Tag: personal freedom

  • Kim Jong-un bans North Koreans from laughing, doing groceries for 11 days

    North Korea has imposed a ban on laughing, drinking and grocery shopping as the country is entering a mourning period from Friday to mark the 10th death anniversary of former leader Kim Jong-il. The mourning period this year will be 11 days.

    Government authorities have ordered the public to not show any signs of happiness for 11 days. As per media reports, if anyone breaks the rule, he/she will be arrested, like every year.

    “Even if your family member dies during the mourning period, you are not allowed to cry out loud and the body must be taken out after it’s over. People cannot even celebrate their own birthdays if they fall within the mourning period,” Radio Free Asia quoted a resident of North Korea.

    A source of Mail Online, a resident of the southwestern province of South Hwanghae, said police officers were told to watch for people who fail to look appropriately upset during the mourning period. 

    Kim Jong-il ruled the country from 1994 to 2011. He died of a heart attack on December 17 in 2011 at the age of 69.

  • Hijab can now be banned at workplaces in EU, rules court

    Companies in the European Union can now ban employees from wearing a headscarf under certain conditions, including the need to project an image of neutrality to customers, the EU’s top court on Thursday, Reuters reports.

    “A prohibition on wearing any visible form of expression of political, philosophical or religious beliefs in the workplace may be justified by the employer’s need to present a neutral image towards customers or to prevent social disputes,” the court said.

    “However, that justification must correspond to a genuine need on the part of the employer and, in reconciling the rights and interests at issue, the national courts may take into account the specific context of their Member State and, in particular, more favourable national provisions on the protection of freedom of religion.”

    The cases were brought by two German Muslim women, a special needs childcare worker and a sales assistant in a chemist. Both were told to remove their headscarves after deciding to wear the hijab when they returned to work after maternity leave.

    Naz Shah, Member of Parliament for Bradford West, England has, in a tweet, said that she will raise concerns against the ruling, terming it as “Islamophobic, ignorant and a blatant attack on religious freedoms.”