Malaysia's school for pregnant teens opens

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's first 'School of Hope' for pregnant teenagers began its work Monday with five girls joining it. Four Malays and an ethnic Chinese students resumed their studies in Forms Four and Five at the school in Malacca state.

The teenagers, accompanied by their parents, were first required to make their formal application at the Malacca Islamic Religious Department before heading to the school.

The first to be seen was a young Chinese teenager who arrived with her parents at the school's dormitory, House of Hope.

On Sunday, Malacca Chief Minister Mohammed Ali Rustam said families of five pregnant teenagers had sought to enrol their daughters in the school here.

The five, aged between 16 and 17 years, were from Malacca, Johor, Negri Sembilan, Pahang states and Kuala Lumpur, the national capital.

Ali said the school could accommodate 40 students. He said the privacy of the students would be protected and requested the public and the media to adhere to the rule.

He had caused a furore when he announced the setting up of the school two months ago, The Star said.

He had defended the state's move, saying the school was to provide pregnant teenagers with a second chance and curb illicit sex and baby dumping.

Spain parliament rejects burqa ban propsal.

MADRID: Spain's Parliament rejected Tuesday a proposal to ban women wearing the face veil in public places, citing protection of personal freedoms.

The proposal to ban women from wearing a veil that only reveals the eyes was presented by the leading opposition Popular Party on the grounds that the outfit, also called burqa, violates the rights of women and undermines their dignity.
Following a debate that took place in the parliament's lower chamber, 162 MPs voted for the ban, 183 opposed it, and two abstained.

According to the Popular Party, the proposal was put forward "in defense of the dignity and equality of all women" and to make sure Muslim women are not being forced by their husbands to become fully veiled.

"It is very difficult to understand how it is that our troops are defending liberty in Afghanistan and the government doesn't have the courage to do so here, in Spain," said opposition spokeswoman Soraya Saenz de Santamaria.

Some analysts argue that the main purpose of the proposal is strengthening the opposition amid the economic problems with which the government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has been plighted.

"This has been used politically in a search for electoral support," said Mansur Escudero, president of the Islamic Commission of Spain.

He added that the last time he had seen a fully veiled women in Spain was 10 years ago in the southern city of Marbella, where several wealthy Arabs own houses, and that this woman might have been a tourist.

"The only woman I knew who regularly wore a burqa had lived in the southern city of Cordoba and died about a decade ago."

None of the opposition spokesmen had been able to cite a place in Spain where women routinely wear face-covering veils.

Japan's spouse hunters hone skills at marriage school

TOKYO: In search of Mr. or Mrs. Right, dozens of Japanese are attending a newly launched school in Tokyo that aims turn them into marriage material.

The Infini school offers various classes for wannabe brides and grooms at a time when many people in Japan are either shunning the institution of marriage or are finding it very difficult to hook up with a partner.

The school, which is open to men and women, teaches students how to talk, walk and present themselves elegantly in a bid to capture the hearts and minds of prospective partners and their parents, who are often a major obstacle to successful unions.

Infini, which opened last month, now has about 30 female students. An almost equal number of males has signed up, but those who actually turn up to class are much fewer than their female counterparts.

Instructors provide critiques about students' dress, posture and even details such as how they cross their legs or get out of a car. Men and men are taught different skills, which range from how to set a table well to how to be more emotionally expressive.

Students also simulate dates, during which their instructors grade their performance and point out what they did wrong.

The school charges an annual fee of 200,000 yen ($2,217) for unlimited access to its classes.

French parliament report calls for burka ban

PARIS:  France was set to move one step closer to barring Muslim women from wearing the full Islamic veil with the release Tuesday of a report calling for a ban on the burka, also known as niqab, in public institutions.

A French parliament report called for a ban on the full Islamic veil in all schools, hospitals, public transport and government offices, saying it was an affront to French values.

"The wearing of the full veil is a challenge to our republic. This is unacceptable," the report released by a parliament commission said. "We must condemn this excess."

After six months of hearings, the panel of 32 lawmakers recommended a ban on the face-covering veil in all state-run institutions and offices, the broadest move yet to restrict Muslim dress in France.

The commission called on parliament to adopt a formal resolution stating that the burka was "contrary to the values of the republic" and proclaiming that "all of France is saying 'no' to the full veil."

Women who turn up at government offices wearing the full veil should be denied services such as a work visa, residency papers or French citizenship, the report recommended.

