A Muslim lawmaker burst into tears during a speech she made Thursday and spoke of the abuse she has received since she became a politician during a parliamentary debate on the definition of Islamophobia. 

Zarah Sultana, the Labour Party member of parliament for Coventry South, said she received various abusive messages.

Speaking in tears, she said: "One person, for example, wrote to me, and I quote: 'Sultana, you and your Muslim mob are a real danger to humanity,’ another wrote I am a 'cancer everywhere I go' and soon, they said, 'Europe will vomit you out.’ A third called me a 'terrorist sympathizer and scum of the earth,' and that is sanitized of their unparliamentary language."

"Before being elected, I was nervous about being a Muslim woman in the public eye," Sultana said in Westminster Hall.

"Growing up, I had seen the abuse prominent British Muslims were subjected to. I knew I wouldn't be in for an easy ride,” she added.

"And when young girls ask me what it’s like, I'd like to say I was wrong to be worried, that they would face the same challenges as their non-Muslim friends and colleagues. But in my short time in Parliament, that's not my experience.

"I have discovered that to be a Muslim woman, to be outspoken and left-wing, is to be subject this barrage of racism and hate," she said.

“It’s to be treated by some as if I were an enemy of the country I was born in, as if I don’t belong.”

Sultana also said the abuse she received worsened when she criticized former Prime Minister Tony Blair for launching an "illegal war" in Afghanistan.

She underlined that “this Islamophobia doesn’t come from a vacuum. It’s not natural or ingrained. It’s taught from the top.”

She also said in the emotional speech that “when a far-right online account targeted me with racist abuse, suggesting that Muslims were an invading army, a Conservative MP replied, not calling them [out] for their racism, but by insulting me.”

War on terror puts Muslims on target

Sultana said this Saturday will mark the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US and the “horrific act of mass murder cast a long shadow.”

She said that when the war on terror was launched by former US President George Bush and Blair, it “set a narrative that too many readily embraced: Muslims, wherever we are, were portrayed as a security threat, in need of discipline and suppression.”

Sultana underlined that “this was the background of disastrous wars in the Middle East, where false links were drawn between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks, providing false legitimacy to a war that had more to do with oil than the safety of British citizens.”

She said she hoped things could get better in the future while she was keeping her head down, but things got worse.

Referring to an article penned by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Sultana said: “Today, our prime minister mocks Muslims as ‘letterboxes’ and ‘bank robbers.’”

Islamophobia very real in Britain

“Islamophobia is very real in Britain today,” the Muslim MP continued.

“That's something I know all too well. But it cannot be defeated in isolation.”

"The people spreading this hate don’t just target Muslims. They target Black people, they target Jewish people, they target Gypsy, Roma and Traveler communities, they target migrants and refugees.

"There is safety in solidarity, and it is only in uniting our struggles that we will defeat racism,” she added./aa

Former US President Donald Trump challenged incumbent Joe Biden to a boxing match on Thursday after the country's forty-fifth leader was knocked out at the ballot box in last year's national elections. 

Trump said his "easiest fight" would be against Biden when asked who we would fight during a promotional event for this weekend's Evander Holyfield vs. Vitor Belfort fight, for which the former president will be providing ringside commentary.

"I think he'd go down very, very quickly; very, very quickly," Trump said by telephone as he called in to the event. "He once said, 'Oh, I'd like to take him behind the barn.' He'd be in big trouble if he ever did. I think Biden would go down within the first few seconds."

Trump was referring to comments Biden made in March 2018. Biden was reacting to Trump's claims that as a celebrity he could sexually assault any woman he wanted, including grabbing their genitalia. The comments were made behind closed doors, but were leaked to the press early in Trump's presidency.

"If we were in high school I'd take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him," said Biden.

Trump has refused to accept his electoral loss, and has claimed without providing a shred of evidence that he was defeated due to widespread voter fraud. That claim was rejected by Trump's former attorney general after a Justice Department probe failed to establish any evidence to support the claim.

