PARIS: France&#39;s interior minister on Sunday said he opposed a proposal put before parliament to ban young girls wearing the Muslim headscarf, saying such a move risked being &quot;stigmatising&quot; for the minors.&nbsp;The issue of tightening legal limits on the wearing of the hijab in public is being raised with increasing insistence in France, where the far-right is growing in strength but which has one of Europe&#39;s biggest Muslim communities.&nbsp;Laurent Wauquiez, the head of the parliamentary faction of the traditional right-wing Republicans (LR) party, submitted a bill to the lower house National Assembly last week to ban the wearing of the veil by minors in public.&nbsp;This proposal &quot;is very stigmatising towards our Muslim compatriots who may feel hurt&quot;, Nunez, a former Paris police chief named as interior minister in October to succeed his hardline LR predecessor Bruno Retailleau, told BFMTV. &quot;I am not in favour of it in this way.&quot;&nbsp;A report by the LR in the upper house Senate has gone even further, suggesting banning Ramadan fasting for those under 16.&nbsp;Nunez said that authorities needed to be &quot;extremely careful&quot; and focus on targeting Islamists with an extreme interpretation of the religion who seek to impose &quot;religious law over the laws of the republic&quot;.&nbsp;But the issue is a subject of tension within President Emmanuel Macron&#39;s centre-right government, which is mindful that the far right has its best ever chance of winning the Elysee in the 2027 polls.&nbsp;Equality Minister Aurore Berge told CNews she backed a hijab ban for minors &quot;to protect children&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;I have no doubt that there is now a majority in the National Assembly and the Senate to vote for it,&quot; she said.&nbsp;Macron&#39;s centre-right Renaissance party, led by former prime minister Gabriel Attal, in May also proposed banning &quot;minors under 15 from wearing the veil in public spaces&quot;.&nbsp;Under current legislation in France, a secular state according to its constitution, civil servants, teachers and pupils cannot wear any obvious religious symbols such as a Christian cross, Jewish kippa, Sikh turban or Muslim hijab in government buildings, including public schools.

Europe

France’s interior minister opposed a proposed ban on minors wearing hijabs, calling it stigmatizing, while some officials support it to “protect children,” highlighting tensions within Macron’s centre-right government amid far-right political pressure.

French interior minister opposes 'stigmatising' hijab ban for minors

PARIS: The European Union on Thursday approved the highly contentious Alzheimer&#39;s medication Kisunla under strict conditions, with the drug&#39;s effectiveness hotly debated by the medical community. &nbsp;&quot;The European Commission has granted EU marketing authorisation for Kisunla, a medicine to treat mild cognitive impairment, including mild dementia in the early stages of Alzheimer&#39;s disease,&quot; the commission announced in a statement.&nbsp;Produced by US multinational Eli Lilly, the active substance of Kisunla is the antibody donanemab.&nbsp;It is considered a breakthrough form of treatment for Alzheimer&#39;s disease along with Biogen&#39;s and Esai&#39;s Leqembi.&nbsp;But the actual benefits of both drugs have provoked a heated medical debate.&nbsp;On the one hand, they have shown an unprecedented effect during clinical trials after decades of unsuccessful research aimed at slowing patient deterioration.&nbsp;On the other hand, this effect remains minimal, and some experts argue that the difference for patients is not substantial enough.&nbsp;They can also cause severe and sometimes even fatal side effects, primarily haemorrhages and cerebral oedemas.&nbsp;Based on recommendations from its European Medicines Agency (EMA), the EU granted marketing authorisation for Leqembi in late 2024, under strict conditions and after initially refusing to do so.&nbsp;It did the same for Kisunla, which was also approved after an initial rejection: now, it may only be administered to patients in the early stages of Alzheimer&#39;s, and only if they do not have a genetic mutation that predisposes them to side effects.&nbsp;The authorisation gives EU member states free rein regarding reimbursement.&nbsp;In early September, France decided that Leqembi did not warrant an accelerated procedure for reimbursement approval, although it has not completely ruled out the possibility in the long term.&nbsp;Outside the EU, the United Kingdom has approved both treatments but will not reimburse them, deeming the cost too high for such limited benefits.&nbsp;The United States, both treatments have been authorised, but reimbursement is at the discretion of private health insurers.

The European Union approved Eli Lilly’s Alzheimer’s drug Kisunla under strict conditions, allowing use only in early-stage patients without high-risk genetic mutations, amid ongoing debate over limited benefits, severe side effects, and uncertain reimbursement across member states.

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French interior minister opposes 'stigmatising' hijab ban for minors

EU approves contentious Alzheimer's medication