PARIS: French far-right leader Marine Le Pen proposed a ban on Muslim headscarves in all public places on Friday, seeking to build on a record recent poll putting her almost neck-and-neck with President Emmanuel Macron.
The hijab policy, which would be contested in court and almost certainly be ruled unconstitutional, saw the 53-year-old return to a familiar campaign theme 15 months from the country’s 2022 presidential election.
“I consider that the headscarf is an Islamist item of clothing,” Le Pen told reporters at a press conference where she proposed a new law to ban “Islamist ideologies” which she called “totalitarian and murderous.”
Since taking over France’s main far-right party from her father, Le Pen has run twice for the French presidency, losing badly in 2017 to political newcomer Macron in a defeat that she took months to recover from.
But recent polling shows her closer than ever to her ultimate prize and has led to a rash of new speculation about whether the anti-EU, anti-immigration populist could finally enter the Elysee Palace.
Despite recent setbacks for fellow ideologues such as Donald Trump, and Matteo Salvini in Italy, a survey reported earlier this week showed her within striking distance of Macron.
The poll conducted online by Harris Interactive suggested that if a final-round presidential run-off were held today Le Pen would garner 48 percent while Macron would be re-elected with 52 percent, Le Parisien newspaper reported.
“It’s a poll, it’s a snapshot of a moment, but what it shows is that the idea of me winning is credible, plausible even,” Le Pen said at the Friday press conference.
The prospect of a tight race set off alarm bells in the French political mainstream as the dual health and economic crises caused by the coronavirus pandemic sweep across the country.
“It’s the highest she has ever been at,” said Jean-Yves Camus, a French political scientist specialized in the far-right, while adding that it was “too early to take the polls at face value.”
He said Le Pen was benefiting from frustration and anger over the pandemic, with France on the verge of a third lockdown, but also the beheading of a French school teacher by an Islamist last October.
“It had a major impact on public opinion,” the expert from the Jean-Jaures Foundation told AFP. “And in this area, Marine Le Pen has an advantage: her party is well known for its position denouncing Islamism.”
The beheading of Samuel Paty in a town northwest of Paris rekindled bitter arguments in France about immigration and the threat of Islamism, while putting the country’s strict form of secularism under international scrutiny.
The secondary school teacher was attacked in the street by an 18-year-old extremist after he showed satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to pupils during a civics class on free speech.
In response to Paty’s death, Macron’s government shut a number of organizations deemed Islamist and drafted law legislation initially called “the anti-separatism bill” which cracks down on foreign funding for Islamic organizations.
If re-elected after a campaign that is expected to be centered on jobs, the pandemic and the place of Islam in France, 43-year-old Macron would be the first president since Jacques Chirac in 2002 to win a second term.
Under the presidential system, the top two candidates in a first round of voting progress to a second-round run-off where the winner must get more than 50 percent.
A Le Pen win “was improbable three and half years ago,” veteran political commentator Alain Duhamel told the BFM news channel this week.
“But today I wouldn’t say that it is probable, but I’d say, without any pleasure, that it seems to me to be possible.”
A re-run of the Macron-Le Pen contest of 2017, which all polls currently show as the most likely outcome, could increase the abstention rate and disillusionment with the French political system.
Turnout in the second round in 2017 was 74.6 percent, its lowest level since 1969, because many voters from the left declined to cast a ballot.
France’s Le Pen, at record high in polls, proposes hijab ban
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France’s Le Pen, at record high in polls, proposes hijab ban
- Le Pen was rejected by the French public in her last election, but has since experienced a resurgence in popularity
- A string of terror attacks in France and the pandemic's health crisis have helped her in the polls
Biden, Cyprus president discuss administration push to win ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon
- Christodoulides said he was “quite optimistic” that a Lebanon ceasefire deal could emerge in one to two weeks
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides on Wednesday discussed a new effort by the US administration and mediators in the Middle East to forge ceasefires to end fighting in Lebanon and Gaza.
Christodoulides leads the European Union nation closest to Gaza. The small Mediterranean island nation has played a critical role in efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza since the war between Hamas and Israel began more than a year ago.