Trump lost by some 7 million votes./aa

Despite a higher opening, major indices on the US stock market failed to recover Thursday from losses in past sessions, as a major selloff continues amid weak labor market conditions.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 151 points, or 0.43%, to 34,879, and the S&P 500 was down 20 points, or 0.46%, to 4,493.

The Nasdaq was off 38 points, or 0.25%, to 15,248 with Novavax and Johnson & Johnson shedding more than 2.2% apiece.

Although Labor Department data showed initial jobless claims fell 35,000 to 310,000 last week, the figure is still off from 256,000 since March 14, 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic began.

US stocks have been under pressure since last Friday when figures revealed that the American economy added just 235,000 jobs in August, well below the market estimate of 750,000, indicating a weak labor market.

That was coupled with worries that the Federal Reserve could announce tapering -- the process of starting to reduce accumulating new assets on its balance sheet, at the end of a two-day meeting on Sept. 22.

Those concerns carried the VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, from negative to positive territory with a 4.7% increase to 18.8.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes fell 3.2% to 1.297%, and the dollar index was down 0.15% to 92.51.

Precious metals showed recovery with gold rising to $1,794 per ounce with a 0.3% gain, and silver rising 0.5% to $24.05.

Oil extended losses as Brent crude fell 1.8% to $71.27 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate losing 2% to $67.94./aa

Germany’s federal prosecutor's office launched a probe into cyberattacks on the country’s parliament, only days after Berlin openly accused Moscow of being behind the action, local media reported on Thursday.

Federal Prosecutor General Peter Frank is investigating a large-scale cyberattack campaign allegedly by Russia before the Sept. 26 federal election, an unnamed spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office told Der Spiegel news magazine.

The German Foreign Ministry went public on Monday with a statement, claiming Russia's military secret service (GRU) masterminded the cyberattack.

"The German government urges the Russian government to stop these illegal cyber activities with immediate effect," said Deputy Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Andrea Sasse.

The government view this "unacceptable approach as a threat to the security of the Federal Republic of Germany and to the democratic decision-making process," she added.

Sasse alleged Berlin had "reliable information" that the Russian military intelligence service was behind the attack which reportedly targeted dozens of German policymakers.

She also said that Russian hackers are believed to be part of a disinformation campaign, dubbed Ghostwriter, which is tied to the Russian military intelligence.

The cyberattack targeted seven members of Germany's parliament, all of whom belonged to the co-ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), in addition to 31 other state lawmakers, according to media reports.

Germany's Interior Ministry warned in June that the September elections face a risk of being targeted by Russian cyberattacks.

There have been mounting cyberattacks in the past few weeks, according to a ministry assessment seen by German broadcaster ARD, among them so-called brute force attacks on e-mail accounts in order to access sensitive data.

In the report, the Interior Ministry said it regards the assault against political parties and foundations as a "serious threat" in view of the upcoming federal elections./agencies

An international conservation group said rising sea levels from climate change is pushing the legendary, prehistoric Komodo Dragons from a "vulnerable" species to "endangered" status.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which puts out a regular "red list" of endangered species, also said the Komodos could lose 30% of its natural habitat in the next 45 years because of encroaching human activity.

The meat-eating lizards that can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh 300 pounds, number about 4,000 to 5,000 in the wild and only live in Indonesia: the Komodo National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the neighboring island of Flores. They are the national animal of Indonesia.

IUCN said the Komodo population at the park is stable and well-protected. But rising temperatures, a subsequent rise in sea levels and human activity pose a serious threat outside the park.

"The idea that these prehistoric animals moved one step closer to extinction due in part to climate change is terrifying – and a further clarion call for nature to be placed at the heart of all decision making," the group said on the eve of an upcoming UN conference on climate change.

Komodos are fierce predators, known for inflicting a single venomous bite on their prey that eventually kills them. They are known to eat pigs, cattle, deer and even each other./agencies

Germany’s migrant communities are demanding better representation at the political level as the country’s election campaign is heading into the final weeks.

