Austrian lawmakers on Thursday voted by a large majority in favour of a law banning headscarves in schools for girls under 14, a move rights groups and experts say is discriminatory and could deepen societal division. Austria's conservative-led government -- under pressure with anti-immigration sentiment is running high -- proposed the ban earlier this year, arguing it is aimed at protecting girls "from oppression". In 2019 the country introduced a ban on headscarves in primary schools, but the constitutional court struck it down. This time the government insists that its law is constitutional, though experts have suggested it could be seen as discriminating against one religion -- Islam -- and putting children in an uncomfortable position. The law prevents girls younger than 14 from wearing headscarves that "cover the head in accordance with Islamic traditions" in all schools. After a debate Thursday, only the opposition Green party voted against the ban. Ahead of the vote, lawmaker Yannick Shetty of the liberal NEOS said the headscarf "is not just an item of clothing" but "sexualises girls". "When a girl... is told that she must hide her body... to protect herself from the gaze of men, it's not a religious ritual, but oppression," Integration Minister Claudia Plakolm said when presenting the bill. The ban, which applies to "all forms" of the Islamic veil including hijabs and burqas, would take full effect with the start of the new school year in September, Plakolm said. From February, an initial period would be launched during which the new rules would be explained to educators, parents and children with no penalties for breaking them. But for repeated non-compliance, parents would face fines ranging from 150 to 800 euros ($175-930). The government said that about 12,000 girls would be affected by the new law. 'Stigmatised' Rights groups and activists have long argued that banning headscarves still amounts to telling a woman what to wear, instead of allowing her the freedom to decide on her own. Organisations including Amnesty International Austria have criticised the bill. Amnesty said it "constitutes blatant discrimination against Muslim girls" and described it as an "expression of anti-Muslim racism". Such measures risk "fuelling existing prejudices and stereotypes against Muslims", the group warned. The draft law has also drawn criticism from the IGGOe, the body officially recognised as representing the country's Muslim communities. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
12 December,2025 02:12 PM IST | Austria | AFPThe US Embassy in India has issued a strong advisory to B-1/B-2 visa applicants, signalling a stricter enforcement approach toward what it identifies as “birth tourism.” In a post on X, the embassy warned that tourist visa applications will be denied immediately if consular officers suspect that an applicant’s primary purpose for travelling to the United States is to give birth. “US consular officers will deny tourist visa applications if they believe the primary purpose of travel is to give birth in the United States to obtain US citizenship for the child. This is not permitted,” the US Embassy in India stated, reaffirming a 2020 regulation that empowers officers to reject visitor visa requests when childbirth for citizenship appears to be the applicant’s main intent. U.S. consular officers will deny tourist visa applications if they believe the primary purpose of travel is to give birth in the United States to obtain U.S. citizenship for the child. This is not permitted. pic.twitter.com/Xyq4lkK6V8 — U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) December 11, 2025 US expands online presence checks for H-1B visa applicants Meanwhile, the United States has expanded its review of social media and online presence to cover all H-1B speciality occupation workers and their H-4 dependents, the US Embassy in India said on Wednesday. The move comes as several applicants in India received emails informing them that their visa appointments had been rescheduled. In a statement, a US Embassy spokesperson explained that the Department of State already conducts online presence checks for student and exchange visitor visa categories such as F, M, and J. Starting December 15, this review will also include H-1B and H-4 applicants. This came after the Trump administration's recent move to make social media screening mandatory for all H-1B and H-4 applicants. This decision has added fresh uncertainty for thousands of workers and families. "The Department of State conducts thorough vetting of all visa applicants, including an online presence review of all student and exchange visitor applicants in the F, M, and J nonimmigrant classifications. Beginning December 15, we are expanding the online presence review to all speciality occupation temporary worker (H-1B) visa applicants and their dependents in the H-4 visa classification," the spokesperson said. The embassy noted that each case undergoes a detailed security review. "In every visa case, we will take the time necessary to ensure an applicant does not pose a risk to the safety and security of the United States and that he or she has credibly established his or her eligibility for the visa sought, including that the applicant intends to engage in activities consistent with the terms of admission," the statement added. The spokesperson further said that the Department of State "regularly shifts appointments as needed to match resource availability" and directly informs affected applicants of any changes. The clarification followed a public advisory issued by Mission India on X on Tuesday, warning applicants not to attend their earlier appointment dates. "ATTENTION VISA APPLICANTS - If you have received an email advising that your visa