If this law will be implemented, a woman wearing the veil in public is supposed to be fined €150. In September the proposal will be forwarded to the french senators in the Upper house, and if they ratify the ban, it will become a law by the spring of 2011.

France has more than 5 million Muslim citizens, who are being deeply antagonized by this move. Rachid Nekkaz, a successful property developer has pledged one million euros from his pocket to pay the fines of any woman fined for wearing the veil. Nekkaz, has said that he along with the other Muslim french citizens, feel that this is a persecution of his religion and a direct attack on the liberty and freedom of individuals.

Rachid Nekkaz, that the money he is committing is as such for the protection the liberty of women in France and that one million euros is a small price for something as great as liberty. Describing the proposed law as ‘Unconstitutional’, he has asked other french people to join him in fighting the law from being enforced.
The Muslims consider the covering of the woman or the hijab is a command of Allah, mentioned in the Quran for the protection of the modesty of the women and not to degrade them.

The veil is worn by Muslim women as a personal choice, not being forced on any individual. Most Muslim women even feel that wearing the veil liberates them from the dirty gazes of pervert strangers.

Many social activists are saying that putting a ban on the veil is a direct insult to the fundamental right of a women to wear to choose her dressing and also to practice her religion. A ban not only going against the constitution of France but also making a mockery of the ‘Freedom of Expession’ which the french have always claimed to safeguard.
The British have already given a statement that such a ban would be very undemocratic.

With France being one of the oldest democracy in the world, this act by the french government is being called by many as a religiously intolerant stance and against the very basis of democracy, that being liberty and equal freedom for all.

Once the bill has been approved by the legislation, it would become illegal to wear the face covering veil in public.

Any trespassers to the law would be fined USD 190. Furthermore, Nicholas Sarkozy, the President of France states that wearing a veil is “degrading fro women”.

The debate at the National Assembly puts an end to months of public disproval for imposition rules that are inundated with risk. According to legal experts, there is broad scope of the law banning the veil ion all public places as opposed to state institutions could be imposed by the constitutional court.

According to Muslim leaders, it would stoke further tensions. Many Muslims are living in the suburbs and imposition of the new rule could aggravate tensions in the five to six million Muslims living in France.

According to the law no penalties would be applied for the first six months after the imposition of the ban.

[Source: AP]

The US anti missile protection shield would be stationed in Poland. Deal was signed in the presence of the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton at the Polish City of Krakow.

This is a pact that aims to defend Europe against all kinds of potential threats from Iran and elsewhere. According to Clinton who attended the Joint News Conference with Radoslaw Sikorski the Polish Foreign Minister, the United States of America is deeply concerned and committed to meet the security and soverigfhnty needs of Poland.

He also added that signing the ballistic missile agreement, the US government is renewing their commitment to spread peace and security in the entire world.

There have been recent changes in the Poland where the US president Barrack Obama, decided last year to scrap the plan by George Bush according  to which the government was supposed to deploy longer range Missile defense system for Poland.

Presently smaller Sea and land based missiles would be sent to Poland and Czech Republic. Poland seems to have accepted the new approach as stated by Sikorski.

[Source: AP]

With Americans having already agreed that the war in Afghanistan is almost impossible to win, the British PM has said that, this war was his biggest challenge in office. The withdrawal would be restricted to the combat troops, with some forces staying behind to train the Afghan police and soldiers.

He also said that a diplomatic presence will be maintained in the country that has been devastated by war. With increasing pressure on the government to clarify it’s stand on the Afghan war, the announcement was made by the PM himself in an interview. More and more demands are being made for the early withdrawal of army, since the recent rise in the toll of deaths of the British troops in Afghanistan.

Belgium has earlier drawn a 18 months plan for it’s tenure as well as the tenure of it’s predecessor, Spain and it’s successor, Hungary. The main challenge Belgium would be facing is to tackle financial regulation and to increase economic coordination amongst EU member states.

During the earlier Spanish presidency, Europe faces problems like Public debts and the fall in the value of Euro. Belgium being one of the founder members of the EU has already held the the presidency 12 times.

This heavy responsibility comes at a time when, Belgium is in a state of political uncertainty, wherein a government is yet to be formed after the recent elections. But the Belgium’s acting Prime Minister Yves Leterme of the caretaker government has assured that  Belgium is capable of take the task on hand, to lead the EU.