He said that Biden and White House officials briefed him on the latest stepped-up efforts by the US administration and other mediators but declined to offer further details about the discussion.
“The most important, the number one priority of the international community now is to have a ceasefire in the region,” Christodoulides told reporters after his Oval Office talks with Biden.
He added that situation on the ground changes daily but that he was “quite optimistic” that a Lebanon ceasefire deal could emerge in one to two weeks.
Senior White House officials Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein will visit Israel on Thursday for talks on possible ceasefires in both Lebanon and Gaza, and on the release of hostages held by Hamas, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. She said CIA Director Bill Burns will head to Egypt on Thursday to discuss those efforts.
A proposal to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah calls for a two-month ceasefire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon, and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the country’s southern border, according to two US officials familiar with the talks said. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Biden, meanwhile, thanked Cyprus for helping move badly needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and for the Mediterranean nation’s cooperation in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The meeting, the first Oval visit by a Cypriot president since 1996, comes days after US and Cypriot officials announced the countries are launching a strategic dialogue aimed at bolstering security and stability in a crisis-wracked region through initiatives including counterterrorism training of personnel from Middle Eastern countries and fighting sanctions evasion.
The new coordination is just the latest example of Cyprus tightening relations with the US after decades of walking a tightrope between Washington and Moscow. Cyprus has moved closer to the US since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“Today we stood against Russia’s vicious onslaught against Ukraine, we launched a strategic dialogue, we increased cooperation across a range of issues, from energy security to artificial intelligence, and we surged humanitarian aid, delivering 8000 metric tons to Gaza,” Biden said.
The US is also funding a center on the island nation under the acronym CYCLOPS that trains personnel from Cyprus and neighboring countries on maritime and cybersecurity as well as counterterrorism techniques.
The Cyprus government has also stepped up coordination with local law enforcement, the US Department of Justice and the FBI to help combat the evasion of sanctions against Russia and other countries.
The FBI is helping train Cypriot police in identifying and prosecuting cases of illegal financing and attempts to evade US, European Union and UN sanctions imposed on any third country.
Last month, Cyprus and the US signed a defense cooperation framework agreement that outlines ways the two countries can enhance their response to regional humanitarian crises and security concerns.
Christodoulides said Cyprus has proven to be a “predictable and reliable partner of the United States in a region of great geopolitical importance.”
Earlier this year, Cyprus helped the US establish a Gaza maritime corridor for the shipborne delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory.
The $230 million temporary pier project was derided as a boondoggle by critics and was beset by turbulent weather, security threats and sweeping personnel restrictions. The Pentagon pulled the plug on the effort after about four months.
The Biden administration had set a goal of the US sea route and pier providing food to feed 1.5 million people for 90 days. It fell short, bringing in enough to feed about 450,000 people for a month before shutting down, according to a USAID inspector general’s report.
Asian contribution to Britain’s war campaigns deserves greater recognition: Campaigners
- Politicians, Muslim community leaders highlight heroism of Victoria Cross recipient Khudadad Khan
- They are calling for new historical education in schools as part of anti-racism, anti-Islamophobia push
LONDON: Politicians and Muslim community leaders in the UK are calling for greater recognition in schools of Asian soldiers who fought for Britain during the two world wars, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
The appeal comes on the 110th anniversary of the first Muslim recipient of the Victoria Cross medal.
Campaigners say greater awareness of the sacrifice of Commonwealth soldiers could help tackle racism and Islamophobia in the UK.
The story of Khudadad Khan is at the center of the appeal. The machine-gunner was injured in 1914 as he tried to prevent German troops from capturing vital territory in France and Belgium, holding off an enemy advance long enough for reinforcements to arrive despite being wounded and outnumbered.
He was the only survivor of the battle, and was presented with the Victoria Cross by King George V in 1915.
After the war Khan returned to Pakistan, which was then part of pre-partition India. The Imperial War Museum in London displays his Victoria Cross.
Khan’s heroism is being highlighted by Leeds Imam Qari Asim, chair of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board; Labour MP Calvin Bailey; and House of Lords member Sayeeda Warsi, whose two grandfathers fought in the Second World War.
