German law to ban burka

GERMANY has taken the first steps towards a burka ban months after Angela Merkel said they did not fit with the country’s way of life.

Lawmakers have approved a draft law that will make it illegal for public sector workers, such as judges, civil servants and soldiers, to wear them in public. Though still to be passed by Germany’s upper chamber, the move will be seen as a bid to silence critics of Miss Merkel’s migrant open-door policy. The Chancellor has faced pressure over her decision to let in more than a million migrants.

The burka ban was proposed by her Christian Democrat party, which argued that wearing face- covering veils in public buildings compromised public servants’ neutrality.