WASHINGTON (JTA) — A bill unanimously approved by the U.S. House of Representatives would extend religious protections to advocates of circumcision and ritual slaughter as well as atheists, addressing what its sponsors describe as an increase in religious persecution in recent years.
The bill, passed Monday, would broaden the definition of “violations of religious freedom” in the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to include the persecution of advocates of male circumcision or ritual animal slaughter. Atheists would become a new protected class.
The measure, which moves to the Senate for consideration, was named for retired Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., a longtime champion of human rights who authored the 1998 law.
“The world is experiencing an unprecedented crisis of international religious freedom, a crisis that continues to create millions of victims; a crisis that undermines liberty, prosperity and peace; a crisis that poses a direct challenge to the U.S. interests in the Middle East, Russia, China and sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere,” Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who authored the bill, said in a statement.
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Published time: 20 May, 2016 07:56
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe © Yuya Shino / Reuters
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he’s outraged at the murder of a 20-year-old woman, following the arrest of a US man on suspicion of homicide in Okinawa. Japanese media later reported that the suspect admitted killing his victim.
“I feel extremely strong outrage,” Abe told reporters.
He added that he has no words “to express, considering how the family” of the victim feels.
“We urge the US side to take thorough measures to prevent the recurrence of such events.”
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Published time: 19 May, 2016 14:02
Mika Ranta, founder of the ‘Soldiers of Odin’ pictured on February 5, 2016 in Kemi. © Sam Kingsley / Reuters
One of the founders of far-right anti-refugee Finnish group the ‘Soldiers of Odin’ has been slapped with a suspended sentence of 18 months, a fine and community service for an assault on a man and a woman resulting in a broken jaw.
The group, named for the Norse god of war and death, roams the streets of their native Finland and neighboring states, claiming to protect locals from immigrant attacks. It was founded last year in the northern Finnish town of Kemi. The group says its actions are in response to local police struggling with the sheer number of crimes since the migrant influx last year.
The group accuses “Islamist intruders” of increasing crime and distributes placards reading, “Migrants not welcome.”
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Published time: 19 May, 2016 06:14
© Johannes Eisele / AFP
A Turkish-born airport cleaner known to the authorities as a hardline Islamist had an access to major German airports’ most sensitive security areas almost a year after Berlin authorities briefed an airport safety watchdog of his ties to radical beliefs, a report has revealed.
The employee, identified in a new report by Germany’s Morgenpost on Wednesday as “Recep Ü,” was eventually sacked in October 2015 after four years of working for the German airport operator FBB, which runs Berlin’s Tegel and Schönefeld airports. However, his dismissal was triggered not by concerns over a possible terrorist threat but by a separate incident involving a security breach. He had been apprehended by airport security officers while attempting to smuggle a knuckle-duster into the security area of Schönefeld airport, the newspaper reported.
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Published time: 19 May, 2016 03:08
Families of passengers who were flying in an EgyptAir plane that vanished from radar en route from Paris to Cairo react as they wait outside a services hall at Cairo airport on May 19, 2016. © Khaled Desouki / AFP
An EgyptAir flight en route from Paris to Cairo has gone missing with 56 passengers and 10 crewmembers on board. While a search and rescue operation is under way, authorities and experts say no scenario can be ruled out, including terrorism.
LIVE UPDATES: Search for EgyptAir flight missing over Mediterranean
Flight MS804, an Airbus 320, left Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 11:09 p.m. local time (2109 GMT) on Wednesday and was expected to arrive in Cairo by 03:00 a.m. Thursday. A direct flight usually takes just over four hours. It went off radar screens just as it was leaving Greek airspace at 0230 GMT.
French President Francois Hollande confirmed that the missing plane had crashed, and added that “no hypothesis” could be ruled out on the causes of the incident. Speaking in a televised address, he offered “solidarity” with the families of those on board.
“It could be a terrorist hypothesis but at this stage we should express our solidarity to the families and to find out the cause of the catastrophe,” Hollande said.
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