Philippines passes law designating national day for hijab awareness

Special Philippines passes law designating national day for hijab awareness
Filipino Muslim women walk past a mannequin in a hijab dress on their way to pray during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan at the Golden Mosque in Manila on March 7, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 19 June 2025
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Philippines passes law designating national day for hijab awareness

Philippines passes law designating national day for hijab awareness
  • Muslim women say new law means they are seen as equal in nation-building
  • National Day of Awareness on Hijab to be observed each year on Feb. 1

MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has signed a law recognizing the Muslim headscarf as part of the country’s traditional garment culture and designating a special day to increase awareness of it.

The new law, signed on Wednesday, declares Feb. 1 each year as the National Day of Awareness on the Hijab and Other Traditional Garments and Attire “to promote diversity, awareness, and tolerance of the various religious and cultural beliefs through the wearing of indigenous and traditional clothing, head garments and coverings.”

Government institutions, in coordination with the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, will under the law organize events “that promote the cultural values of wearing the hijab and other traditional garments and attire.”

Muslims constitute about 10 percent of the country’s 110 million predominantly Catholic population. Most Philippine Muslims live on the southern island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago, as well as in the central-western province of Palawan.

The move to recognize the Muslim garment was welcomed by the community as a step toward promoting inclusion.

“When the government does that, it’s a recognition of the importance of hijabs to the Muslims. It’s really promoting inclusiveness in society, and it is honoring the Muslim women,” Dr. Potre Dunampatan-Diampuan, a Filipina Muslim scholar from the United Religions Initiative, told Arab News.

For Samira Gutoc, chairperson of the rights advocacy group Ako Bakwit, the new law meant that she was being seen as equal in nation-building.

“We, hijabis, aim to be part of the workforce — not just in the Philippine National Police or army, but to work alongside all,” she said.

“It is a vital measure promoting awareness, respect and acceptance of the hijab, reinforcing the rights of Muslim women to practice their faith freely.”

The National Day of Awareness on the Hijab and Other Traditional Garments and Attire will coincide with World Hijab Day, which has been observed on Feb. 1 since 2013 to promote understanding and awareness about Muslim religious and cultural practices.

“Muslim women in the Philippines had been looking forward to the time when they would be seen as equal — treated equally, without any judgment,” Princess Habibah Sarip-Paudac, the Philippines’ first news anchor to wear a hijab on national television, told Arab News.

“We are so happy with this (law’s) passage. It only means that the government is acknowledging the concerns of its people and it is after inclusivity.”


‘Frightening’: Trump’s historic power grab worries experts

‘Frightening’: Trump’s historic power grab worries experts
Updated 17 sec ago
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‘Frightening’: Trump’s historic power grab worries experts

‘Frightening’: Trump’s historic power grab worries experts

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump has spent six months testing the limits of his authority like no other modern US president, say analysts — browbeating Congress and the courts in a power grab that may come to define his second term.

Since January, the Republican leader has repeatedly pushed to secure more power for himself, calling for judges to be axed, firing independent watchdogs and sidestepping the legislative process.

Barbara Perry, a University of Virginia professor and an expert on the presidency, called Trump’s successes in shattering the restraints on his office “frightening.”

“All presidents have been subject to Congress’s and the Supreme Court’s checks on their power, as well as splits in their own political parties,” she said.

“Trump has faced almost none of these counterpoints in this second term.”

It is all a far cry from his first stint in office, when Trump and his supporters believe he was hamstrung by investigations and “deep state” officials seeking to frustrate his agenda.

But those guardrails have looked brittle this time around as Trump has fired federal workers, dismantled government departments and sent military troops into the streets to quell protest.

He has also sought to exert his influence well beyond traditional presidential reach, ruthlessly targeting universities and the press, and punishing law firms he believes have crossed him.

Checks and balances

The US system of checks and balances — the administration, the courts and Congress as equal but separate branches of government — is designed to ensure no one amasses too much power.

But when it comes to Trump’s agenda — whether ending diversity efforts and birthright citizenship or freezing foreign aid — he has largely dodged the hard work of shepherding bills through Congress.

Policies have instead been enacted by presidential edict.

Six months in, Trump has already announced more second-term executive orders than any American leader since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s.

He has even sought to bend the economy to his will, escalating attacks on the chief of the independent central bank in a bid to lower interest rates.

Once a robust restraining force against presidential overreach, the Republican-led Congress has largely forsaken its oversight role, foregoing the investigations that previous presidents have faced.

