VIENNA: Muslims in Europe are facing “ever more racism and discrimination,” the EU rights agency said Thursday, noting a “sharp rise” even before the Hamas attack against Israel caused “a spike in anti-Muslim hatred.”
Several EU nations have reported a rise in anti-Muslim, as well as anti-Semitic acts since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, which then launched a retaliatory offensive on Gaza, according to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).
“We are aware of reports from several EU countries, highlighting a spike in anti-Muslim hatred — as well as anti-Semitism — after the Hamas attacks,” FRA spokeswoman Nicole Romain said.
But even before then, a new FRA report shows “it was getting more difficult to be a Muslim in the EU.”
Nearly one in two Muslims in the EU face racism and discrimination in their daily life, “a sharp rise” from 39 percent FRA found in the last edition of its survey in 2016.
The highest rates were recorded in Austria, Germany and Finland.
“We are witnessing a worrying surge in racism and discrimination against Muslims in Europe,” FRA director Sirpa Rautio said.
“This is fueled by conflicts in the Middle East and made worse by the dehumanizing anti-Muslim rhetoric we see across the continent,” Rautio added.
More than 9,600 Muslims in 13 EU countries were surveyed between October 2021 and October 2022.
“Muslim women, men and children are targeted not just because of their religion, but also because of their skin color and ethnic or immigrant background,” FRA noted.
Young Muslims born in the EU and women wearing religious clothing are especially affected, it added.
The survey noted a surge in anti-Muslim racism most notably in the job market with a “knock-on effect on other areas of life, such as housing, education or health care.”
Two in five, or 41 percent, are overqualified for their job compared to 22 of people generally, FRA said.
A third of Muslim respondents’ households struggle to make ends meet compared to 19 percent of households generally, and they are twice as likely to live in overcrowded housing, FRA added.
About 26 million Muslims live in the EU, making up about five percent of the total EU population, FRA said, citing the most up-to-date estimates available for 2016 from the Pew Research Center.
Most live in France and Germany.
The number of Muslims in the EU has increased “significantly in recent years due to people fleeing conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria,” FRA added.
In July, FRA said in a report that Europe’s Jewish community was facing a “rising tide of anti-Semitism,” with the conflict in the Middle East “eroding” progress made in the fight against it.
‘Sharp rise’ in anti-Muslim discrimination: EU rights agency
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‘Sharp rise’ in anti-Muslim discrimination: EU rights agency
- Several EU nations have reported a rise in anti-Muslim, as well as anti-Semitic acts since Oct. 7, 2023
- Nearly one in two Muslims in the EU face racism and discrimination in their daily life
Argentine police raid hotel where Liam Payne fell to death
- Television images showed a handful of agents working on computers at the lobby counter
Police officers from the special investigations and technology divisions were sent to the Casa Sur Hotel by the prosecutor’s office “to seize elements of interest for the investigation,” said a police source who asked not to be identified.
Television images showed a handful of agents working on computers at the lobby counter.
The 31-year-old British pop singer was found dead after staff called emergency services twice to report a guest “overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol” was “destroying” a hotel room.
He had spoken publicly about struggles with substance abuse and coping with fame from an early age.
Wednesday’s raid came a day after the Argentine prosecutor’s office met with the musician’s father, Geoff Payne, and assured him that his son’s toxicology studies had not been released by that institution.
US media reported on Monday that Payne had a cocktail of drugs in his system when he died.
ABC and TMZ said “pink cocaine” — containing methamphetamine, ketamine and MDMA — had been found during a partial autopsy, citing anonymous sources familiar with the preliminary tests.
The prosecutor’s office said it had not “disclosed any specific technical report outside the exclusive framework of the investigation and the judicial process corresponding to the case.”
Although there is no stipulated deadline for the results of the toxicological analyzes, an official from the Public Prosecutor’s Office told AFP that they could be concluded this week.
Investigators were examining cell phones, computers, photographs and videos from security cameras, and have taken “numerous witness statements to reconstruct the victim’s final hours and the scene of the events,” the public prosecutor’s office said.
Post-mortem results indicated that the 31-year-old was alone at the time of the fall and “was going through an episode of substance abuse,” prosecutors have said.
One of the highest-grossing live acts in the world, One Direction went on indefinite hiatus in 2016. Payne went on to enjoy solo success.
India evacuates hundreds of thousands of people and shuts schools as it braces for a tropical storm
- Tropical Storm Dana is expected to intensify, with winds gusting up to 74 mph, before pushing toward the country’s eastern coastline
NEW DELHI: Indian authorities have shut schools, evacuated hundreds of thousands of people and canceled trains in parts of the country as rescue teams braced on Thursday for a tropical storm brewing in the Bay of Bengal.
Tropical Storm Dana is expected to intensify, bringing wind speeds of 100-110 kph (62-68 mph) and gusts up to 120 kph (74 mph), as it pushes toward the country’s eastern coastline, where it is set to make landfall late Thursday and early Friday, according to the Indian Meteorological Department.
Climate scientists say severe storms are becoming more frequent in South Asia. Global warming driven by planet-heating gases has caused them to become more extreme and unpredictable.
The storm is expected to affect most parts of the eastern state of Odisha, which saw strong winds and rain on Thursday morning. Authorities have closed schools, canceled more than 200 trains, suspended flights and warned fishermen not to venture out to sea.
Downpours also began lashing areas of neighboring West Bengal state, where some districts are also likely to be hit, prompting officials there to be on high alert.
Odisha’s Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi told the Press Trust of India news agency that around 300,000 people have been evacuated from vulnerable areas, adding that three districts were likely to be severely affected. Authorities plan to evacuate over 1 million people from 14 districts before the storm hits. Several teams of aid and rescue workers have also been deployed to the state, which is prone to severe cyclones and storms.
“The government is fully prepared to tackle the situation. You are in safe hands,” Majhi said.
India’s eastern coasts have long been prone to cyclones, but the number of intense storms is increasing along the country’s coast. Last year was India’s deadliest cyclone season in recent years, killing 523 people and costing an estimated $2.5 billion in damage.
North Korea propaganda leaflets found in Seoul attack South Korea’s first couple
- Since late May, North Korea has been sending thousands of balloons often carrying trash into various parts of South Korea
SEOUL: North Korean propaganda leaflets apparently carried by balloons were found scattered on the streets of the South Korean capital Seoul on Thursday, including some making personal attacks on the country’s president and first lady.
The leaflets attacking South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and First Lady Kim Keon Hee found in the capital appear to be the first instance of the North Korean government directly sending anti-South propaganda material across the border.
They included graphic messages accusing the Yoon government of failures that had left his people living in despair, and describing the first couple as immoral and mentally unstable.
The resumption of a campaign by Pyongyang to send balloons into its neighbor comes as tensions on the peninsula have spiked with the North accusing South Korea’s military of sending drones over Pyongyang to violate its sovereignty.
Since late May, North Korea has been sending thousands of balloons often carrying trash into various parts of South Korea saying it was to retaliate for propaganda leaflets sent the other way by South Korean activists criticizing the North’s leadership, with Pyongyang accusing Seoul of being complicit.
South Korea’s military said early on Thursday that North Korea had again sent balloons carrying suspected trash and they were headed to the capital region and the eastern part of South Korea.
The Presidential Security Service said in a statement trash dropped from North Korean balloons was found around the presidential office but it posed no security or contamination risk. It did not provide further details of the material.
The North Korean balloons have caused some property damage as they landed in the South including starting small fires from the trigger that releases the trash but otherwise were retrieved by authorities without incident.
The South Korean government has declined to say if drones were flown toward the North or who may have sent them.
King Charles sips narcotic kava drink, becomes Samoan ‘high chief’
- The British monarch is on an 11-day tour of Australia and Samoa, both independent Commonwealth states — the first major foreign trip since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year
APIA: King Charles III took part in a traditional kava-drinking ceremony before a line of bare-chested, heavily tattooed Samoans and was declared a “high chief” of the one-time Pacific island colony Thursday.
The British monarch is on an 11-day tour of Australia and Samoa, both independent Commonwealth states — the first major foreign trip since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year.
Wearing a white safari-style suit, the 75-year-old king sat at the head of a carved timber longhouse where he was presented with a polished half-coconut filled with a narcotic kava brew.
The peppery, slightly intoxicating root drink is a key part of Pacific culture and is known locally as “ava.”
The kava roots were paraded around the marquee, prepared by the chief’s daughter and filtered through a sieve made of dried bark.
Once ready, a Samoan man screamed as he decanted the drink, which was finally presented to the king.
Charles uttered the words: “May God Bless this ava” before lifting it to his lips.
Charles’s wife, Queen Camilla sat beside him, fanning herself to ease the stiffing tropical humidity.
Many Samoans are excited to host the king — his first-ever visit to the Pacific Island nation that was once a British colony.
The royal couple visited the village of Moata’a where Charles was made “Tui Taumeasina” or high chief.
“Everyone has taken to our heart and is looking forward to welcoming the king,” local chief Lenatai Victor Tamapua told AFP ahead of the visit.
“We feel honored that he has chosen to be welcomed here in our village. So as a gift, we would like to bestow him a title.”
Tamapua raised the issue of climate change and showed the king and queen around the local mangroves.
“The high tides is just chewing away on our reef and where the mangroves are,” he told AFP, adding that food sources and communities were being washed away or inundated.
“Our community relies on the mangrove area for mud crab and fishes, but since, the tide has risen over the past 20 years by about two or three meters (up to 10 feet).”
The king is also in Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and will address a leaders’ banquet on Friday.
The legacy of empire looms large at the meeting.
Commonwealth leaders will select a new secretary-general nominated from an African country — in line with regional rotations of the position.
All three likely candidates have called publicly for reparations for slavery and colonialism.
One of the three, Joshua Setipa from Lesotho, told AFP that the resolution could include non-traditional forms of payment such as climate financing.
“We can find a solution that will begin to address some injustices of the past and put them in the context happening around us today,” he said.
Climate change features heavily on the agenda.
Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Fiji have backed calls for a “fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty” — essentially calling for Australia, Britain and Canada to do more to lower emissions.
Pacific leaders argue the trio of “big countries” have historically accounted for over 60 percent of the 56-nation Commonwealth’s emissions from fossil fuels.
Vanuatu’s special envoy for climate change Ralph Regenvanu called on other nations to join the treaty.
“As a Commonwealth family, we look to those that dominate fossil fuel production in the Commonwealth to stop the expansion of fossil fuels in order to protect what we love and hold dear here in the Pacific,” he said.
Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong said her gas and mineral-rich nation was working to be cleaner.
“We know we have a lot of work to do, and I’ve been upfront with every partner in the Pacific,” she said.
Pacific island nations — once seen as the embodiment of palm-fringed paradise — are now among the most climate-threatened areas of the planet.
New Japan PM Shigeru Ishiba fears for majority in snap election
- Shigeru Ishiba took office and called an election less than a month ago after a tough contest within the Liberal Democratic Party
- Polls suggest the LDP could fall short of the 233 lower house seats needed for a majority for the first time since 2009
TOKYO: New Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s snap election gamble could backfire this Sunday, with his ruling party at risk of losing its majority for the first time in 15 years.
Ishiba took office and called an election less than a month ago after a tough contest within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed for all but four of the last 69 years.
“This is an attempt to create a new Japan that will drastically change the nature of Japanese society,” he said. “To boldly carry out this major change, we need the confidence of the people.”
But polls suggest the LDP could fall short of the 233 lower house seats needed for a majority for the first time since 2009. They currently hold 256 seats.
This would be bad enough, but some polls suggest that even with its junior coalition partner, the Komeito party, Ishiba will be unable to form a government without forming other alliances.
Not helping matters is the popularity of Yoshihiko Noda, the new head of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party and a former prime minister, who at 67 is the same age as Ishiba.
Noda’s stance “is sort of similar to the LDP’s. He is basically a conservative,” Masato Kamikubo, a political scientist at Ritsumeikan University, said.
“The CDP or Noda can be an alternative to the LDP. Many voters think so,” Kamikubo said.
Japan faces major challenges. With its population projected to drop by almost a third in the next 50 years, many sectors already struggle to fill vacancies.
The world’s fourth-biggest economy has long been flatlining, with a weak yen pushing up import prices in recent years, especially of fossil fuels which still dominate power generation.
Polls show that voters’ biggest worry is inflation, which along with a party slush fund scandal torpedoed Ishiba’s predecessor Fumio Kishida after three years in the job.
Japan already has one of the highest debt-to-GDP ratios in the world, yet the government faces a ballooning bill to care for the growing ranks of the elderly.
Another big area of spending is the military, with Kishida having pledged to double defense spending and boost US military ties as a counter to China.
Ishiba has vowed to revitalize rural areas, where more than 40 percent of municipalities risk disappearing according to a survey in April.
“If the village is left as it is now, the only thing that awaits us is extinction,” said 74-year-old Ichiro Sawayama, an official in Ichinono near Osaka, one such locality.
The community of fewer than 60 people has only one child, and staffed mannequins dot the streets to give the appearance of a bustling hamlet.
Ishiba has promised to consign deflation to history — stagnant or falling prices have stalked Japan for decades — and to boost incomes with a stimulus package.
He says he wants to hike the average national minimum wage by more than 40 percent within this decade, although this could hurt many small firms.
But after an initial honeymoon, Ishiba’s poll ratings have dipped, with a recent Kyodo News survey giving his cabinet a disapproval rating of 40 percent.
Not helping his cause with women is the nomination of just two female members to his cabinet in a country ranked 118th in the 2024 World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report.
A separate poll by the Asahi newspaper found public approval for the cabinet at 33 percent and disapproval at 39 percent, worse than Kishida ahead of his first election in 2021.
But whether the opposition can capitalize and cobble together a majority instead is moot, said Yu Uchimura, a political scientist at the University of Tokyo.
“If the opposition is able to unite as a large group like the Democratic Party did in 2009, then they can win,” Uchimura said.
“But that is the problem with the opposition; they always fight among themselves and disband very quickly.”
