India’s top court divided on decision to ban hijab in classrooms


Hijab NIQAB-wearing Muslim students walk in the premises of Government First Grade College and Centre for P.G Studies, after the recent hijab ban in Udupi town in the southern state of Karnataka, India, February 17, 2022. (File photo: Reuters)

HIJAB

Reuters, New Delhi
Published: 13 October ,2022

A panel of India’s top court said on Thursday it was divided on a decision to allow hijabs in classrooms, and referred the matter to the chief justice, who will set up a larger bench to hear the case.

It arises from a ban in February by the southern state of Karnataka that forbade students to wear the headgear in classrooms, unleashing protests by Muslim students and their parents, as well as counter protests by Hindu students.

“We have divergence of opinion,” said Justice Hemant Gupta, one of the two panel judges, as he delivered Thursday’s decision, but the judges did not say when the larger bench would be set up, or when the next hearing would be held.

Muslims are a sizeable minority in India, accounting for 13 percent of the population of 1.4 billion in the south Asian nation where Hindus make up the majority.

Some Muslim students challenged in the Supreme Court a ruling by a state court that upheld the ban in March.

Critics of the ban say it is another way of marginalizing a community, and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules Karnataka, could benefit from the polarization.

Conspiracy theorist arrested for disrupting Bali bombings 20th anniversary ceremony

A foreign male was arrested by the Kuta Police on Oct. 12, 2022, for having reportedly caused a public disturbance as people gathered at the Ground Zero Bali Bombing Memorial to mark the 20th anniversary of the tragedy. Photo: Screengrab.

By Coconuts Bali

Oct 13, 2022 | 

One would have thought that when the survivors and mourners of the 2002 Bali bombings gathered for a ceremony at the memorial site in Kuta yesterday, it would be free from any sort of drama. But sadly that was not the case.

A foreign male was arrested by the Kuta Police for having reportedly caused a public disturbance when he shouted out loud as people gathered at the Ground Zero Bali Bombing Memorial yesterday to mark the 20th anniversary of the tragedy.

The 41-year-old British man, identified as TD, brought pamphlets to the ceremony, one of which was titled, “The Truth About Bali Bombings.” He caused a nuisance by babbling unproven theories about what really happened behind the attacks.


Attendees were irked by how TD was being disrespectful toward the victims, survivors, and other mourners, who, at the time, were praying together. TD kept on shouting even after the attendees asked him to leave.

Bali Police spokesman Stefanus Satake Bayu Setianto told Coconuts that the culprit was arrested and that he is currently under investigation.

The clip of the incident went viral on several social media accounts with captions suggesting that the man was inebriated.

Thiolina Marpaung, a survivor of the terrorist attack who now chairs Yayasan Istri Suami Anak (Isana) Dewata, a network of survivors of the 2002 Bali bombings, confirmed that the disturbance occured while survivors and mourners prayed together in a moment of silence.

“If there is anything that [TD] wants to address, [he should] address it elegantly,” she said.

Mauna Loa Summit Closed With 65 Earthquakes Hitting Volcano in One Day

BY ROBYN WHITE ON 10/13/22

The Mauna Loa summit remains closed as 65 earthquakes have hit the huge volcano in one day.

In the past 24 hours prior to Wednesday morning local time, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory detected 65 small-magnitude earthquakes below the summit caldera, and the northwest flank of the volcano, according to the latest report from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Mauna Loa is the largest volcano on the planet. It is also considered one the most active volcanoes on Earth. It is one of five forming Hawaii and it rises 13,000 feet above sea level

The volcano has been rumbling to life in recent weeks. Heightened unrest began in mid-September, when the observatory recorded increased earthquakes in the area. In recent days, the earthquake activity increased from 10 to 20 a day, to 40 to 50 a day, according to the USGS update.

An aerial view of the crater of the Mauna Loa volcano.

 Some 65 earthquakes have hit the huge volcano in 24 hours.

CSTORZ/GETTY

In recent weeks, the rumblings have become so heightened that the USGS is now issuing daily updates on the volcano's activity.

It has been issued a yellow color code, meaning it is under an "advisory." The color is a step above green, indicating normal behavior. Above yellow are orange, indicating that the activity is being watched, and red, which constitutes a warning.

On October 5, the National Park Service announced the summit would be closed until further notice due to the increase in seismic activity.

The USGS has stressed that the volcano is not erupting even though it "continues to be in a state of heightened unrest." The unrest is indicated by the increased earthquakes in the area and inflation of the summit.

Newsweek has contacted the USGS.

Volcanologist and Earth scientist at the University of Hull, Rebecca Williams told Newsweek that unrest depicts changes from the normal state of the volcano.

"Heightened unrest might mean that there is an increase in volcanic tremors perhaps, or a change in the volcanic gases emitted. Because unrest is essentially a deviation from background [or] normal behavior for a particular volcano, how unrest manifests is different for each volcano."