The panel however stopped short of proposing broad legislation to outlaw the niqab on the streets or in shopping centers after cautioning that such a move would have to be reviewed by the courts to establish its legality.

"The wearing of the full veil is the tip of the iceberg," said communist lawmaker Andre Gerin, the chair of the commission.

"There are scandalous practices hidden behind this veil," said Gerin who vowed to fight the "gurus" seeking to export a racial brand of fundamentalism and sectarianism to France.

"Not welcome" in France

President Nicolas Sarkozy set the tone for the debate when he declared the burka "not welcome" in France and described it as a symbol of women's "subservience" which cannot be tolerated in a country that considers itself a human rights leader.

Hopes for reaching any sort of political consensus have evaporated, with the opposition Socialists, divided by those calling for a total prohibition and those opposed to stigmatizing wearers of the full veil, planning to abstain from the vote on the report.

The leader of Sarkozy's right-wing party in parliament, Jean-Francois Cope, has already presented draft legislation that would make it illegal for anyone to cover their faces in public for reasons of security.

Home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority, estimated at about six million, France is being closely watched at a time of particular unease over Islam, three months after Swiss voters approved a ban on minarets.

No European country has adopted sweeping national legislation on restricting the full veil.

Despite a large Muslim presence, the sight of fully-veiled women is not an everyday occurrence in France. Only 1,900 women wear the niqab, according to the interior ministry.

Half of them live in the Paris region and 90 percent are under 40.

French support for a law banning the full veil is strong: a poll last week showed that 57 percent are in favor.

While lawmakers are divided on the scope of the restrictions, with many fearing that a draconian law would stigmatize Muslims who are already bristling at the anti-Islam rants heard during the government's national identity debate, they agree that some time will be needed to craft a solid text that would stand up to a court challenge.

Women worry about their looks 252 times/ week

LONDON: A survey has shown that women are constantly concerned by their appearance and worry about ageing.

One hundred women were asked to carry a clicker in an experiment to measure how many times they felt anxiety about their bodies ageing.

Over a seven day period, the women aged 35 to 69 had to use the clicker every time they worried about their face, body, or appearance in general.

On average, the women surveyed had negative thoughts 36 times a day.

One of the participants, Loose Women presenter Sherrie Hewson, 59, said: "It brought to the fore how many women have issues.

"Listening to others, they are saying what I'm saying when you think it's only you.

"There are so many of us there's got to be a common denominator, so we've got to get together and change it, change us."

Sherrie, who had a facelift ten years ago, clicked 1,400 times over seven days but admitted she thought it would be more.

In her waking hours, she experienced a negative thought about herself approximately every three minutes.

She told the Daily Mail: "When I look in the mirror, my overriding thought is: "I don't know this person." I wake up to this face, and I feel as though it's someone else's. All I see in the mirror is age creeping up on me.

"The worst time for me in terms of clicking was the morning.

"Just getting up, I'd look in the mirror at my face and hair and think: "Oh dear, now that's a worry." I'd click as I put my make-up on, but the more make-up I applied the less I clicked, and by the time my "face" was complete I'd have stopped clicking.

"I'd also click whenever I saw images of myself as a young actress, which happens from time to time. Just seeing how I used to look would remind me I was getting older."

The study was devised by keep-fit instructor Irene Estry and psychologist Emma Kenny to see if a looks-obsessed society creates ageism and pressure to stay youthful.

Malaysia's Islamic party tells men to wed mums

KUALA LUMPUR:  Malaysia's conservative Islamic party has urged Muslim men to marry single mothers as additional wives instead of "young virgin girls", a state official said.

Wan Ubaidah Omar, a cabinet minister from northern Kelantan, which the party controls, said the proposal aired in state parliament this week was needed to help single mothers and widows in the underdeveloped region.

"Muslim men usually like young girls or virgins as their additional wives, so I suggest instead of taking these young virgin girls, why don't they marry the single mothers as their second or third wife?" she told AFP.

"This will ease the burden of the single mothers as the men can help them to take care of their children. The single ladies have no burden," said Wan Ubaidah, who is in charge of women, family and health affairs in the state.

Muslim men in Malaysia are allowed to marry up to four women but Islamic courts must approve multiple marriages before they take place. About 60 percent of the country's 27 million population are Muslims.

Women's groups here have campaigned against polygamy, saying it is cruel and has deviated from its original purpose in Islam, which was to protect widows and orphans.

Wan Ubaidah said her call was not meant to encourage polygamous marriage, but as a way to help at least 16,500 single mothers aged under 60 in Kelantan, a state that has one of the highest divorce rates in the country.

"Even if I don't make the suggestion, these men are going to marry the second, third wife anyway but I have to emphasize that under Islam, only those who have the social and economic capacity can have additional wives," she said.

The minister also called for husbands who leave their wives without good reason to be whipped under religious laws.

"Some of these husbands just go missing in action suddenly, and leave the wives without any food or money. These kind of men should be whipped, they deserve it," Wan Ubaidah said.

"This punishment is not in the state sharia law at the moment, but we can make it a law to make men more responsible; there is a lot of room for improvement in the legal system to protect the welfare of women," she added.

Aishwarya number 9 in Harpers and Queen most beautiful list

NEW YORK: Aishwarya Rai has made it to the 100 most beautiful women list published by Harpers and Queen Magazine.

The Bollywood Beauty was placed ninth just like last year.

Hollywood actor Angelina Jolie topped the list followed by supermodel Christy Turlington, Queen Rania of Jordan and other luminaries.

New UN body to promote women

UN: The UN General Assembly has approved a resolution to create a single UN body to promote the advancement of women.
The move has been hailed by the European Union as an important step in protecting women's rights.
The vote on Monday culminated nearly three years of negotiations, in which the EU has been a driving force, to merge four existing UN bodies dealing with women and create a single entity with greater clout headed by a high-ranking UN official.
But critics complained that the 192-nation General Assembly watered down the resolution at the last minute at the insistence of some member states, deleting any reference to the new body's future mandate.

Muslim women get “halal” cosmetics

New make-up line has no alcohol or pig-residue
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DUBAI: For Muslim women who feel they are violating Islam's teachings by using skin creams with alcohol and pig residues, Layla Mandi has the answer: religiously-correct "halal" cosmetics.
The Canadian makeup artist who converted to Islam is marketing cosmetics called OnePure, which she says have the luxury feel of international brands minus the elements banned under Islamic law.
"There are pork derivatives and alcohol in most cosmetics products, so Muslims should really use something else," Mandi said.
Increasingly popular
From Islamic banking to alcohol-free hotels, products tagged as halal have become popular among devout Muslims.
Under the concept of halal -- which means "lawful" in Arabic -- pork and its by-products, alcohol and animals not slaughtered according to Quranic procedures are all forbidden.
Strict Muslims the world over only buy halal food but the market for halal cosmetics is still in its infancy in Asia and a mere novelty for Muslims in the Arab world.
Such products are not usually sold across the counter but can be bought on the Internet from online stores in Malaysia, Jordan and Britain.
"Muslims don’t want to go around and pray five times a day having pork residues on their body," said Mandi, in her early thirties and swathed in a slim black abaya, or cloak, with wisps of blond hair sticking from under her head scarf.
"I came to the Middle East to learn more about people’s needs. Most were pretty shocked when I told them there were pork products in their skin care items so they were very interested."
Free of pork and alcohol
According to Mandi, fatty acids and gelatin used in moisturizers, shampoos, face masks and lipsticks as well as other items are often extracted from pigs.
Determined to create a halal product, Mandi brought together a dermatologist and a chemist and told them the deal: cosmetics and skin-care products free of pork and alcohol.
OnePure is guaranteed to be just that, she said. And to get a foothold in the highly competitive business, Mandi is offering products that come in glitzy wrappings.
"I wanted the packaging to be really luxurious, to speak to young people and old people, to everyone. I didn’t want people to say ‘I’d really like to buy a halal product but the packaging doesn’t look cool,'" she said.
Touted as the first halal cosmetics brand in the Middle East, OnePure products are certified in Malaysia by an Islamic body that also certifies meats and other consumer goods for Muslims.
So far Mandi has been selling them online, on Saudi Airlines -- her first customer since July -- and a small boutique in the upscale Souk al-Bahar in the Burj Dubai complex that houses the world’s tallest tower.
"It’s most specifically designed for women in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council). I plan to launch a line for men but for now, it’s just women," Mandi said. "There is appetite for it in this region."
Marketing Ploys
But some in the make-up industry have expressed skepticism about halal cosmetics, dismissing ideas such as Mandi's as marketing ploys that feed on the need of some for religiously-correct products.
"I feel it’s more about marketing," said Noura Hamdi, marketing manager at a Body Shop boutique in Dubai.
"We are not using any animal products in our products anyway," said Hamdi, adding that the alcohol contained in the cosmetics and skin-care products sold in her shop "is not pure alcohol."
"The customer is not going to drink it. It’s something to apply on your body or clothes so it’s not related to halal or haram or religion," Hamdi said. "The issue is not whether it’s halal or haram, it’s more about the benefits of the product."
But a senior cleric at the United Arab Emirates' Dar al-Iftaa, which issues fatwas, or religious edicts, disagreed.
"If any of the cosmetic products contained pig derivatives or alcohol they should not be used because this is contaminated and one does not want to apply contaminated (products) on one's body," said the cleric, who is not authorised to identify himself in his task in answering Muslims' queries by telephone.

Islam supports working women: Ex-Shoura adviser

DAMMAM: Former Shoura Council adviser Dr. Umayma Ahmad Al-Jalahma said on Sunday that Islam encourages and supports working women and that there is no reason for women not to work.
“There is nothing in Islam that says that (women) working is forbidden,” she said. “God has given us the right to work, to earn a living and to develop our talents.” Al-Jalahma made the remarks to a gathering of young Saudi women at the Asharqia Businesswomen’s Center as part of her speech, “Women’s Rights in the Workplace.” She stressed that women should know their rights and that their right to work is one of them. “If a woman wants to work, she should be able to. She should be able to tell her husband that she doesn’t want to just sit around the house,” she said. “Some men and women deny the right of women to work, and this is either a result of ignorance or holding on too tightly to tradition.”
However, Al-Jalahma said, unlike Western societies, the basic unit of Islamic society is the family and not the individual. “Women play an important role as mothers of our society’s daughters and sons,” she said. “Working mothers are doing a service to their communities and should be appreciated. Motherhood is also a job.”
She said that workingwomen in the West are not appreciated as such and that the focus on the individual creates a constant struggle between men and women. “To this day, working women in the West demand equal pay between them and their male counterparts,” she said. “The logic is that a woman may start a family and take time off of work, and so a woman may do the same work that a man does but still get paid less for it.”
This, she said, distorts the natural difference between the sexes and breaks up the family. “Women in the West are demanded to transform into men if they want to be appreciated,” she said, “and the family is no longer made up of a mother, father and the children, but of a woman, man and family members.”
However, ideas should not be rejected just because they come from the West. “We need to evaluate everything that is on the table and be open to new ideas,” she said. “It is against our Islamic teachings to reject something just because it comes from the West.”
She said that men also have their role, as well. “Men have a responsibility toward the women in their life, and women should respect that, but this is toward one man in your life — your husband or your father — not to all men. And this doesn’t mean absolute obedience,” she said.
“Men must support their women, it’s a form of spoiling women,” she said. “Men can help in the kitchen; there is no shame in that.” She also addressed claims that Islam does not treat women and men equally. “Absolute equality between two similar groups is fair, but when it is between two different groups, it is not,” she said. “If absolute equality is possible, then men should be able to breast-feed.”
Above equality, she said, Islam values justice. “Islam understands the differences between men and women and demands fairness and justice,” she said. “We can’t all be the same and have the same role. Women and men complement each other, and we need to work together and cooperate for the benefit of the family and the society.”
Women also have the responsibility of passing these lessons to the next generation. “It is true, we have a masculine society, but who let it become that way?” she asked. “It is not men’s fault. Everything starts at the home.”

Italian city to fine Muslim women in burkinis

ROME- The anti-immigration mayor of a northern Italian city has barred Muslim women from wearing the body-concealing swimsuit known as a burkini and has threatened to fine them if spotted on the beach or at swimming pools, a report said Wednesday.
Women wearing the garment made up of a veil, a tunic and loose leggings face a fine of €500 ($700) if spotted at swimming pools or riversides in the northern Piedmont town of Varallo Sesia, the ANSA news agency reported.
"The sight of a 'masked woman' could disturb small children, not to mention problems of hygiene," Mayor Gianluca Buonanno was quoted as saying.
"We don't have to be tolerant all the time," he said.
Justifying the move, Buonanno added: "Imagine a Western woman bathing in a bikini in a Muslim country. The consequences could be decapitation, prison or deportation. We are merely prohibiting the use of the burkini."
Last week a swimming pool in Paris refused entry to a burkini-clad woman on similar grounds, adding to tensions over Muslim dress in France.
The incident came as French lawmakers conducted hearings on whether to ban the burqa, which is not obligatory in Islam, after President Nicolas Sarkozy said the head-to-toe body covering and veil was "not welcome" in France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority.
Buonanno belongs to Italy's Northern League, a party allied with the centre-right People of Freedom led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.