Macron gave a 15 day ultimatum to French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) to accept the charter, which will state that Islam is a religion and not a political movement, while also prohibiting “foreign interference” in Muslim groups…reports Hitesh Tikoo
French President Emmanuel Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Muslim leaders across the country to accept a “charter of republican values” as part of a nationwide crackdown on radical Islam.
Macron gave a 15 day ultimatum to French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) to accept the charter, which will state that Islam is a religion and not a political movement, while also prohibiting “foreign interference” in Muslim groups.
This comes after three Islamist terrorist attacks took place across the country in less than a month’s time.
One of the attacks included the horrific beheading of a 47-year-old school teacher, Samuel Paty, by an 18-year-old Chechen refugee after the victim showed cartoons of Prophet Mohammed to his students in a class on freedom of speech.
Emails published by Le Monde, a French daily afternoon newspaper, revealed Paty’s reluctance to do any more teaching on freedom of speech class, days after he showed the cartoons in his class.
“It’s really distressing and particularly as it comes from a family whose child wasn’t in my lesson and isn’t someone I know. It’s becoming a malicious rumour,” Paty had written in an email.
“I won’t do any more teaching on this topic – I’ll choose another freedom as a subject for teaching,” he wrote in a separate email.
Paty’s beheading prompted a strong response from the French government, including police raiding individuals and organisations that expressed support for the attack and attacker in the immediate aftermath of the beheading.
A well know mosque in a northern suburb of Paris was shut down by French authorities as part of their clampdown on Islamist groups and suspected extremists.
President Macron has described Islam as a religion “in crisis”, and has vowed to tackle what he calls “Islamist Separatism”.
Following his comments, Macron was criticised by several Muslim majority nations, including Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at Macron and said in a televised speech” “I’ve said it on Saturday and am repeating it again, Macron needs to get himself checked out.”
The French President and his Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, met eight French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) leaders at the Elysee palace on Wednesday.
“Two principles will be inscribed in black and white (in the charter): the rejection of political Islam and any foreign interference,” Le Parisien said in a report after the meeting.
“I strongly welcome Italy’s steadfast and longstanding support to the UN efforts in Libya,” said Acting Special Representative of the UN Secretary General Stephanie Williams during the signing ceremony…reports Asian Lite News
The UN Development Program (UNDP) announced that Italy has supported the Libyan political dialogue program by providing a financial aid of 450,000 euros ($526,000 ).
According to a statement released by the UNDP on Thursday, an agreement was signed during the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) held in Tunisia during which Italy provided the aid to the program, reports Xinhua news agency.
The agreement, signed by Deputy General Director/Central Director for the Mediterranean and Middle East countries of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Luca Gori, and UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative Gerardo Noto, has raised the total fund from Italy to UNDP programs to 14,500,000 euros targeted to support stability, security and prosperity in Libya, said the statement.
“I strongly welcome Italy’s steadfast and longstanding support to the UN efforts in Libya,” said Acting Special Representative of the UN Secretary General Stephanie Williams during the signing ceremony.
“The stabilization of Libya is a strategic priority for Italy. Since the beginning of the crisis, we have been advocating that the only way to ensure Libya’s stability, unity and integrity was to pursue political dialogue,” said Gori.
“Italy is a key partner of the stabilization facility contributing to recover communities and benefit people affected by conflict all around the country.
“We are looking forward to continue working together for peace and inclusive development in Libya,” said Noto.
Under the auspices of the UN, the LPDF took place in Tunis with participation of 75 Libyans representing the social and political spectrum of Libyan society, with the aim of discussing a political roadmap to achieve lasting peace.
Germany has recorded 22,609 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally in the country to 855,916, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said.
The increase is slightly above the previous week’s level.
Germany is currently in the second half of a month-long partial coronavirus lockdown, Xinhua news agency reported.
The situation is “still serious, very serious,” said RKI President Lothar Wieler at a press conference on Thursday. The case numbers are “still very high overall, much too high.”
