Politician rebuked for wearing burqa in Australian Senate

In this combination of photos, Sen. Pauline Hanson takes off a burqa she wore into the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Thursday. (AP)
Updated 17 August 2017
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Politician rebuked for wearing burqa in Australian Senate

SYDNEY: Australian anti-immigration politician Pauline Hanson caused a furor Thursday when she entered the Senate wearing a full burqa, earning a blistering rebuke from the country’s top lawyer for the “appalling” stunt.
Hanson wore the garment in the chamber to highlight what she said were the security issues it posed, linking it to terrorism as fellow senators heckled her.
“Will you work to ban the burqa in Australia in light of what is happening with national security?” she said after whipping off the garment to question Attorney-General George Brandis.
She added: “Terrorism is a true threat to our country, many Australians are in fear of it.”
Brandis said his conservative government had no such plans, warning Hanson she risked offending the Muslim community by wearing a burka when she was not a follower of Islam.
“To ridicule that community, to drive it into a corner, to mock its religious garments is an appalling thing to do, and I would ask you to reflect on what you have done,” he said.
Brandis, his voice cracking with emotion, also said that being a strict adherent Muslim, such as those who wear the burka, was “absolutely consistent” with being a law-abiding citizen.
“We have about half-a-million Australians in this country of the Islamic faith and the vast majority of them are law-abiding, good Australians,” he said.
Brandis’ remarks prompted a standing ovation from his political opponents in the Labor and Greens parties.
Independent Sen. Derryn Hinch labelled Hanson’s conduct “disgusting.”
“Pauline Hanson mocked the religion of some Australians ... she made a mockery of an honorable place (the Senate),” he told Sky News.
Labor senator Sam Dastyari accused Hanson of stoking extremism in a poorly timed bid for “a cheap headline.”
“In the same week that we saw white nationalism rear its ugly head in the country of our closest ally — in that week a stunt like this gets pulled in the Australian Senate,” he said.
“It is hurtful, it is offensive, it is wrong,“
Hanson first gained prominence in the 1990s, when she warned Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Asians.”
After a 12-year hiatus from politics she returned in 2014, this time targeting Muslims and was elected to the Senate two years later as leader of the right-wing One Nation party.
In her first speech after returning to parliament, she said Islam was “a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own.”
Hanson was unrepentant after her latest stunt, telling commercial radio: “Is it extreme? Yes. Is it getting my message across? I hope so.”


Pakistan condemns Trump for bombing Iran a day after recommending him for a Nobel Peace Prize

Updated 38 sec ago
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Pakistan condemns Trump for bombing Iran a day after recommending him for a Nobel Peace Prize

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan condemned US President Donald Trump for bombing Iran, less than 24 hours after saying he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for defusing a recent crisis with India.
Relations between the two South Asian countries plummeted after a massacre of tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir in April. The nuclear-armed rivals stepped closer to war in the weeks that followed, attacking each other until intense diplomatic efforts, led by the US, resulted in a truce for which Trump took credit.
It was this “decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership” that Pakistan praised in an effusive message Saturday night on the X platform when it announced its formal recommendation for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Less than 24 hours later, however, it condemned the US for attacking Iran, saying the strikes “constituted a serious violation of international law” and the statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a phone call Sunday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, expressed his concern that the bombings had targeted facilities that were under the safeguards of the IAEA. Pakistan has close ties with Iran and supports its attacks on Israel, saying it has the right to self-defense.
There was no immediate comment on Monday from Islamabad about the Trump Nobel recommendation, which also followed a high-profile White House lunch meeting between the president and Pakistan’s powerful army chief, Asim Munir.
Thursday’s meeting, which lasted more than two hours, was also attended by the Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, the US Special Representative for Middle Eastern Affairs.
According to a Pakistani military statement, a detailed exchange of views took place on the “prevailing tensions between Iran and Israel, with both leaders emphasizing the importance of the resolution of the conflict.”
While Pakistan was quick to thank Trump for his intervention in its crisis with India, New Delhi played it down and said there was no need for external mediation on the Kashmir issue.
The Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and India but claimed by both in its entirety. India accuses Pakistan of backing militant groups in the region, which Pakistan denies.

