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A mai Mexikói-öbölbe 66 millió éve becsapódott aszteroida hatására kihaltak a dinoszauruszok, a legújabb elemzések szerint azonban a mikrobiális élet viszonylag hamar visszatért a területre.

Az ausztrál parlamentben ellenszavazat nélkül nyilvánították ki, hogy az elnökjelölt szavai kimerítik a szexuális zaklatás fogalmát.

Début de polémique en Allemagne, après le suicide en prison d'un syrien suspecté d'avoir planifié un attentat contre un aéroport de Berlin, au nom du groupe Etat islamique. Jaber al-Bakr avait été arrêté ce lundi 10 octobre à Leipzig grâce à des réfugiés syriens qui l'avaient livré à la police.

Après avoir prévenu que l’attaque contre le destroyer USS Mason et le navire logistique USS Ponce, à proximité du détroit de Bab al-Mandeb, ne resterait pas impunie, le Pentagone a fait état, le 12 octobre, d’un nouveau tir de missile contre le même navire de l’US Navy. L’USS Mason a « détecté le missile mercredi vers […]

Cet article Frappes américaines au Yémen, suite à l’attaque contre le destroyer USS Mason est apparu en premier sur Zone Militaire.

Des militaires chinois dans les rues… Rien de nouveau, sauf que ces hommes en treillis ont manifesté, mardi, à Pékin, pour dénoncer leurs pitoyables retraites et les coupes sévères dans les effectifs de l’armée chinoise (PLAN). Mardi, l’avenue Chang’an, la principale artère de Pékin, a été bloquée par des policiers pour dissimuler un millier de manifestants qui ...

While Serbia is recording the best economic results in years, ordinary people will not feel the recovery without much faster growth rates.

Mi lesz a Londonban dolgozó magyarokkal? A brit nagykövetét kérdeztük róluk és a brexitről.

Mi lesz a Londonban dolgozó magyarokkal? A brit nagykövetét kérdeztük róluk és a brexitről.

Une femme, six hommes, de la taille exacte des candidats : hier, au studio 130-2 de la Plaine-Saint-Denis, TF 1 avait convoqué des doublures pour les réglages lumière du premier débat de la primaire de...

Le Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) a condamné jeudi les attaques contre des civils en République centrafricaine (RCA), où des affrontements entre groupes rivaux ont forcé des milliers de personnes à fuir leurs domiciles et perturbé les opérations d'assistance humanitaire.

Le Conseiller spécial du Secrétaire général pour la prévention des conflits (y compris au Burundi), Jamal Benomar, s'est dit jeudi persuadé que les Burundais peuvent trouver une issue pacifique à la crise politique qui secoue le pays depuis plus d'un an.

The General Assembly today appointed by acclamation the former Prime Minister of Portugal, António Guterres, as the next United Nations Secretary-General, to succeed Ban Ki-moon when he steps down on 31 December.

Over the past twenty years, 90 per cent of the 1.35 million people who have died in 7,056 disaster events have come from low and middle-income countries, according to a new United Nations report released today described by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as a &#8220damning indictment of inequality.&#8221

The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is coming to Serbia on an official visit - where he will also promote his book, 'Sacrifice', to a Belgrade audience.

Amid an ongoing crisis over refugees in the south, Macedonian Army personnel have announced a strike, complaining of low and overdue wages and poor working conditions.

Despite their approval by the international monitoring body that oversaw Bosnia’s 2013 census, authorities in Republika Srpska say they will continue to dispute the results.

Alors que les sondeurs et les médias annoncent déjà le duel Juppé-Sarkozy au deuxième tour de la primaire de la droite, les cinq autres candidats espèrent changer la donne grâce à trois débats télévisés, dont le premier se tient jeudi soir sur TF1.

Un projet de loi présenté mercredi 12 octobre en Allemagne en Conseil des ministres prévoit un durcissement sensible des règles permettant aux ressortissants communautaires de toucher l'aide sociale en Allemagne. Une initiative qui est la conséquence de nombreuses polémiques autour des migrants bulgares et roumains accusés par certains de venir en Allemagne attirés par des allocations sociales.

The big news in Chess last month was the decision by FIDE (Federation Internationale des Echecs), which resulted in headlines that Female Chess Players Forced to Wear Hijab as Governing Body Awards World Championship to Iran:
The world's top female chess players have reacted with horror after being told they must compete at next year's world championship wearing a hijab.

Within hours of Iran being revealed as its host country, the prestigious event was plunged into crisis as it emerged players taking part face arrest if they don't cover up.
A hijab is a veil covering the head and chest.

Iranian woman wearing a hijab.
Source: Wikipeda
In response, the US women's champion, Nazi Paikidze (pronounced “nah-ZEE.”), responded by saying she will boycott the tournament, both because of what she sees as sexual discrimination as well as because of the travel warning issued by the US State Department, advising against travelling to Iran because US citizens risk being unjustly imprisoned or kidnapped because of their nationality.

Nazi Paikidze, the US women's champion
Credit: Zuma Press, Inc. / Alamy. Source: The Telegraph
Putting aside the Iranian proclivity for taking hostages, the issue of FIDE putting women in a position where they have no choice about wearing the hijab in a fundamentalist Islamic state should remind us of an outspoken woman who took the opposite approach.