“The case numbers have stabilized at a high level in the last two weeks,” said Wieler.
“But we do not know whether this is already a trend reversal.”
The number of deaths related to COVID-19 in Germany increased by 251 on Thursday to a total of 13,370, according to the RKI.
The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care increased to 3,561 by Wednesday, the RKI said. During the first wave of COVID-19, the peak was around 2,900 Covid-19 patients in intensive care units, according to the DIVI online registry for intensive care beds.
Some hospitals in the country could reach capacity limits soon and patients could no longer receive optimal care, Wieler said.
On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the minister presidents of the federal states drew up an interim balance sheet of Germany’s partial lockdown. Rather than further tightening the preventive measures, they appealed to the public to reduce social contacts to a minimum.
As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, countries including Germany, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States are racing to find a vaccine.
According to the website of the World Health Organization, as of November 12, 212 Covid-19 candidate vaccines were being developed worldwide, 48 of them in clinical trials.
“The first vaccine available will be that provided by Pfizer, and Italy will get the first tranche of 3.4 million doses on the basis of the procurement carried out at the European Union (EU) level,” the top official said….reports Asian Lite News
Some 1.7 million Italians will get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus by the end of January 2021, the country’s Extraordinary Commissioner for the Covid-19 Emergency Domenico Arcuri announced here.
Addressing reporters on Thursday, Arcuri said that under the government’s national Covid-19 vaccination plan, priority will be given to healthcare workers and the elderly, reports Xinhua news agency.
“The first vaccine available will be that provided by Pfizer, and Italy will get the first tranche of 3.4 million doses on the basis of the procurement carried out at the European Union (EU) level,” the top official said.
He said the vaccines are expected to arrive in the country in the second half of January, and the plan is for the health services to be ready by that time to immediately start the vaccination campaign.
People wearing face masks take a subway in Milan, Italy, Oct. 24, 2020. (Photo by Alberto Lingria/Xinhua/IANS)
“Since this vaccine has specific characteristics, the 3.4 million doses will allow us to vaccinate 1.7 million people by the end of January, with each person getting two doses at an interval of about three weeks,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the country’s Health Ministry registered 36,176 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, about 2,000 more than the previous day, which increased the overall infection tally to 1,308,528.
On Thursday, 17,020 new recoveries were reported, which brought the total number of recoveries since the pandemic officially broke out here in late February to 489,987.
There were also 653 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s death toll to 47,870.
A total of 250,186 people were tested across the country in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said, adding that 14.4 per cent of those were positive.
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center under the Ministry of Presidential Affairs is sponsored and followed-up by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs….reports Asian Lite News
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, SZGMC, as part of his official visit to the UAE.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his delegation, accompanied by Yousef Al Obaidli, Director-General of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre, visited the Sheikh Zayed Tomb and took a tour around the mosque.
At the same time, they listened to a brief by one of the Center’s cultural tour guides about the mosque’s noble message that calls for coexistence, tolerance, and openness to other cultures, inspired by the rich legacy of the nation’s late founder.
They also learned about SZGM’s leading role in highlighting the Islamic culture’s true essence and promoting cross-cultural communication worldwide.
At the end of the visit, The Greek prime minister was presented with one of the Centre’s distinctive publications titled “Spaces of Light” displaying the winning photographs in the “Spaces of Light” photography award, annually organised by the Centre to celebrate the mosque’s scenic aesthetics and visual culture.
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center under the Ministry of Presidential Affairs is sponsored and followed-up by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.
Lord Nazir Ahmed with Khalistani protesters in London (File)
Lord Nazir, who is on bail in a historic child abuse case, in a statement says he is extremely disappointed by the Conduct Committee decision to expel him from the parliament…. reports Kaliph Anaz
Disgraced peer Lord Nazir Ahmed, who is facing formal expulsion from the House of Lords on Thursday, will file a case at European Court of human Rights to challenge the decision of the Lords Conduct Committee and the findings of the Lords Commissioner for Standards Lucy Scott-Moncrieff.
