French burqa ban defended by European court

The court dismissed arguments that a 2010 law outlawing full-face veils breaches religious freedom. (Shutterstock)

France's controversial burqa ban was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday, after the court dismissed arguments that a 2010 law outlawing full-face veils breaches religious freedom.

In a case brought by a 24-year-old French woman with the support of a British legal team, the court ruled that France was justified in introducing the ban in the interests of social cohesion, Agence France-Presse reported.

"The Court emphasised that respect for the conditions of 'living together' was a legitimate aim for the measure at issue," a statement from the court said.

The court also emphasised that states should be allowed a degree of discretion -- "a wide margin of appreciation" -- on a policy issue which is subject to significant differents of opinion.

Two of the 17 judges who spent several months deliberating on the case dissented from the majority view that the ban did not breach the European Convention on Human Rights' provisions protecting the freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

The judges agreed unanimously that the woman had not been a victim of discrimination. She had not been prosecuted under the law, which has resulted in only a handful of arrests since it was introduced in 2010.

The university graduate, who has family in Birmingham, England, had requested anonymity for fear of reprisals in France over her action. She had argued that being obliged to take off her veil in public was degrading.

In written evidence, she had testified that she wore the full veil of her own free will and was willing to remove it whenever required for security reasons -- addressing the two main arguments put forward by French authorities in support of the ban.

Under the ban, women wearing full-face veils in public spaces can be fined up to 150 euros ($205).

Belgium and some parts of Switzerland have followed France's lead and similar bans are being considered in Italy and The Netherlands. Al Arabiya

Suspect In Brussels Jewish Museum Arrested: France

PARIS (AP) — The Paris prosecutor's office says a man has been arrested in the investigation of a shooting at a Jewish museum in Brussels that left at least three people dead.

An official with the prosecutor's office says the suspect has been handed to anti-terrorist investigators. She says the man was arrested Friday during a customs inspection at a train and bus station in Marseille.

The man was found to have an automatic weapon of the same type used in the Brussels shootings May 24. The official said ballistics analyses are under way to determine if it is the same weapon.

She was not authorized to be publicly named speaking of ongoing investigations.

Suspect In Brussels Jewish Museum Arrested: France

PARIS (AP) — The Paris prosecutor's office says a man has been arrested in the investigation of a shooting at a Jewish museum in Brussels that left at least three people dead.

An official with the prosecutor's office says the suspect has been handed to anti-terrorist investigators. She says the man was arrested Friday during a customs inspection at a train and bus station in Marseille.

The man was found to have an automatic weapon of the same type used in the Brussels shootings May 24. The official said ballistics analyses are under way to determine if it is the same weapon.

She was not authorized to be publicly named speaking of ongoing investigations.

FNF is Fascist, Extremist says German Minister

Marine Le Pen, the head of France's National Front party Philippe Wojazer/Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) - German #Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Tuesday branded the French National Front party fascist and #extremist after the anti-immigrant Eurosceptics shocked Europe by coming first in France's #European Parliament elections.

The victory of Marine Le Pen's FN was part of wider gains in the European vote by anti-EU parties which left the 28-member European Union licking its wounds. Anti-establishment parties from the left also made inroads.

In France, the FN not only topped a national vote for the first time but pushed ruling Socialists there into a lowly third place, prompting Prime Minister Manuel Valls to speak of a political "earthquake".

"Not only for our French colleagues, we have to (ask ourselves) what mistakes we made if a quarter of the (French) electorate voted for … not a right-wing party but for a fascist, extremist party," Schaeuble, speaking in English, told a conference in Berlin.

Le Pen has sought to rid the FN of its extremist reputation since she took the reins from her father in 2011. She campaigned on a platform of tighter borders, hostility to the euro currency and rejection of a planned EU-US free trade deal. The FN calls itself a "patriotic" party and rejects the far-right label.

Her father Jean-Marie Le Pen once described the Nazi gas chambers as a "detail of history" and Le Pen herself has also been accused of inciting racial hatred for comparing Muslim street prayers to the occupation of France by Nazi Germany.

She has said that wherever racism exists within the ranks of the FN it has been punished.

France was a founding member of the European Union but voters have grown increasingly disenchanted with the bloc's free-market and open-border policies in recent years, rejecting a proposed EU constitution in a 2005 referendum.

"(Europe) is not possible without Italy and it certainly is not possible without France," noted Schaeuble, a self-styled francophile.

The German conservative is no stranger to political controversy. Earlier this year he compared Russia's moves against Ukraine to Adolf Hitler's aggression in 1938 that led to the annexation of German-speaking regions of Czechoslovakia.

