When I Was Young

ISLAM IN FRANCE

Burqa furore hints at internally-conflicted political discourse

Muslims in France wear the niqab (left) while the burqa (centre, right) is seldom seen in the country. AFP

PARIS - It is a measure of France's confusion about Islam and its Muslim citizens that in the political furore here over "banning the burqa", as the argument goes, the garment at issue is not really the burqa, but the niqab.

A burqa is the all-enveloping cloak, often blue, with a woven grill over the eyes, that many Afghan women wear, and it is almost never seen in France. The niqab, often black, leaves the eyes uncovered.

Still, a movement against it has gotten traction within France's ruling centre-right party, which claims to be defending French values, and among many on the left, who say they are defending women's rights. A parliamentary commission will soon meet to investigate whether to ban the burqa.

The debate is indicative of the deep ambivalence about social customs of a small minority of France's Muslims, and of the fear that France's principles of citizens' rights, equality and secularism are being undermined. French discomfort with organised religion is aggravated by these foreign customs, which are associated with repression of women.

Mr Andre Gerin, Mayor of Venissieux, a Lyon suburb with many Muslims from North Africa, began the affair in June by initiating a motion, signed by 57 other legislators, calling for the parliamentary commission.

"The burqa is the tip of the iceberg," Mr Gerin said. "Islamism really threatens us." In a letter to the government, he wrote: "It is time to take a stand on this issue that concerns thousands of citizens who are worried to see imprisoned, totally veiled women."

A few days later, President Nicolas Sarkozy said that "the burqa is not welcome on the territory of the French Republic".

The French press has been full of heated opinion pieces. Women wearing the niqab, many of them French converts to Islam, have said that they have freely chosen to cover themselves after marriage.

Passions have run so high that when domestic intelligence issued a report saying that only 367 women in France wore a full veil, it seemed to make no difference. For many French Muslims, the entire discussion is an incitement to racial and religious hatred.

Mr Mohammed Henniche, secretary for the private Union of Muslim Associations of Seine-Saint-Denis, said: "I think choosing to use burqa instead (of niqab) is not an accident. They chose a word that is associated with Afghanistan, and that spreads a negative, scary image."

Even existing laws are misunderstood, he said, with a woman refused entry to a bank because employees thought a head scarf was illegal.

"French political discourse is internally conflicted," said Mr John R Bowen, professor at Washington University in St Louis. There is confusion about different kinds of public space, he said - the street and places that belong to the state but are not freely open to the public, like schools.

However, Mr Bowen does not think there will be a law banning the niqab. THE NEW YORK TIMES

From TODAY, World – Wednesday, 02-Sep-2009

Posted: 04 June 2009 0943 hrs

Relatives and Air France employees outside the Notre-Dame cathedral during an ecumenical church service for relatives and families of the passengers of Air France's flight 447

FERNANDO DE NORONHA, Brazil: The hunt for clues for what brought down an Air France jet over the Atlantic was to get into full swing Thursday with Brazilian navy ships trawling for debris spotted in the crash zone.

Brazil's government has discounted the idea of a mid-air explosion bringing down the plane, which was carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it met its fate early Monday. No distress call was received from the pilots.

Defence Minister Nelson Jobim late Wednesday said a 20-kilometre (12-mile) long fuel slick sighted in the area "means that it is improbable that there was a fire or explosion" because the high-octane jet-fuel would otherwise have been ignited.

But he cautioned that that was "just a hypothesis" and stressed that the mystery of Air France flight AF 477 was far from being solved.

Answers may lie in the plane's black box data and cockpit voice recorders.

But they are likely resting on the rugged sea bottom, at least 3,000 metres underwater, and would be very difficult if not impossible to recover even if the 200-kilometre wide search area were narrowed down, experts said.

"It's equivalent to looking for a needle in a haystack," said Pierre Cochonat, of the French marine research institute Ifremer.

