COLOMBO: A draft bill that would outlaw full-face veils and body coverings for Muslim women in Sri Lanka will be tabled in parliament next month, a government official said on Wednesday, a day after the Cabinet cleared a proposal banning the burqa in public for national security reasons.
“The framework of the Cabinet decision taken on the burqa ban has been sent to the Attorney General’s department, and the bill is likely to be presented in the legislature within a month,” Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara told Arab News.
Last month, Weerasekara sought Cabinet approval to ban the burqa an outer garment worn by some Muslim women to cover the body and face calling it “a sign of religious extremism” with a “direct impact on national security.”
Organizations adjust fundraising goals to meet the needs of struggling donors
Charity groups remain active despite pandemic threatening to push more families into poverty
Updated 29 April 2021
April 29, 2021 00:06
LONDON: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected how people around the world are marking Ramadan, including how they are able to practice charitable giving, which is an important aspect of the holy month.
International charities in the UK have adjusted their fundraising initiatives because an increasing number in Britain are struggling to make ends meet.
“Ramadan this time looks very different for us,” Sarah Ashraf, community services manager at the international humanitarian charity Penny Appeal, told Arab News.
KABUL: The US has ordered all government staff at its embassy in Afghanistan to leave the country amid concerns of a spike in violence after the Taliban’s May 1 deadline for all troops to withdraw expires next week.
The State Department’s order issued on Tuesday pushed for the departure of US government employees whose functions “can be performed elsewhere.”
“We regularly review and evaluate the safety, security, and operations of our facilities worldwide,” Hilary Rener, a spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Kabul, told Arab News.
“We have determined that an ordered departure of certain US employees in Afghanistan is appropriate given current conditions associated with the security situation,” she added, declining to share more details such as how many employees would be leaving based on the order.
‘An honor and duty:’ Meet the female Saudi officers guarding the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah
Dressed in tan uniforms, veils and black berets, the 113 officers assist pilgrims and worshippers at the mosque
Military-trained batch, created six months ago, part of Special Security Forces’ homeland security unit
Updated 29 April 2021
April 28, 2021 22:46
MADINAH: Few media images have captured the impressive strides Saudi Arabia has made toward the empowerment of women and gender equality since 2016 like the recent photos of a smartly uniformed female security officer guiding Umrah pilgrims in Makkah during Ramadan.
Dozens of female officers are currently deployed both in Makkah and Madinah, where they are providing security and managing worshippers at the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque. The fact that their daily work is now considered a matter of course is a signal achievement of the Kingdom’s five-year-old Vision 2030.
While there are a large number of factors influencing oil markets at the moment, three factors stick out and are most likely to determine the course of crude in May