appointment has been rescheduled, Mission India looks forward to assisting you on your new appointment date. Arriving on your previously scheduled appointment date will result in your being denied admittance to the Embassy or Consulate," the mission posted. Earlier this month, the State Department announced it would begin social media screening for all H-1B applicants and their dependent family members. Officials described the online review as part of the Trump administration's broader efforts to detect misuse of foreign-worker visas. In September, the US also introduced a USD 100,000 annual fee on H-1B filings. "As of December 15, the Department will expand the requirement that an online presence review be conducted for all H-1B applicants and their dependents, in addition to the students and exchange visitors already subject to this review. To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for H-1B and their dependents (H-4), F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas are instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to 'public'," the State Department had said earlier. "Every visa adjudication is a national security decision. The United States must be vigilant during the visa issuance process to ensure that those applying for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans and our national interests, and that all applicants credibly establish their eligibility for the visa sought, including that they intend to engage in activities consistent with the terms for their admission," the announcement added. (With inputs from Agencies)
12 December,2025 11:21 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentJapan on Friday issued a tsunami advisory after a 6.7 magnitude earthquake shook the country's northeast, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The quake occurred off the east coast of Aomori prefecture, in the north of Honshu, the main Japanese island, at a depth of 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) at 11:44 a.m. local time, JMA said. The Pacific coast of Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures could see a tsunami of up to 1 meter (3.2 feet), the agency added. Damage and injuries weren't immediately clear. An advisory is a lower level of caution than a warning. Friday's quake followed a 7.5 magnitude earthquake earlier this week in the north that caused injuries, light damage and a tsunami in Pacific coastal communities. At least 34 people were injured in that quake on Monday off the coast of Aomori, the northernmost prefecture of Japan's main Honshu island. A tsunami more than 2 feet (0.6 meters) above tide levels was measured in Kuji port in Iwate prefecture before all tsunami advisories were lifted. Power was knocked out for hundreds of homes but was mostly restored Tuesday morning. Authorities had warned of possible aftershocks. Officials said after Monday's quake there was also a slight increase in risk of a magnitude 8-level quake and possible tsunami occurring along Japan's northeastern coast from Chiba, just east of Tokyo, to Hokkaido. The agency urged residents in 182 municipalities in the area to monitor their emergency preparedness in the coming week, reminding them that the caution is not a prediction of a big one. The quakes occurred in the coastal region, where a magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami in 2011 killed nearly 20,000 people and destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
12 December,2025 10:50 AM IST | Tokyo [Japan] | APThe House on Thursday dismissed an effort to impeach President Donald Trump brought by Democratic Rep Al Green of Texas, the second time this year that the Democrat's efforts to launch impeachment proceedings have been turned aside. The House voted 237-140 to shelve Green's impeachment resolution, with 47 Democratic lawmakers voting present. The result was expected, yet suggested a shift in support for bringing charges of impeachment against Trump among House Democrats, who rejected a similar measure by a much wider margin in June. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his deputies said in a statement before the vote that impeachment "requires a comprehensive investigative process" that had not been undertaken by the Republican majority. Yet the Democratic leaders notably declined to oppose the resolution outright, instead voting "present." "Impeachment is a sacred constitutional vehicle designed to hold a corrupt executive accountable for abuse of power, breaking the law and violating the public trust," they said. "None of that serious work has been done, with the Republican majority focused solely on rubber stamping Donald Trump's extreme agenda. Accordingly, we will be voting present on today's motion," they continued. Green has said impeachment measures are necessary because he believes Trump has committed "high crimes and misdemeanours" in his second term, the constitutionally required bar for impeachment and removal from office. Green's resolution in June accused Trump of bypassing Congress and potentially declaring war on Iran after the administration conducted air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The latest version sought to impeach Trump for "threatening Democratic lawmakers in Congress with execution" over a social media video urging members of the military to refuse illegal orders. "He has conducted himself in office such that persons are now threatening members of the judiciary, threatening members of the House of Representatives, threatening members of the Senate," Green said in a brief floor speech before the vote. Trump was impeached twice in his first term, first in 2019 by a Democratic-majority House over his push for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to open a