Thailand heads into political turbulence as Cambodia row festers

Updated 9 min 36 sec ago
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Thailand heads into political turbulence as Cambodia row festers

  • Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has come under fire after a phone call between her and former Cambodian leader Hun Sen to diffuse a long-festering border dispute became public last Wednesday

BANGKOK: Thailand’s government said on Monday it would push ahead with a cabinet reshuffle this week, facing down a backlash against its handling of a border row with Cambodia that has left Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra hanging on to power by a thread.
Tensions with Thailand and Cambodia remain elevated, with the Southeast Asian neighbors announcing tit-for-tat measures that are stoking nationalist fervor on both sides and stymieing bilateral trade, including a suspension by Phnom Penh of all Thai fuel and gas imports that came into effect on Monday.
In Bangkok, days after the parliamentary majority of the ruling coalition led by Paetongtarn’s Pheu Thai party was threatened by the exit of a major alliance member, Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai sought to project unity.
“I’m 100 percent confident that we will move ahead strongly after the cabinet reshuffle is completed this week,” he told reporters.
“You will see a new way of working that’s different from before.”
Paetongtarn, a 38-year-old political novice and daughter of divisive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has come under fire after a phone call between her and former Cambodian leader Hun Sen to diffuse a long-festering border dispute became public last Wednesday.
In the audio, which was released in full by Hun Sen after the initial leak of a clip, the Thai premier appears to grovel before the Cambodian politician and also denigrates a senior Thai military commander in charge of the disputed border area.
Hours after the audio became public, the second-largest coalition member, the Bhumjaithai Party, quit the government, putting its parliamentary majority and Paetongtarn’s premiership under threat.
Pheu Thai has managed to hold the remainder of its coalition together, with the cabinet reshuffle meant to redistribute ministerial positions previously held by Bhumjaithai.
The coalition’s stability will be tested in parliament, which reconvenes next week, and on the streets as anti-government groups plan a major protest to call for the prime minister’s resignation which will start on Saturday.
Adding to the pressure, Paetongtarn also faces scrutiny from the judiciary after a group of senators seeking her removal petitioned the Constitutional Court and an anti-graft body to investigate her conduct over the leaked phone call.
“The government cannot take anything for granted,” said Titipol Phakdeewanich, a political science professor at Ubon Ratchathani University.
“There’s more instability ahead.”

TRADE UNDER THREAT
At the root of the current crisis for Paetongtarn and Pheu Thai is a historic border dispute with Cambodia, which has previously led to violent clashes, including the death of a Cambodian soldier during a skirmish last month.
Partly banking on strong ties between the Shinawatra family and Hun Sen, the government initially pushed for a diplomatic solution to the flare-up, even as Cambodia moved to petition the International Court of Justice to resolve the matter.
However, the unexpected release of the audio not only brought the Thai government to the brink, it has also led to a further deterioration in relations between the neighbors.
Hun Manet, Cambodia’s prime minister and Hun Sen’s son, said on Sunday that his administration would stop all fuel and gas imports from Thailand, following an earlier move to stall the entry of some Thai agricultural produce.
“Fuel supply companies in Cambodia are able to import sufficiently from other sources to meet domestic fuel and gas demands,” he said in a post on Facebook.
For its part, the Thai government has handed over control of border crossings along the Cambodian frontier to its military, which has tightened entry restrictions and shut down one crossing point, citing security concerns.
Cambodia was Thailand’s 11th largest export market last year, with $10.4 billion in bilateral trade between the neighbors, dominated by precious stones, jewelry and fuels, according to Thai government data.
And more than half a million Cambodian workers are employed in Thailand, according to the Thai Labour Ministry.
“The Cambodia situation is complex; it isn’t about just a conflict between the two countries,” said Titipol, “There is also a Hun-Shinawatra dimension that could still shake the government.”


Erdogan says won’t let terror ‘drag Syria back to instability’

Updated 2 min 44 sec ago
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Erdogan says won’t let terror ‘drag Syria back to instability’

ISTANBUL: Turkiye will not allow extremists to drag Syria back into chaos and instability, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday after a suicide attack killed 22 at a Damascus church.
“We will never allow our neighbor and brother Syria... be dragged into a new environment of instability through proxy terrorist organizations,” he said, vowing to support the new government’s fight against such groups.