That has left the judiciary as the main gatekeeper.

But Trump has managed partly to neuter the authority of the federal bench too, winning a Supreme Court opinion that mostly reduces the reach of judges’ rulings to their own states.

In his first term the high court made Trump immune from prosecution for actions taken as part of his official duties — no matter how criminal.

And almost every time Trump has turned to the country’s highest legal tribunal to rein in the lower courts in his second term, it has obliged.

The shadow of US President Donald Trump is shown on the text of The Declaration of Independence during the first presidential debate with Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at Case Western Reserve University on September 29, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio. (AFP/File)

'Project 2025'

His long shadow has extended far beyond Washington’s institutions, pushing into private realms his predecessors avoided.

Trump has picked fights with elite universities, prestigious law firms and the press — threatening funding or their ability to do business.

The arts haven’t escaped his clunking fist either, with the 79-year-old taking over the running of the Kennedy Center in Washington.

Trump has claimed falsely that the US Constitution gives him the right to do whatever he wants as the ultimate authority over government activities.

This so-called “unitary executive theory” was pushed in the “Project 2025” blueprint for government produced by Trump’s right-wing allies during last year’s election campaign.

Although he disavowed “Project 2025” after it became politically toxic, Trump’s own platform made the same claims for expansive presidential powers.

Pessimistic about the other branches’ ability to hold the administration to account, the minority Democrats have largely been limited to handwringing in press conferences.

Political strategist Andrew Koneschusky, a former senior Democratic Senate aide, believes the checks on Trump’s authority may ultimately have to be political rather than legal or constitutional.

He points to Trump’s tanking polling numbers — especially on his signature issue of immigration following mass deportations of otherwise law-abiding undocumented migrants.

“It’s not entirely comforting that politics and public opinion are the primary checks on his power,” Koneschusky said.

“It would be better to see Congress flex its muscle as a co-equal branch of government. But it’s at least something.”

 


Australia delivers Abrams tanks to Ukraine for war with Russia

Australia delivers Abrams tanks to Ukraine for war with Russia
Updated 19 July 2025
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Australia delivers Abrams tanks to Ukraine for war with Russia

Australia delivers Abrams tanks to Ukraine for war with Russia
  • Ukraine has taken possession of most of the 49 tanks given by Australia, says defense minister
  • Australia is one of the largest non-NATO contributors to Ukraine as it defends itself from Russian aggression

SYDNEY: Australia’s government said on Saturday it had delivered M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine as part of a A$245 million ($160 million) package to help the country defend itself against Russia in their ongoing war.

Australia, one of the largest non-NATO contributors to Ukraine, has been supplying aid, ammunition and defense equipment since Moscow invaded its neighbor in February 2022.

Ukraine has taken possession of most of the 49 tanks given by Australia, and the rest will be delivered in coming months, said Defense Minister Richard Marles.

“The M1A1 Abrams tanks will make a significant contribution to Ukraine’s ongoing fight against Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion,” Marles said in a statement.

The tanks formed part of the A$1.5 billion ($980 million) that Canberra has provided Ukraine in the conflict, the government said.

Australia has also banned exports of alumina and aluminum ores, including bauxite, to Russia, and has sanctioned about 1,000 Russian individuals and entities.

Australia’s center-left Labor government this year labelled Russia as the aggressor in the conflict and called for the war to be resolved on Kyiv’s terms.


Trump says he thinks 5 jets were shot down in India-Pakistan hostilities

Trump says he thinks 5 jets were shot down in India-Pakistan hostilities
Updated 19 July 2025
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Trump says he thinks 5 jets were shot down in India-Pakistan hostilities

Trump says he thinks 5 jets were shot down in India-Pakistan hostilities
  • New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday up to five jets were shot down during recent India-Pakistan hostilities that began after an April Islamist militant attack in India-administered Kashmir, with the situation calming after a ceasefire in May.

Trump, who made his remarks at a dinner with some Republican US lawmakers at the White House, did not specify which side’s jets he was referring to.

“In fact, planes were being shot out of the air. Five, five, four or five, but I think five jets were shot down actually,” Trump said while talking about the India-Pakistan hostilities, without elaborating or providing further detail. Pakistan claimed it downed five Indian planes in air-to-air combat. India’s highest-ranking general said in late May that India switched tactics after suffering losses in the air on the first day of hostilities and established an advantage before a ceasefire was announced three days later. India also claimed it downed “a few planes” of Pakistan. Islamabad denied suffering any losses of planes but acknowledged its air bases suffered hits.

