House Republicans fail to pass spending, voting bill as shutdown approaches

House Republicans fail to pass spending, voting bill as shutdown approaches
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) walks to his office at the US Capitol on September 17, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Updated 19 September 2024
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House Republicans fail to pass spending, voting bill as shutdown approaches

House Republicans fail to pass spending, voting bill as shutdown approaches
  • 14 Republicans break party ranks to join all but three Democrats in defeating the bill
  • The Republican party bill sought to mandate that states require proof of citizenship when people register to vote
  • House Democrats urged Speaker Johnson to work with them on a measure that can pass both chambers

WASHINGTON: Republicans in the US House of Representatives failed on Wednesday to pass a funding bill that included a controversial voting measure backed by Donald Trump, complicating efforts to avert a possible government shutdown at the end of the month.
Despite the urging of Trump, the Republican candidate in the Nov. 5 presidential election, House Republicans were unable to muster enough votes to pass the package and send it on the Democratic-controlled Senate. With Democrats mostly united in opposition, the bill failed by a vote of 202-220, with 14 Republicans voting against and three Democrats in favor.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said afterward that he would craft a new temporary spending bill that would keep the government running beyond Oct. 1, when current funding is due to expire. He did not provide details.
“Now we go back to the playbook, draw up another play and we’ll come up with another solution,” Johnson said. “I’m already talking to colleagues.”
Democrats in the House and the Senate say they are eager to pass a stopgap spending bill to avert a disruptive shutdown that would furlough hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

Congress faces an even more critical deadline on Jan. 1, by which time lawmakers will have to raise the nation’s debt ceiling or risk defaulting on more than $35 trillion in federal government debt.

However, they opposed the version that Johnson brought to a vote on Wednesday, because it was paired with an unrelated voting bill that would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote and require states to purge non-citizens from their registration lists.
Johnson also has to contend with a contingent of Republicans who typically vote against stopgap funding bills.
Trump has made illegal immigration a central issue in his re-election bid and has falsely claimed that Democrats are registering illegal immigrants to vote, the latest in a long line of lies about election fraud.

House Republicans say their bill is needed to ensure that only American citizens vote.
“It’s already illegal for a minor to purchase alcohol, yet we still card them. We still enforce the law,” said Republican Representative Aaron Bean.
Trump weighed in again just hours before the vote. seemingly encouraging House Republicans to let a partial government shutdown begin at the end of the month unless they get the proof of citizenship mandate, referred to in the House as the SAVE Act.
“If Republicans don’t get the SAVE Act, and every ounce of it, they should not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way, shape, or form,” Trump said on the social media platform Truth Social.
House Democrats said the proof of citizenship mandate should not be part of a bill to keep the government funded and urged Johnson to work with them on a measure that can pass both chambers.
“This is not going to become law,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. “This is Republican theatrics that are meant to appease the most extreme members of their conference, to show them that they are working on something and that they’re continuing to support the former president of the United States in his bid to demonize immigrants.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has predicted Johnson’s effort was doomed to fail.
“The only thing that will accomplish is make clear that he’s running into a dead end,” Schumer said. “We must have a bipartisan plan instead.”
The legislation would fund agencies generally at current levels through March 28 while lawmakers work out their differences on a full-year spending agreement.
Democrats, and some Republicans, are pushing for a shorter extension. A temporary fix would allow the current Congress to hammer out a final bill after the election and get it to Democratic President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
But Johnson and some of the more conservative members of his conference are pushing for a six-month extension in the hopes Trump will win and give them more leverage when crafting the full-year bill.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declined to weigh in on how long to extend funding. He said Schumer and Johnson, ultimately, will have to work out a final agreement that can pass both chambers.
“The one thing you cannot have is a government shutdown. It would be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election because certainly we would get the blame,” McConnell said.
Regardless of the vote outcome, Republican lawmakers sought to allay any concerns there would be a shutdown. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said if the bill failed, then another stopgap bill should be voted on that would allow lawmakers to come back to Washington after the election and finish the appropriations work.
“The bottom line is we’re not shutting the government down,” Lawler said.
But Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused Republicans of engaging in a “shutdown effort.”
“That’s not hyperbole,” Jeffries said. “It’s history. Because in the DNA of extreme MAGA Republicans has consistently been an effort to make extreme ransom demands of the American people, and if those extreme ransom demands are not met, shut down the government.”
The House approved a bill with the proof of citizenship mandate back in July. Some Republicans who view the issue as popular with their constituents have been pushing for another chance to show their support.
Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama, noted that his state’s secretary of state announced last month that 3,251 people who had been previously issued noncitizen identification numbers will have their voter registration status made inactive and flagged for possible removal from the voter rolls. Voting rights groups have since filed a lawsuit saying the policy illegally targeted naturalized citizens for removal from voting rolls.
“These people should never have been allowed to register in the first place and this is exactly what the SAVE Act will prevent,” Aderholt said.