Williams said that volcanic unrest is normally related to a change in the magma plumbing system of a volcano, which may indicate that magma is moving.

"Unrest may or may not lead to an eruption. At Mauna Loa, my understanding is that there has been an increase in seismic activity and inflation [for example] the ground is swelling, and that the USGS think this signals that magma is moving at depth under the volcano," Williams said. "They have heightened the alert level accordingly. The volcano is very actively monitored. This kind of unrest does occur and does not always lead to an eruption—it's not unexpected but should always be treated with caution. Magma may be renewed, or move, within the deep volcanic system and stall before it reaches the surface to cause an eruption. Unrest can also be the precursory signals that an eruption may occur, hence the precaution."

Mauna Loa last erupted from March 25 to April 15, 1984. This followed nearly two years of increased seismic activity.

UK 

Reaction as Liz Truss’s attempts to win over mutinous MPs at 1922 Committee spectacularly fails

"With each tough question she looked like she’s had the wind knocked out of her, 31st Oct could finish her off on the basis of the reception she got in that room."

 by Jack Peat

 2022-10-13 

in Politics

Liz Truss’s attempts to win over mutinous MPs at a meeting of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee on Wednesday evening spectacularly failed, according to reports.

The prime minister was under fire from her own MPs as they demanded more U-turns on her tax-slashing agenda after she ruled out spending cuts to balance the books.

Her leadership was in renewed peril as she was accused of “trashing the last 10 years” of the Tories’ record at a bruising meeting with backbenchers.

Addressing the group, Truss said small businesses would have faced “devastation” if the Government had not acted to cap energy prices, according to aides.

But she was met with open criticism, with MPs reportedly raising concerns about soaring mortgage rates and the Tories’ slump in the polls.

Speaking to one person who was in the room, The Mirror’s Dan Bloom said they had a far from positive view of the meeting:

Geri Scott, a politics reporter from the Times, said one MP said the meeting was the “worst” 1922 they had ever been to, adding:

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“With each tough question she looked like she’s had the wind knocked out of her, 31st Oct could finish her off on the basis of the reception she got in that room.”

One MP described Truss’s appearance at the meeting as a “funeral”, while another, asked if she had done more to reassure colleagues, replied: “Absolutely not”.

While Aubrey Allegretti said Truss faced even more hostile questions than Boris Johnson used to!

Related: India trade deal ‘on the verge of collapse’ following Braverman comments

 

Tokayev calls for creation of “green corridors” for food security

Online News EditorOctober 13, 2022

Astana, Oct 13 (EFE).- Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Monday called for the creation of “green corridors” to ensure food security as he opened the 6th Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Summit.

“We need to work out unified approaches to assessing the compliance of important food products with national standards, as well as create ‘green corridors’ among CICA member states for such goods,” the Kazakh president said.

He stressed that in the CICA area, which brings together 27 countries, it is necessary to create a “mechanism to ensure food security”, because although Asia produces two thirds of the world’s agricultural production, it is still vulnerable in this area.

The Kazakh leader called for concentrated efforts to “strengthen the importance of the Asian continent in the system of international relations.”

“For several millennia the states of our macro-region have been the driving force of social, cultural and technological progress of all mankind,” he stressed.

The Astana summit, in addition to the host president, is being attended by the heads of state of eleven CICA countries: Azerbaijan, Qatar, Iraq, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Palestine, Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Russia and Tajikistan. EFE

kk-mos/pi/lap

INTER IMPERIALIST RIVALRY

As chip restrictions escalate, Chinese firm tells US employees to stop product development

Naura Technology asks American engineers to ‘stop working on research, development projects,’ claims report

Riyaz ul Khaliq |13.10.2022


ISTANBUL

Amid Washington’s new restrictions to disallow US employees help China’s semiconductor industry, the American employees working for China’s top firm have been told to stop “taking part in component and machinery development.”

Beijing-based Naura Technology Group has “asked its American engineers to stop working on research and development projects with immediate effect,” Chinese daily South China Morning Post reported on Thursday, citing an internal communication shared by the firm.

The order is being implemented “with immediate effect.”

Washington’s new restrictions include strict and extensive export controls besides disallowing the involvement of US citizens in key facilities on the Chinese mainland.

The US Bureau of Industry and Security’s new regulation restricts the “ability of US persons to support the development or production of chips at certain China-located semiconductor fabrication facilities without a license.”

In the backdrop of the new US restrictions, reports claimed that chip equipment suppliers “are pulling out their US staff from Chinese facilities, including the country’s top memory chip maker Yangtze Memory Technologies.”

Meanwhile, China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA) Thursday said it opposes the “arbitrary move” by Washington of its chip technology ban against China.