They say Khan’s story should feature prominently during the 80th anniversary commemorations of VE Day next year as part of a larger campaign to combat racism and Islamophobia in Britain.
Asim highlighted his alarm over the nationwide rioting that took place earlier this year. “It was frightening this summer to see a toxic minority attacking mosques and threatening Muslims in their community,” he said.
“If they knew this country’s history — what Khudadad Khan and thousands of other Muslim soldiers did for Britain in the world wars — perhaps they would think differently.
“We should do more to raise awareness, among Muslims and non-Muslims alike, of this service and sacrifice. We are all part of Britain’s history and that’s something we can commemorate together.”
Research conducted earlier this year by Focaldata for British Future found that 77 percent of the UK public believe that it is important for integration that school students are taught “shared history.”
A further 85 percent agreed that the history of all Commonwealth soldiers who fought for Britain should be taught in school.
Warsi said: “We saw the very worst of Britain this summer, as an angry few turned their anger first on ethnic and faith minorities, and then on the police doing their job to protect people.
“Next month we will remember the men and women whose service and sacrifice helped defend our freedoms.
“Those armies in the world wars included men like Khudadad Khan and soldiers from Africa and the Caribbean; they included both my grandfathers, too. Then, as now, Britain is at its best when we stand together.”
UK’s Labour government hikes taxes in first budget
- Reeves said £25 billion would come from hiking employers’ national insurance — a payrolls tax used to help pay for social care
- Changes to inheritance tax will raise more than £2 billion while the government is also hiking taxation on capital gains and property purchases
LONDON: Britain’s new Labour government on Wednesday announced major tax hikes and higher borrowing to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s aim of investing for long-term growth.
In the highly-anticipated fiscal update — the first under the center-left government after 14 years of Conservative rule — finance minister Rachel Reeves said tax increases would raise an additional £40 billion ($52 million).
Addressing parliament in a speech lasting more than one hour, Reeves also confirmed changes to fiscal rules that will allow the government to invest billions more in public services.
“This government was given a mandate,” Reeves told MPs.
“To restore stability to our country and to begin a decade of national renewal. The only way to drive economic growth is to invest, invest, invest,” she insisted.
Labour won a landslide general election in July and had already announced a raft of economic measures, including improved workers’ rights and minimum wages, a vast green-energy plan and plans for mass building of homes.
Ahead of the budget, it also drew strong criticism for scrapping a winter-fuel benefit scheme for millions of pensioners, hurting Starmer’s approval rating in polls.
“I am restoring stability to our public finances and rebuilding our public services,” Reeves said Wednesday.
Reeves said £25 billion would come from hiking employers’ national insurance — a payrolls tax used to help pay for social care.
Changes to inheritance tax will raise more than £2 billion while the government is also hiking taxation on capital gains and property purchases as part of its plans to claw back money.
The pound won back ground as Reeves spoke, while London’s stock market was little changed.
“At this stage, massive tax rises have not spooked financial markets,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at traders XTB.
The government kept its pledge not to raise income taxes, employee national insurance charges, or value added tax.
Outgoing Tory leader Rishi Sunak, Britain’s former prime minister, said the budget contains “broken promise after broken promise.”
Ahead of her tax and spend plans, Reeves made a technical change to the way UK debt is measured to allow her to borrow more, even though the country’s public sector borrowing is now at levels last seen in the 1960s.
To boost investment, the chancellor will use a wider measure of debt that takes into account the future returns on investment.
Reeves on Wednesday said the extra investment in capital infrastructure projects would start to “repair the fabric of our nation.”
The government will invest billions of pounds to rebuild schools, hire teachers and fund childcare.
In a surprise move, she extended the freeze on fuel duty until next year.
The cash-strapped National Health Service will receive a substantial boost, with the day-to-day health budget receiving an increase of nearly £23 billion.
Alongside the budget, Reeves said Britain’s economy was set to grow faster than forecast this year and next.
The nation’s gross domestic product will expand 1.1 percent in 2024 and by 2.0 percent next year — above estimates given in March by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), Britain’s fiscal watchdog.
