#ISRAEL: High Court Rules Draft Deferrments For Seminary Students Must End

[world politics news]

Israel's High Court of Justice has issued an interim order barring the government from providing funds to ultra-Orthodox seminary students eligible for military enlistment — as the legal framework for deferring their military service will no longer exist.

A government resolution from June 2023 instructing the Israel Defense Force to temporarily not draft Orthodox seminary students despite the expiration of a law governing the matter will itself expire at midnight on March 31.

The controversy of student deferrals ending could break apart Netanyahu's wartime coalition, which consists of Orthodox political parties.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#INDONESIA: New Law Bans Sex Outside Of Marriage

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Indonesia's parliament has approved a new criminal code that bans anyone in the country from having extramarital sex and restricts political freedoms.

Sex outside marriage will carry a jail term of up to a year under the new laws, which take effect in three years.

The raft of changes come after a rise in religious conservatism in the Muslim-majority country.

Critics see the laws as a "disaster" for human rights, and a potential blow to tourism and investment.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#IRAN: Parliament Considers Compulsory Hijab For Women

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Iran's parliament will form a public culture council whose responsibilities will include working on the issue of compulsory hijab, said Gholamreza Montazeri, spokesman for the head of the Iranian parliament's culture committee.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#THENETHERLANDS: Anti-Islam Politician Suspended From Twitter "In Error"

[world politics news]

Twitter says it suspended Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders "in error" after reports that he had violated the platform's rules on hate speech.

The social network admitted it had "temporarily restricted" the outspoken anti Islam politician's access to his account on Monday.

The move came after the Freedom Party (PVV) chairman had published a tweet addressed to Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, denouncing the "violence of the intolerant ideology called Islam".

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#FRANCE: Draft Legislation Includes Ban Of Hijab In Sports

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A draft bill that would ban the wearing of the hijab in sporting competitions will pass on to France's National Assembly after the Senate declined to vote on the legislation.

The bill includes a clause, previously added as an amendment by the conservative-dominated upper house, which stipulates that the wearing "of conspicuous religious symbols is prohibited" in events and competitions organized by sports federations.

However, the bill is opposed by the government and is expected to die in the lower house which is dominated by the government's party.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#CANADA: Trudeau, Top Aide, Say Church Fires "Understandable"

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A former top aide to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a string of church fires across the country "Understandable," same word Trudeau used last week when he weakly, and belatedly, spoke out against the church attacks.

“It is unacceptable and wrong that acts of vandalism and arson are being seen across the country, including against Catholic churches,” Trudeau said last Friday.

Trudeau went on to say: “I understand the anger that’s out there against the federal government, against institutions like the Catholic Church."

This week, in a Twitter exchange, former top Trudeau aid Gerald butts used the same language, saying the string of church fires was "understandable."

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#UK: Labour Party Leader Pulls Out Of Ramadan Event Sponsored By Group Boycotting Israel

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Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the UK Labour Party, has pulled out of a Ramadan event after the controversial anti-Israel views of the CEO of the sponsoring organization emerged in the media.

The Jewish Chronicle reported that Starmer was set to attend a virtual Iftar event marking the meal breaking the Ramadan fast, held by a group called the Ramadan Tent Project.

The Labour Party in the UK has struggled in the past with members who have expressed anti Israeli views, some of which have seemed to border on anti-semitism.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#EU: Catholic Bishops Condemn EU Parliament Resolution On Poland's Abortion Law

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Catholic bishops across Europe have criticized a European Parliament resolution on Poland’s abortion law.

In a letter released on Feb. 25, the bishops said that the resolution, passed on Nov. 26, 2020, would have “a very negative impact” on the way that the European Union (EU) is seen by member states.

The European Parliament, the EU’s law-making body, passed the resolution by 455 votes to 145 after Poland’s top court ruled that a 1993 law permitting abortion for fetal abnormalities was unconstitutional.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#INDIA: Four Arrested For Seeking Christian Converts Under New State Law

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A Korean Christian and three nationals of India are in jail in Uttar Pradesh state, India, accused of fraudulent conversion attempts while distributing food and other aid to people in need due to COVID-19 lockdown.

Under a new “anti-conversion” law that went into effect in Uttar Pradesh state, India on Nov. 28, police arrested 50-year-old Mi Kyung Lee of Seoul, South Korea and the three others in Greater Noida, Gautam Buddh Nagar District, said the aid organizer, Raj Kumar Masih.

The four were arrested and charged with offering money do Hindus if they removed idols of Hindu gods from their homes.

[FULL STORY HERE] 

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world. 

 

#IRELAND: Head Of Gov't To Apologize For 70-Year Unwed Mother Child Abuse Scandal

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Ireland confronted one of the darkest chapters of its past this week with the publication of a report detailing how 9,000 children died in state-run homes for youngsters born out of wedlock.

The 3,000-page report was the result of an inquiry into "appalling" levels of mortality at Ireland's "mother and baby" homes between the 1920s and 1990s.

The Taoiseach/Prime Minister Mícheál Martin, is expected to make a formal apology to survivors of the homes today. Roughly 15% of the 57,000 children who passed through the homes over the decades died, a figure far higher than wider norms.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#FRANCE: Outrage Over President's Comments About Islam Grows

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The backlash over French President Emmanuel Macron’s critique of Islam has intensified after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan questioned his counterpart’s mental health, while Muslims in several countries are demanding a boycott of France.

