Latest Islam News
Turkey sentences pro-Kurdish politicians to lengthy prison terms over deadly 2014 riots
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish court on Thursday sentenced several pro-Kurdish politicians to between nine and 42 years in prison over deadly riots in 2014 by Kurds angered by what they perceived to be government inaction against Islamic State group militants who had besieged the Syrian border...
UN resolution to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia sparks opposition from Serbs
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A U.N. resolution sponsored by Germany and Rwanda to establish an annual day to commemorate the 1995 genocide of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serbs has sparked protests and a strong lobbying campaign against its adoption by Serbia’s president and the Bosnian...
A Palestinian converted to Judaism. An Israeli soldier saw him as a threat and opened fire
JERUSALEM (AP) — At first, it seemed like the kind of shooting that has become all too common in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. A Palestinian aroused suspicions and an Israeli soldier killed him. But then the deceased was identified as David Ben-Avraham, a Palestinian who had made...
Afro-Cuban drums, Muslim prayers, Buddhist mantras: Religious diversity blooms in once-atheist Cuba
HAVANA (AP) — The 1959 Castro-led revolution installed an atheist, Communist government that sought to replace the Catholic Church as the guiding force in the lives of Cubans. But 65 years later, religion seems omnipresent in Cuba, in dazzling diversity. The bells...
A Dutch anti-Islam party says it's brokered a provisional coalition deal for a hard-right government
BRUSSELS (AP) — Anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders and three other Dutch party leaders said Wednesday they have brokered a provisional coalition deal in a move that brings closer a government driven by the hard right in yet another European Union nation. The party leaders said that...
Independent UN experts say radical Saudi Arabia scholar held for years should be tried or released
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A radical Sunni scholar whose criticisms of Saudi Arabia's government and the West drew praise from the l ate al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden should be immediately tried or released from a yearslong arbitrary detention by the kingdom, independent experts...
India's parliament has fewer Muslims as strength of Modi's party grows
MALAPPURAM, India (AP) — Preventing Muslim migrants from gaining citizenship. Revoking the semi-autonomy of the country’s only Muslim-majority region. Building a Hindu temple where a violent mob razed a mosque. These were political triumphs for Prime Minister Narendra Modi over...
Thousands replaster Mali's Great Mosque of Djenne, which is threatened by conflict
DJENNE, Mali (AP) — Thousands of Malians carrying buckets and jugs of mud joined the annual replastering of the world's largest mud-brick building this weekend, a key ritual that maintains the integrity of the Great Mosque of Djenne in the center of the country. The building has...
A parliamentary election runoff puts hard-liners firmly in charge of Iran's parliament
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's hard-liners won most of the remaining seats in an election run-off to give them full control over the country's parliament, authorities said Saturday, while not sharing any details on the turnout. The result, and that of the previous vote...
Syria's Kurdish-led force hands over 2 IS militants suspected in 2014 mass killing of Iraqi troops
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s U.S.-backed Kurdish-led force has handed over to Baghdad two Islamic State group militants suspected of involvement in mass killings of Iraqi soldiers in 2014, a war monitor said Friday. The report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights came a day after...