Mount Fuji is still without its iconic snowcap for the first time in 130 years

Mount Fuji is still without its iconic snowcap for the first time in 130 years
Updated 05 November 2024
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Mount Fuji is still without its iconic snowcap for the first time in 130 years

Mount Fuji is still without its iconic snowcap for the first time in 130 years
  • The lack of snow on Mt. Fuji, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as of Tuesday breaks the previous record set on Oct. 26, 2016, meteorological officials said
  • Usually, the 3,776-meter- (nearly 12,300-foot-) high mountain has sprinkles of snow falling on its summit starting Oct. 2

TOKYO: Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji, known for its snowcap forming around this time of the year, is still snowless in November for the first time in 130 years, presumably because of the unusually warm temperatures in the past few weeks.
The lack of snow on Mt. Fuji, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as of Tuesday breaks the previous record set on Oct. 26, 2016, meteorological officials said.
Usually, the 3,776-meter- (nearly 12,300-foot-) high mountain has sprinkles of snow falling on its summit starting Oct. 2, about a month after the summertime hiking season there ends. Last year, snow fell on the mountain on Oct. 5, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, or JMA.
The snowless Mt. Fuji has captured attention on social media. People posted photos showing the bare mountain, some expressing surprise and others concerned over climate change.
The JMA’s Kofu Local Meteorological Office, which keeps weather data in central Japan and was the agency that announced the first snowfall on Mt. Fuji in 1894, has cited October’s surprisingly summery weather as the reason.
The average October temperature is minus 2 Celsius (28.4 Fahrenheit) at the summit, but this year, it was 1.6 Celsius, (34.9 F), a record high since 1932.
Japan this year also had an unusually hot summer and warm autumn.
A symbol of Japan, the mountain called “Fujisan” used to be a place of pilgrimage. The mountain with its snowy top and near symmetrical slopes have been the subject of numerous forms of art, including Japanese ukiyoe artist Katsushika Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
Today, it attracts hikers who climb to the summit to see the sunrise. But tons of trash left behind and overcrowding have triggered concern and calls for environmental protection and measures to control overtourism.


Supreme Court overturns Islamic schools ban in India’s most populous state

Supreme Court overturns Islamic schools ban in India’s most populous state
Updated 05 November 2024
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Supreme Court overturns Islamic schools ban in India’s most populous state

Supreme Court overturns Islamic schools ban in India’s most populous state
  • There are 2.6 million students and about 25,000 Muslim religious schools in Uttar Pradesh
  • Article 30 of India’s Constitution guarantees the right of minorities to run educational institutions

NEW DELHI: India’s top court overturned on Tuesday an order that banned Islamic schools in Uttar Pradesh, effectively permitting over 2 million students in the country’s most populous state to return to their studies in madrasas.

Islam is the second-largest religion in Uttar Pradesh, accounting for some 20 percent of its 230 million population.

In March, Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad High Court scraped a 2004 law governing madrasas in the state, saying it violated India’s constitutional secularism and ordering that students be moved to conventional schools. The Supreme Court put it on hold in April after receiving petitions challenging the order.

Tuesday’s ruling by the top court will allow about 2.6 million students and 10,000 teachers to return to the 25,000 Muslim religious schools operating in the northern Indian state.

“The Allahabad High Court erred in holding that the madrasa law had to be struck down for violating basic structure, which is the principle of secularism,” Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said in court. “The constitutional validity of a statute cannot be challenged for violation of the basic structure of the Constitution.”

Article 30 of India’s Constitution guarantees the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.

“The Madrasa Act is consistent with the positive obligation of the state to ensure that students studying in recognized madrasas attain a level of competency which will allow them to effectively participate in society and earn a living.”

Madrasas provide a system of education in which students are taught the Qur’an, Islamic history and general subjects like math and science.

In states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, such as Uttar Pradesh and Assam, authorities have been converting hundreds of madrasas into regular schools.

“This is a landmark judgment and puts a brake to all the negative campaigns that have been going on against madrasas across the country,” Wahidullah Khan, secretary-general of the All-India Teachers Association Madaris Arabia, told Arab News.

“For us, it’s a big relief. It provides a new lease of life to thousands of madrasas across the country. The Islamic schools have been taking care of the basic education of millions of Muslims across the country and we were under lots of pressure because of the communal campaign against Muslims and their educational institutions.”

With over 200 million Indians professing Islam, Hindu-majority India has the world’s largest Muslim-minority population.

Indian Muslims have faced increasing discrimination and challenges in the past decade, accompanied by tensions and riots ignited by majoritarian policies of the Hindu right-wing BJP since it rose to power in 2014.

