Author: Geoffrey Lean and Jude Townend

Source: The Independent

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2432450.ece

Hundreds of thousands of sacred places around the globe are to be linked together in a new UN-backed network to try to preserve the world's fast-disappearing wild species.

They range from Jerusalem's Garden Tomb - where more than 3,000 people gathered today to celebrate Easter - to "skull caves" in Kenya...

Source: International Herald Tribune

Wire Service: AP

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/02/asia/AS-GEN-Malaysia-Religious-Disputes.php

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A small party in Malaysia's ruling coalition has called for the establishment of a special court to deal with loopholes in the constitution that activists say are leading to an erosion of minority rights in this mainly Muslim country.

The...

Source: DNAIndia

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1089641

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad will have a new $400 million ‘green-field’ airport with a capacity to handle 6.5 million passengers annually and would reflect the diverse cultural heritage of Pakistan.

The foundation for the ambitious airport project, incorporating the state-of-the-art facilities and reflecting the diverse cultural heritage of Pakistan, was laid by President Pervez Musharraf on...

Author: Eric Leach

Source: Los Angeles Daily News

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_5624628

More than 10,000 people celebrated the Sikh religious holiday of Baisakhi Sunday and denounced a series of hate crimes against the sect following the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

Sikhs shared food, music and art in the Los Angeles Convention Center and later paraded through the streets of downtown, singing prayers as they marched behind a dozen colorful floats....

Author: Jean Gordon

Source: The Clarion-Ledger

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070407/FEAT04/704070307/1022/feat04

Inside a Jackson State University classroom, Tony Bland slipped off his shoes, climbed on top of the teacher's desk and folded his legs into a lotus position.

Gently joining his hands at his lap, Bland sat upright, closed his eyes and said nothing.

...

Source: Houston Chronicle

Wire Service: AP

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/4694503.html

PARIS — French presidential front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy has backed off his proposal to modify French law to allow state support for mosques, but said in an interview he wants to keep Islam in France "cut off from foreign influences."

Sarkozy, of Jacques Chirac's ruling conservative party, has upset many in...

Author: TOM KEYSER

Source: Times-Union

Author: The Baltimore Examiner

Source: The Baltimore Examiner

http://www.examiner.com/a-653393~Editorial__Eliminate_all_school_holidays.html

BALTIMORE - Here’s a simple solution to the controversy in Baltimore County public schools about which religious holidays to officially recognize: Eliminate them all.

The question comes up because the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee wants to add at least one...

Author: BRADLEY HOPE

Source: The New York Sun

http://www.nysun.com/article/51736

The New York Police Department has hired a 24-year-old Muslim leader to become the Islamic chaplain for the thousands of Muslims in the department, officials announced yesterday.

Khalid Latif is the second Islamic chaplain ever hired by the police.

"Because of the life-and-death nature of police work, the role of the chaplain in the police department takes on...

Source: The Star

http://thestaronline.com/news/story.asp?file=/2007/4/3/courts/17328068&sec=courts

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) will hold special prayers in light of the Court of Appeal decision where a Hindu woman was asked to seek marital recourse in a Syariah Court.

President Datuk Chee Peck Kiat told a press conference that “a brief...

Author: Ron Grossman

Source: Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0704020465apr03,1,5001380.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- This year as every year, the tiny Jewish community here will utter the age-old symbolic invitation for a needy stranger to share its dinner tables during Passover, which began at sundown Monday.

"For you...

Source: CNN International

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/02/malaysia.religion.ap/

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) -- The cavernous pink Putra Mosque with its soaring minaret is one of the most commanding sights and popular tourist photo backdrops in the city of Putrajaya.

A house of worship for thousands of Muslims in the eight-year-old administrative capital of Malaysia, it is a showcase of the nation's dominant faith -- Islam.

...

Author: John Chadwick and Martha McKay

Source: North Jersey

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MTA0NTY0JnlyaXJ5N2Y3MTdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5Mg==

Jews, Muslims and Christians joined together Sunday in an interfaith Passover seder rarely attempted in North Jersey.

"Let us help one another overcome hardness of...

Author: Anne Wilson

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune

http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_5577656

An Islamic group from Turkey scheduled to perform tonight at Kingsbury Hall won't be appearing because of visa problems, according to a spokesman for the sponsoring organization.

Etga Ugur, of the Utah nonprofit Multicultural Arch Foundation, said the Order of the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey was unable to secure visas in time for the Utah concert, the first in a...