Belgium Looking To Ban The Burqa

A parliamentary committee unanimously voted Wednesday to ban the wearing of face-covering veils in public, a major step in the legislative process that could make Belgium the first European country to impose such a religious prohibition.

The full House of Representatives is expected to vote on the issue late April.

The Interior Affairs Committee representing all major parties was unanimous Wednesday in backing the bill. The six parliamentarians from the MR french-speaking liberal party said the principle of “recognize to know” trumped other considerations in the issue.

“We cannot allow someone to claim the right to look at others without being seen,” said Daniel Bacquelaine, who proposed the bill. “It is necessary that the law forbids the wearing of clothes that totally mask and encloses an individual,” he said, adding he was not targeting the classic headscarf worn by many Muslim women.

Today’s Top Eurotastic Song By Wind

Laß die Sonne in dein Herz (English translation: “Let The Sun Into Your Heart”) was the German entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987, performed in German by Wind.

This was Wind’s second Eurovision entry; they had represented Germany at the 1985 Contest with Für alle, finishing in 3rd position.

At the close of voting, Laß die Sonne in dein Herz had received 141 points, placing 2nd in a field of 22.

Written and composed by Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger, the song owes a considerable debt to reggae music stylistically and is an exhortation to “let the sunshine into your heart” as a means of avoiding sad thoughts. Wind also recorded the song in English with that title; “Let the Sunshine in Your Heart”.

The performance is notable for including Robert Pilatus as a backing singer, later to achieve fame/infamy in connection with the band Milli Vanilli.

Philippine Beauty Booted From Miss Universe Contest

The Philippines’ entry for the Miss Universe beauty pageant has been disqualified after local organisers discovered she was born overseas and out of wedlock, a contest official said.

Maria Venus Raj, 21, was set to represent her country in August and begin charity work after winning the Miss Philippines-Universe competition early this month.

But the journalism graduate was stripped of her title after the foundation that runs the local competition discovered she had been born in Qatar to an Indian man who was not married to her Filipina mother.

Her birth certificate stated she was born in the Philippines to married Filipinos.

Woman Gets 6 Months For Fake Breasts Heist

An Orange County, California woman’s new breasts cost her six months in jail.

Yvonne Jean Pampellonne was sentenced Monday in Westminster for using a fraudulent line of credit to obtain $12,000 in cosmetic surgery, including breast implants and liposuction.

The 30-year-old woman had pleaded guilty to burglary, grand theft and identity theft. She was sentenced to 180 days in jail and was placed on three years’ probation. Restitution was also ordered by the Westminster judge, but the amount wasn’t immediately clear.

Pampellonne used a line of credit established in another person’s name to get the September 2008 procedures at the Pacific Center for Plastic Surgery in Huntington Beach.

Car With Obama/Biden Sticker Rammed In Tennessee

A 70-year-old Nashville man was accused of ramming his sport utility vehicle several times into the back of a vehicle that had a Obama/Biden bumper sticker.

Harry K. Weisiger, a retiree, made obscene gestures and pointed at the campaign sticker for President Barack Obama and running mate Joe Biden before he smashed into schoolteacher Mark Duren’s car, police said. Weisiger has been charged with reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of the accident and refusing to take a field sobriety test.

The incident appears to be among the overheated partisan political atmosphere, including death threats sent to members of Congress and their families who supported health care reform.

Duren had picked up his 10-year-old daughter from school Thursday when he stopped near the Belmont University campus. An SUV pulled up behind his Toyota Camry and the driver began honking and gesturing angrily toward the bumper sticker, The Tennessean reported.

“I raised my hands palms up and shrugged. He then eased up behind my car so I could only see the grille of his SUV and blew his car horn, nonstop,” Duren told the newspaper.

Fleeing Suspect Jumps Fence – Right Into Prison

Police say a motorist fleeing officers in Cleveland abandoned his car and jumped a fence — landing in what turned out to be a prison yard.

Garfield Heights police say the chase started in that suburb early Monday over a traffic violation and reached speeds of 90 mph.

Police say that after a race through several communities, the driver and a passenger bolted from the car and headed for a fence.