HIGH LIGHTS

• Hostilities rose between India and Pakistan after April attack in Kashmir

• Ceasefire was announced on May 10 • Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for ceasefire, India has differed from his claims

Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for the ceasefire between India and Pakistan that he announced on social media on May 10 after Washington held talks with both sides. India has differed with Trump’s claims that it resulted from his intervention and his threats to sever trade talks.

India’s position has been that New Delhi and Islamabad must resolve their problems directly and with no outside involvement.

India is an increasingly important US partner in Washington’s effort to counter China’s influence in Asia, while Pakistan is a US ally.

The April attack in India-administered Kashmir killed 26 men and sparked heavy fighting between the nuclear-armed Asian neighbors in the latest escalation of a decades-old rivalry.

New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation.

Washington condemned the attack but did not directly blame Islamabad.

On May 7, Indian jets bombed sites across the border that New Delhi described as “terrorist infrastructure,” setting off an exchange of attacks between the two countries by fighter jets, missiles, drones, and artillery that killed dozens until the ceasefire was reached. 

 


Brazil police raid home of Bolsonaro, accused of plotting coup

Brazil police raid home of Bolsonaro, accused of plotting coup
Updated 19 July 2025
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Brazil police raid home of Bolsonaro, accused of plotting coup

Brazil police raid home of Bolsonaro, accused of plotting coup
  • The case against Bolsonaro carries echoes of Trump’s failed prosecution over the January 6, 2021 attacks by his supporters on the US Capitol to try and reverse his election loss to Joe Biden

BRASILIA: Brazilian police raided Jair Bolsonaro’s home Friday, as a judge imposed further restrictions on the far-right former leader while he stands trial on coup charges that have vexed US president and ally Donald Trump.

His son Eduardo Bolsonaro, a congressman who recently moved to the United States to lobby for his father, wrote on X that federal police carried out a “raid on my father’s home this morning.”

He lashed out at Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes, a Bolsonaro adversary who on Friday ordered the ex-president to wear an electronic ankle bracelet, not leave his home at night, or use social media.

Moraes, one of the judges in Bolsonaro’s trial for allegedly seeking to nullify leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s 2022 election victory, said the measures were necessary given the “hostile acts” against Brazil by the accused and his son.

This came after Trump announced a 50 percent tariff on the South American powerhouse for what he said was a “witch hunt” against his ally Bolsonaro.

Moraes, said Eduardo Bolsonaro, “has long abandoned any semblance of impartiality and now operates as a political gangster in robes, using the Supreme Court as his personal weapon.”

The judge was “trying to criminalize President Trump and the US government. Powerless against them, he chose to take my father hostage,” he added in a letter he signed as a “Brazilian congressman in exile.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday Washington was revoking a US visa for Moraes for his “political witch hunt against Jair Bolsonaro.”

Accusing him of creating a “persecution and censorship complex,” Rubio also announced visa restrictions on other judges who side with Moraes, as well as their immediate family members.

Bolsonaro, 70, described the Moraes order Friday as a “supreme humiliation” and said the prohibitions were “suffocating.”

It also prohibited him from approaching foreign embassies, and confined him to his home on weekdays between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 am, and all day on weekends or public holidays.

“I never thought about leaving Brazil, I never thought about going to an embassy,” Bolsonaro insisted on emerging from the justice secretariat offices in Brasilia. He had been taken there after the raid, during which police seized cash.

His defense team in a statement expressed “surprise and indignation” at the new measures.

The former army captain denies he was involved in an attempt to wrest power back from Lula as part of an alleged coup plot that prosecutors say failed only for a lack of military backing.

After the plot fizzled, rioting supporters known as “Bolsonaristas” raided government buildings in early 2023 as they urged the military to oust Lula. Bolsonaro was abroad at the time.

The case against Bolsonaro carries echoes of Trump’s failed prosecution over the January 6, 2021 attacks by his supporters on the US Capitol to try and reverse his election loss to Joe Biden.

Both men have claimed to be victims of political persecution, and Trump has stepped in in defense of his ally, to the anger of Lula who has labeled the tariff threat “unacceptable blackmail.”

Washington also announced an investigation into “unfair trading practices” by Brazil, a move that could provide a legal basis for imposing tariffs on South America’s largest economy.