Two Brazilian navy vessels, a patrol boat and a corvette, were in the area, 1,000 kilometres off Brazil's northeast coast, officials said.

By nightfall late Wednesday, though, they had not sighted or recovered any of the items spotted by air force aircraft, which included a plane seat, a life vest, cables, a chunk of fuselage and other plane components.

No bodies have yet been spotted.

Three other Brazilian vessels, including a tanker able to keep the flotilla in the area for weeks, and a French ship with mini-submarines were to arrive over coming days.

A few of the relatives of those on board the Air France Airbus A330 told media they still held out hope their loved ones might have survived. But many others were resigned.

A memorial service was to be held for the 216 passengers and 12 crew in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner attending.

On Wednesday, a similar ceremony was conducted in Notre Dame cathedral with relatives and French President Nicolas Sarkozy hearing a message of condolence from Pope Benedict XVI read out to them.

France, which lost 72 nationals, the biggest group on the plane, is leading the probe into the disaster.

Two French investigators were already at work in Brazil, which lost 58 nationals. The other passengers came from 30 other countries.

If final confirmation comes that all those on board the Air France plane perished, it would be the worst disaster for the French airline in its 70-year history.

It would also be the worst civil aviation accident since 2001, when an American Airlines Airbus A300 crashed in New York killing all 260 people on board.

- AFP/yb

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

AFP - Thursday, June 4

A French military aircraft joins the search for Flight AF 447 off Cape Verde. Investigators say they may never find the black boxes that could explain why an Air France jet crashed into the ocean as naval teams trawled deep Atlantic waters.

FERNANDO DE NORONHA, Brazil (AFP) - - Investigators said on Wednesday they may never find the black boxes that could explain why an Air France jet crashed into the ocean as naval teams trawled deep Atlantic waters.

An inquiry has begun into the cause of Monday's disaster, but the scattered and sunken remains of the jet will have to be recovered before the hundreds of grieving relatives across the world can expect any answers.

In particular, investigators will want to get a hold of the Airbus A330's black box flight data recorders, which may be lying in Atlantic Ocean waters as deep as 6,000 metres (19,700 feet) and 500 kilometres (312 miles) from land.

The crash is the worst in the airline's history with 228 people on board.

The director of the French air investigation agency, Paul Louis Arslanian, said he was "not totally optimistic" the boxes would be recovered from the "deep and mountainous" place into which they are thought to have sunk.

"We can't rule out not finding the recorders," he told a news conference in Paris, adding that even if they are found there is no guarantee the speed and altitude data and cockpit recordings would be enough to solve the mystery.

A naval mission was launched after the debris was spotted off Brazil's coast, and ships heading to the zone are carrying two mini-submarines, the best hope of tracking down the boxes, which ought to emit a location signal.

The first of Brazilian vessel was to arrive early Wednesday, joining three cargo ships from France and the Netherlands that were rerouted to the area.

A Brazilian air force plane with night-vision sensors has been sweeping a zone 500 kilometres northeast of Brazil's Fernando do Noronha archipelago, itself 400 kilometres from the mainland, officials said.

Another three air force aircraft were to be deployed after dawn, when visual sweeps would also be made for signs of bodies.

Defense Minister Nelson Jobim on Tuesday confirmed that the spot in Brazilian waters was the crash site of the Air France Airbus A330, and a spokesman for the French general staff confirmed this.

"The operation is now changing from being an aerial mission covering a vast expanse of the ocean to a naval operation focusing on a much more limited area," Captain Christophe Prazuck told AFP.

The wreckage extinguished any lingering hopes of finding survivors and confirmed the worst civil aviation accident since 2001, when an American Airlines jet crashed in New York killing all 260 people on board.

Brazil on Tuesday announced three days of national mourning. Christian and Muslim services were to be held in Paris on Wednesday, including one in Paris' Notre-Dame cathedral to be attended by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The flight was four hours into its 11-hour voyage from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it broadcast automatic warnings indicating multiple electrical and pressurisation failures and ceased contact with controllers.

The pilots did not issue a distress call.

A team of investigators from France's BEA air safety agency is already in Brazil, the Brazilian air force said. In Paris, prosecutors launched a formal judicial inquiry.

Any human remains located would be taken by ship to Fernando de Noronha, where they would be flown out on air force aircraft.

More than half of those traveling on the Air France jet were either French or Brazilian. The others came from 30 countries, mostly in Europe.

The 216 passengers included 126 men, 82 women, seven children and a baby. The crew comprised 11 French nationals and one Brazilian.

Air France has suggested the four-year-old jet was struck by lightning , a fairly common hazard that by itself should not knock out a modern airliner.

Other theories advanced by experts include pilot error, mechanical defects or even terrorism. French officials have refused to rule out any possibility, after initially suggesting the crash was accidental.

From Yahoo! News; see the source article here.

Posted: 03 June 2009 1132 hrs

A French military aircraft joins the search off Cape Verde.

FERNANDO DE NORONHA, Brazil: Navy ships are due to arrive Wednesday at a zone in the Atlantic off Brazil's coast where an Air France plane carrying 228 people crashed this week, as investigators focused on finding answers to the tragedy.

The first of the Brazilian navy vessels is to arrive early Wednesday, joining three cargo ships from France and the Netherlands that were rerouted to the area on Monday after debris from Air France flight AF 447 was spotted.

A Brazilian air force plane fitted with night-vision sensors conducted overnight sweeps of the zone, located around 500 kilometres (300 miles) northeast of Brazil's Fernando do Noronha archipelago, itself 400 kilometres from the mainland, officials said.
Another three air force aircraft were to be deployed after dawn, when visual sweeps would also be made for any sign of bodies.

Defence Minister Nelson Jobim on Tuesday confirmed that the spot in Brazilian waters was the crash site of the Air France Airbus A330.

"There are no doubts" a five-kilometre strip of floating debris - including cables, plane components and fuel slicks - marked the spot where the full flight went down, he told reporters.

The evidence extinguished any lingering hopes of finding survivors and confirmed the worst civil aviation accident since 2001, when an American Airlines jet crashed in New York killing all 260 people on board.

Brazil on Tuesday announced three days of national mourning for those who perished on the Air France plane. Catholic and Muslim services were to be held in Paris on Wednesday, including one in Notre-Dame cathedral to be attended by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Flight AF 447 was four hours into its 11-hour voyage from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it suddenly issued a series of automated data alerts indicating multiple electrical and pressurisation failures and ceased contact with controllers.

The pilots did not issue any mayday distress call, leaving the accident a mystery - one that only the plane's black boxes can elucidate, if they can be found in Atlantic waters as deep as 6,000 metres.

Brazil's air force said France's Bureau of Investigations and Analyses (BEA) was responsible for the investigation into what was Air France's worst accident in its 70-year history.

A team of BEA officials were already at work in Brazil, it said.

Two operations would be conducted in parallel, Jobim said: the recovery of the debris, and the search for bodies.

Any human remains would be taken by ship to Fernando de Noronha, where they would be flown out on air force aircraft.

More than half of those travelling on the Air France jet were either French or Brazilian. The others came from 30 countries, mostly in Europe.

The 216 passengers included 126 men, 82 women, seven children and a baby. The crew comprised 11 French nationals and one Brazilian.

The 58-year-old French captain had been flying for Air France since 1988 and had a great deal of experience, the airline said.

Air France has suggested the four-year-old plane could have been struck by lightning - a fairly common hazard that by itself should not knock out a modern airliner, but coupled with other problems such as violent turbulence it could be dangerous.

Other theories advanced by experts include pilot error, mechanical defects or even the remote possibility of terrorism.

"No hypothesis is being favoured at the moment," French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Tuesday.