corruption investigation into the Biden family ahead of the 2020 election. He was impeached a second time in 2021 by the House over his effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election and the riot at the US Capitol. He was acquitted by the Senate both times. Republicans have begun to warn that Democrats are determined to impeach Trump a third time if they win the majority, pushing it toward the forefront of next year's campaigns. Many of them dismissed Thursday's vote as a distraction. "It shows you they have no agenda. And so this is the kind of stuff that they've been doing, as opposed to actually trying to solve the American people's issues," said Rep Mario Díaz-Balart, a Florida Republican. "This is not a surprise, but it just shows you that the Democrats continue to do the same kind of thing they've been doing for years, which is playing games and not coming up with real solutions." Democratic leaders insisted they are not intent on impeaching Trump in his second term and stressed the gravity of such proceedings and the need for a thorough investigation. Rep Ted Lieu, a California Democrat and vice chair of the Democratic Caucus, said there are "a diversity of views" about impeachment in the caucus. He said that House Democrats intend to conduct oversight of the administration should they win a majority in next year's mid-terms but that a win at the ballot box did not guarantee an impeachment vote. "I think you would have to have an investigation where you actually talk to witnesses and review documents and look at, you know, video and listen to audio. You need to do all of that before any decisions are made," he said. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
12 December,2025 08:58 AM IST | Washington | APPresident Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at blocking states from crafting their own regulations for artificial intelligence, saying the burgeoning industry is at risk of being stifled by a patchwork of onerous rules while in a battle with Chinese competitors for supremacy. Members of Congress from both parties, as well as civil liberties and consumer rights groups, have pushed for more regulations on AI, saying there is not enough oversight for the powerful technology. But Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that "there's only going to be one winner" as nations race to dominate artificial intelligence, and China's central government gives its companies a single place to go for government approvals. "We have the big investment coming, but if they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you can forget it because it's impossible to do," Trump said. The executive order directs the Attorney General to create a new task force to challenge state laws, and directs the Commerce Department to draw up a list of problematic regulations. It also threatens to restrict funding from a broadband deployment programme and other grant programmes to states with AI laws. David Sacks, a venture capitalist with extensive AI investments who is leading Trump's policies on cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, said the Trump administration would only push back on "the most onerous examples of state regulation" but would not oppose "kid safety" measures. What states have proposed Four states -- Colorado, California, Utah and Texas -- have passed laws that set some rules for AI across the private sector, according to the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Those laws include limiting the collection of certain personal information and requiring more transparency from companies. The laws are in response to AI that already pervades everyday life. The technology helps make consequential decisions for Americans, including who gets a job interview, an apartment lease, a home loan and even certain medical care. But research has shown that it can make mistakes in those decisions, including by prioritising a particular gender or race. States' more ambitious AI regulation proposals require private companies to provide transparency and assess the possible risks of discrimination from their AI programmes. Beyond those more sweeping rules, many states have regulated parts of AI: barring the use of deepfakes in elections and to create non-consensual porn, for example, or putting rules in place around the government's own use of AI. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
12 December,2025 08:54 AM IST | Washington | APThailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul received royal permission on Friday to dissolve Parliament, setting up general elections early next year. The election for the House of Representatives would be held 45 to 60 days after the Royal Decree, a period while Anutin will head a caretaker government with limited powers and cannot approve a new budget. Anutin posted on his Facebook late on Thursday that "I'd like to return power to the people." The move comes at a tricky political moment, as Thailand is engaged in large-scale combat with Cambodia over long-disputed border claims. About two dozen people were reported killed in the fighting this week, while hundreds of thousands have been displaced on both sides. Anutin has been prime minister for just three months, succeeding Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who served only a year in office. Anutin won the September vote in Parliament with support from the main opposition People's Party in exchange for a promise to dissolve Parliament within four months and organise a referendum on the drafting of a new constitution by an elected constituent assembly. The issue of constitutional change appeared to trigger the dissolution, after the People's Party threatened to call a non-confidence vote on Thursday after Anutin's Bhumjathai voted to retain one third of Senate votes in order to amend the constitution. Anutin served in Paetongtarn's Cabinet but resigned from his positions and withdrew his party from her coalition government in the wake of a political scandal related to border tensions with Cambodia. Paetongtarn, daughter of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was dismissed from office after being found guilty of ethics violations over a politically compromising phone call with Cambodia's Senate President Hun Sen ahead of July's armed conflict. The People's Party said it would remain part of the opposition, leaving the new government potentially a minority one. The party, which runs on progressive platforms, has long sought changes to the constitution, imposed during a military government, saying they want to make it more democratic. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
12 December,2025 08:50 AM IST | Bangkok | APChina will soon start collecting a value-added tax on contraceptive drugs and products for the first time in over three decades, a move aligned with Beijing's effort to get families to have more children after decades of limiting most to one child. "Contraceptive drugs and products" will not be tax-exempt as of January 1, according to the country's newest value-added tax law. Products such as condoms will be subject to the usual 13 per cent value-added tax imposed on most products. While state-run news outlets have not widely highlighted the change, it has been trending on Chinese social media, drawing ridicule among people who joked they would have to be fools not to know that raising a child is more expensive than using condoms, even if they are taxed. More seriously, experts are raising concerns over potential increases in unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases due to higher costs for contraceptives. The ruling Communist Party's past "one-child" policy was enforced from about 1980 until 2015 with huge fines and other penalties and sometimes with forced abortions. In some cases, children born over the limit were deprived of an identification number, effectively making them non-citizens. The government raised the birth limit to two children in 2015. As China's population began to peak and then fall, it was lifted to three children in 2021. Contraception has been actively encouraged and easily accessed, even for free. "That's a really ruthless move," said Hu Lingling, mother of a five-year-old who said she is determined not to have another child. She said she would "lead the way in abstinence" as a rebel. "It is also hilarious, especially compared to forced abortions during the family planning era," she said. In 2024, 9.5 million babies were born in China, about one-third fewer than the 14.7 million born in 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. That is despite a higher-than-usual birth rate driven by a traditional preference to give birth in the Year of the Dragon, according to Chinese astrology. As deaths have outpaced births in China, India overtook it as the world's most populous country in 2023. The effect of the tax "on encouraging higher fertility will be very limited. For couples who do not want children or do not want additional children, a 13 per cent tax on contraceptives is unlikely to influence their reproductive decisions, especially when weighed against the far higher costs of raising a child," said Qian Cai, director of the Demographics Research Group at the University of Virginia. Still, imposing the tax is "only logical," said Yi Fuxian, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "They used to control the population, but now they are encouraging people to have more babies; it is a return to normal methods to make these products ordinary commodities," Yi said. As is true in most places, most responsibility for birth control in China falls to women. Condoms are used by only 9 per cent of couples, with 44.2 per cent using intrauterine devices and 30.5 per cent female sterilisation, followed by 4.7 per cent male sterilisation, according to research released by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2022. The rest use the pill or other methods. Given the authorities' longstanding invasive approach to their personal lives and bodies, some women are offended by the authorities' effort to again influence their personal choices about childbearing. "It is a disciplinary tactic, a management of women's bodies and my sexual desire," said Zou Xuan, a 32-year-old teacher in Pingxiang in China's southern province of Jiangxi. There is no official data on the scale of China's annual condom consumption and estimates vary. A report released by IndexBox, an international market intelligence platform, said China consumed 5.4 billion units of condoms in 2020, marking the 11th straight year of increase. Experts have expressed worries that reduced condom use could add to public health risks. "Higher prices may reduce access to contraceptives among economically disadvantaged populations, potentially leading to increases in unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Those outcomes could, in turn, lead to more abortions and higher health-care costs," said Cai, the director. China has one of the world's highest numbers of abortions, with 9 million to 10 million annually in 2014-2021, according to its National Health Commission. Experts say the actual number could be higher, with some seeking treatment at underground clinics. China stopped publishing its abortion data in 2022. Sexually transmitted infections have also been rising, despite a decrease during the COVID-19 pandemic years, with over 1,00,000 gonorrhea patients and 6,70,000 syphilis patients in 2024, according to data from the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration. The number of patients living with AIDS and HIV infections has also been rising, especially among older Chinese, reaching about 1.4 million in 2024. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