Britain is benefiting from its annual inflation rate dropping to under the Bank of England’s 2.0-percent target, easing a cost-of-living crisis.
The International Monetary Fund this month also estimated that Britain’s economy would grow 1.1 percent in 2024.
Looking beyond next year, the OBR on Wednesday downgraded Britain’s growth forecasts for the 2026-2028 period.
Bangladesh cuts Hajj package fee by 20% to accommodate more pilgrims
- Bangladeshis will pay $920 less than this year for the 2025 pilgrimage package
- Hajj quota for Bangladesh was 127,000 in 2024 but only 85,000 pilgrims traveled
DHAKA: The Bangladeshi government cut the cost of Hajj packages on Wednesday to make the spiritual journey more accessible in next year’s pilgrimage season.
Last year, Saudi Arabia granted Bangladesh a quota of 127,000 pilgrims, but high inflation and the cost of flights to the Middle East meant only 85,000 were able to embark on the spiritual journey.
In 2024, the minimum government rate for Hajj was nearly $5,000; for 2025, it will be about 20 percent lower.
“We have announced two Hajj packages today for next year’s Hajj. It’s good news for our pilgrims that costs have been reduced significantly this time, compared with last year. In one package, it has been reduced by $920, and in another one, the cost is reduced by around $100,” Matiul Islam, additional secretary at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News.
“This huge reduction in the Hajj expense was mainly possible due to the reduction in plane fare and accommodation facilities.”
Under the cheaper package, pilgrims will stay in accommodation some 3 km from the Great Mosque of Makkah, while hotels will be located within 1.5 km of the sacred site under the more expensive one.
Bangladesh, one of the most populous Muslim-majority countries, also struggled to meet its Hajj quota in 2023, as few people were able to afford it.
The government is hopeful this will not be the case in 2025.
“We hope that the Hajj quota will be fulfilled as Hajj expenses have been reduced significantly. As of today, around 9,000 pilgrims (are) registered for next year,” Islam said.
“I think the prospective pilgrims will register for Hajj in huge numbers in the next weeks, as many of them were waiting for the announcement of the new package.”
Next year’s Hajj is expected to begin on June 4. The deadline for Bangladeshi pilgrims to register is Nov. 30.
Philippines braces for new typhoon with regions still under water after deadly storm
- More than 300,000 people remained in emergency shelters after Tropical Storm Trami
- Kong-Rey is skirting northern Philippines before slamming into Taiwan on Thursday
MANILA: The Philippines braced on Wednesday for the possible impact of another powerful typhoon sweeping the country’s north, days after a storm wreaked havoc on its most populous island, leaving at least 139 people dead and dozens missing.
Kong-rey — locally known as Leon — reached super-typhoon strength on Wednesday and was expected to bring strong winds and heavy rainfall as it skirted the northernmost province of Batanes, said the weather bureau, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.
The PAGASA also warned of a moderate-to-high risk of “life-threatening coastal flooding due to storm surge with peak heights exceeding 3.0 meters.”
This could be triggered by Kong-rey in low-lying coasts of Batanes and the nearby Babuyan cluster of islands, home to some combined 20,000 people.
Batanes was placed under Signal No. 4, which means that “the situation is potentially very destructive to the community.”
“Forced and mandatory evacuations in areas identified with high risk (are) enforced as the country prepares for the anticipated adverse weather condition brought by ‘Leon,’” the Department of Defense said in a statement.
The super-typhoon is passing near the Philippines before making landfall along Taiwan’s eastern coast on Thursday.
The 12th cyclone to hit the Philippines this year was approaching days after Tropical Storm Trami swept across the country’s northeast, inundating entire towns with severe flooding and triggering landslides.
Most of the damage was recorded in Luzon, the Philippines’ largest and most populous island.
Towns and cities in the Bicol region, southern Luzon, were still under water on Wednesday, as over 300,000 people displaced last week remained in emergency shelters, authorities said.
It was the deadliest tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines in 2024.
The Southeast Asian nation is the country most at risk from natural disasters, according to the 2024 World Risk Report.
Millions of Filipinos are affected by storms and typhoons every year, which are increasingly more unpredictable and extreme due to climate change.
