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Schools in France send dozens of Muslim girls home for wearing abayas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:34 GMT

French public schools have sent dozens of girls home for refusing to remove their abayas – long, loose-fitting robes worn by some Muslim women and girls – on the first day of the school year, according to Education Minister Gabriel Attal. Defying a ban on the garment seen as a religious symbol, nearly 300 girls showed up last Monday morning (4 September) wearing abayas, Attal told the BFM broadcaster on Tuesday (5 September), writes HRWF.Most agreed to change out of the robe, but 67 refused and were sent home, he said. The government announced last month it was banning the abaya in schools, saying it broke the rules on secularism in education that have already seen headscarves forbidden on the grounds they constitute a display of religious affiliation. The move gladdened the political right but the hard left argued it represented an affront to civil liberties. The 34-year-old minister said the girls refused entry on Monday were given a letter addressed to their families saying that ...

Dear Abby: If I wear this T-shirt, people might guess the secret I’ve only told my husband

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:34 GMT

DEAR ABBY: I’m a woman in my late 30s. I live in the Midwest, where towns can be conservative and residents tend to be judgmental.Related ArticlesAdvice | Dear Abby: Why do I meet so many dumb men? Advice | Dear Abby: The houseguests know my sheet rule but they refuse to comply Advice | Dear Abby: I’m worried about my 12-year-old’s serious dating Advice | Dear Abby: This boy makes me so happy. Must we break up because of his parents? Advice | Dear Abby: I thought I’d get over my husband’s misdeed but it haunts me For as long as I can remember, I have always found people of both sexes to be attractive. I don’t act on it because I am married to a straight man I love and plan to stay with for as long as he’ll have me.During the last year, I admitted to him that I am bisexual. He said he has wondered, but loves me regardless.Do I need to disclose this information to ...

Girls cross-country preview: Contenders aplenty as season dawns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:34 GMT

Aoife Shovlin demonstrated last fall how an off day doesn’t define a cross country runner’s entire season. And she did it on the biggest stage of all.As a Cambridge sophomore, Shovlin finished a somewhat disappointing fifth against a tough field in the Div. 1A meet. But the disappointment was short-lived as Shovlin went on to make a statement a week later when she moved hard with a mile to go to capture the Div. 1 race at the Meet of Champions on the rolling Devens course, leading Cambridge to the team win.The Div. 1 team battle should be an interesting come November. Along with Shovlin, Cambridge returns a strong unit including Eleanor Allan, Eliza Dickie and Sophia Juanes Seto. Wellesley, though, is looking to move up from a runner-up finish in 2022 with a crew made up of Abigail Beggans, who was third overall, Emma and Charlotte Tuxbury, and Audrey Fitzpatrick.As for the individual title, Shovlin will have her hands full with Needham’s Greta Hammer, who took sec...

Biden highlights business deals and pays respects at John McCain memorial to wrap up Vietnam visit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:34 GMT

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — President Joe Biden closed a visit to Vietnam on Monday by spotlighting new business deals and partnerships between the two countries and paying respects at a memorial honoring his late friend and colleague Sen. John McCain, who endured a lengthy incarceration during the Vietnam War.Biden met with Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, who also accompanied the president to a quick drop by at a meeting of American and Vietnamese business leaders. Biden also sat down with President Võ Văn Thưởng, who hosted the U.S. president for a state luncheon of steamed codfish and Hanoian beef noodle soup. Biden spoke about strengthening Vietnam’s semiconductor industry and his administration’s commitment to an open Pacific. “My message today is quite simple. Let’s keep it up,” Biden told the CEOs. “We need to develop and drive our collaboration, We need to forge new partnerships.”The prime minister also stressed the need to improve cooperation and said “the sky i...

Air China jet evacuated after engine fire sends smoke into cabin in Singapore and 9 are injured

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:34 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Nine passengers were injured after an engine fire sent smoke into the cabin of an Air China jetliner landing in Singapore, prompting an evacuation of the aircraft.The Airbus A320 with 146 passengers and nine crew made an emergency landing about 4:15 p.m. Sunday, Changi Airport said in a statement on its Facebook page. The flight was coming from the city of Chengdu in China’s Sichuan province.Nine people had minor injuries related to smoke inhalation and abrasions during the evacuation, the statement said.The pilot declared an emergency after reporting smoke in the forward cargo hold and a lavatory. Smoke blurred the lights in the cabin and flight attendants told people to remain calm and stay in their seats after some stood up, a passenger told Chinese media.The fire in the left engine was extinguished after the plane landed, Chinese media said. A preliminary investigation indicated a mechanical failure in the engine was the cause, Air China said in statement po...

