Govt. collapse stops vote on burqa ban
BRUSSELS, April 22 (UPI) -- An anticipated Belgian Parliament vote on banning wearing the Islamic burqa in public Thursday was disrupted when the country's coalition government collapsed.
Prime Minister Yves Leterme tendered his resignation after a key Flemish party member quit the 5-month-old coalition, throwing the government into crisis slightly more than two months before the country takes over the rotating EU presidency.
It was not immediately clear if Belgian King Albert II would accept Leterme's resignation, Voice of America reported.
The Belgian Federal Parliament was expected to approve a law banning burqas after a parliamentary committee unanimously recommended a nationwide ban on clothes -- including veils -- that prevent wearers from being fully identified.
It would have been the first clampdown of its kind on the Continent.
A burqa is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions for the purpose of hiding their body in public.
The ban, which some legal scholars said might be unconstitutional, would also apply to niqabs, veils that cover the face as part of a head covering worn by some traditional Muslim women.
French-speaking liberal Reformist lawmaker Denis Ducarme, who drafted the measure, rejected suggestions the legislation smacks of intolerance, saying it is the burqa -- and "the Islamic movement" -- that are truly intolerant and dangerous, CNN reported.
He added he was "proud that Belgium would be the first country in Europe which dares to legislate on this sensitive matter," The New York Times reported.
Ducarme estimated 300 to 400 women in the country wear the niqab or the burqa.
About 281,000 Muslims live in Belgium, Washington's Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life estimated, making the country about 3 percent Muslim.
German bishop asks to resign over abuse
AUGSBURG, Germany, April 22 (UPI) -- The bishop of Augsburg, Germany, accused of thrashing orphans with a carpet beater, wrote to Pope Benedict XVI offering to resign, the diocese said Thursday.
Walter Mixa, 68, told the pope in his letter that his diocese needed a "new start," the diocese said.
He said he would also resign as bishop of the German armed forces.
Mixa's letter followed the recommendation by two German archbishops that Mixa "take some time out for spiritual contemplation and physical distance to enable an atmosphere of greater objectivity" to clarify accusations against him, Der Spiegel reported.
Mixa is accused of hitting orphan children in the 1970s and 1980s when he was a parish priest and chaplain of a children's home in Schrobenhausen, about 20 miles northeast of Augsburg.
At least six former residents of the Catholic children's home accused Mixa of hitting them with his fists, sticks, wooden spoons and carpet beaters.
Mixa initially denied ever using violence against the children but later acknowledged he may have slapped them.
He is also accused of using church funds to buy artwork, The Times of London reported.
A special investigator and a Munich, Germany, lawyer are investigating the claims against him.
Mixa's resignation offer comes as a German opinion poll indicates 45 percent of German Catholics believe the pope is doing a poor job and 20 percent say they are considering leaving the church.
The number of Catholics in Germany dropped to 25 million in 2009 from 28 million in 1991, with the steepest decline reported in the five years since Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger assumed the papacy, the Times said.
Russia bans Scientology literature
MOSCOW, April 22 (UPI) -- Russia is adding the works of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to its list of extremist literature, the Russian attorney general's office says.
The Prosecutor General's Office said Wednesday Scientology materials qualify as "undermining the traditional spiritual values of the citizens of the Russian Federation," The Moscow Times reported. People found holding extremist materials can be held for up to 15 days or fined $100.
The issue had been initiated by transport prosecutors in the Siberian city of Surgut and Khanty-Mansiysk customs officers, the newspaper said.
Prosecutors said they obtained 28 works by Hubbard, including books and audio and video recordings, sent to residents of Surgut from the United States. The prosecutors said "psychiatrists, psychologists and sociologists" who reviewed the materials determined they should not be distributed in Russia.
The prosecutors said in a statement the seized works contained "ideas justifying violence in general and in particular any means of opposing critics of Scientology. The works, they said, "have clear as well as hidden calls for social and religious hatred" and call for hindering state goals.
The newspaper said the Church of Scientology, based in Los Angeles, did not reply to an e-mail message seeking comment.
Last year the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of Scientology's branches in Surgut and Nizhnekamsk, which had sued Russia for refusing to list them as religious organizations because they had not existed in the country for 15 years.
The Times noted several European governments do not recognize Scientology as a religion and Germany has ruled it is a commercial enterprise.
Mitchell back in Israel
JERUSALEM, April 22 (UPI) -- U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell landed in Israel Thursday, reportedly for meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Arutz Sheva reported Mitchell would confer with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. However, no official statement had been issued regarding the nature of the meetings, the Israeli media network said, calling Mitchell's visit a surprise.
Voice of America reported Mitchell was commencing a new peace mission with hopes of reviving talks, which have been at stalemate for 15 months, between the two sides. However, the U.S. network provided no details regarding Mitchell's goals during this trip.
Mitchell is expected to remain in Israel until Sunday, Arutz Sheva said.
Mitchell's trip comes on the heels of one by Dan Shapiro, the Obama administration's senior Middle East director at the National Security Council. Arutz Sheva said it was believed progress had been made between Israel and the PA during that trip.
Israel's continued construction in contested areas remains a major block to renewed negotiations.
VOA reported there has been U.S. pressure on Israel to consider measures such as releasing Palestinian prisoners, removing roadblocks and ceding more West Bank territory to Palestinian security control in an effort to get Palestinians to resume talks aimed at achieving a two-state solution.
10 years pass in Elian Gonzalez case
MIAMI, April 22 (UPI) -- Thursday marked 10 years since U.S. agents forcibly took 6-year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez from relatives in Miami to reunite him with his father in Cuba.
Not much is known about the life Gonzalez, now 16, lives, though recent photos show him wearing a military school uniform while attending a Young Communist Union gathering, Miami's WFOR-TV reported.
A cousin, Marisleysis Gonzalez, 32, recently told WFOR she was sad to see him wearing the Cuban military garb but not surprised.
"He's not in a free country. He has to do whatever he's told," she said.
The Palm Beach Post reported the part of the house in Miami's Little Havana where Gonzalez, whose mother had died at sea trying to reach the United States from Cuba, was living until U.S. Border Patrol agents barged in at gunpoint has been turned into a museum.
In 2000 the custody case of the little Cuban refugee was a national drama, with Fidel Castro's Communist Cuba on the father's side and Miami's Cuban exile community on the relatives' side. Ultimately, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno decided to send in the Border Patrol agents to take the boy, and after months of legal wrangling he was sent to Cardenas, Cuba, to be with his father.
Some say the incident sealed George W. Bush's presidential victory in 2000. But former President Bill Clinton said he doesn't second-guess the decision to repatriate Elian even though he had hoped for a different outcome, WFOR said.
"I did everything I could to try to have this resolved in a peaceful way," Clinton told the Miami station. "Believe me, I hated what happened because I thought we would be able to do it in a different way."
