […]
(Arab News) MPs in the UK have proposed making it a criminal offense to possess images of Muslim women not wearing hijabs without their consent. The suggestion was made in a report by the House of Commons’ women and equalities committee, which […]
(CTV) The federal government is officially intervening in the appeal of Quebec’s religious symbols law at Canada’s highest court. The attorney general of Canada filed a notice with the Supreme Court about its intention to “intervene, to file a factum, and to […]
(CBC) Quebec’s education minister said Friday the government is considering expanding its ban on religious symbols to include daycare supervisors and other school aides. Bernard Drainville told Radio-Canada’s Tout un matin he was concerned that there are some school staff members who […]
(DPA) Austria’s next government could ban girls up to the age of 14 from wearing headscarves, under the terms of a coalition deal reached by three centrist parties on Thursday. According to the parties’ programme, presented in Vienna, a ban is being […]
(AFP) France’s right-dominated Senate has backed a bill to ban religious symbols including the Muslim headscarf in all sport competitions, professional and amateur, sparking accusations of discrimination from the left and rights advocates. The bill still needs a majority of votes from […]
(AP) Amnesty International is urging French lawmakers to reject a bill this week that would ban headscarves in all sporting competitions. The bill is backed by right-wing senators and will be debated from Tuesday in the upper house of the French parliament. […]
(Anadolu) A French judge expelled Tunisian-French activist Hager Barkous from a courtroom in Nice last Friday because she was wearing a hijab. Barkous, 31, had attended the hearing of a fellow activist on trial for incitement to hatred after calling for a […]
(CBC) With the Supreme Court agreeing to hear a challenge against Quebec’s controversial secularism law, Bill 21, Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland, presumed front-runners to replace Justin Trudeau, say they encourage the prime minister to follow through on his word to have […]
(Canadian Press) The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision to hear a challenge of Quebec’s secularism law sets up a final legal battle between the provincial government and minority and civil rights groups — and possibly a showdown between Quebec and Ottawa. The […]
(Canadian Press) The Supreme Court of Canada will announce next week whether it will hear a challenge to Quebec’s secularism law, known as Bill 21. The groups seeking leave to appeal say they have been informed the country’s highest court is expected […]
(WBIR) The Davidson County sheriff provided a declaration in a federal lawsuit about his department’s policy surrounding arrestees who wear religious head coverings. Layla Soliz, who practices Islam, is suing Knox County and the sheriff because she said a sheriff’s office employee […]
(European Conservative) Austrian citizens’ desire for Muslims to adapt to Austrian culture is “Islamophobic,” the country’s state broadcaster has claimed. According to a recently released study by the University of Vienna, 75% of Austrians agreed with the statement that Muslims should adapt […]
(Dutch News) Council street wardens, or BOAs, should have “a neutral image” and will not be allowed to wear any religious symbols from next year, justice minister David van Weel has said in a briefing to MPs. The measure will “strengthen public […]
(Canadian Press) A national Muslim advocacy group says Montreal would send the wrong message if it takes down a welcome sign in the lobby at city hall that generated controversy because it included a woman wearing a hijab. Stephen Brown, chief executive […]
(Canadian Press) A welcome sign in the lobby of Montreal’s newly renovated city hall depicting a woman wearing a headscarf will be removed in the name of secularism, Montreal’s mayor says, following criticism that the image is offensive. Valérie Plante said during […]
(Anadolu) UN experts on Monday called on France to reverse “discriminatory measures” banning women and girls who choose to wear the hijab from doing so while playing sports. The experts said in a statement that the decisions by the French football and […]
(Radio France) France saw a drop in cases of students flouting France’s strict secularism rules, or laicite, at the start of this school year, according to the new education minister Anne Genetet, who also called for more training for teachers in how […]
(AFP) Weaving between market stalls in the working-class Brussels district of Molenbeek, Fouad Ahidar likes to remind voters he was a market vendor himself as a teenager — driving home his credentials as a people’s politician. Something of a rising star on […]
(Euronews) An 18-year-old student was taken into police custody on Monday evening after allegedly assaulting her teacher at Lycée Sévigné in the northern French city of Tourcoing. The incident reportedly happened after the teacher asked the student to remove her headscarf, as […]
(NY Post) Maybe it was lost in translation. A longtime French teacher claims the Upper East Side’s elite, all-girls Spence School fired her for giving a straightforward answer about France’s controversial hijab law — which triggered the principal’s daughter so much she […]
(Reuters) Days before the Paris Olympics began, French sprinter Sounkamba Sylla was stuck in a row with her government over the right to wear a hijab at the opening ceremony. But after a last-gasp compromise was found — in the shape of […]
(AP) French sprinter Sounkamba Sylla will be allowed to participate in the opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics wearing a cap to cover her hair, an agreement reached with the French Olympic Committee after Sylla said she was barred because of her […]
(AP) French sprinter Sounkamba Sylla says she has been barred from Friday’s opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics because she wears a hijab, and the French Olympic Committee said it is working with her to find a solution that adheres to the […]
(Arab News) Amnesty International has accused France of breaking international human rights law by enforcing a ban on women competing at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris wearing headscarves. In a report on the ban published on Tuesday, Amnesty also accused the […]
(Deutsche Welle) In 2015, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled against a general headscarf ban for teachers, saying that such a ban was incompatible with the freedom of religion guaranteed in the German Constitution. Nine years later, the same court is again addressing […]
(Canadian Press) After concerns of bias raised by the Quebec government and others, a Supreme Court of Canada justice will not participate in deliberations about whether the high court will hear an appeal to the province’s secularism law, known as Bill 21. […]
(CBC) The Quebec government is requesting that Supreme Court Justice Mahmud Jamal recuse himself from hearing the challenge to the province’s secularism law because he was board president for one of the plaintiffs. In letters sent to the registrar of the Supreme […]
(AFP) Muslim voters are increasingly worried about the prospect of a far-right victory less than two weeks before France’s snap parliamentary elections, fearing the possible restrictions that could follow. For Sarah, there’s a “real risk” of seeing the National Rally (RN) win […]
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