First, an report suggests that a considerable majority of Americans oppose the Dutch government's attempts to introduce a (or any other form of face covering):
Many adults in the United States are against a proposal developed by the Dutch government that seeks to ban Islamic veils, according to a six-country poll by Harris Interactive published in the Financial Times. 59 per cent of Americans believe Islamic women should have the right to wear the garments if they wish to do so.
Support is significantly lower in the five European nations surveyed, with Spain at 39 per cent, Italy at 34 per cent, Germany at 33 per cent, Britain at 23 per cent, and France at 23 per cent.
In October, British Labour party parliamentarian and former foreign secretary Jack Straw revealed that he asked female constituents who came to see him to remove their veils. According to the 2001 census, Muslims represent 2.7 per cent of the British population.
On Nov. 10, Dutch immigration minister Rita Verdonk discussed the possibility of specific regulations for the way Muslims dress, saying, "The cabinet is not in favour of Islamic women wearing a burka, but cannot impose a ban on the garment at this time. However, there are already regulations and restrictions imposed on the wearing of clothing that hides a person’s face in education and public transport."
In February 2004, the French government implemented a ban on religious symbols in schools as a measure to reaffirm the country’s secular identity. Former government minister Bernard Stasi headed the panel, which concluded that some garments—such as Islamic scarves, Jewish kippas and crosses—represent a "conspicuous" sign of spiritual affiliation that should not be allowed in the classroom.
is a website run by American Jews defending the First Amendment against what they perceive as a concerted campaign of aggressive Christianization.
They've been highlighting in the United States, which culminated in public attacks on after his election to office.
They have also been highlighting religious harrassment in schools, against both and . The Jewish family felt so intimidated they felt they had to move home. The Muslim case involves bigotry being expressed by a school teacher:
On the September 2003 anniversary of the 9/11 attack, "Nancy Doe's" fourth-grade teacher, Cindy Cunningham, a defendant in the case, gave a lesson in which she allegedly stated that "Muslims believe the Koran teaches war and hatred" and "Christians went to Afghanistan to help people, and in return, Muslims bombed the Christians."
According to the complaint, during the lesson, Cunningham pointed out that Nancy's mother Jane Doe dressed the same way as the Afghan women and was "one of them."
The child has been the subject of taunts and bullying.
Britain will transfer 43 million pounds ($84 million) to the U.S. Treasury tomorrow, the final payment on a debt used to finance the World War II defeat of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.
The U.S. extended $4.34 billion in credit in 1945, allowing the U.K. to stave off bankruptcy after devoting almost all its resources to the war for half a decade. Since 1950 Britain has made payments on the debt at the end of every year except six.
At the time it was granted, the loan strained trans-Atlantic relations. British politicians expected a gift in recognition of their contribution the war effort, especially for the lives lost before the U.S. entered the conflict in 1942.
"The U.S. didn't seem to realize that Britain was bankrupt,'' said Alan Sked, a historian at the London School of Economics. The loan was "denounced in the House of Lords, but in the end the country had no choice.''
The loan, the equivalent of 119 billion pounds in today's money, was double the size of the U.K. economy at the time. Today it's a fraction of the Treasury's 550 billion-pound debt burden, about 36.4 percent of the economy.
has released a report on Muslim prisoners being held around the world by or under the direction of the US government, as part of the so-called War on Terror. Adnan Siddiqui and Victoria Brittain describe the report in as:
“…a meticulous record of information cross-correlated from the testimony of numerous released prisoners in many countries and of lawyers such as Clive Stafford Smith and his team at Reprieve, who represent some of the men in Guantánamo and have been able to talk to them.”
They go on to say how Stafford Smith has alleged “…as many as three-quarters of the men in Guantánamo have never seen a lawyer, and that the Guantánamo men represent only 4% of all those imprisoned in the war on terror…” which they describe as “…a chilling reminder of just how little outsiders have been able to penetrate this dark, illegal world…”
I’ve published a link to the report and associated documents on the , under Key Documents.
In a devastating verdict on Tony Blair’s decision to back war in Iraq and his “totally one-sided” relationship with President Bush, a US State Department official has said that Britain’s role as a bridge between America and Europe is now “disappearing before our eyes”.
Kendall Myers, a senior State Department analyst, disclosed that for all Britain’s attempts to influence US policy in recent years, “we typically ignore them and take no notice — it’s a sad business”.
He added that he felt “a little ashamed” at Mr Bush’s treatment of the Prime Minister, who had invested so much of his political capital in standing shoulder to shoulder with America after 9/11.
Speaking at an academic forum in Washington on Tuesday night, he answered a question from The Times, saying: “It was a done deal from the beginning, it was a onesided relationship that was entered into with open eyes . . . there was nothing. There was no payback, no sense of reciprocity.”
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