Oriana Fallaci, an Italian journalist, author, and political interviewer, was famous for her interviews with world leaders during the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's. She was also well known for being outspoken. Among those she interviewed was Ayatollah Khomeini, in 1979.

Oriana Fallaci. Source: Wikipedia
For the internview, Fallaci was told she would have to  wear a chador, an open cloak worn by many women in Iran, during the interview,

Which she did.

Oriana Fallaci, wearing the chador.
Source: Wikipedia
For a while.

During her interview with Ayatollah Khomeini, Fallaci called him a "tyrant," removed the chador, and threw it to the ground:
OF: I still have to ask you a lot of things. About the "chador", for example, which I was obliged to wear to come and interview you, and which you impose on Iranian women.... I am not only referring to the dress but to what it represents, I mean the apartheid Iranian women have been forced into after the revolution. They cannot study at the university with men, they cannot work with men, they cannot swim in the sea or in a swimming-pool with men. They have to do everything separately, wearing their "chador". By the way, how can you swim wearing a "chador"?

AK: None of this concerns you, our customs do not concern you. If you don't like the Islamic dress you are not obliged to wear it, since it is for young women and respectable ladies.

OF: This is very kind of you, Imam, since you tell me that, I'm going to immediately rid myself of this stupid medieval rag. There!The argument whether FIDE requiring women to wear a hijab is an issue of discrimination or a question of respect for a different culture continues -- though Paikidze's protest is gaining support. In fact, as of this past Monday, the petition Paikidze is circulating has exceeded its goal of 15,000 signatures.

The petition notes that in its handbook, The World Chess Federation explicitly states that it:
rejects discriminatory treatment for national, political, racial, social or religious reasons or on account of gender.No matter how you view the issue, the difference in attitude between Fallaci and FIDE is striking, especially given Iran's poor human rights record.


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Technorati Tag: Iran and Chess and Hijab and Oriana Fallaci.

Americas

• The chief of the Republic of Korea Air Force is to visit the US next month to help promote the T-50A bid by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Lockheed Martin. Gen. Jeong Kyeong-doo is scheduled to meet his US counterparts during the trip. Washington is expected to begin its selection process for 350 advanced jet trainers next year which could reach $20 billion in value.

• USS Nimitz became the fifth nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to have a hard-kill anti-torpedo defense system installed on board. Designed to destroy an incoming torpedo by collision, the Surface Ship Torpedo Defense (SSTD) System consists of the Torpedo Warning System, an automated control station and a Countermeasure Anti-Torpedo (CAT). The system was developed by Pennsylvania State University’s Applied Research Lab.

• POSCO Daewoo of South Korea has been contracted to provide a landing platform dock and multirole corvette vessels to the Brazilian Navy in a deal worth $1 billion. The firm will also modernize the Arsenal de Marinha do Rio de Janeiro shipyard and the ships will be constructed in partnership with domestic shipyards. In order to hunt deals in the region, POSCO Daewoo has operated offices out of the city of Sao Paulo since 1980.

Middle East & North Africa

• The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen has claimed to have shot down a Houthi rebel ballistic missile headed toward Khamees Mushait city in the kingdom’s southwest on Tuesday night. After destroying the missile, Saudi forces attacked the missile’s launch site. It’s believed that that target of the strike was Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal Military Camp located about 40 km (25 miles) north of the Yemeni border.

• Germany’s cabinet has approved the deployment of additional troops to Turkey to help operate NATO surveillance aircraft. The Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft will be used for reconnaissance in support of air strikes against IS targets. Berlin already has 500 personnel fighting IS with six Tornado surveillance aircraft and a refueling plane located at Turkey’s Incirlik air base.

• Turkish and Russian rapprochement continues with Ankara re-inviting a previously disqualified Russian bidder to its first long-range air and anti-missile defense system acquisition. China Precision Manufacturing Import-Export Corp (CPMIEC) had been originally tapped to provide their air defense architecture in a deal worth $3.44 billion before being ditching by Turkey following pressure from NATO allies. Since then, an indigenous effort has commenced to develop a system alongside parallel talks with US and European bidders.

Europe

• Twelve additional F-35A fighters have been requested by the Norwegian government. The proposal, if approved, would raise the total number of authorized F-35A purchases to 40 aircraft allowing Norway to participate in a proposed “block buy” for the F-35’s US and international partners. Unlike a multi-year procurement, a block buy does not lock the US or international partners into firm orders, but it gives Lockheed’s supply chain a long-term view of likely demand.

Asia Pacific

• Australian Armidale-class patrol boats are to receive mid-life upgrades from firm Austal Australia. This month will see the commencement of work on the hull remediation, corrective maintenance and configuration changes of up to seven vessels at Austal’s shipyard in Henderson, Western Australia. Austal is currently providing in-service support to the Australian Border Force’s fleet of eight company-built Cape-class patrol boats and has been contracted to provide in-service support for 19 Pacific Patrol Boat Replacement vessels, which enter service from late next year.

Today’s Video

North Korea’s Latest Missile Launch: