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France Insists On Secularism In Schools, Bans Wearing Of Islamic Dresses 

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French President Emmanuel Macron

French authorities are to ban the wearing in school of abaya dresses worn by some Muslim women, the education minister said Sunday, arguing the garment violated France’s strict secular laws in education.

“It will no longer be possible to wear an abaya at school,” AFP quoted  Education Minister Gabriel Attal as telling TF1 television, saying he would give “clear rules at the national level” to school heads ahead of the return to classes nationwide from September 4.

The move comes after months of debate over the wearing of abayas in French schools, where women have long been banned from wearing the Islamic headscarf.

The right and far-right had pushed for the ban, which the left argued would encroach on civil liberties.

There have been reports of abayas being increasingly worn in schools and tensions within school over the issue between teachers and parents.

“Secularism means the freedom to emancipate oneself through school,” Attal said, describing the abaya as “a religious gesture, aimed at testing the resistance of the republic toward the secular sanctuary that school must constitute.

“You enter a classroom, you must not be able to identify the religion of the students by looking at them,” he said.

A law of March 2004 banned “the wearing of signs or outfits by which students ostensibly show a religious affiliation” in schools.

This includes large crosses, Jewish kippas and Islamic headscarves.

Unlike headscarves, abayas — a long, baggy garment worn to comply with Islamic beliefs on modest dress — occupied a grey area and had faced no outright ban until now.

But the education ministry had already issued a circular on the issue in November last year.

It described the abaya as one of a group of items of clothing whose wearing could be banned if they were “worn in a manner as to openly display a religious affiliation”. The circular put bandanas and long skirts in the same category.

Approached by head teachers’ unions about the issue, Attal’s predecessor as education minister Pap Ndiaye replied that he did not want “to publish endless catalogues to specify the lengths of dresses”.

At least one union leader, Bruno Bobkiewicz, welcomed Attal’s announcement Sunday.

“The instructions were not clear, now they are and we welcome it,” said Bobkiewicz, general secretary of the NPDEN-UNSA, which represents head teachers.

Eric Ciotto, head of the opposition right-wing Republicans party, also welcomed the news.

“We called for the ban on abayas in our schools several times,” he said.

But Clementine Autain of the left-wing opposition France Unbowed party denounced what she described as the “policing of clothing”.

Attal’s announcement was “unconstitutional” and against the founding principles of France’s secular values, she argued — and symptomatic of the government’s “obsessive rejection of Muslims”.

Barely back from the summer break, she said, President Emmanuel Macron’s administration was already trying to compete with Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally.

The debate has intensified since a radicalised Chechen refugee beheaded teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown students caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, near his school in a Paris suburb in 2020.

The CFCM, a national body encompassing many Muslim associations, has said items of clothing alone are not “a religious sign”.

According to AFP, the announcement is the first major move by Attal, 34, since he was promoted this summer to handle the hugely contentious education portfolio.

Along with Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, 40, he is seen as a rising star who could potentially play an important role after Macron steps down in 2027.

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Trump Makes Victory Speech

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Trump Protests As FBI Search Divides Republicans, Democrats

By John Michael Ojo

Following his victory at the keenly contested November 5 general elections, Donald Trump, a former President of the United States has declared that he will fight for America every single day of his life.

Trump made the statement while addressing his supporters after Fox News projected him to win the country’s presidential election.

The former Republican President had earlier won Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, key battleground States for the 2024 presidential election.

“I will fight for you, and every single day, I will be fighting for you and with every breath, with my body.

“I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve. This will truly be the golden age of America than what we have.

“It’s victory for the American people that will allow us to make America great again,” he said

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Elon Musk Reveals What’ll Happen If Trump Loses Election

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Nigeria Approves Elon Musk's Starlink As Internet Service Provider

By John Michael Ojo

As citizens in America prepare to elect their 47th president on the 5th of November, Elon Musk an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, has called on Americans to elect the former US President in order to preserve democracy in the country.

Musk who alleged that democracy in the US would be ‘over’ if Trump fails to secure the desired vote to return him to the White House, said going by the current immigration policy of the Democrats, nearly 2 millions illegal immigrants would have been eligible to vote at the end of the next four years if 1 in 20 illegal immigrants becomes US citizen within this time frame.

The South African-born tech guru and world’s richest man, posting on his X handle wrote: “Very few Americans realize that, if Trump is NOT elected, this will be the last election. Far from being a threat to democracy, he is the only way to save it!

“Let me explain: if even 1 in 20 illegals become citizens per year, something that the Democrats are expediting as fast as humanly possible, that would be about 2 million new legal voters in 4 years.

“The voting margin in the swing states is often less than 20 thousand votes. That means if the “Democratic” Party succeeds, there will be no more swing states!!

“Moreover, the Biden/Harris administration has been flying “asylum seekers”, who are fast-tracked to citizenship, directly into swing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Arizona. It is a surefire way to win every election.

“America then becomes a one-party state and Democracy is over. The only “elections” will be the Democratic Party primaries. This already happened in California many years ago, following the 1986 amnesty.

“The only thing holding California back from extreme socialism and suffocating government policies is that people can leave California and still remain in America. Once the whole country is controlled by one party, there will be no escape.

“Everywhere in America will be like the nightmare that is downtown San Francisco.”

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Bangladesh Prime Minister Resigns, Flees As Deadly Anti-government Rallies Grip Nation

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Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina

The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, resigned on Monday after
weeks of deadly anti-government demonstrations gripped the South Asian nation.

The announcement from Bangladesh’s army chief, Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, came after protesters stormed the official residence of the prime minister in the capital, Dhaka.

Images showed flames billowing from vehicles near Hasina’s house, with police unable to contain throngs of people charging toward the neighborhood. Scenes also emerged of people clambering atop an imposing statue of Hasina’s father, independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in Dhaka, and carving away at the head with an axe, according to Reuters.

Earlier in the day, the military and police had attacked demonstrators rallying in the area, according to a journalist working for CNN in Dhaka.

Bangladesh bans Jamaat-e-Islami party following violent protests that left more than 200 dead

At least 91 people were killed and hundreds injured on Sunday in clashes between police and protesters demanding the scrapping of quotas for government jobs and the resignation of the prime minister. Opponents say the civil service job quotas are discriminatory.

The death toll on Sunday, which included 13 police officers, was the highest for a single day from any protests in the country’s recent history. The figure surpassed the 67 deaths reported on July 19, when students took to the streets against the quotas, Reuters reported. At least 32 children were killed during protests last month, UNICEF said on Friday.

The widespread unrest – which spilled into the cities of Rajshahi, Barisal and Chittagong among others – prompted the government to impose an indefinite nationwide curfew over the weekend. Meanwhile, human rights groups accused authorities of using excessive force against protesters, a charge the government denies.

The military will form an interim government in the wake of Hasina’s resignation, according to the army chief, who called on students “to maintain peace and help us.”

“Whatever demands you have, we will fulfil and bring back peace to the nation, please help us in this, stay away from violence,” Zaman said on Monday. He added that “the military will not fire at anyone, the police will not fire at anyone, I have given orders.”

The US embassy in Dhaka urged US citizens to “shelter in a safe place,” in new travel guidance issued Monday. Authorities added that US nationals in the capital should consider returning to their home country, amid the “unpredictable and volatile” atmosphere.

The main flight hub in Dhaka, the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, was temporarily closed following Hasina’s resignation, according to the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) state news agency.

View this interactive content on CNN.com
Just on Sunday, Hasina had accused student protesters of being “terrorists,” attempting to “destabilize the nation,” Reuters reported. “I appeal to our countrymen to suppress these terrorists with a strong hand,” she said.

Earlier this year human rights organizations expressed concern over increased reports of political violence, following a general election that saw Hasina secure a fourth consecutive term in office.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party boycotted the national vote in January, as critics warned Hasina and her government were headed toward a one-party system marred by accusations of authoritarianism.

People reacted with a mixture of jubilation and cynicism following her resignation on Monday.

“Hasina may be gone, but there is still a long road ahead for Bangladesh – until our religious minorities and ethnic minorities are protected and justice comes to them too, the nation is not free,” Khatib Zahin, 28, told CNN.

Another resident, Arifeen Mahmood Khan, said: “Let’s be better, stronger and kinder than we’ve ever been before. Let’s work together to build a better Bangladesh we’ve always dreamed of.”

Police opened fire on protesters in Dhaka earlier in the day, according to a journalist working for CNN, even as security forces have been under scrutiny for unleashing a wave of brutality on demonstrators.

At least four people sustained injuries as protesters were gathering at Dhaka Medical College on Monday, according to the journalist. One of those people was shot in the head.

Protesters told CNN that ⁠the military was blocking Dhaka Medical College Bakshibazar Gate. Police also used tear gas on protesters there, according to a demonstrator on the ground.

Students and protesters at Dhaka University Campus and the Shaheed Minar, a national monument in the capital, were beaten by police as they assembled at these locations.

Protesters there said that the police had attempted to break up the crowd by “brutally beating” them with bamboo sticks and using tear gas.

“Direct open firing took place in Shahbag area 15 minutes ago. We don’t have an estimate of how many were injured. It is still ongoing. Near Motijhil Shantinagar, tear gas has been fired on common people,” one demonstrator told CNN.

Protesters celebrated her resignation on Monday, as nationwide rallies over quotas for government jobs sweep the country.

In other locations across Dhaka, the military has also fired warning shots in the sky and towards protesters.

Video posted on social media and verified by CNN showed security forces launching live rounds into the air near protesters on the N1 highway in Dhaka.

Protesters in Dhaka told CNN that the university campus had been surrounded by armed forces.

. CNN

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