On Tuesday, prosecutors asked the trial judges of the Supreme Court to find Bolsonaro guilty of “armed criminal association” and planning to “violently overthrow the democratic order.”

The defense must still present its closing arguments, after which a five-member panel of judges including Moraes will decide the ex-president’s fate.

Bolsonaro and seven co-accused risk up to 40 years in prison.

He has repeatedly stated his desire to be a candidate in presidential elections next year, but has been ruled ineligible to hold office by a court that found him guilty of spreading misinformation about Brazil’s electoral system.

Lula, for his part, said Friday he intends to seek another term.

“You can be sure that I will be a candidate again... I will not hand this country over to that bunch of lunatics who almost destroyed it,” the 79-year-old said at a public event in the state of Ceara.

Moraes has repeatedly clashed with Bolsonaro and other rightwing figures he has accused of spreading fake news.

Last year, the judge suspended tech titan Elon Musk’s X network in Brazil for 40 days for failing to tackle the spread of disinformation shared mainly by Bolsonaro backers

 

 


Trump signs stablecoin law as crypto industry aims for mainstream adoption

Trump signs stablecoin law as crypto industry aims for mainstream adoption
Updated 19 July 2025
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Trump signs stablecoin law as crypto industry aims for mainstream adoption

Trump signs stablecoin law as crypto industry aims for mainstream adoption
  • Law requires tokens to be backed by liquid assets
  • Measure is first major crypto law enacted in US
  • Critics say loopholes in law risk making US haven for criminals

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday signed a law to create a regulatory regime for dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins, a milestone that could pave the way for the digital assets to become an everyday way to make payments and move money.

The bill, dubbed the GENIUS Act, passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 308 to 122, with support from nearly half the Democratic members and most Republicans. It had earlier been approved by the Senate.

The law is a huge win for crypto supporters, who have long lobbied for such a regulatory framework in a bid to gain greater legitimacy for an industry that began in 2009 as a digital Wild West famed for its innovation and speculative chaos.

“This signing is a massive validation of your hard work and pioneering spirit,” said Trump at a signing event that included dozens of government officials, crypto executives and lawmakers. “It’s good for the dollar and it’s good for the country.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a statement, said the new technology would buttress the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency, expand access to the dollar economy and boost demand for US Treasuries, which back stablecoins.

Stablecoins are designed to maintain a constant value, usually a 1:1 US dollar peg, and their use has exploded, notably by crypto traders moving funds between tokens. The industry hopes they will enter mainstream use for sending and receiving payments instantly.

The new law requires stablecoins to be backed by liquid assets — such as US dollars and short-term Treasury bills — and for issuers to disclose publicly the composition of their reserves monthly.

 

Crypto companies and executives argue such legislation will enhance stablecoins’ credibility and make banks, retailers and consumers more willing to use them to transfer funds instantly.

The stablecoin market, which crypto data provider CoinGecko said is valued at more than $260 billion, could grow to $2 trillion by 2028 under the new law, Standard Chartered bank estimated earlier this year.

The law’s passage culminates a long lobbying effort by the industry, which donated more than $245 million in last year’s elections to aid pro-crypto candidates including Trump, according to Federal Election Commission data.

The Republican president, who has launched his own coin, thanked executives for their support during the 2024 presidential campaign, saying, “I pledged that we would bring back American liberty and leadership and make the United States the crypto capital of the world, and that’s what we’ve done.”

Democrats and critics have said the law should have blocked big tech companies from issuing their own stablecoins, which could increase the clout of an already powerful sector, contained stronger anti-money laundering protections and prohibited foreign stablecoin issuers.

“By failing to close known loopholes and protect America’s digital dollar infrastructure, Congress has risked making the US financial system a global haven for criminals and adversarial regimes to exploit,” said Scott Greytak, deputy executive director of Transparency International US

Could boost demand for T-bills

Big US banks are internally debating an expansion into cryptocurrencies as regulators give stronger backing to digital assets, but banks’ initial steps will focus on pilot programs, partnerships or limited crypto trading, Reuters reported in May.

Several crypto firms including Circle and Ripple are seeking banking licenses, which would cut costs by bypassing intermediary banks.

Backers of the bill have said it could potentially give rise to a new source of demand for short-term US government debt, because stablecoin issuers will have to purchase more of the debt to back their assets.

Trump has sought to broadly overhaul US cryptocurrency policies, signing an executive order in March establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve.

The president launched a meme coin called $TRUMP in January and partly owns crypto company World Liberty Financial.