"Our only certainty is that there was no distress call sent by the plane, but regular automatic alerts sent over three minutes indicated the failure of all systems," he said.

A French ship was on its way to the zone, carrying two mini-submarines capable of operating at depths of 6,000 metres (19,700 feet), which is also the limit aircraft black boxes can survive for up to 30 days.

But any recovery would be extremely tricky, not only because of the depth, but also because of powerful currents and storms in the zone.

"To find the plane, you'll need ships equipped with a special sonar, and possibly also rescue submarines - it's an enormous undertaking," Commander Ronaldo Jenkins, safety coordinator for Brazil's airline association, told

- AFP/yb

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

Posted: 02 June 2009 1056 hrs

A Brazilian couple, relatives of a passenger onboard the ill-fated Air France flight 447.

PARIS - The search continued through the night for an Air France plane that disappeared over the Atlantic, but little hope remained Tuesday that any of 228 people on board would be found alive.

Air France flight AF 447 disappeared early Monday four hours into its 11-hour flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris after the Airbus A330 encountered severe turbulence over the Atlantic and reported technical failures.

A daytime search by eight Brazilian air force aircraft doing visual sweeps did not turn up anything in the area being searched: a zone 1,100 kilometres off its northeastern coast.

The search was being continued overnight with a Hercules C130 fitted with equipment to try to detect the plane's emergency beacon, with another aircraft with onboard radar, and if weather conditions permit, infrared gear that could detect bodies in the water.

Officials said there was little hope of survivors from what appears to be the worst air accident in over a decade.

"The prospects of finding any survivors are very slim," a grim-faced French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after talking to stunned relatives of missing passengers. "It's a catastrophe the likes of which Air France has never seen."

Although the exact cause of the crash remained a mystery, Air France's chief executive said the aircraft had sent a series of error messages shortly after crossing an area of major turbulence.

"A succession of a dozen technical messages" sent by the aircraft around 0215 GMT showed that "several electrical systems had broken down" which caused a "totally unprecedented situation in the plane," said Pierre-Henry Gourgeon.

"It is probable that it was shortly after these messages that the impact in the Atlantic came," he told reporters at Charles de Gaulle airport, where the flight was meant to have landed on Monday morning.

Airline officials had earlier said the plane was probably hit by lightning, but Gourgeon declined to make a direct link between weather conditions and the error messages.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he held out hope for survivors, but added that earlier he had spoken with French President Nicolas Sarkozy by telephone "and really it was an exchange of condolences."

If it is confirmed that all 228 people on Flight AF 447 are dead, it would mark the worst loss of life in Air France's history and civil aviation's worst accident for more than a decade.

Spanish and French air forces sent out search planes to scour a vast area of ocean between Brazil and Africa. The United States also sent a surveillance aircraft and an Air Force search and rescue team in response to a request for assistance from Paris.

At Charles de Gaulle airport, tearful relatives were ushered into a private area to await developments and get counselling from a team of psychologists.

At Rio's Tom Jobim International Airport stunned relatives were shown into a closed lounge, away from the news media and into the care of psychologists and doctors.

One woman, Vasti Ester van Sluijs, told AFP she had jumped into a taxi as soon as she heard the overnight Air France flight had disappeared.

"My daughter Adriana Francesca was on the plane," she said.

Air France said the 216 passengers included 126 men, 82 women, seven children and a baby. There were 12 French crew members.

The passengers hailed from 32 countries, including 61 from France, 58 from Brazil and 26 from Germany.

French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo, whose portfolio includes transport, said hijacking had been ruled out.

Airbus said the A330 has a good safety record, with no fatalities ever on a commercial flight. One did crash in 1994 during a test flight in southern France, however, killing seven people on board.

Last week Air France announced its first net loss since it merged with Dutch airline KLM in 2003 to create Europe's biggest airline.