Lord Nazir, who is on bail in a historic child abuse case, in a statement says he is extremely disappointed by the Conduct Committee decision to expel him from the parliament. He formally quits and submit a request for Retirement hours before the panel submitting its report. The nine-member panel was headed by for Supreme Court Justice Mance.
“I am extremely disappointed by the report of the conduct committee, which is based on a flawed and unfair investigation process,” the Lord said in his statement. “I have always said, and maintain, that the allegations contained in the report are not true. Given this, I am now going to continue pursuing my appeal to the European Court of Human Rights to remedy this injustice.”
The Lords Conduct Committee earlier concluded that Lord Ahmed of Rotherham emotionally and sexually exploited Tahira Zaman, who came to him for help in 2017.
The Lords Conduct Committee said Lord Ahmed had exploited Ms Zaman, despite knowing she was receiving treatment for anxiety and depression. They rejected the appeal from Lord Ahmed and recommended for his expulsion.
Tahira Zaman, a single mother of two, said that she had approached Lord Ahmed because she thought he could help her get the Metropolitan Police to investigate a fake faith healer who duped her with donations and part of a sex racket.
Lord Ahmed wrote to the Met Police Commissioner on headed paper on 2 March, and he and Ms Zaman met at a restaurant in east London in February 2017 to discuss the case. After dinner, Ms Zaman alleged that Lord Ahmed groped her upper thigh.
The Commissioner for Standards’ investigation found that Lord Ahmed had sexually assaulted her.
Ms Zaman says she was shocked by his behaviour and broke off contact. But, encouraged by a friend, she messaged Lord Ahmed on 14 July that year to ask if he had received a reply from the police. He said he had and they arranged to meet at his house in east London to discuss it. Ms Zaman is accusing the Lord of spiking her tea before a sexual assault. The Lord continue to promise her of help and Tahira says that they carry on meeting at Lord Ahmed’s house where they had sex. She believed that they were in a relationship. But Ms Zaman says that after two months he made it clear he wasn’t going to leave his wife and the affair ended. She says she realised she had been exploited.
She is also accusing the Lord of sharing her personal contact details with his subordinate and friends in Pakistan. A parliamentary assistant of the Lord forcefully deleted messages from Ms Zaman’s phone, which she retrieved by using a software called Dr Fone.
Lord Nazir Ahmed with Khalistani protesters in London (File)
Ms Zaman first complained to the House of Lords about Lord Ahmed’s behaviour in January 2018. But they rejected the complaint on technical reasons.
She approached Asian Lite newspaper and then BBC’s Newsnight team after the Commissioner for Standards told her Lord Ahmed could not be investigated because the code of conduct only covered his parliamentary “duties” – mainly proceedings of the House of Lords.
Newsnight began to investigate the Lords’ decision not to accept Ms Zaman’s complaint, for a film broadcast in February last year.
Lord Carlile QC, a former deputy high court judge, told Newsnight that the Commissioner for Standards had “got it wrong”, adding: “If someone comes to you for help, particularly if they’re vulnerable and you form a sexual relationship, actually that’s disgraceful.”
The Commissioner for Standards denied this, telling Newsnight that was a misunderstanding of the code of conduct. Ten weeks after the film was broadcast, the House of Lords changed the wording of the code to cover parliamentary “activities”, rather than just “duties”. It was retrospective and so covered Lord Ahmed’s behaviour. Ms Zaman re-submitted her complaint, which led to a detailed investigation by the Commissioner for Standards.
Lord Nazir will be the first person to expel from the House of Parliament.
Welcoming the Conduct Committee decision, Ms Zaman told BBC: “I feel elated and relieved because the whole experience for me was quite traumatising. I’m still digesting, digesting it. I keep on telling myself that I’ve got what I wanted – I wanted justice.”
Lord Nazir’s Appeal
Lord Nazir said the investigation has ruined his personal life, The Lord claimed the allegations affected his activities as a community leader. He challenged the panel decision by claiming different Asian communities follow different norms in religious and personal life.
“This investigation has devastated my family life and almost even my public life,” the Lord said in his appeal. “Since the BBC “Newsnight” programme, my Lord, I have not been to the House of Lords. Yes, my wife is not well; she has cancer. Yes, I have been looking after her, but I did not attend a single session.
“I have not been to Pakistan or Kashmir since then, because it was reported widely, and until I clear my name I cannot appear in public. I have attended a few events in Europe. I have not attended many events in this country, but just to show my face. I have kept away from all these normal events because of this.
Asian Lite cover on Lord Nazir Ahmed
“My Lords, I believe that the victims of sexual misconduct deserve sympathy and support. When they are making false allegations, however, it undermines the system and the process, and it affects the credibility of genuine witnesses. I genuinely believe that. As I have said, this complainant has been everywhere, just to destroy me. She made no secret of it. She went to every newspaper. She was more interested in Pakistani TV channels and Pakistani newspapers, because she knows that that is where I appear quite a lot, but she also contacted many Members of this House of Lords, for instance. I can tell you that Lord Dholakia once stopped me in the corridors and said, “You know, somebody has made a serious allegation”. Members of Parliament in the House of Commons have told me very similar things. There was a deliberate attempt to affect my personal reputation and affect my family life.”
Lord Nazir made history when he became the first Muslim, Kashmiri, and Pakistani to enter the House of Lords as a Labour peer in 1998. Prior to that he was a councillor at Rotherham. He was a confidante of then prime minister Tony Blair. He later turned against him over Iraq War.
According to Ms Zaman, there are at least five other women want to take action against the Lord but are afraid of doing so because of community wrath and family honour.
The House of Lords Conduct Committee submitted the report on Monday recommending the Lord to be expelled from the House with immediate effect. Lord Nazir Ahmed on a damage control mission later contacted a Pakistani TV station to announce his “Retirement.”
The Committee accused the Pakistani-origin Lord of bringing shame to the august House.
“His use of his parliamentary status to offer illusory help to a vulnerable Ms Zaman undermines the reputation of the House of Lords as a whole, as it undermines trust in the honesty and trustworthiness of its members,” the Committee said in the report.
The report will be formally tabled in the House on Thursday.
The Lord was involved in many other controversies too. He was convicted and jailed in 2009 for a reckless driving accident. He had sent text messages while driving, which hit a driver of a stationary car stranded on the M1 highway.
In 2013, Lord Nazir Ahmed blamed his conviction in the driving accident on a “Jewish conspiracy”. The comment led to the Labour Party suspending him; he resigned from the party later that year.
He will appear at Sheffield court on January 25, 2021 in a historic sexual assault case. They were charged with historical sexual offences against minors. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Stromboli, 924 meters above sea level, is one of three active volcanoes in Italy, along with Mount Vesuvius near Naples and Mount Etna on Sicily…reports Asian Lite News
Italy’s Stromboli volcano, one of the country’s most active, erupted for the first time in more than a year, authorities said, adding that there were no casualties.
Monday’s eruption sent waves of rocks and lava down the side of the mountain located on the island of Stromboli, reports Xinhua news agency.
A series of flare-ups in July and August 2019 had left one hiker dead.
According to the Sicily-based government volcano observatory that monitors Stromboli, the “high intensity” eruption on Monday morning was “characterized by a sequence of explosive events and landslides”.
The event lasted for four minutes and set off safety warning systems on the island.
According to television reports, officials warned there could be further eruptions in the coming days.
The island covers 12.6 square kilometres and is home to around 500 permanent residents in three small communities, according to government data.
Stromboli, 924 meters above sea level, is one of three active volcanoes in Italy, along with Mount Vesuvius near Naples and Mount Etna on Sicily.
The UK is supposed to formally leave the bloc by December 31, 2020, and the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said an agreement needs to be reached by mid-November as it takes weeks to finalize the paperwork….reports Asian Lite News
The European Union (EU) is “100 per cent determined to reach an agreement” with the UK on their future relations, despite a presumed deadline drawing closer, a spokesperson for the bloc said.
