In barely a fortnight, a French Riviera mayor's decision to ban burkinis -- full-body swimsuits -- blew up into a major controversy dividing public opinion at home and abroad.
Following are key dates in the political and legal battle over the ban.
Banned in Cannes
August 11: The mayor of Cannes bans access to its famed beaches "to anyone who does not have (bathing apparel) which respects good customs and secularism".
"Beachwear which ostentatiously displays religious affiliation, when France and places of worship are currently the target of terrorist attacks, is liable to create risks of disrupting public order," his order said.
The ban -- setting a 38-euro ($43) fine for Islamic beachwear -- followed the death of 86 people in nearby Nice on July 14 when a truck ploughed into a crowd in an attack by the so-called Islamic State. On July 26, a priest was killed in his northwestern French church by two men who had pledged allegiance to IS.
READ: France's top court suspends burkini ban
'Hygiene','safety'
August 13: A second Riviera resort, Villeneuve-Loubet, bans burkinis, citing hygiene and safety as well as public order and religious considerations.
Commenting on a couple "where the wife was swimming fully dressed," mayor Lionnel Luca says: "I considered that unacceptable for hygienic reasons."
The same day Cannes wins court backing for its ban after a challenge by a group fighting Islamophobia. The court says it is legal under French law to forbid people from "invoking their religious beliefs to skirt common rules regulating relations between public authorities and private individuals".
Beach brawl
August 13: A massive beach brawl erupts on the French island of Corsica between locals and French Muslims after tourists took pictures of women swimming in burkinis.
Bottles and stones were hurled, with five people injured and three cars torched in the clashes, and scores of police rushed in to restore order. The mayor of the small town of Sisco where the brawl broke out later announces France's third ban on the swimsuit.
Within a fortnight, local authorities in some 30 towns had announced burkini bans.
PM's blessing but anger grows
August 16: Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls says "I understand mayors who, at this time of tension, respond by looking for solutions, by avoiding disturbances to public order."
"I therefore support those who have passed (burkini) decrees... Beaches, like all public areas, must be protected from religious claims. The burkini is not a new range of swimwear, a fashion. It is the expression of a political project, a counter-society, based notably on the enslavement of women."
Three more resorts, two of them on the north coast, announce plans to ban the full-body Islamic swimming garment.
Growing anger over the issue is further inflamed when photographs in the British media showed police surrounding a woman in a headscarf on a beach in Nice as she removed a long-sleeved top. The mayor's office denied she was forced to remove clothing.
There were protests in London and the first signs of division within the government. Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said the "proliferation" of burkini bans "was not a welcome development" and said there seemed to be no link between terror attacks "and what a woman wears on a beach".
Top court suspends ban
August 26: Ruling on a challenge by the Human Rights League and an anti-Islamophobia group, France's highest administrative court, the State Council, suspends the Villeneuve-Loubet ban in a judgement expected to set a precedent.
It says local authorities can only restrict individual liberties if wearing the Islamic swimsuit is a "proven risk" to public order. A court in Nice had upheld the Villeneuve-Loubet ban just days earlier.
AFP
Sat Aug 27 2016
A Muslim woman wears a burkini, a swimsuit that leaves only the face, hands and feet exposed, on a beach in Marseille, France, August 17, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
Nyawa tiada nilai, maruah pula dibuat main oleh Israel
Sudahlah kejam, jijik, tidak beradap pula. Tidak cukup dengan kekejamannya membunuh berpuluh ribu rakyat Palestin, nyawa manusia di bumi Gaza itu bagaikan tiada nilai buat mereka. Dalam beberapa video yang tular baru-baru ini, tentera Israel dengan bangganya memperolok maruah rakyat Palestin dengan bermain pakaian dalam wanita yang ditemui di rumah-rumah penduduk di situ.
Libya giat langkah kumpul derma untuk Gaza
Libya tampil dengan beberapa inisiatif mengumpul dana untuk dihantar ke Gaza.
Antara kempen bantuan yang diiktiarkan termasuk kempen yang bermatlamat untuk mengumpul 2,000 tan bantuan yang akan dimuatkan ke dalam kapal berlayar dari Misrata ke Pelabuhan Arish sebelum ianya dihantar ke Enklaf Gaza menerusi laluan Rafah.