Reacting to the far right's triumph in Sunday's vote, French President Francois Hollande on Monday pledged to press ahead with reforms at home and pushed for the EU to change tack, saying voters felt Europe was not protecting them.

Pope Francis pledges zero tolerance of child abuse by priests

Pope will meet victims of child abuse Photo: REUTERS

Sexual abuse of children by priests is an ugly crime comparable to a satanic Mass, Pope Francis said.

Speaking to journalists on his flight back from the Middle East, the #Pope announced he would hold his first meeting with victims at the Vatican within the next few weeks.

He said there would be “no privileges” for bishops involved in sex crimes.

“Three bishops are being investigated,” he said. "One of them has already been convicted. There are no privileges. Priests who do this are betraying the Lord.”

The pope said up to eight victims would celebrate Mass with him at St Martha’s, his Vatican residence.

He would also meet them privately to talk about the ordeal they had faced.

Earlier this year Vatican officials told the United Nations that the Catholic Church’s Canon Law prosecutors had handled 3,420 abuse cases over the past decade.

It had led to 848 priests being unfrocked and a further 2,572 being “ordered to live a life of prayer or penance”.

The Pope’s latest remarks reinforced those he made earlier this year over the child abuse crisis, when he said he felt personally compelled to take on the evil which a number of priests had perpetrated.

In his remarks the Pope, who was elected to the Papacy after Benedict XV1, his predecessor stepped down on health grounds, said he could see circumstances under which he could retire.

"I think that Benedict XVI is not a unique case. I think we should see him as an institution who opened a door, the door of emeritus popes," the 77-year-old pontiff said. The Telegraph

Mind the Gap: New French Trains Too Wide for Many Platforms

A railway blunder highlights how two French institutions are under pressure to show they can work together. Pictured, Strasbourg's station. Reuters

PARIS—France's state-run railway system on Wednesday admitted failing to mind the gap, after realizing that a fleet of new trains it has ordered are too wide to fit many of the country's stations.

Confirming a report in satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné, train operator Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer and network owner Réseau Ferré de France said about 1,300 of France's 8,700 railway platforms must be trimmed to make way for the wider rolling stock.

It will cost about €50 million ($68.5 million) to alter the platforms to fit the new trains by 2016, when they are delivered, SNCF and RFF said.

"We discovered the problem a bit late," RFF spokesman Christophe Piednoël told French radio. "It's as if you bought a Ferrari and when you come to park it in your garage you realize your garage isn't exactly the right size for a Ferrari because you didn't have a Ferrari before."

A file picture taken earlier this year of the new SNCF Regiolis Regional Express Train, or TER, during its presentation at the Vaugirard railway station in Paris. The arrival in France of new and larger regional trains will require construction work to reconfigure some station platforms, as the trains are too wide. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The blunder highlights how both SNCF and RFF are under pressure to demonstrate how they can better work together after being separated into two entities 17 years ago.

The new trains, made by Alstom SA ALO.FR -1.03% and Bombardier Inc., BBD.B.T -1.02% were ordered by the SNCF in 2009 and 2010 for a total cost of €3 billion. The two institutions said they will publish a report next week detailing how the error was made and when it became apparent the platforms would have to be altered.

The revelations sparked a furor in France with politicians from all sides denouncing the error. Environment and Energy Minister Ségolène Royal said she wanted clarity on how "such a stupid decision had been made."

"Such implausible errors simply go to show there are people in Parisian offices who are too far removed from the regional reality," Ms. Royal said in the courtyard of the Élysée Palace after the weekly government cabinet meeting.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front said the episode is "an inexcusable waste of public money."

The RFF said the costs of altering the platforms would be covered by the €4 billion annual budget dedicated to maintenance, modernization and development.

Speaking on French radio Europe 1, the president of the RFF, Jacques Rappoport, defended the railroad operator's record. In the past 10 years, traffic on regional railways has increased by between 40% and 50% while some of the platforms are up to 150 years old.

"It's clear that the trains we had in the 19th century aren't the same ones we have today," Mr. Rappoport said. Still, he acknowledged there is a problem with France's system because it separates the track operator from the train operator.

A law being prepared by the government should allow SNCF and RFF to work more closely, government spokesman Stéphane le Foll said after the weekly cabinet meeting. --WSJ

French journalist murdered in Central African Republic: Hollande

(Reuters) - A #French #journalist has been murdered in the Central #African Republic, President Francois Hollande's office said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The corpse of (Camille) Lepage was found after a patrol by (French) Sangaris troops stopped a car driven by anti-balaka groups, in the Bouar region," the statement said.

"Everything will be done to uncover the circumstances of this assassination and to track down who murdered our compatriot."

Source: Reuters