Diabetics have been testing the new app mRamadhan that was made in Senegal, the first Francophone country to pilot a mobile phone platform. The app helps people with diabetes safely manage their health while fasting. For the first time diabetics in Senegal can now receive free, daily text messages with recommendations for fasting before, during and after the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan.
“mRamadhan,” is part of the Be He@lthy Be Mobile programme, a joint initiative by the World Health Organisation and the International Telecommunication Union that aims to help countries fight non-communicable diseases. The aim of mRamadhan is to reduce the number of emergency hospitalisations that normally peak during Ramadhan by safely managing their illness.
CHINA BANS RAMADHAN FASTING IN EAST TURKESTAN
Authorities in China’s East Turkestan (Xinjiang) province have officially banned students and teachers from engaging in the Islamic Ramadhan fast, in yet another curb on religious freedoms against the region’s native Uighur Muslim population, reports said on 2 July. The Turfan trade bureau at the beginning of the week released a statement saying that all public workers, students and teachers were banned from fasting and participating in religious activities.
Bozhou, the region’s official radio station, also announced that party members, teachers and youths cannot engage in Ramadhan worship. East Turkestan, resource-rich and strategically located on the borders of Central Asia, is crucial to China’s growing energy needs. Rights groups complain that Uighurs – who speak a Turkic language – are cut off from economic development because they face hiring discrimination, with jobs going to an influx of migrant workers from other parts of China.
BURQA BAN DEBATE SWEEPING EUROPE AFTER ECHR RULING
After the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in favour of France’s prohibition of face veils on 1 July, a number of European countries are preparing the launch debates on introducing a similar ban. Norway, Denmark and Austria have already braced themselves for new burqa ban debate, after the Strasbourg court ruled that the French law which was introduced in 2010 was legal.
Norway’s Progress Party member Mazyar Keshvari told the VG daily, “We must consider whether we should promote the proposal again, after the court in Strasbourg has now confirmed what we have constantly said: that a ban is compatible with human rights,” Jan Bohler of Norway’s Labour Party also encouraged a new debate on the ban in a new light, saying “When parliament rejected such a ban in 2013, the main argument was that Norway risked being censured in the ECHR. Now that argument falls away. I think we need to take a new discussion about a possible ban.”
ALGERIA FOOTBALL TEAM DONATE PRIZE MONEY TO GAZANS
The Algerian national team will donate their World Cup prize money to the people of Gaza, reports said on 3 July. The news comes shortly after Algeria were defeated by Germany 2-1 but they won over neutrals with their bravery and endeavour on the pitch during the World Cup. Algeria striker Islam Slimani has confirmed that the team have donated their World Cup prize money (around $9 Million) to the people in Gaza, saying “They need it more than us.”
‘EGYPT’S COUP REGIME PUNISHES JANUARY 2011 REVOLUTIONARIES’
In a live TV programme, Reda Fahmi, Chairman of the Committee on Defence and National Security of the Shura Council (Egypt’s second chamber of parliament) and leading member of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), on 3 July said the current interior ministry’s relationship with Egyptian citizens is most loathsome, adding that the police now has a vendetta against all those who participated in the January 25 (2011) Revolution, even street vendors.
“The police deliberately destroys street vendors’ carts, tools and equipment – their essential means of living, in all streets across Egypt. They chase them off and seize their goods. The military coup regime does not even try to provide an alternative to accommodate these vendors. The ministry of interior has returned to the days and loathsome practices of the Mubarak era, once again. The murderer (Al-Sisi) was keen to involve the interior ministry in killing as many as of the Egyptian people as possible, so there is a vendetta between the people and the police.”
MUSHAWARAT LAUDS EGYPTIAN PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE FOR LEGALITY, DEMOCRACY
All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, the apex body of Indian Muslim organisations, lauded the continuing struggle of the Egyptian people for legality and democracy. Commenting on the fresh bout of arrests of anti-coup activists in Egypt the previous day, President of AIMMM, Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, in a statement on 2 July, said the Egyptian people have registered an unprecedented record in the annals of history through their continuous protests since the military coup on 3 July last year which toppled the first-democratically-elected President and government in Egypt’s history.
President of the AIMMM said, trampling of democracy and popular mandate on such a level is not acceptable. The only way out is to set free all political opponents, start a genuine popular dialogue and hold new free and fair elections. President of the AIMMM said, if a genuine attempt is not made to arrest the deteriorating situation in Egypt, it may soon witness a stage akin to Syria and Iraq, which will be a death blow to the cohesive and homogenous Egyptian society and will facilitate its balkanisation as plotted by Israel and the US.
UN CHIEF URGES SRI LANKA TO PROTECT MUSLIMS UNDER ATTACK
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the Sri Lankan government to “take necessary measures” to prevent any further attacks against minority Muslims in the country. Asked to respond to reports of violence there, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric reportedly said: “The secretary-general is concerned about reported attacks against Muslim communities in southern Sri Lanka.” He said the secretary-general recalls the Human Rights Council resolution of March 2014, which urges the government of Sri Lanka to investigate alleged attacks on members of religious minority groups and to take steps to prevent such attacks in the future.
‘SRI LANKA DEFENCE SECRETARY GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA BEHIND BBS’
Strong links between Sri Lanka’s Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) that recently instigated anti-Muslim violence in Southern Sri Lanka have been exposed by Ravaya – a mainstream Sinhala weekly newspaper in Sri Lanka.
The article written by the paper’s former Editor and its Chairman – Victor Ivan titled ‘Gotabaya’s shadow’ has revealed the extent to which Gotabaya has been influencing activities of the BBS. It discloses that following the deadly attacks in Aluthgama and Beruwala, the BBS had been instructed by Gotabaya to hold a press conference and clear his name off the mounting accusations that held him responsible for the attacks on Muslims. He had asked the BBS General Secretary Galagoda Atte Gnanasara – the monk infamous for his racist remarks, to disassociate Gotabaya with the organisation’s activities.