Netherlands: Dutch plan ban on Muslim face veils next year Via Reuters : The Dutch minority government plans to ban Muslim face veils such as burqas and other forms of clothing that cover the face from next year. The ban would make the Netherlands, where 1 million out of 17 million people are Muslim, the second European Union country to ban the burqa after France, and would apply to face-covering veils if they were worn in public. “People should be able to look at each other’s faces and recognize each other when they meet,” the interior affairs ministry said in a statement Friday

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France: Muslim and Jewish celebrations ‘should be bank holidays’ Via France24 : France’s Green presidential hopeful raised heckles across the political spectrum Tuesday by suggesting that France should honour Muslim and Jewish festivals as well as Christian ones, by according them a national holiday. Speaking in Paris on Wednesday at her first campaign rally, Green presidential candidate Eva Joly argued that national holiday status should be accorded to the Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Fitr and the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. Currently six of the 12 national holidays in France are Catholic calendar events, with the other six having no religious connotation.

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Strasbourg: First Muslim cemetery in France Via Le Parisien (French): The first Muslim cemetery will be inaugurated in Strasbourg on February 6th. The cemetery will have place for 1000 graves. The cemetery is the first to be established by a French municipality, and was made possible by the special local laws of the region, which do not recognize separation of Church and State.

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France: New law makes it harder to become French Via France24 : Foreigners seeking French nationality face tougher requirements as of January 1, when new rules drawn up by Interior Minister Claude Guéant come into force. Candidates will be tested on French culture and history, and will have to prove their French language skills are equivalent to those of a 15-year-old mother tongue speaker. They will also be required to sign a new charter establishing their rights and responsibilities.

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Turkey: Sarkozy is “fanning hatred of Muslims and Turks for electoral gains.” Thousands of Turkish protesters gathered outside the French National Assembly on Thursday (AFP, Martin Bureau) Via AFP : The war of words between France and Turkey escalated dramatically on Friday, when the Turkish premier accused Paris of committing genocide in Algeria and of stirring hatred of Muslims.

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France: Far-right group has message in menu Via AP : They feasted in the verdant back country of picture-postcard Provence, the delight of tourists and the pride of France. But it was no ordinary country idyll. The extreme right Bloc Identitaire, or Identity Bloc, was lashing out at Islam while dining on pork roast and local wine — off limits to practicing Muslims

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France: Senate passes bill on votes for foreigners Via AFP : A French bill to allow non-EU foreigners to vote in local elections passed its first hurdle Friday when it was adopted by the upper-house Senate after a tumultuous debate. But the approval — by a Senate dominated by left-wing parties — remains mainly symbolic, as the bill stands no chance of passing in the lower house, the National Assembly, which remains under conservative control.

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France: “We can not stand unlimited social immigrants” Via Xinhua : Sarkozy made the remarks while delivering a speech on Europe and the eurozone debt crisis in the southern French port city of Toulon, the same city where he spoke in 2008 about the global financial crisis and the need to “re-found global capitalism.” “A Europe that applies the principle of free movement internally and does not control its external borders cannot last. The Schengen must be rethought,” Sarkozy said in the speech.

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France: Actress ‘banned Muslim handymen’ over chihuahua worries Via the Local : One of France’s most well-known singers and actresses, Marie Laforêt, will today appear in a Paris courtroom to defend herself against charges that a job advertisement she placed discriminated against Muslims.

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Toulouse: School tagged with anti-Arab graffiti Via La Dépêche (French): A high-school in Toulous was tagged with racist and anti-Arab graffiti: “Arabs out of France”, “Arabs get lost” “Islam get out” (the latter in English) as well as Nazi symbols. Some parents said they had to explain the meaning of the symbols to their children. The Louis-Nicolas-Vauquelin school is located in the at-risk neighborhood of Mirail

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