Gokay Sofuoglu, the chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany (TGD), said political parties should do more to promote diversity in politics, by encouraging migrants to participate in political life, opening more positions to migrant candidates.

“People with migration background have long been underrepresented in the German parliament. And only a limited number of migrant politicians have been in key positions,” Sofuoglu told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

Nearly 25% of Germany’s population has a migration background, but they only have 58 representatives at the Bundestag, which corresponds to about 8% of all lawmakers.

Sofuoglu said more migrant candidates are running in the Sept. 26 national elections, as the parties are trying to win votes of migrant communities.

“I am hopeful that after the elections we will have more lawmakers with migration background. Because this time more candidates from migrant communities are placed higher on the election lists submitted by the parties,” he said.

Nearly 7 million German citizens with migration background are entitled to vote in the federal elections and this accounts for more than 10% of all eligible voters.

Pro-migrant organization Citizens for Europe (CFE) has released a new report on Thursday and underlined that migrant communities represent a significant electoral potential for the parties.

According to the report, in 167 of the 299 constituencies in Germany, voters with a migration background "could make the difference" in determining who will win the direct mandate for the Bundestag.

“For political parties, people with migration background represent a significant electoral potential if they adapt their offerings and their national election lists for the increasingly diverse electorate,” the report said./agencies

Afghanistan on Thursday received humanitarian assistance, including food and medicines, from five countries, an official said.

The cash-strapped country, which suffered 20 years of war, is now in severe economic crisis, and poverty can be seen everywhere in the capital Kabul with people even begging for bread to survive.

According to Abdul Hadi Hamdarda, an official at Hamid Karzai International Airport, four planes from Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Pakistan arrived in Kabul to supply food and medicines to the recently constituted interim Taliban administration.

Afghanistan also received aid from neighboring Turkmenistan by road, said Hamdarda.

Hundreds of people are sleeping in Shahr-e-Nau park, some in plastic tents, because they do not have enough money to return home. They arrived in Kabul in August when the Taliban were taking control of provincial capitals.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who is now acting culture and information minister, announced an interim administration on Monday, along with the establishment of a Ministry of Refugees.

Millions of Afghans have become refugees in different parts of the world, with the majority migrating to neighboring Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, and Turkey during the 43-year conflict, which began with political unrest in 1978 and was followed by an invasion by the former Soviet Union the next year.

Following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the US overthrew the Taliban government and fought with the Taliban fighters for two decades until the last year's Doha peace deal./aa

Recent insecurity has forced more than 300 schools to close in Niger, affecting over 22,000 children, UNICEF said Thursday.

In a statement to mark International Day to Protect Education from Attack, UNICEF said threats to school security were particularly acute in Tillabery, Tahoua and Diffa.

Access to schools in the regions is restricted, hampering efforts to support children affected by armed violence.

“The number of schools forced to close due to insecurity in conflict-affected areas has increased from 312 to 377 over recent months in Niger,” it said.

In some areas, up to 80% of children may be victims of psychological trauma, potentially preventing them from achieving their full potential as adults.

“Attacks on schools, students and teachers are a denial of children’s right to education and threaten their future. Without access to education, a generation of children living in conflict will grow up without the skills they need to contribute to their country and economy, exacerbating the already desperate situation for millions of children and their families,” said Stefano Savi, UNICEF representative in Niger.

Noting that education is a lifesaver, Savi said a child’s right to education cannot be safeguarded in conflict zones without education being protected.

“Out of school, children are easy targets of abuse, exploitation and recruitment by armed forces and groups. School should provide a safe space where children can be protected from threats and crises. It is also a critical step to breaking the cycle of crisis and reduces the likelihood of future conflicts,” he said.

Western Niger has in recent years witnessed devastating attacks orchestrated by terror organizations linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI), Ancar Dine and other militant groups based in northern Mali.

Hundreds of civilians and soldiers have been killed in the attacks, according to official figures.​​​​​​​/aa