Antara kempen bantuan yang diiktiarkan termasuk kempen yang bermatlamat untuk mengumpul 2,000 tan bantuan yang akan dimuatkan ke dalam kapal berlayar dari Misrata ke Pelabuhan Arish sebelum ianya dihantar ke Enklaf Gaza menerusi laluan Rafah.
Kisah bayi Leila Jeneid bukti Israel tidak berhati perut
Leila Jeneid, bayi yang berusia dua bulan belum lagi berkesempatan merasai nikmat hidup dan mendapat pelukan mesra keindahan dunia. Baru sahaja mencelik mata, dia sudah diuji dengan kesengsaraan kekurangan zat sehingga menyebabkannya berakhir di hospital.
TikTok perkenal pusat pilihan raya bagi tangani info palsu
TikTok merancang untuk melancarkan pusat pilihan raya dalam talian di platform itu sebagai sebahagian daripada usaha menyokong integriti pilihan raya sepanjang 2024.
Lebih daripada dua bilion orang dalam lebih 50 negara dijangka keluar mengundi tahun ini dan pusat pilihan raya itu akan digunakan untuk menunjukkan kepada orang ramai maklumat yang boleh dipercayai.
Lebih daripada dua bilion orang dalam lebih 50 negara dijangka keluar mengundi tahun ini dan pusat pilihan raya itu akan digunakan untuk menunjukkan kepada orang ramai maklumat yang boleh dipercayai.
Baki stok simpanan air di empat empangan pada paras kritikal - NADMA
Empat empangan air di Johor, Pulau Pinang dan Kedah menunjukkan penurunan paras simpanan sumber air mentah pada paras kritikal setakat 27 Mac susulan cuaca panas.
Puluhan wau 'warnai' langit malam Kampung Panchor
Cuaca panas yang melanda Kedah sejak kebelakangan ini dilihat sedikit sebanyak merubah rutin seharian penduduk setempat. Di Kampung Panchor, Pendang, sekumpulan anak muda telah memulakan satu aktiviti yang jarang dilihat di kawasan lain iaitu bermain wau pada waktu malam.
Dua jasad dari enam mangsa hilang ditemukan
Dua jasad daripada enam pekerja pembinaan yang hilang dalam insiden jambatan yang runtuh di Baltimore, Amerika Syarikat telah ditemukan pada Khamis.
6 kereta, tiga rumah terjejas dalam kejadian pokok tumbang di KL
Hujan lebat di sekitar kawasan Kuala Lumpur pada petang Khamis menyebabkan beberapa pokok tumbang dan menghempap kenderaan orang awam.
Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Kuala Lumpur menerusi kenyataan berkata, pihaknya menerima lapan laporan pokok tumbang di beberapa kawasan termasuk di Bukit Jalil, Sri Petaling dan Taman Salak Selatan.
Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Kuala Lumpur menerusi kenyataan berkata, pihaknya menerima lapan laporan pokok tumbang di beberapa kawasan termasuk di Bukit Jalil, Sri Petaling dan Taman Salak Selatan.
Tabung Pembangunan Ehsan Selangor-Gaza dilancar
Sultan Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah pada Khamis berkenan melancarkan Tabung Pembangunan Ehsan Selangor-Gaza, iaitu antara inisiatif kerajaan Selangor bagi membangunkan semula wilayah Gaza di Palestin.
Baginda menerusi kenyataan bertitah Pembangunan Ehsan Selangor-Gaza, yang dijalankan dengan kerjasama Majlis Perundingan Pertubuhan Islam Malaysia (MAPIM), melibatkan tiga projek pembangunan di atas tanah wakaf di Gaza, yang memerlukan dana berjumlah RM8.7 juta.
Baginda menerusi kenyataan bertitah Pembangunan Ehsan Selangor-Gaza, yang dijalankan dengan kerjasama Majlis Perundingan Pertubuhan Islam Malaysia (MAPIM), melibatkan tiga projek pembangunan di atas tanah wakaf di Gaza, yang memerlukan dana berjumlah RM8.7 juta.
Tol percuma pada 8 dan 9 April sempena Aidilfitri - Nanta
Kerajaan bersetuju memberikan kemudahan tol percuma selama dua hari pada 8 dan 9 April kepada semua pengguna lebuh raya bagi kenderaan kelas 1 (persendirian) yang akan pulang ke kampung halaman sempena Aidilfitri tahun ini.