- Acid complicates search after deadly Brazil bridge collapse
- Norwegian Haugan dazzles in men's World Cup slalom win
- Arsenal's Saka out for 'many weeks' with hamstring injury
- Mali singer Traore child custody case postponed
- France mourns Mayotte victims amid uncertainy over government
- UK economy stagnant in third quarter in fresh setback
- Sweden says China denied request for prosecutors to probe ship linked to cut undersea cables
- African players in Europe: Salah leads Golden Boot race after brace
- Global stock markets edge higher as US inflation eases rate fears
- German far-right AfD to march in city hit by Christmas market attack
- Ireland centre Henshaw signs IRFU contract extension
- Bangladesh launches $5bn graft probe into Hasina's family
- US probes China chip industry on 'anticompetitive' concerns
- Biden commutes sentences for 37 of 40 federal death row inmates
- Clock ticks down on France government nomination
- 'Devastated' Australian tennis star Purcell provisionally suspended for doping
- Mozambique on edge as judges rule on disputed election
- Mobile cinema brings Tunisians big screen experience
- Philippines says to acquire US Typhon missile system
- Honda and Nissan to launch merger talks
- Police arrest suspect who set woman on fire in New York subway
- China vows 'cooperation' over ship linked to severed Baltic Sea cables
- Australian tennis star Purcell provisionally suspended for doping
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate fears
- Luxury Western goods line Russian stores, three years into sanctions
- Wallace and Gromit return with comic warning about AI dystopia
- Philippine military says will acquire US Typhon missile system
- Afghan bread, the humble centrepiece of every meal
- Honda and Nissan expected to begin merger talks
- 'Draconian' Vietnam internet law heightens free speech fears
- Israeli women mobilise against ultra-Orthodox military exemptions
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate worries
- Tens of thousands protest in Serbian capital over fatal train station accident
- Trump vows to 'stop transgender lunacy' as a top priority
- Daniels throws five TDs as Commanders down Eagles, Lions and Vikings win
- 'Who's next?': Misinformation and online threats after US CEO slaying
- Only 12 trucks delivered food, water in North Gaza Governorate since October: Oxfam
- BluSky Carbon Announces $1 Million Convertible Debenture Financing
- Abasca Resources Closes Non-Brokered Private Placement of $3.2 Million
- Greenlane Appoints Rob Shields as Chief Growth Officer
- American Resources Corporation's ReElement Technologies Produces Greater than 99.5% Pure Terbium For National Defense Supply Chain
- Beyond Work Unveils Next-Generation Memory-Augmented AI Agent (MATRIX) for Enterprise Document Intelligence
- Northern Superior Announces ONGold's Completion of Monument Bay and Domain Projects Acquisition in Manitoba
- ARIA Cybersecurity Solutions Partners with UFT to Protect Water Treatment Facilities from Dangerous Cyberattacks
- Clear Start Tax Named 2024 Orange County Register’s Top Workplaces for Exceptional Tax Resolution Service and Workplace Culture
- Ensysce Biosciences Regains Full Compliance with Nasdaq
- Tortoise Capital Completes Merger of Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund, Inc. (NYSE: TPZ), Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund, Inc. (NYSE: TTP), and Tortoise Energy Independence Fund, Inc. (NYSE: NDP) and Conversion to Actively Managed ETF
- Tortoise Capital Completes Merger of Tortoise Energy Infrastructure Corp. (NYSE: TYG) and Tortoise Midstream Energy Fund, Inc. (NYSE: NTG)
- Telomir Pharmaceuticals Confirms Copper Binding Capabilities of Telomir-1 and Expands Pipeline Into Wilson's Disease
- Datametrex Cancels RSUS
French minister condemns headscarf ban for Muslim footballers
France's gender equality minister threw her support on Thursday behind Muslim women footballers who are seeking to overturn a ban on players wearing headscarves on the pitch.
Rules set by the French Football Federation currently prevent players taking part in competitive matches from wearing "ostentatious" religious symbols such as Muslim headscarves or the Jewish kippa.
A women's collective known as "les Hijabeuses" launched a legal challenge to the rules in November last year, claiming they were discriminatory and infringed their right to practise their religion.
"The law says that these young women can wear a headscarf and play football. On football pitches today, headscarves are not forbidden. I want the law to be respected," Equality Minister Elisabeth Moreno told LCI television.
Two months from French presidential elections, the issue has become a talking point in a country that maintains a strict form of secularism that is meant to separate the state and religion.
The French Senate, which is dominated by the right-wing Republicans party, proposed a law in January that would have banned the wearing of obvious religious symbols in all competitive sports.
It was rejected in the lower house on Wednesday where President Emmanuel Macron's centrist Republic on the Move party and allies hold the majority.
- Submission? -
France's laws on secularism guarantee religious freedom to all citizens, and contain no provisions on banning the wearing of religious symbols in public spaces, with the exception of full-face coverings which were outlawed in 2010.
Employees of state institutions are also forbidden from displaying their religion, as are school children.
Many right-wing politicians in France want to widen restrictions on the headscarf, seeing it as a political statement in support of Islamism and an affront to French values.
In recent years, they have proposed banning mothers accompanying children on school trips from wearing headscarves, and have sought to proscribe the full-body swimsuit known as the burkini.
Eric Ciotti, a hard-right MP from the conservative Republicans party, said Wednesday that the refusal of Macron's party to support a ban on religious symbols in sport left "an awful aftertaste of submission."
"Everywhere Islamism wants to impose its rules," the ally of Republicans presidential candidate Valerie Pecresse said in parliament.
"The veil is a prison for women, an object of submission and a negation of the individual," he added to boos from the ruling party.
Moreno said Thursday that "in public space, women can dress as they like" before adding: "My fight is to protect those that are forced to wear the veil."
- Demonstration -
A planned demonstration by "les Hijabeuses" collective in front of the French parliament on Wednesday was banned by city authorities on security grounds.
"We feel all of this is a great injustice," Foune Diawara, a co-founder, told AFP in an interview in January. "We just want to play football. We're not pro-Hijab activists, just football fans."
In 2014, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) authorised women to wear headscarves in games after deciding that the hijab was a cultural rather than a religious symbol.
The French Football Federation argues that it is simply following French law, with the country's top constitutional court set to rule on the issue following the appeal from "les Hijabeuses".
L.Mason--AMWN