“We were waiting for this kind of verdict. It’s quite welcoming and relieving for the Muslim community,” Iftikhar Ahmed Javed, BJP member and former chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education, told Arab News.

“The judgment brings relief to all,” he said. “There has been a systematic attempt to stigmatize the Islamic schools over the years and brand them as vicious, but the ruling of the Supreme Court should now stop this negative campaign.”


Supreme Court overturns Islamic schools ban in India’s most populous state

Supreme Court overturns Islamic schools ban in India’s most populous state
Updated 05 November 2024
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Supreme Court overturns Islamic schools ban in India’s most populous state

Supreme Court overturns Islamic schools ban in India’s most populous state
  • There are 2.6 million students and about 25,000 Muslim religious schools in Uttar Pradesh
  • Article 30 of India’s Constitution guarantees the right of minorities to run educational institutions

NEW DELHI: India’s top court overturned on Tuesday an order that banned Islamic schools in Uttar Pradesh, effectively permitting over two million students in the country’s most populous state to return to their studies in madrasas. 

Islam is the second-largest religion in Uttar Pradesh, accounting for some 20 percent of its 230 million population. 

In March, Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad High Court scraped a 2004 law governing madrasas in the state, saying it violated India’s constitutional secularism and ordering that students be moved to conventional schools. The Supreme Court put it on hold in April after receiving petitions challenging the order. 

Tuesday’s ruling by the top court will allow about 2.6 million students and 10,000 teachers to return to the 25,000 Muslims religious schools operating in the northern Indian state.

“The Allahabad High Court erred in holding that the madrasa law had to be struck down for violating basic structure, which is the principle of secularism,” Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said in court. “The constitutional validity of a statute cannot be challenged for violation of the basic structure of the Constitution.” 

Article 30 of India’s Constitution guarantees the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions. 

“The Madrasa Act is consistent with the positive obligation of the state to ensure that students studying in recognized madrasas attain a level of competency which will allow them to effectively participate in society and earn a living.” 

Madrasas provide a system of education in which students are taught Qur’an, Islamic history and general subjects like math and science. 

In states governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, such as Uttar Pradesh and Assam, authorities have been converting hundreds of madrasas into regular schools. 

“This is a landmark judgment and puts a brake to all the negative campaigns that has been going on against madrasas across the country,” Wahidullah Khan, secretary-general of the All-India Teachers Association Madaris Arabia, told Arab News. 

“For us, it’s a big relief. It provides a new lease of life to thousands of madrasas across the country. The Islamic schools have been taking care of the basic education of millions of Muslims across the country and we were under lots of pressure because of the communal campaign against Muslims and their educational institutions.” 

With over 200 million Indians professing Islam, Hindu-majority India has the world’s largest Muslim-minority population. 

Indian Muslims have faced increasing discrimination and challenges in the past decade, accompanied by tensions and riots ignited by majoritarian policies of the Hindu right-wing BJP since it rose to power in 2014. 

“We were waiting for this kind of verdict. It’s quite welcoming and relieving for the Muslim community,” Iftikhar Ahmed Javed, BJP member and former chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education, told Arab News. 

“The judgment brings relief to all,” he said. “There has been a systematic attempt to stigmatize the Islamic schools over the years and branding them as vicious but the ruling of the Supreme Court should now stop this negative campaign.” 
 


Swedish court sentences far-right politician for insulting Muslims

Swedish court sentences far-right politician for insulting Muslims
Updated 05 November 2024
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Swedish court sentences far-right politician for insulting Muslims

Swedish court sentences far-right politician for insulting Muslims
  • The Danish-Swedish 42-year-old man, who was not named but has been identified by Swedish media as Rasmus Paludan
  • In 2022, Paludan, founder and head of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, made his offensive remarks directed at Muslims, Arabs and Africans during protests

MALMO: A Swedish court sentenced on Tuesday a far-right politician to four months in jail for two counts of “incitement against an ethnic group” after making hateful comments at political rallies two years ago.
The Danish-Swedish 42-year-old man, who was not named but has been identified by Swedish media as Rasmus Paludan, founder and head of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, had been previously convicted and sentenced by a Danish court on a similar charge, the Malmo District Court said.
In 2022, Paludan, founder and head of the Danish nationalist anti-immigration party Stram Kurs, made his offensive remarks directed at Muslims, Arabs and Africans during protests that he led in the southern city of Malmo in 2022, the court said. He also burned a copy of the Qur’an, Islam’s holy book, on at least one occasion. In response, a violent wave of riots swept the country.
Some observers also say Paludan’s actions may have momentarily risked Sweden’s chances of joining NATO after increasing political tensions with Turkiye. Sweden joined the alliance in March this year.
The court in a statement Tuesday said Paludan’s remarks against Muslims “cannot be excused as criticism of Islam or as political campaign work.”
Chief Councilor Nicklas Söderberg, the court’s chairman, said: “It is permitted to publicly make critical statements about, for example, Islam and also Muslims, but the disrespect of a group of people must not clearly cross the line for a factual and valid discussion.”
He added that during the Malmo rallies in April and September 2022 “there was no question of any such discussion,” and that Paludan’s public statements “only amounted to insulting Muslims.”
The court took particular interest in whether the politician knew the protests were filmed and published on Facebook. Paludan had said that he wasn’t aware of it but the district court disagreed and said his “actions at the gatherings would be downright illogical if he didn’t know about the publication on Facebook.”
Paludan, a lawyer by profession, told Swedish media outlets that he wasn’t surprised by the verdict.
“It was expected. We will appeal,” the Swedish newspaper Expressen cited him as saying.


