Author: Heba Saleh

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6169170.stm

Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni is under pressure to resign after saying that wearing the Islamic headscarf was "regressive".

In parliament, 130 MPs have signed a petition calling for confidence to be withdrawn from the minister.

Mr Hosni will now have to appear before two parliamentary committees to answer a number of questions.

Mr...

Author: Richard A. Serrano

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-jail20nov20,0,4583237.story

NEW YORK -- Five years after Muslim immigrants were abused in a federal jail here, the guards who beat them and the Washington policymakers who decided to hold them for months without charges are being called to account.

Some 1,200 Middle Eastern men were arrested on suspicion of...

Author: Eleni Economides

Source: Inside Bay Area

http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_4690837

SAN JOSE -- Maha ElGenaidi wants to put a human face on Islam.

"Muslims that are -- guess what? -- exactly like you," says ElGenaidi, president and CEO of Islamic Networks Group.

Since 1993, the group has worked to educate members of the community, law enforcement agents, corporations and health-care providers about Islam. Using presentations of varying...

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6165086.stm

A rally to defend the right to freedom of religion and an end to Islamophobia is due to be held in London.

Organised by Muslim and human rights groups, it aims to halt a "deplorable regression" in community relations.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who will address the rally, compared the recent "demonisation" of Muslims to that of Jews in the 19th century.

"As at that...

Author: Jeremy Roberts

Source: The Australian

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,20787618-949,00.html#

The South Australian Attorney-General has admitted dropping a planned ban on religious-based discrimination from a new law because of fears from Christians they would be prevented from converting non-Christians.

Muslim leaders and legal experts have condemned the decision to drop the ban, arguing that laws were...

Source: Beliefnet

Wire Service: AP

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/204/story_20469_1.html

The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians cautioned Turks in an interview published Sunday against creating potential "unpleasant incidents" during Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming trip to Turkey.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I said in an interview published in the Sabah newspaper Sunday that the pope's Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 trip was a...

Source: News 8 Austin

http://www.news8austin.com/shared/print/default.asp?ArID=175138

An art auction on Saturday helped some Central Texas women picture a better life. A nonprofit that primarily serves the Muslim community hosted the art and silent auction to benefit victims of domestic abuse.

Central Texas Muslimaat says domestic violence plagues all races and ethnic groups, but may be especially difficult for Muslim women to come forward and seek...

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6160620.stm

Dutch Muslims have criticised a government proposal to ban women from wearing the burqa or veils which cover the face in public places.

Dutch Muslim groups say a ban would make the country's one million Muslims feel victimised and alienated.

The Dutch cabinet said burqas - a full body covering that also obscures the face - disturb public order and safety.

The decision comes days ahead of...

Source: Gulf Times

Author: David Montero

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1117/p07s02-wosc.html

Putting an end to a skirmish but not to the longer battle, Pakistan's lower house of parliament voted on Wednesday to amend the Hudood Ordinances, the country's religious-based laws that govern rape and vice.

Before, women who reported rape were compelled to produce four male witnesses to the crime or face charges that they had...

Author: Michael Levenson

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/17/jailing_of_clerics_angers_muslims/

SHARON - Muslim leaders in the Boston area expressed outrage yesterday over the arrest and jailing of two senior clerics in an alleged scheme that provided religious-worker visas to immigrants who used them for secular jobs .

Federal immigration agents on Wednesday...

Author: Rachel Zoll

Source: The News and Observer

Wire Service: AP

http://dwb.newsobserver.com/24hour/nation/story/3422514p-12566499c.html

NEW YORK (AP) - Muslim women from the United States and around the world are meeting this weekend on forming the first international Islamic advisory council for women. The American Society for Muslim Advancement, the lead organizer of the event, said the goal of...

Author: Yvonne Abraham and Raja Mishra

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/11/16/2_local_imams_arrested_in_alleged_visa_scheme/

Federal immigration agents arrested imams from two Boston-area mosques yesterday on charges they were involved in a scheme that provided religious worker visas to immigrants who used them to enter the United States and work instead as gas...

Source: Journal Sentinel

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=531721

Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council, will talk on "Overcoming Exclusion and Bigotry in America" in a free lecture at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, 4707 S. 13th St. The council, with an office in Washington, D.C., lobbies for American Muslims' civil rights and has other activities. It denounced the Taliban in Afghanistan and...

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/6153430.stm

Representatives of all 43 mosques in South Yorkshire are gathering for the first Muslim community conference hosted by the county's police force.

About 150 delegates are expected to attend the event, entitled Advancing Community Cohesion, in Sheffield.

Speakers will include Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, head of the Muslim Council of Britain, and Abdul...