In July 2000, all 109 passengers and crew plus four people on the ground were killed when a supersonic Air France Concorde crashed during takeoff from Charles de Gaulle airport. All Concordes were eventually taken out of service.

On August 3, 2005, an Air France A340 with 309 on board skidded off the runway after landing in a thunderstorm at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. Fourteen people suffered minor injuries.

- AFP/ir

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

Posted: 02 June 2009 0758 hrs

Relatives of passengers of the Air France flight 447.

PARIS – An Air France plane with 228 people on board disappeared over the Atlantic on Monday after suffering multiple breakdowns in a fierce storm on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Spotter planes were dispatched in a bid to locate the jet in a vast area of ocean between Brazil and Africa, but officials said there was little hope of survivors from what appears to be the worst air accident in over a decade.

"The prospects of finding any survivors are very slim," a grim-faced French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after talking to stunned relatives of missing passengers. "It's a catastrophe the likes of which Air France has never seen."

Although the exact cause of the crash remained a mystery, Air France's chief executive said the Airbus A330 had sent a series of error messages shortly after crossing an area of major turbulence.

"A succession of a dozen technical messages" sent by the aircraft around 0215 GMT showed that "several electrical systems had broken down" which caused a "totally unprecedented situation in the plane," said Pierre-Henry Gourgeon.

"It is probable that it was shortly after these messages that the impact in the Atlantic came," he told reporters at Charles de Gaulle airport, where the flight was meant to have landed on Monday morning.

Airline officials had earlier said the plane was probably hit by lightning, but Gourgeon declined to make a direct link between weather conditions and the error messages.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he held out hope for survivors, but added that earlier he had spoken with French President Nicolas Sarkozy by telephone "and really it was an exchange of condolences."

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso sent a message of solidarity to both presidents, and expressed his "deepest sympathies" to the loved ones of those on board.

If it is confirmed that all 228 people on Flight AF 447 are dead, it would mark the worst loss of life in Air France's history and civil aviation's worst accident for more than a decade.

The Brazilian, Spanish and French air forces sent out search planes to scour a vast area of ocean between Brazil and Africa. Paris also asked Washington to use its spy satellites and listening posts to help.

At Charles de Gaulle airport, tearful relatives were ushered into a private area to await developments and get counselling from a team of psychologists.

At Rio's Tom Jobim International Airport stunned relatives were shown into a closed lounge, away from the news media and into the care of psychologists and doctors.

One woman, Vasti Ester van Sluijs, told AFP she had jumped into a taxi as soon as she heard the overnight Air France flight had disappeared.

"My daughter Adriana Francesca was on the plane," she said.

Air France said the 216 passengers included 126 men, 82 women, seven children and a baby. There were 12 French crew members.

The passengers hailed from 32 countries, including 61 from France, 58 from Brazil and 26 from Germany.

"Air France addresses its sincere condolences to the families and friends of the passengers and crew members who were on board flight number AF 447," the airline said in a statement on its website.

None of the airliner's emergency beacons, which are trackable by satellite unless they sink deep into the ocean, have been detected, suggesting it crashed violently, said Philippe Hazanne of the French space studies agency.

French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo, whose portfolio includes transport, said hijacking had been ruled out.

"There's nothing on Spanish radar, nothing on Moroccan radar, nothing on French radar. We can seriously envisage the worst," said Borloo.

Airbus said the A330 has a good safety record, with no fatalities ever on a commercial flight. One did crash in 1994 during a test flight in southern France, however, killing seven people on board.

Last week Air France announced its first net loss since it merged with Dutch airline KLM in 2003 to create Europe's biggest airline.

In July 2000 all 109 passengers and crew plus four people on the ground were killed when a supersonic Air France Concorde crashed during takeoff from Charles de Gaulle airport. All Concordes were eventually taken out of service.

On August 3, 2005, an Air France A340 with 309 on board skidded off the runway after landing in a thunderstorm at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. Fourteen people suffered minor injuries.

- AFP/ir

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.