Australians start applying for mail-in ballots ahead of Indigenous Voice referendum

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:34 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Voters began applying Monday for mail-in ballots ahead of the Oct. 14 referendum that would create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, a proposal for constitutional change that opinion polls suggest is becoming increasingly likely to be rejected.Australians will vote at the first referendum in a generation whether to enshrine in the constitution a collection of appointed Indigenous advocates aimed at giving the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority more say on government policy.People who are unable to attend a polling booth on Oct. 14 for reasons including distance, disability and prison sentences can apply from 6 p.m. Monday for authorities to provide them with postal ballots, which will be cast in Australia’s first referendum since 1999.A majority of voters across the nation and in a majority of Australia’s six states need to support the referendum for it to pass. Only eight out of 44 referendums have achieved that double majority.But a Resolve Pol...

Protests kick off at Israeli justice minister’s home a day before major hearing on judicial overhaul

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:34 GMT

MODIIN, Israel (AP) — Scores of Israeli protesters on Monday flooded the streets outside the home of Israel’s justice minister, the architect of the country’s divisive judicial overhaul, a day before a pivotal hearing in which the Supreme Court will decide whether to accept the curbing of its powers.Israeli police said they arrested six people in the central Israeli town of Modiin, home to Justice Minister Yair Levin, on charges of disrupting public order and blocking roads as they protested plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government to weaken the Supreme Court. The judicial plan has triggered one of the biggest domestic crises in Israeli history and exposed the country’s bitter divides. On Tuesday, all 15 of Israel’s Supreme Court justices will appear on the bench for the first time ever to hear an appeal against the first major part of the overhaul, which the the government pushed through parliament in July. The rowdy crowd of r...

Roadside bombing in northwestern Pakistan kills a security officer and wounds 9 people

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:34 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A roadside bombing targeted Pakistani security forces Monday in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing a security officer and wounding nine people, including three civilians, police said. The Pakistani Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attack.The improvised explosive device went off near a van belonging to the Frontier Corps as it was driving along the key Warsak Road in Peshawar. Police spokesman Bilal Ahmed Faizi said the bomb also wounded three passersby. An investigation was underway, police officer Syed Ashfaq Anwar said.The wounded were moved to the Peshawar military hospital. The outlawed Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, have intensified their attacks on Pakistani security forces since pulling out of a unilateral cease-fire agreement with the government last November. They are a separate group but are allied with the Afghan Taliban, who took over Afghanistan in August 2021, following the withdrawal of U.S. ...

South Korean media: North Korean train presumably carrying leader Kim Jong Un departed for Russia

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:34 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A North Korean train presumably carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has departed for Russia for a possible meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, South Korean media said Monday.Citing unidentified South Korean government sources, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that the train likely left the North Korean capital of Pyongyang on Sunday evening and that a Kim-Putin meeting is possible as early as Tuesday.The Yonhap news agency and some other media published similar reports. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service didn’t immediately confirm those details.U.S. officials released intelligence last week that North Korea and Russia were arranging a meeting between their leaders that would take place within this month as they expand their cooperation in the face of deepening confrontations with the United States.According to U.S. officials, Putin could focus on securing more supplies of North Korean artillery and other ammunition to refill drain...

BMW to build new electric Mini in England after UK government approves multimillion-pound investment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:20:34 GMT

LONDON (AP) — German automaker BMW is set to announce plans to build the next generation electric Mini in Britain after securing U.K. government support for a multimillion-pound investment in the company’s Oxford factory.The government on Monday confirmed its backing for the project, which will protect 4,000 jobs. While the Department for Business and Trade didn’t specify the level of taxpayer support, British media put the figure at 75 million pounds ($94 million). BMW is expected to release a statement later in the day.The move is the latest boost for the U.K. auto industry, with vehicle makers announcing plans to invest more than 6 billion pounds ($7.5 billion) in Britain over the past two years. While car production jumped 36% from a year earlier in July, output remains far below pre-pandemic levels.British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the BMW investment “is another shining example of how the U.K. is the best place to build cars of the future.”The Associated Press