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Even wearing a cloth mask made someone more attractive than not wearing anything at all on their face. But it wasn't just the high-quality masks that affected how participants ranked appearances. "We also found faces are considered significantly more attractive when covered by cloth masks than when not covered," Lewis said. "Some of this effect may be a result of being able to hide undesirable features in the lower part of the face—but this effect was present for both less attractive and more attractive people." Even though it may obscure your features, Lewis speculates that current events may have turned...

Most teenagers do dumb things. But not trying-to-rob-Joe-Galiano dumb. Who is Joe Galiano? He's the owner of Suburban Armory, the gun shop on MacDade Boulevard in Collingdale Borough, Delaware County. He is surrounded by guns, including the one on his hip. Like his .45-caliber pistol. Can't miss it. Despite this fact, police say two teenagers dressed in burkas walked into his store this afternoon, pulled a gun on Galiano and tried to stick him up. Galiano, less than thrilled about having a man in female Muslim garb pointing a silver handgun at him inside his own store, decided not to...

Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s ex-girlfriend said he used to beat her if she wore Western clothing and tried hard to turn her against the United States. Nadine Ascencao, 24, said that in her three years of dating Tsarnaev, he tried to change her into an Islamic extremist, The Daily Mail reported. She said in the report that she was originally obsessed with him but that she had a “lucky escape.”

When an American convert to Islam was revealed as the wife of the dead Boston bombing suspect, Lauren Schreiber wasn’t surprised at what came next. Comments from former acquaintances and complete strangers immediately suggested that 24-year-old Katherine Russell, a New England doctor’s daughter, must have been coerced and controlled by her husband, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died last week in a firefight with police.

Referring to the anonymizing invisibility of the burqa, Sihem Habchi, president of Ni Putes Ni Soumises (NPNS) declares: I’m Muslim and I can’t accept that because I’m a woman I have to disappear. She was commenting about the fact that the French have banned the Mohammedan custom of making women wear bags over their heads. We can expect leftists all over the world to rise up in outrage over this assault on a woman’s basic freedom to be forced to wear a bag over her head. Most particularly, we can expect establishment femisogynists to rush to the defence of Muslim...

It wasn't a purr-fect crime after all. Sources said last night that cops had caged the "Cat Lady," the serial stick-up artist who dons clever disguises -- including a cat mask -- to rob high-end boutiques around the city. The suspect was identified as Shanna Spalding, 28, of Queens, who sings with a death-metal band called Divine Infamy under her stage name, Purgatory. The burqa-clad suspect was picked up in SoHo after bursting into a Greene Street boutique with a gun and demanding cash, sources said. ...Cops said they had noticed her prior to the heist, and followed her to...

One woman here told me of her humiliation in childhood when her family was ejected from a swimming pool because her mother was veiled. I believed her. All stories of childhood humiliation sound alike and are told in the same way. It was perverse, she said to me, that she should be free to cover her head in an American university but not in a Turkish one. It seemed perverse to me as well. It would to any American; politically, we all descend from men and women persecuted for their faith. I was, I decided, on the side of these...

The astonishing scene unfolded during a weekend shopping trip after the woman lawyer took offence at the attire of a fellow shopper resulting in argument during which the pair came to blows before being arrested. It came as racial tensions grow in the country as it prepares to introduce a total ban on burkas and other forms of religious dress which cover the face. A 26-year-old Muslim convert was walking through the store in Trignac, near Nantes, in the western Loire-Atlantique region, when she overhead the woman lawyer making "snide remarks about her black burka". A police officer close to...

A Muslim butcher who could be stripped of his French passport over allegations of polygamy has hit back, insisting he has not broken the law. Lies Hebbadj, an Algerian-born 35-year-old, has been at the centre of a political storm since last week, when his wife complained she had been fined for driving while wearing her "niqab" full-face veil. She refused to pay the fine and Hebbadj has taken her defence. Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux has suggested the man could lose his French passport, saying he is believed to have four wives who had borne him 12 children and each was...

