Thirty-two-year-old Marwa al-Sherbini, a pharmacist of Egyptian descent working in Germany, had gone to court to testify against a man who called her a terrorist and tried to take off her headscarf. According to Time, the accused "ran across the courtroom and stabbed her 18 times." Complicating the case even further is the fact that a German guard shot Sherbini's husband, mistaking him for the attacker. The shocking attack has turned a harsh spotlight on anti-Islam sentiment in Europe, which some believe is also behind Sarkozy's suggestion of a burqa ban in France.

Of Sherbini's murder, a columnist for Daily News Egypt wrote,

Had the Muslim been the aggressor as the guards initially thought, the story would have made headlines ... It would have perfectly fitted into the promoted image of Muslims being aggressive, barbaric and uncivilized.

Others, however, believe that Islamists are making opportunistic use of the Sherbini case. Journalist Hossam el-Hamalawy says,

The Islamists in Egypt have already [begun] using this as a card to mobilize for the veil - not for the right of women to wear whatever they want, but in defense of the veil. [...] The government is also trying to hijack the campaign and trying to present itself as patriotic in defense of Egyptians abroad. What do they do for the Egyptians who are in the Gulf and who actually face similar treatment, if not worse?

While debate rages over whether Sherbini's murder was an isolated incident or part of a pattern of European racism, Muslim women in France face their own set of prejudices. Student Ikram Es-Salhi says, "If you wear the veil, you get insulted and attacked all the time, you get called a terrorist." Members of the French parliament have denounced the burqa and niqab as "degrading," called them "walking prisons," and said that wearing them may be "a submissive act." Sarkozy's urban policies secretary, Fadela Amara is in favor of banning the garments despite her Muslim faith. She says, "I am for the banning of this coffin which kills basic freedoms. This debate has to clear the way to a law which protects women."

But some question whether the debate over the burqa ban is really about protecting women. Es-Salhi says, "The real reason for this is Islamophobia." Perhaps bearing out her view are the words of French Member of Parliament Jean-Francois Cope, who says, "Make no mistake, the burqa is a political debate, not a religious one. Extremists are once again testing the Republic." Despite strong emotions on both sides, some take a moderate line on the burqa issue. One of the wisest voices in the debate is that of Suraya Pakzad, executive director of Voice of Women, who says,

I am against the burqa being imposed by force. But what Mr Sarkozy is saying is another type of enforcement on women. No one should be able to compel someone to dress in a certain way.

Tragic Symbol: Egypt's Headscarf Martyr [Time]
French Row Over Burqa Ban Unveils Contradictions [Reuters]

• The infamous granny pickpocket "terrorist" with 73 arrests on her record claims that she used to be a model and insists that she is not a "career criminal." • Scarlett, a cat who became a local hero in Brooklyn when she saved her kittens from a fire in 1996, died from a kidney failure on October 11. She was thought to be 13 years old. • A raccoon escaped Dallas police on Tuesday night and was unfazed by the officer's use of a Taser gun. • A Roman Catholic nun in India who was allegedly raped and beaten by a mob of Hindu men in Orissa, has condemned the Orissa police for the way they are handling her case and demanding that the national police take over the investigation into her assault. • A recent study discovered that a warm physical touch can make others feel psychologically "warm" towards one another • A recent study suggests that people who are experiencing social rejection are better at picking out phony smiles. • According to a report released today, air samples showed evidence consistent with a decomposing body in Casey Anthony's trunk. Anthony is currently on trial for the murder of her 3-year-old child, Caylee.• Two teenaged members of a group of four dine 'n dashers at an Applebee's in North Dakota filled out comment cards with their full names before they walked out on their bill on Wednesday. • Phil Hammond, an English doctor and media broadcaster, claims that every doctor he knows chooses Gardasil over Cervarix for their daughters because Gardasil also protects against genital warts. • A new website run by the Church of England, Yourchurchwedding.org, claims that married people have better sex in hopes of convincing couples to tie the knot. •

