Author: Bae Ji-sook

Source: Religion News Service/Korea Times

http://pewforum.org/news/rss.php?NewsID=14822

Religious groups are protesting that voting places are being unequally allocated to protestant churches, and are moving to file a petition with the Constitutional Court next month. They are appealing that the unequal allotment of the facilities is discriminatory and goes against the principle of neutrality that the country should uphold in elections....

Author: Dominic Casciani

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7203925.stm

Leading Muslim women are being brought together to advise ministers in a new tactic to root out extremism.

The Muslim Women's Advisory Group is to be launched after the government came under pressure to help women in the Muslim community gain a greater say.

The group of 19 women assembled by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears is to work as part of...

Author: Ravinder Singh Robin

Source: Thaindian News/ANI

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/sikh-diaspora-hails-pak-cabinets-approval-of-sikh-marriage-ordinance_10014103.html

Sikh Diaspora has hailed Pakistan Cabinet’s approval of the Sikh Marriage Ordinance 2008. Now, Sikhs can get their marriages registered in Pakistan under the ordinance. Pakistan has...

Author: Shahid Raza Burney

Source: Arab News

http://arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=105983&d=23&m=1&y=2008&pix=world.jpg&category=World

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray yesterday criticized Malaysian Hindus of Indian origin for their protests against alleged social and economic discrimination.

In an interview with the party mouthpiece “Saamna,” Thackeray denounced the Malaysian...

Author: JULIA ZAPPEI

Source: AOLnews

Wire Service: AP

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/malaysian-hindus-celebrate-religious/n20080123002009990103

Ten of thousands of pilgrims, some with skewered cheeks, gathered Wednesday for a Hindu festival dampened this year by a boycott among ethnic Indian activists discontent over the government's treatment of minorities.

After overnight...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7205668.stm

Egypt has said it will not use force to send back Palestinians who crossed from the Gaza Strip in large numbers after parts of the border were breached.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said the border would be closed again when all the Palestinians had returned.

Tens of thousands have surged in to buy food and other supplies made scarce...

Author: Sean Coughlan

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7204635.stm

A story based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale has been turned down by a government agency's awards panel as the subject matter could offend Muslims.

The digital book, re-telling the classic story, was rejected by judges who warned that "the use of pigs raises cultural issues".

Becta, the government's educational technology...

Author: Jeremy Page

Source: The Times

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3234530.ece

At 21, Bilkis Bano was living quietly as the pregnant, uneducated wife of a Muslim cattle trader. Then a Hindu mob gang-raped her and burnt 13 relatives alive.

Six years on, the frail, softly spoken mother has become a symbol of courage for Muslims and women across India after battling the system to bring her attackers...

Author: Foo Yun Chee

Source: The New York Times

Wire Service: Reuters

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Buddhist Channel/Hasting Observer

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=3,5807,0,0,1,0

The success of a weekly meditation class in Bexhill led to the opening of the Maitreya Buddhist Centre in Sea Road.

Local interest in meditation continues to grow, according to administrator Andrew Durling, who says the centre is "thriving" as it enters its third year.

A full programme of meditation...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: AFP

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iNlN6Pb5fqmKl9i98wvyRDU3Wzzw

Controversial Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan said Wednesday that with the backing of civil rights groups he was appealing a decision by the US administration to refuse him a visa.

Ramadan was forced to give up a teaching position at the University of Notre-Dame in Indiana in late 2004 when US authorities revoked his visa at the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Dorset Daily Echo

http://www.thisisdorset.net/display.var.1982865.0.wicker_man_to_burn_at_festival.php

DRUIDS and witches in Dorset are to hold a large pagan gathering near Weymouth to celebrate the festival of Beltane.

The three-day gathering for several hundred people, at a location near Portesham, will take place from May 2 to May 4 - and the highlight will be a fire ritual,...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/surrey/7203509.stm

Four youths are being sought following what police have described as a racially aggravated criminal attack.

In an incident revealed on Tuesday, officers said five large windows were smashed at the Islamic Centre in London Road, Camberley, Surrey, on 4 January.

Witnesses said the attack happened at 2300 GMT after the four...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: DAWN

http://www.dawn.com/2008/01/22/ebr5.htm

The city of London is emerging as the key Western centre for Islamic finance against the backdrop of a three-fold growth of Islamic financial services over the past decade to $53bn in 2006.

Standard & Poor’s has estimated that the potential market for Islamic finance could be $4 trillion, over seven times its current size.

According to a new report by...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: AFP

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jg1ybBNZjTL_dVrpKh3o35ETG2KA

Malaysian police have seized the body of an ethnic Chinese man in the latest dispute between Islamic authorities and family members over a disputed conversion, a report said Monday.

The eldest son of Gan Eng Gor, who died on Sunday aged 74, said his father became a Muslim last July, but his other children reject the claim and...