But it is a well know fact that the appointment of the ceremonial head of the state is very straightforward and if there is a loss for Angela Markel’s candidate, it would push her government in ruins.

In the word of Nils Diedrich who is a political scientist at Berlin’s Free University as told to the AFP news agency, in case Wluff lost in the elections, it would lead to an enormous loss of face.

However, according to other observation by Alan Fisher who is a news correspondent in Berlin, the decline in voting has proved to be a challenge to Markel’s’ Authority.

According to the results of presidential elections, Christian Wluff from the Merkel Coalition has secured 615 votes in the second round and it needs another 623 for an absolute majority.

Opposition candidates Joachim Gauck from Social Democrats won 490 votes in the ballot of 1,244 Mps and other public figures. The ballot is being conducted following the resignation of Horst Koehler on 31^st May.

According to Koehler, he has resigned following criticism of the Germany Military’s role abroad. If elected Wulff would be the youngest ever president of Germany.

[Source: AP]

According to reports, the blasts occurred near a concert hall in Grozny Where Ramzan Kadyrov the republican president was attending performance on Wednesday. The local investigators have confirmed that five soldiers have been injured in the suicide bombing.

The Russian Media states that the Suicide Bomber has approached a police Quadron around the theatre before detonating the explosives. This was the first suicide bombing in Grozny the capital of Chechnya in Russia’s Volatile North Caucasus region.

Kadyrov has promised that the police officers who were affected by the blasts would be rightfully rewarded. According to the Interfax news agency, it is difficult to ascertain what was it that the bomber wanted but those officers who tried to prevent the blast would be rewarded for their bravado.

Looking back Chechnya has been the target of two fierce wars following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet government.

This was a time when thousands of people were killed in the conflicts between the separatists and the Russian forces, which is now reduced to hit and run attacks and other small scale duels with the police and Russian government.

[Source: Al Jazeerah Agency]

The Human Rights body stated on Tuesday that the practice is illegal and it contradicts the EU’s anti torture guidelines and is self deteriorating in the fight against terrorism.

The use of such information extracting techniques is ridden with risks as it will lead to increase in demand for torture intelligence which is not right. The New York based group has called on the three countries to publicly accept that they will reject reliance on any such intelligence and thus confirm the prohibition of the application of torture evidence in their proceedings.

According to Judith Sunderland who is a senior researcher at Human Rights watch, Berlin, Paris and London should be working with the intention of eradicating torture rather than relying on international torture intelligence.

The British government reacted to the pressure from the Human rights group by issuing fresh set of rules and regulations that describe how to avoid being complicit in torture. Also according to experts the intelligence gathered from such torture techniques are very unreliable.

[Source: Al Jazeerah Agency]

There have been clashes between the activists and the Riot police had to fire tear gas in order to disperse the crowds. But the streets of Athens resounded with the chants of “burn Parliament” bringing to light the nation’s resistance against the governments spending cuts.

The scene turned violent as dozens of youths wearing masks started throwing rubble and petrol bombs as there were clashes between various communist affiliated groups. The activists burned trash bins and there was smoke everywhere and all commercial activities were shut down.

Almost ten thousand people took to the streets and marched across the nation and this also affected the public transport system. The tourism industry that is a main source of funds for Athens was also affected as violent protesters prevented tourist from boarding the ships to the Greek Islands.

According to observers, such activities would do more damage than good to the already drought affected nation. Despina Spanou the board member of the Public Sector Union ADEDY said that the measures will not help the nation and in fact it would lead to deeper recession and poverty.

[Source: BBC news]

Benedict expressed his dislike of the deplorable methods employed by the Belgian police and thus further strengthened his closeness and solidarity with the Church.

But the Belgian Police has justified their actions that were based on leads following sexual abuse allegations directed at the high level members of the Church.

According to the Belgian Justice Minister the Vatican has been over reacting as the Bishops were treated normally and the accusations that the bishops received no food or drink are fictitious as put forth by the media.

The Belgian police received a double blow from the other church officials in protest of the deplorable acts of the Belgian Police as they described it as serious and unbelievable.

But the Belgian church has had its own share of crimes when a 73 year old Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, confessed of his crime of sexually abusing a boy for many years.

[Source: Al Jazeerah Agency]