• The Indian city of Pune has banned the wearing of scarves while driving, under the theory that a scarf can be a terrorist disguise. Women's response: a scarf can also help you breathe in polluted, dusty Pune. • Most TV might make your kids think that Dad's incompetent, Mom's a saint, and women love yogurt. But can some shows actually help parents raise good feminists? Check out the discussion at Feministe. • Scary science: high prepregnancy BMI can increase the risk of brain and spinal cord defects. The good news: it doesn't hurt the baby's heart. • More scary science: high BMI may also decrease survival rates for breast cancer. The good news here: moderate drinking increases survival rates. • And some bad science: Dr. Chuck MacKnee claims that sex between committed Christians is more "holistic" than Tantric or Kama Sutra-style sex, "involving full body gratification as well as emotional and spiritual highs." His sample size: ten people, two of whom were pastors. • A city in central Japan had its Belly Button Festival this weekend, featuring an awesome dance in which "revelers paint a face on their torsos and stomachs and pretend it is a head." • And finally, from the department of the purely ridiculous: name analyst/professional weirdo Laurence Y Payg claims his name advice catapulted boring Laura Hollins into supermodel Agyness Deyn. His main technique seems to be adding y's, and he would like to help out another British star by transforming her into Amy Wynehouse. •

• Also awesome: Wallace and Gromit will appear in a new video game by Telltale Games, in which players can pilot either Wallace or Gromit through "zany entrepreneurial schemes." "We're certainly going for the clay look with this," says Telltale Games CEO. • Barred from competing in 1950 on suspicion of being a man, Dutch track star Foekje Dillema was actually a very rare "mosaic" of female and male chromosomes. • Over 50 dissident Catholic groups signed a letter to the Pope asking him to reconsider Catholicism's contraception ban. Vatican's response: this is ""paid propaganda in favor of the use of contraceptives." • Her mom called her "plain," and Meryl Streep overshadowed her in drama school, but Sigourney Weaver still grew up to be "the first woman action hero" and to give this funny, articulate interview to the Telegraph. • If you put all your money in Crocs, you're in trouble: shares of the company plummeted today. One doomsayer predicts that "with the weak economy, consumers may not be interested in new Crocs this year.'' Hey, a girl can hope! • Sound of Music news: Baron von Trapp's daughter Maria returns to her old family home for the first time since she fled the Nazis in the '30s. Of the movie, she says: all that singing really happened, but her dad was way nicer than Christopher Plummer. • Fewer men are attending church these days, prompting churches to organize 'beast feasts,' where men eat meat they hunted themselves. If they're Catholic, maybe they'd prefer some condoms. •

They called the thing a "habit" for a reason. We all have them: I buy all my clothes at American Apparel despite a general unease with the institution's values; if I could I'd go back to wearing a Catholic school uniform despite unease with the institution's values. The biggest community of hijab-wearers I ever met worked with me at the phone sex call center, where I would regularly watch one habitually fiddle with her scarves as she regaled clients with detailed descriptions of her denim miniskirt and red lace thong and horny San Fernando Valley cheerleading squad's locker room antics.

Obviously, one cannot bear witness to such a spectacle and emerge without entertaining thought: "God I love this country." Which is, seven years on in this dumb Terror War, what makes this headscarf thing so infuriating: where K-Mart is free to peddle track pants that advertise abstinence from sex on their asses and the Secretary of State can don boots that look swiped from an S&M dungeon and pop culture celebrates bearded cross dressers…what does anyone give a shit about headscarves for? Where the perpetuation of conformity and envy is still the primary role of fashion, a lot more civilians will die at the hands of those who covet their Nikes than those who hate their "freedom" to wear them.

Muslims Barred From Picture At Obama Event [Politico]
How I Nearly Lost My Business After Refusing To Hire A Muslim Hair Stylist Who Wouldn't Show Her Hair [Daily Mail]