Myanmar president promises to protect Muslims

President Thein Sein has promised to protect the rights of Muslims as concern has grown over spreading attacks against this religious minority in this predominantly Buddhist country. In a national address on Monday, Myanmar’s reformist president focused on the violence which hit western Rakhine state, leaving more than 200 people dead and displacing more than [...]

US Muslims fear backlash over Boston bombings

US Muslims are watching closely as the probe into the Boston bombings unfolds, fearing a backlash like after 9/11 if an Islamist link is confirmed to the deadly attack. Several Muslim groups issued statements within hours of Monday’s double bombing at the Boston Marathon, strenuously condemning the attacks that killed three and injured more than [...]

Bangladesh says no to new blasphemy law

Bangladesh’s prime minister has ruled out a new blasphemy law despite a mass campaign by Islamists to introduce the death penalty for bloggers whom they accuse of insulting the Prophet Mohammed. As part of their push for a change in the law, the Hefajat-e-Islam group yesterday forced the closure of schools and businesses and barricaded [...]

Government backs sultan’s claim to own the state of Sabah

Philippines Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said on Friday that Philippine Muslims may have a valid claim to territory in Malaysia’s Sabah state, as a group of more than 200 supporters of the Sultan of Sulu remained encircled by Malaysian forces in the disputed area of northeastern Borneo. In the first high-level government backing of the [...]

UN concerned at Muslim-Buddhist clashes in Myanmar

The U.N. General Assembly has unanimously adopted a resolution welcoming positive changes in Myanmar but expressing serious concern at an upsurge of sectarian violence between Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine state. The resolution adopted by the 193-member world body late Monday urges government action to improve the situation of the Rohingya Muslim minority “and to [...]

Nigeria Islamists slaughter 10 Christians in north

Ten Christians had their throats slit and militants killed two police officers during attacks on churches and border posts in a fresh wave of violence in northern Nigeria, officials reported Sunday. The Islamist group Boko Haram was thought to be behind the slaughter of the Christians late on Saturday in the northern town of Chibok, [...]

Twin suicide bombings kill 11 at Nigeria church

A suicide bomber rammed a bus into a church at a military barracks in restive northern Nigeria on Sunday and another detonated his explosives-packed car minutes later, killing 11 people and wounding dozens more. The first bomb attack struck minutes after Sunday mass in the town of Jaji, the latest such attack against Christians in [...]

Pakistan: Shia guard religious sites amid attacks

Shia youths across the country have taken up arms to defend their houses of worship during the holy month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, amid escalating violence this week targeting the minority Muslim community. Dozens of people were killed this week in bombings that targeted Shia congregation halls and processions held [...]

French Catholics march against same-sex marriage

More than 100,000 protesters organized by Catholic groups staged separate demonstrations in French cities over the weekend to protest against government plans to legalize same-sex marriage next year. Most of them took to the streets on Saturday, backed by the French Catholic Church and joined by several senior clerics, and several thousand more paraded with [...]

Myanmar: Suu Kyi speaks out on Rakhine unrest

Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic lawmakers called on the government yesterday to show ‘transparency’ in its handling of the conflict between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. They also called for more security forces to be deployed. The opposition leader and chair of the recently formed Rule of Law parliamentary committee has been criticized by rights [...]

Indonesia: Muslims block Sunday prayer service

Muslim protesters yesterday blocked the congregation of a Protestant church from holding Sunday service in front of their sealed place of worship in Bekasi district, West Java. A spokesman for HKBP, the Batak Society Christian Church of Philadelphia, said they had to call off the service after scores of protesters gathered to stop them worshiping. [...]

Five dead, nine wounded in rebel attacks in southern Thailand

Five people were killed and nine wounded in several attacks by rebels on the weekend in southern Thailand, where violence surrounding the activities of an Islamist separatist movement has taken more than 5,300 lives in the past eight years, local media reported Sunday. A car bomb exploded next to the police station in Rey Soh [...]

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