Philippine police to probe social media posts of Filipino-Israeli soldier in Gaza

Philippine police to probe social media posts of Filipino-Israeli soldier in Gaza
Updated 05 November 2024
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Philippine police to probe social media posts of Filipino-Israeli soldier in Gaza

Philippine police to probe social media posts of Filipino-Israeli soldier in Gaza
  • Department of Foreign Affairs confirms the Filipino soldier is an Israeli citizen
  • Photos shared by Israel Genocide Tracker which monitors soldiers’ social media

MANILA/DUBAI: Photos of a Filipino appearing to be a member of Israel’s troops in Gaza will be investigated by the Philippine National Police, its chief said, after the man’s social media posts went viral showing a rifle with the PNP’s logo.

Screenshots of the posts showing Justin Flores were shared last week by the X handle Israel Genocide Tracker, which scours the internet to find and publicize the actions of Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

The content shared by the X account comprises photos and videos that Israeli soldiers themselves have published online.

The posts range from selfies and pranks among the ruins of houses to blowing up buildings in Gaza, waving women’s underwear and rifling through the property of Palestinian civilians.

The photos and videos from the social media of Flores showed destroyed neighborhoods in Gaza and himself posing amid the rubble.

Another post with the line “Proud to be Israeli/Filipino” shows a rifle bearing the seal of the Philippine police on the ammunition magazine. It is attached to a belt with Hebrew writing.

“I’ll have it investigated,” PNP Chief Gen. Rommel Marbil told Arab News in a text message on Monday evening.

“He is using a TAVOR firearm here. Not the issued rifle for the PNP.”

The weapon is an assault rifle, designed and produced by Israel Weapon Industries. In 2018, the Philippine News Agency reported the acquisition of Tavor rifles for the nation’s police and coast guard.

A screenshot of an Oct. 29, 2024 post by the X account Israel Genocide Tracker shows photos from the social media of Justin Flores. (X/@trackingisrael)

While the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said it was waiting for a report from its embassy in Tel Aviv, it confirmed to Arab News that Flores was an Israeli, while his mother held dual Philippine-Israeli citizenship.

His alleged participation in Israel’s deadly war on Gaza has, however, already triggered outrage in his ancestral home and questions over how his Israeli citizenship was acquired, as according to Israel’s Nationality Law, military service streamlines the process.

“Did he acquire Israeli citizenship by serving in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)? If so, it seems the IDF relies on fighters from overseas to do their dirty work,” said Renato Reyes, president of BAYAN, the Philippines’ largest alliance of grassroots groups.

“It is just shameful that a Filipino would be part of Israeli genocide against Palestinians. We were a colonized people, and we should have more in common with the Palestinians than the Israeli occupiers.”

Drieza A. Lininding, chairman of the civic organization Moro Consensus Group, said individuals joining fighting abroad should be tracked.

“Those joining the IDF and genocide against Palestinians should be treated as terrorists and must be arrested the moment they land here in the Philippines. This is in conformity with the Philippines’ vote in the UN condemning the genocide,” he told Arab News.

“The government must regard them as a threat to our national security.”

If such persons still hold Philippine citizenship, they may lose it under the Commonwealth Act 63, “by accepting commission in the military, naval or air service of a foreign country,” Attorney Farah Decano, dean of the College of Law at the Lyceum Northwestern University, told Arab News.

She said the unauthorized use of the PNP logo was also a violation. “The problem, however, is that the use is in Israel. Our criminal jurisdiction is only in the Philippines,” she said.

“It gives the impression that we are providing arms to the Israelis which the government must immediately deny. The Philippine government must request Israeli government for the confiscation of such arms.”

Israel’s relentless air and ground attacks on Gaza have killed over 45,000 Palestinians and injured more than 101,000, according to Gaza Health Ministry data. But the real toll is feared to be much higher.

A study published by the medical journal The Lancet estimated in July that the true number of those killed could be more than 186,000.

The estimate took into consideration deaths as a result of starvation, injury and lack of access to medical aid as Israeli forces have destroyed most of Gaza’s infrastructure and blocked the entry of aid.