They apparently did not realize it was on the outside of the state women’s prison in Cleveland.

They were arrested along with two other passengers who also tried to flee.

Today’s Top Eurotastic Song By Carola

Invincible is the name of the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest entry from Sweden, sung by Carola. Considered one of the favourites to win, it ended up finishing 5th out of 24.

Carola Maria Häggkvist (born 8 September 1966), better known as simply Carola, is a Swedish singer and occasional songwriter. She has been among Sweden’s most popular performers since the early 1980s, and has released albums ranging from pop and disco to hymns and folk music.  Her debut album, Främling, sold around one million copies and remains the biggest-selling album in Swedish music history. She has also worked as a songwriter.

During her 25-year long career, she has recorded many top-selling albums and singles and is referred to as Sweden’s most prominent female singer. Some of her biggest hits include Främling from 1983, Tommy tycker om mig from 1984, Fångad av en stormvind from 1991, All the Reasons to Live from 1992, I Believe in Love from 2001, Genom allt from 2005 and Evighet from 2006.

Häggkvist has represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest on three occasions: in 1983, finishing third; in 1991, winning the contest outright; and in this 2006 entry that finished fifth.

Michigan Tourism Only Gets $9.5 Million Boost

A campaign that advertises Michigan tourism likely will have to scale back its plans after lawmakers voted to provide $9.5 million in funding, far less than what officials sought.

The additional funding for the state’s popular Pure Michigan campaign raised its total budget this fiscal year to about $15 million, roughly half of what the campaign received last fiscal year for widespread national advertising.

Tourism officials had hoped to match last year’s funding level, and said the extra money is needed now to promote summer tourism. The television and radio ads promote Michigan’s lakes, shorelines, golf courses, cities and other tourist attractions.

Why We Still Love ABBA

Governments come and go, sterling rises and falls and the human heart grows colder and more cynical.  Thank goodness then for ABBA.

 

Since the first bouncing strains of Waterloo won Eurovision in 1974, through the heartrending emotional mini operas of The Winner Takes it All and Knowing Me, Knowing You through to the mesmerising, hypnotic refrain of The Day Before You Came, the Swedish quartet have been a constant presence in our lives — and always for the good. So what if Thank You For The Music is a little cheesy and Does Your Mother Know? is, er, rather disturbing, it would be a strange life that didn’t have a little space for Bjorn, Benny, Anni-Frid and Agnetha. No wonder then the Ulster Hall in Belfast was packed on Saturday night when one of Europe’s top ABBA tribute bands played.

As soon as the opening bars of Voulez Vous rang out — ‘People everywhere, a sense of expectation in the air” — people took to the aisles and boogied like, well, it was 1977 all over again. The sheer number of ABBA tribute bands shows the strength of public demand for their music and the nostalgia that goes with it. The band has famously turned down offers of up to $1bn (£0.66bn) to reform, remaining adamant that they want fans to remember them in their heyday. However, in an interview with the Times last week Bjorn and Benny dropped a tantalising hint the band may yet reform.

Bomb Scare Delays Carnival Sensation Off Florida

A Carnival cruise ship was held off the Florida coast for several hours on Sunday while authorities searched the vessel and arrested a drunk passenger on bomb hoax charges, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

No explosives or hazardous materials were found and the ship, the Carnival Sensation, was allowed to dock at Port Canaveral on Florida’s Atlantic coast Sunday morning, Coast Guard petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Evanson said.

The ship carried 3,470 passengers and crew and was headed back to Port Canaveral after a three-day cruise to the Bahamas when a passenger reported hearing another passenger make a bomb threat, the Coast Guard said.

The man was quoted as saying, “We are jihad. Come to the top deck and watch the bomb. The bomb is going to blow,” Evanson said, adding that the Coast Guard was told that the man was “highly intoxicated.”

Jihad is the Arabic word for “struggle,” though it is sometimes used to describe an Islamic holy war.

Brevard County sheriff’s deputies arrested an American passenger, Ibrahim Khalil Zarou, 31, of Leesburg, Virginia, on a state charge of making a false report of a bomb. The felony count carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.