“The arbitrary move is creating disruption throughout international trade ... Such unilateral policy will only further damage the global semiconductor supply chain," the CSAI said, adding it hopes Washington “rectifies its wrongdoings in a timely manner.”

The new US move “will foster an atmosphere of uncertainty and bring a huge negative impact to the mutual trust and cooperative spirit forged by global semiconductor industry players over the past decades,” it warned.

France fuel shortages: Government orders fuel depot strikers back to work 

• FRANCE 24 English 

Oct 12, 2022

 Striking French oil refinery employees voted on October 12 to maintain blockades now in their third week, despite a government order for some of them to return to work in a bid to get fuel supplies flowing. 

 

The moment missiles struck Kyiv's Glass Bridge

Oct 10, 2022

Reuter

Camera footage showed flames engulfing the Glass Bridge in Kyiv's city center, one of the popular tourist sites, as Russia’s wave of strikes hit Ukraine.

PETULANT PUTIN TIT FOR TAT

 

Government moves to dismiss class action suit filed by Black civil service employees

Darren Major - Oct 4,2022 - CBC

The federal government has filed a court motion calling on a judge to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed by Black civil service employees on jurisdictional grounds.


Nicolas Marcus Thompson (right), executive director of the Black Class Action Secretariat, speaks as Ketty Nivyabandi (left), secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, and Norma Domey (centre), national vice-president of the Professional Institute of Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), listen in during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sept. 28.

© Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

The proposed class action — launched in December 2020 — accuses the federal government of systemic racism, discrimination and employee exclusion. It alleges that, since the 1970s, roughly 30,000 Black civil services employees have lost out on "opportunities and benefits afforded to others based on their race."

The statement of claim says the lawsuit is seeking damages to compensate Black federal employees for their mental and economic hardships. Plaintiffs also are asking for a plan to diversify the federal labour force and eliminate barriers that employment equity laws have been unable to remove.

But a motion filed on behalf of the federal government this week says the court doesn't have jurisdiction over the case and the claim should instead be pursued through labour grievances.

The motion says that all related claims should fall under either the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board for unionized employees or the Canadian Human Rights Act for non-unionized employees.

A statement from the Treasury Board of Canada, which oversees the federal workforce, said the government is working to create an inclusive and diverse public service but the issues brought forth in the class action shouldn't be addressed in court.

"There is an existing process to deal with harassment and discrimination in the public service," the statement said, adding that the government's position is consistent with previous government responses to class actions.

Nicholas Marcus Thompson is executive director of the Black Class Action Secretariat, the group that filed the suit. He said he is "extremely disappointed" by the government's motion.

"[The government] has acknowledged these harms and now they're moving to strike the entire claim, to deny workers their day in court," Thompson told CBC.

Thompson disputed the government's suggestion that the claims could be dealt with as labour grievances.

"These systems are not equipped to address systemic discrimination, and within them ... there's inherent biases. The systemic discrimination exists in all of the institutions," he said.

NDP MP Matthew Green called the government's motion "callous" in a tweet on Tuesday.

"They've been working to dismiss the harms they have caused through perpetrating anti-Black racism within the public service for decades," he said.

Group files UN complaint

Last week, the secretariat filed a complaint with the United Nations Commission for Human Rights Special Rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

"With this complaint, we are elevating Canada's past failures and failure to act in the present to an international body," Thompson told a press conference in Ottawa last Wednesday.

Thompson said the secretariat hopes the UN special rapporteur investigates its claims and calls on Canada to meet its international obligations to Black employees by establishing a plan to increase opportunities for Black women in the government and develop specific targets for hiring and promoting Black workers.

In response to the UN complaint, Mona Fortier, president of the Treasury Board, said that far too many Black Canadians still face discrimination and hate.

"The government is actively working to address harms and to create a diverse and inclusive public service free from harassment and discrimination. We passed legislation, created support and development programs and published disaggregated data — but know there is still more to do," Fortier said in a media statement last week.

Minister signs deal to return land to Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory

Brett Forester, Olivia Stefanovich - Oct 3, 2022

Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory is now, officially, getting some land back.

At a ceremonial signing on Monday morning, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller agreed to hand over a 120-hectare plot of land to the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte (MBQ) band council, along with roughly $31 million in compensation.

The deal's formal conclusion settles part of a longstanding and at-times acrimonious land dispute about 200 kilometres east of Toronto, but it only covers about a third of the area under claim.

"I think there has to be improvements to the additions-to-reserve policy," said MBQ Chief Don Maracle.

Maracle said the band has offered a financial settlement package to the adjacent town of Deseronto, but couldn't offer a timeline for the resolution of the rest of the claim or details on the offer.

"It's willing seller, willing buyer," he said.

"If somebody wants to sell their land, they'll let us know."