President Lee picks South Korea’s first civilian defense chief in 64 years

Updated 23 June 2025
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President Lee picks South Korea’s first civilian defense chief in 64 years

SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung nominated a five-term liberal lawmaker as defense minister Monday, breaking with a tradition of appointing retired military generals.
The announcement came as several prominent former defense officials, including ex-Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, face high-profile criminal trials over their roles in carrying out martial law last year under then-President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was indicted on rebellion charges and removed from office.
Ahn Gyu-back, a lawmaker from Lee’s Democratic Party, has served on the National Assembly’s defense committee and chaired a legislative panel that investigated the circumstances surrounding Yoon’s martial law decree.
Yoon’s authoritarian move involved deploying hundreds of heavily armed troops to the National Assembly and election commission offices in what prosecutors described as an illegal attempt to shut down the legislature and arrest political opponents and election officials.
That sparked calls to strengthen civilian control over the military, and Lee promised during his election campaign to appoint a defense minister with a civilian background.
Since a 1961 coup that brought military dictator Park Chung-hee to power, all of South Korea’s defense ministers have come from the military — a trend that continued even after the country’s democratization in the late 1980s.
While Ahn will face a legislative hearing, the process is likely to be a formality, since the Democrats hold a comfortable majority in the National Assembly and legislative consent isn’t required for Lee to appoint him. Among Cabinet appointments, Lee only needs legislative consent for prime minister, Seoul’s nominal No. 2 job.
“As the first civilian Minister of National Defense in 64 years, he will be responsible for leading and overseeing the transformation of the military after its mobilization in martial law,” Kang Hoon-sik, Lee’s chief of staff, said in a briefing.
Ahn was among 11 ministers nominated by Lee on Monday, with longtime diplomat Cho Hyun selected as foreign minister and five-term lawmaker Chung Dong-young returning for another stint as unification minister — a position he held from 2004 to 2005 as Seoul’s point man for relations with North Korea.


Tokyo voters punish Japan ruling party ahead of national election

Updated 23 June 2025
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Tokyo voters punish Japan ruling party ahead of national election

  • Public support for PM Ishiba has been at rock bottom for months, partly because of high inflation, with rice prices doubling over the past year

TOKYO: Voters in Tokyo knocked Japan’s ruling party from its position as the largest group in the city assembly, results showed Monday, a warning sign for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s unpopular government before July elections.
Japanese media said it was a record-low result in the key local ballot for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has led the country almost continuously since 1955.
Public support for Ishiba, who took office in October, has been at rock-bottom for months, partly because of high inflation, with rice prices doubling over the past year.
The LDP took 21 Tokyo assembly seats in Sunday’s vote, including three won by candidates previously affiliated with the party but not officially endorsed following a political funding scandal.
This breaks the party’s previous record low of 23 seats from 2017, according to the Asahi Shimbun and other local media.
Ishiba described the results as a “very harsh judgment.”
“We will study what part of our campaign pledge failed to resonate with voters and ensure we learn from this,” he told reporters on Monday.
Tomin First no Kai, founded by Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, increased its seats in the 127-member assembly to 31, becoming the largest party.
The funding scandal “may have affected” the result, Shinji Inoue, head of the LDP’s Tokyo chapter, said Sunday as exit polls were released.
Policies to address inflation “didn’t reach voters’ ears very well” with opposition parties also pledging to tackle the issue, Inoue said.


Within weeks Ishiba will face elections for parliament’s upper house, with reports saying the national ballot could be held on July 20.
Voters angry with rising prices and political scandals deprived Ishiba’s LDP and its junior coalition partner of a majority in the powerful lower house in October, marking the party’s worst general election result in 15 years.
Polls this month showed a slight uptick in support, however, thanks in part to policies to tackle high rice prices.
Several factors lie behind recent shortages of rice at Japanese shops, including an intensely hot and dry summer two years ago that damaged harvests nationwide, and panic-buying after a “mega-quake” warning last year.
Some traders have been hoarding rice in a bid to boost their profits down the line, experts say.
Not including volatile fresh food, goods and energy in Japan were 3.7 percent higher in May than a year earlier.
To help households combat the cost of living, Ishiba has pledged cash handouts of 20,000 yen ($139) for every citizen ahead of the upper house election.


Masahisa Endo, a politics professor at Waseda University, described the Tokyo assembly result as “severe” for the ruling party.
“Tokyo is not a stronghold for the LDP, but it’s possible that its support is weakening across the nation,” he said.
Even if Ishiba fails to win an upper-house majority, it is hard to see who would want to take his place, while Japan’s opposition parties are too divided to mount a credible challenge to the LDP’s power, Endo told AFP.
The opposition Democratic Party For the People (DPP) won seats for the first time in the Tokyo assembly vote, securing nine.
The DPP’s campaign pledge for the July election includes sales tax cuts to boost household incomes.
Sunday’s voter turnout rate was 47.6 percent, compared to the 42.4 percent four years ago, according to local media.
A record 295 candidates ran — the highest since 1997, including 99 women candidates, also a record high.
The number of women assembly members rose to 45 from 41, results showed.