12 December,2025 08:48 AM IST | Beijing | APA federal appeals court on Thursday backed a ruling that held Apple in civil contempt for brazenly defying an order designed to open its iPhone app store to other payment systems besides its own, but the decision also reopened a door for the company to collect commission from the rival options. The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals mostly validated a scalding contempt order issued in April by US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers for violating a key part of her September 2021 findings in a legal battle instigated by video game maker Epic Games. But the Ninth Circuit's 54-page decision overturned one key part of Gonzalez Rogers' civil contempt crackdown that prohibited Apple from collecting commissions when consumers make an e-commerce purchase within an iPhone app through a payment systems that operate outside of Apple's control. The appeals judges decided the ban that would have prevented Apple from imposing fees on rival payment options was too severe and ordered Gonzalez Rogers to reopen the case to determine a fair commission rate that the Cupertino, California, company, can charge. The ruling provided some general guidelines for how Gonzalez Rogers might determine a fair commission on external payment systems, but did not make any suggestions about what the percentage might be. Neither Apple nor Epic immediately responded for requests for comment late Thursday. But the appeals decision agreed Apple had made a mockery of Gonzalez Rogers' attempt to create more payment competition in the iPhone app store as part of a case that began in 2020. That's when Epic, the maker of the Fortnite video game, filed a lawsuit alleging Apple had set up a price-gouging system within the iPhone app store that had turned into an illegal monopoly. Epic's case targeted Apple's iron-clad control over all its devices and software, an approach that has become known as the company's "walled garden." As part of the strategy, Apple required all in-app purchases on iPhones to be made through its own payment processing system while collecting commissions ranging from 15-30 per cent. Those commissions have become a huge moneymaker within a services division that brings in more than USD 100 billion in annual revenue for Apple. Although Gonzalez Rogers rejected Epic's assertion that the iPhone app store had turned into an illegal monopoly in her 2021 decision, she ordered Apple to allow links to alternative payment options to be displayed within apps. Apple continued to fight the alternative payment option in appeals before being rebuffed by the US Supreme Court in January 2024. The company then announced it would charge commissions ranging from 12-27 per cent on iPhone app purchases made on alternative payment options -- rates that remained so high that few developers decided to offer other choices. That prompted Epic to allege Apple was in contempt of court, a claim Gonzalez Rogers embraced after a series of testy court hearings last year and earlier this year that led her to conclude the company's efforts to allow alternative payment systems into the iPhone app store was little more than a "sham." This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
12 December,2025 08:44 AM IST | New York | APThe world’s largest distributed AI computing pool has been activated in China, capable of achieving 98 per cent of the efficiency of a single data centre. With the distant computing centers connected, the systems work together almost as efficiently as a single giant computer. Known as the Future Network Test Facility (FNTF), the system began operations on December 3. The large-scale, distributed AI-computing network links data centres spread across roughly 2000 km using a high-speed optical network, allowing them to operate almost like a single supercomputer. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
12 December,2025 06:55 AM IST | Beijing | AgenciesThree Thai civilians were killed as heavy combat continued along the country’s border with Cambodia, the Thai military said on Thursday, marking the country’s first civilian fatalities since the fighting resumed. The latest large-scale fighting was set off by a skirmish on Sunday that wounded two Thai soldiers and derailed a ceasefire pushed by US President Donald Trump that ended five days of combat in July over longstanding territorial disputes. About two dozen people have been reported killed in the latest fighting, while thousands more have been displaced on both sides of the border and relocated to temporary shelters or moved to stay with relatives. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
12 December,2025 06:52 AM IST | Bangkok | AgenciesElijah Lee, a biomedical engineering senior at Yale and co-founder of Forte3D, just secured a $250,000 deal on Shark Tank after 3D-printing a cello using carbon fiber and polymer composites. Lee said the idea began as a high school challenge from his orchestra director, who at the time urged him to merge his love of music with 3D printing. Traditional cellos often cost over $5000, and are fragile. Lee set out to make one tougher and cheaper. Together with Alfred Goodrich, Forte3D’s co-founder and CEO, he redesigned the instrument and created a simple hybrid structure that is easy to 3D print. The instrument can withstand travel, temperature changes, and daily use while still delivering a rich, resonant sound. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
12 December,2025 06:49 AM IST | New York | AgenciesADVERTISEMENT