The French debate on Islam was deepened after the beheading of a teacher who had shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad – previously published by a satirical magazine – in a class on freedom of expression. Muslims believe that any depiction of the Prophet is blasphemous.

Earlier this month, Macron described Islam as a religion “in crisis” worldwide and vowed to present a bill in December to strengthen a law that officially separated church and state in France.

Despite outrage in the Muslim world, Macron has found much support in Europe for his stance in favor of freedom of speech.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#POLAND: Kosher, Halal Meat Exports Banned By Lower House Of Parliament

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Poland has moved a step closer to terminating its $1.8 billion industry of kosher and halal meat for export — one day after a parliamentary committee had removed language about a ban in an animal rights bill.

Th parliament’s lower house, the Sejm, voted in favor of the Law on Animal Protection. Among the 460 lawmakers, 375 backed the measure. The text on the ban was reintroduced.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#RUSSIA: Putin Proposes Constitutional Amendments Mentioning God, Traditional Marriage

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Russian President Vladimir Putin wants marriage to be defined as the union of a man and woman in a revised constitution, ruling out gay marriage.

It is among several constitutional amendments proposed by Putin, which are set to be put to a public vote.

Critics say the proposals are a move by Mr Putin to keep a hold on power after his presidential term ends in 2024.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#MONTENEGRO: New Law Would Force Churches To Prove Ownership Of Pre-World War One Properties

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The Montenegrin parliament passed the controversial Freedom of Religious Law amid chaotic scenes on Friday, despite fierce objections from the Serbian Orthodox Church, its supporters and pro-Serbian opposition parties.

Under the law, religious communities will have to provide clear evidence of their Pre-World War I ownership in order to retain their properties, a provision that the Serbian Church says is designed to allow the government to strip it of its holdings, since surviving documentation from that era is nearly non-existent.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#THENETHERLANDS: Controversial Ban On Burkas And Face Veils In Gov't Buildings Comes Into Effect

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A ban on wearing face-covering garments such as a burka or niqab face veil in government buildings, schools and on public transport came into effect in the Netherlands this month. The ban has been 13 years in the making and dates back to the time Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam Party for Freedom propped up a minority government formed by Mark Rutte’s People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and the Christian Democrats.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#INDIA: Gov't Dodging Questions About Religious Citizenship Bill's Future

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Media in India recently noted an incident in parliament in which a question from a member to the government about its citizenship reform bill received a vague answer.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, in this year's election, said it would reintroduce the Citizenship Amendment Bill in this parliament if it was returned to power. Instead, a response by Minister of State Nityanand Rai simply noted the history of the bill and noted that it died in the last parliament, after being passed in the lower house on Jan. 1.

The bill seeks to grant Indian citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Jain, Buddhist and Parsi citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who have been discriminated on grounds of religion. Under current law, the Citizenship Act, 1955, there's no provision for granting Indian citizenship on the basis of religion. The bill is controversial in northeastern India, where it was argued that it violated a treaty that restricted immigration from Bangladesh.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#TUNISIA: PM Bans Niqab In Gov't Offices After Bombing

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Tunisia has banned the wearing of the niqab in state-run buildings, citing security reasons following the terror attacks last month.

The Muslin-majority country's Prime Minister Youssef Chahed signed a government circular "banning access to public administrations and institutions to anyone with their face covered... for security reasons."

The ban on the face-veil comes following the double suicide bombing that shook Tunis on June 27. The attacks left two people dead and several others injured. Witnesses at the time claimed that one of the bombers was donning niqab, however, Tunisia's Ministry of the Interior has denied this.

The ban has been criticized as restricting freeom, but concerns that the nation's booming tourist trade would br affected by the violence has trumped those concerns.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#IRAN: Parliament Bans Acid Attacks, Calling Them "Terror"

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New legislation passed by the Iranian Parliament approved death sentence for perpetrators of "acid attacks aimed at bringing about terror and instability in the society."

Dozens of women in Iran have been attacked with acid in recent years by family members or presumably by hardline supporters of the compulsory hijab. Ministry of Health statistics puts acid attacks at 60 to 70 cases every year.

The legislation still needs to be approved by the hardliner-dominated Guardian Council.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SCOTLAND: Legislation Would Make It Illegal To Spank A Child; Church Of Scotland Lends Support

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The Church of Scotland is getting behind legislation to make hitting a child as a form of punishment illegal. The Children Equal Protection from Assault Bill, introduced by Scottish Green Member of Scottish Parliament John Finnie, would create a law to abolish the defense of "reasonable chastisement of a child."

Under current legislation, a person can claim that the physical punishment of a child is justifiable as a parental right or as a right of having charge or care of the child. However, the court does also consider a number of factors such as the nature of the action and duration. The Church of Scotland, and a number of other organisations wrote submissions to parliament's Equality and Human Rights Committee in support of the bill.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#EGYPT: TV Host Gets 1-Year Prison Sentence For Interviewing Homosexual Man

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An Egyptian court has sentenced TV host Mohamed El-Gheity to one year in prison, one year probation, and EGP 3000 fine in a lawsuit that charged him with promoting debauchery and homosexuality through an interview with a homosexual man on his TV talk show on the privately owned LTC Channel in September 2017.

The lawsuit accused El-Gheity of violating "fundamental religious and legal constants" by hosting a homosexual man on screen and discussing issues that were "inappropriate for public broadcast." The suit accused El-Gheity of insinuating during the interview that there were financial gains and advantages to attain as a result of practicing homosexuality.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.