Miller was also unable to offer a firm timeline when the rest of the claim might be settled, or when the community will take control of the 120 hectares. It must be put through the additions-to-reserve program that Miller called "morbid" and "broken" and sometimes takes years.

"The whole process itself is one that is vested in the Indian Act," he said.

"We've been working with communities to make sure that we're not within the strict parameters of the Indian Act, because it is a racist document."

'A slap in the face'

The disputed land known as the Culbertson Tract includes 448 separate parcels of land and covers most of Deseronto, according to federal briefing documents. Third parties and private property holders occupy much of it, meaning it won't be easy to resolve the outstanding claim.

Tyendinaga, meanwhile, remains divided on the issue. Some members oppose transferring the land to the council, a creation of the Indian Act whose legitimacy, along with the federal government's colonial land claims policies, they refuse to recognize.

"I see this as nothing but a scam, a ripoff," said Mario Baptiste, a Tyendinaga member who was among the first ones on the ground as activists began reclaiming land beginning with an aggregate rock quarry in 2007, stopping work to this day.

"These people were trying to jail us, these very people who are being rewarded."


Jerome Barnhard, left, and Mario Baptiste say they oppose 

the band council receiving the land.© Jean-Francois Benoit/CBC

'Canada failed to protect your community and your right to this land' — Marc Miller on Culbertson Tract land

Baptiste pointed to low voter turnout in the ratification and accused the band council of leaving out traditional government supporters. He said the land should be returned directly to the people of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy instead.

"I'm from this community. All these suits and dressed-up people in here, none of them were in that quarry. Not one of them," he said.

"This is a slap in the face."

From allies to confrontation

The land dispute dates to 1837 when the Crown illegally granted 370 hectares of unsurrendered Mohawk territory to John Culbertson, grandson of community founder John Deserontyon.

In 1793, Deserontyon and some 20 Mohawk families moved to the north shore of Lake Ontario on the Bay of Quinte, about 70 kilometres west of present-day Kingston, in the wake of the American Revolutionary War. There, the Crown granted the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, of which the Mohawk Nation is one of six members, about 37,500 hectares, "for the sole use and behoof of them and their Heirs for ever freely and clearly."

Tyendinaga, a 10,000 member community, now possesses about a fifth of that.

The MBQ filed a specific claim — a type of land claim that addresses allegations of land theft or treaty violations — over the Culbertson Tract in 1995, but the claim wasn't accepted for negotiation until 2003.

But by then, community members, led by activist Shawn Brant, were tired of waiting patiently. They started acting.

In what Brant would describe as a "rotational economic disruption campaign," activists began re-occupying territory and blockading infrastructure beginning in 2006 and winding down in 2008. Along with a quarry now being returned, a housing development was occupied and stopped, while train tracks and Highway 401 were intermittently blocked.

The direct action tactics sparked internal feuds with the band council and its backers, confrontations with locals, and included standoffs and raids by Ontario Provincial Police riot squads.

'Problematic process'

Under federal specific claims policy, Ottawa has typically refused to return land, offering only cash compensation to First Nations communities who must buy land back. The return of 120 hectares is a rare thing made possible by what Ottawa calls a separate agreement, whose details remain confidential, with a "willing seller," local farmholder Terry Kimmett.


Nancy Kimmett stands outside the disputed quarry site, 

which was occupied in 2007 but will now be returned to the 

Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte.

© Jean-Francois Benoit/CBC

In 2007, the Kimmett family wound up in the middle of the land dispute when Tyendinaga members occupied the quarry, which sits on the Kimmett farm. It was then that the Kimmett family made a difficult decision to sell the land and see it officially returned, Nancy Kimmett, Terry's spouse, said.

"It's really just been living in a dangerous environment because there's been no policing," she said.

"We have had crops destroyed; the quarry is no longer operating. It's just been a huge financial loss, and it's been dangerous for us at times living in a major land conflict."

Despite being one of few private landowners willing to return land to a local First Nations community, Nancy Kimmett has no kind words for the federal government's specific claims policy, which has wrapped up both Tyendinaga and the adjacent town of Deseronto for 15 years.


Outside the quarry along Deseronto Road that was at the centre of a land occupation in 2007, a sign warns users that the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte contest the land’s ownership.

© Brett Forester/CBC

It took multiple lawsuits to push the parties to sit down and talk. Terry Kimmett sued the Ontario government in 2012 for $20 million, and the case remains open after it was ordered to trial in 2015, according to the Ontario court registry.

MBQ, meanwhile, sued Canada for judicial review in 2013, successfully obtaining a court declaration Canada was negotiating in bad faith. Negotiations resumed in 2017.

"I'd like to see the specific land claim process reformed," Nancy Kimmett said.

"I also wouldn't advise anybody to engage in being a willing seller because it's a very long, drawn out, problematic process."