On Monday, Daniel Ferrie told a European Commission briefing that the negotiations will continue in Brussels on all subjects, reports Xinhua news agency.
Among the topics that remained open were fisheries, on which “there is still a great deal of divergences”.
The UK is supposed to formally leave the bloc by December 31, 2020, and the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said an agreement needs to be reached by mid-November as it takes weeks to finalize the paperwork.
However, Barnier remains confident that the task could be fulfilled.
“With the European Parliament and all the Member States, we remain determined, patient, respectful. We want our future cooperation to be open but fair in all areas,” he tweeted on Monday.
The European Commission chief spokesperson Eric Mamer reiterated that the “quality” of the agreement is prioritized over “any kind of timing or deadline”.
A video summit of EU leaders, slated for November 19 to discuss the latest developments in the coronavirus pandemic, is being viewed in Brussels as the final deadline for a draft Brexit deal, according to The Guardian newspaper.
The UK and the EU started their lengthy and bumpy post-Brexit talks in March after the country formally ended its membership with the bloc on January 31, trying to secure a future trade deal before the Brexit transition period expires on December 31.
Serious differences remain in level playing field, governance and fisheries, among others, after rounds of talks.
Prime Minister Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said earlier this month that the two sides would “redouble” their efforts to find a solution.
Photo taken on Sept. 29, 2020 shows a man walking by a house damaged during clashes in the Tartar district bordering the Nagorno-Karabakh region. (Photo by Tofik Babayev/Xinhua)
The two leaders also touched upon humanitarian matters such as the return of refugees to places of permanent residence and the necessity to restore infrastructure and preserve Christian churches and monasteries…reports Asian Lite News
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Monday discussed over phone the ongoing efforts to secure the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire.
Putin told Macron that the ceasefire, agreed upon by the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, is being honored and the situation in the region has generally stabilised, the Xinhua news agency reported.
As co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, both parties agreed to coordinate their efforts on Nagorno-Karabakh.
Telephone conversation with President of France Emmanuel Macron: bilateral cooperation and the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh https://t.co/Q67UYRj21O
The two leaders also touched upon humanitarian matters such as the return of refugees to places of permanent residence and the necessity to restore infrastructure and preserve Christian churches and monasteries.
Putin briefed Macron on the future establishment of a Russian humanitarian response center in Nagorno-Karabakh aimed at ensuring the safety and well-being of refugees and civilians in the region.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Putin issued a joint statement on November 10, agreeing on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The two ministers also discussed the strong economic ties between the UAE and the UK, noting that their non-oil trade totalled some US$10 billion in 2019…reports Asian Lite News
Dr. Ahmed Beloul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs, discussed, with Lord Gerald Edgar Grimstone, Minister of Investment at the Department of Foreign Trade, Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of the United Kingdom, UK, ways of reinforcing the economic cooperation between the UAE and the UK and how to diversify their partnerships in the small and medium-sized enterprise, SME, and tourism sectors.
The meeting, which was held remotely, witnessed a presentation on the growth of the SME sector in the two countries, their plans for supporting and advancing the sector, and ways of developing partnership in areas related to innovation and entrepreneurship.
The two ministers also discussed the strong economic ties between the UAE and the UK, noting that their non-oil trade totalled some US$10 billion in 2019.
Both sides also talked about the daily trends that affect investment and economic growth, and opportunities for cooperation and exchanging expertise in managing current economic strategies and their effects on vital sectors, such as the global implications of the coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic, Brexit, and benefitting from the new economic situation.
Dr. Al Falasi highlighted the UAE’s keenness to strengthen cooperation and develop a strategic partnership between the two countries in advanced sectors.
“The tourism sector is one of the drivers of economic development in the UAE and one of the key areas of cooperation between the two countries. The UAE received around 1.4 million visitors from Britain in 2019, and UK citizens accounted for some seven percent of hotel guests in the UAE during the same year,” he said.
