Author: Lilian Budianto

Source: The Jakarta Post

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/28/ri-us-religious-groups-team-tackle-poverty.html

Participants at an interfaith forum in Jakarta have pledged to work closely to end poverty and enhance education while trying to help people cope with climate change.

The joint declaration came at the conclusion of the three-day forum Wednesday, attended by...

Author: Kate Linthicum

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-immigrant-nebraska28-2010jan28,0,6078807.story?page=1

Hawa Farah was living in Minneapolis three years ago making $8 an hour at a bakery when her fiance, Hussein Hussein, got a call about good jobs that paid better.

So the couple, like many Somali immigrants who follow work around the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8482267.stm

Several severed pigs' heads have been found in mosque compounds in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

The national police chief, Musa Hassan, linked the discoveries to recent attacks on various houses of worship.

Pigs are considered unclean by Muslims and their presence in the mosque compound will be taken as an insult.

In recent weeks,...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Baha'i World News Service

http://news.bahai.org/story/751

Concern is growing over the lack of information about the status of 10 Baha'is who were arrested earlier this month in Iran.

In addition to worry about their safety, there are fears that charges against these 10 will be used to create false evidence in court against the seven Baha'i leaders who have been held since 2008 and whose trial is set to resume on 7 February.

"...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Muslim Public Affairs Council

http://www.mpac.org/article.php?id=1018#axzz0e9Z8imnx

Executives of the Arab American Institute (AAI), American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), met with Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday (January 25) to discuss issues of concerns to the Arab American and Muslim communities.

Leaders spoke with...

Author: El

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122970914

A commission in France recommended Tuesday that the full Islamic veil, or burqa, be outlawed in public buildings such as schools and hospitals.

For the past six months, a debate over the burqa has embroiled the country — and it's not over yet.

The debate erupted last summer when President Nicolas Sarkozy abruptly...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: RTTNews

http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=1189421&SMap=1

The Election Commission of Bangladesh has begun the process to ban religion-based political parties in that South Asian country by issuing a directive to three Islamic parties to amend their charters found to be in conflict with the country's Constitution.

It wrote to the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh Khelataf Andolan...

Author: John Tagliabue

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/world/europe/27swiss.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Bertram Decker’s second-floor office in Nestlé’s big food plant here looks out over the town’s only minaret, a wooden turret topped with a gilt star and crescent.

The minaret, atop a Turkish cultural association, is one of only four in all of Switzerland,...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Hindu

Wire Service: AP

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/international/article94649.ece

A Muslim mob torched unlicensed churches and priest’s home in western Indonesia last week and security forces have deployed to ensure order, a government spokesman said on Monday.

No one was hurt when hundreds of villagers burned down two Protestant churches on Friday in Sibuhuan...

Author: Nataliya Vasilyeva

Source: Yahoo News

Wire Service: AP

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100125/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_religious_freedoms

Religious freedoms are being rapidly curtailed throughout Russia as the Orthodox Church seeks to boost its dominance, human rights activists warned Monday.

In its annual report on...

Author: Liz Gooch

Source: The New York Times

Author: Yolande Knell

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8478397.stm

Worshippers arriving for mass at St Mary's Church in central Cairo say they were shocked but not surprised by a deadly attack against Coptic Christians in southern Egypt earlier this month.

"Copts have been suffering for a long time," comments Magda accompanying her teenage son to the service.

"There have been a lot of tensions between Christians...

Author: Dina Rabie

Source: Islam Online

Author: Samira B. Rizvi

Source: The Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/6829305.html

Ailia Ahmed wants to start the new year right, so she's organizing a blood drive to mark Moharram and the Islamic new year.

The Islamic year isn't one meant to be celebrated with big parties, but instead, for Shiite Muslims, is a somber occasion commemorating the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Hussein...

Author: E.J. Schultz

Source: The Fresno Bee

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1792504.html

James Fredrick Menefield lost his freedom eight years ago when he was sent to prison for murdering his girlfriend. But the Pleasant Valley State Prison inmate says he should not lose the right to follow dietary rules that come with his strict Muslim faith.

The state of California is on the verge of agreeing with him.

In proposed regulations,...