PARIS -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy says there is no place for full face and body veils such as the burqa, or for the debasement of women, in France. Sarkozy says all beliefs will be respected in France but says "becoming French means adhering to a form of civilization, to values, to morals." Sarkozy said Thursday during a speech on national identity that "France is a country where there is no place for the burqa." France has a large Muslim community but only a small minority of French Muslim women wear burqas, common in Afghanistan, or other face-covering veils. Sarkozy...

<p>LANSING, Mich. (AP) Michigan’s Supreme Court is considering whether judges can mandate how witnesses dress in court after a Muslim woman’s case was dismissed when she refused to remove a veil to testify.</p> <p>Ginnnah (JIN’-ah) Muhammad of Detroit sued a judge for dismissing her small claims case when she refused to remove her niqab, a veil covering her hair and face except for the eyes.</p>

Sprinter says Muslim garb makes her faster Article published Dec 12, 2006 The Associated Press DOHA, Qatar - Sprinter Ruqaya Al Ghasara of Bahrain isn't held back by running in a hijab, a full Muslim headscarf. In fact, she says, it makes her even quicker. ''Wearing traditional Muslim dress has encouraged me. It's not an obstacle - quite the opposite,'' said Al Ghasara, who won the gold medal in the 200 meters on Monday night in 23.19 seconds. The bronze medalist earlier in the 100, Al Ghasara is instantly recognizable in her full-length running suit that leaves her hands and...

International Herald Tribune Rule on veils changed after woman kept off bus in Michigan city The Associated Press Friday, December 8, 2006 GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan After a woman passenger wearing traditional Islamic dress was turned away, the public bus system in this Michigan city said Friday it will end its rule keeping those with face coverings from boarding public transit vehicles. System administrators said the refusal in July was an isolated incident. A driver told the unidentified woman she would have to uncover her face to ride, but she was able to board another bus that same day. She reported...

Drudge has a link to this picture on the wire which seems to show Bush in a Burqua.

Dutch Muslims condemn burqa ban The proposed burqa ban comes ahead of Dutch elections Dutch Muslims have criticised a government proposal to ban women from wearing the burqa or veils which cover the face in public places. Dutch Muslim groups say a ban would make the country's one million Muslims feel victimised and alienated. The Dutch cabinet said burqas - a full body covering that also obscures the face - disturb public order and safety. The decision comes days ahead of elections which the ruling centre-right coalition is expected to win. The proposed ban would apply to wearing the burqa...

Michael Jackson rents water park Wednesday, September 14 2005, 09:09 BST -- by Daniel Saney Michael Jackson rented out an entire water park in Dubai so that children and their parents could enjoy the facilities for free. The singer, who has been spending much of his time in the middle east recently, joined in the fun at the Wild Wadi park, sporting a white lycra body suit exposing only his eyes and nose. A lifeguard working at the park told The Daily Express: "He looked even stranger than usual. His body is very skinny and lycra does him no...

You may have thought our little photo collection of Palestinian police training sessions was weird, but nothing can prepare your fragile mind for the Incredibly Strange Graduation of the Iranian Female Police Cadets!

Rome - Local members of the far-right Northern League party have declared war on burqas by fining Muslim women who wear the head-covering garment in public. The anti-burqa campaign, first launched by the mayor of the small northern town of Drezzo, a Northern League stronghold near Lake Como, has since spread to other towns and has now developed into a national issue after being backed by party members of the European Parliament. Mario Borghezio, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) known for his xenophobic views, has issued a statement praising the initiative in Drezzo and describing the burqas as...

IS A British Muslim girl who shrouds her head and body expressing her deeply held religious faith? Or is she collaborating — reluctantly or willingly — with a cultural movement which seeks to make women silent and invisible? Until Mr Justice Bennett’s ruling this week that Denbigh High School in Luton was not discriminating against 15-year-old Shabina Begum by forbidding her to wear the jilbab, no one was prepared to draw a line. Hearing Germaine Greer on Question Time rail against his verdict, I could only despair at how political correctness has hamstrung feminism. We now have to rely on...

<p>ABUJA, Nigeria -- The finals of the annual Miss World contest are being held for the first time in their history in Africa.</p> <p>Nigeria is hosting the event which purports to select the "most beautiful woman in the world" from among its nearly 100 contestants.</p>