Free Republic

Nigeria - Wednesday June 08, 2005 CHRISTIAN LECTURER DISAPPEARS AFTER DEATH THREAT Muslim dress code stirs unrest in Kaduna and Kano states. June 8 (Compass) — Andrew Akume, a Christian lecturer at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria city, Kaduna state, northern Nigeria, has disappeared since the issuance of a death sentence against him. A militant Muslim group at ABU passed the sentence on him claiming he blasphemed Mohammed, the prophet of Islam. The death sentence for Akume, the university’s dean of the faculty of law, is contained in two fatwas (Islamic decrees) issued in the months of May...

Christian Areas Attacked, 200 Homes Destroyed (BosNewsLife) - A human rights investigation continued Friday, July 1, into an outbreak of violence in several Christian areas of Pakistan where hundreds of homes have reportedly been destroyed by Islamic militants. The Voice Of the Martyrs (VOM) USA told BosNewsLife the attacks happened this week in three areas around the city of Peshawar, about 172 km (107 miles) west of the capital Islamabad. Troubles began late Tuesday, June 28, just hours after an illiterate Christian man in his 60's allegedly burned pages with Koranic verses written on them. The organization claimed the burning...

Missionary Tortured and SentencedA young Indian missionary has been sentenced to one year in prison and beaten hundreds of times in Saudi Arabia, a mission organization said Thursday, June 30. Christian Aid Mission (CAM) told BosNewsLife that 30-year old Brother Samkutty, whose family name was not released, was detained after traveling to the Islamic kingdom on the invitation of Christian friends who had asked him to speak in churches of Indian believers. "On March 22, while on his way to a Bible study, Samkutty was arrested by Saudi Arabia's religious police," said CAM, which supports native missionaries across the world....

Naushera blasphemy case: Christian was illiterate, only followed orders: NCJP* Case also registered against angry mob which set temple on fire: policeLAHORE: Yousaf Masih, an illiterate 60-year old sweeper who is charged with blasphemy and desecration of the Quran in Naushera, was only disposing waste on his landlady’s orders, according to evidence gathered by the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP). Yousaf had no way of knowing if some Quranic verses had found their way into the garbage, says the commission. “A child spotted Yousaf Masih burning verses from the Quran. He was in fact just burning garbage....

Pakistan: Police raid a Catholic libraryKarachi (AsiaNews) – Pakistani police have raided a bookshop run by Catholic sisters in the wake of publication of unfounded accusations leveled against the local Christian community. The raid took place in Saddar near Karachi on 13 June: police officers raided the library of the Daughters of St Paul and confiscated merchandise on sale. The police kept a shop salesman for more than 24 hours for questioning while the sisters were intimidated. The raid came after an article appeared in a national Urdu daily and accusations by Islamic extremists. On 12 June, the Nawa-I-Waqt newspaper...

Three Women Face Charges for Evangelizing Children Dufan (Fantasy World) in Jakarta Charges have been laid against three Indonesian women as the result of a picnic which they led at Dufan (Fantasy World) in Jakarta in December 2004.  The picnic conducted by a church-run children's program. Some Muslim children joined the picnic and there were no problems until some of their parents raised complaints last month.  According to VOMC sources in Indonesia, the three women, Dr Rebecca, Mrs Ratna and Mrs Lia, were summoned to the police station on May 3 and charges were formerly laid against them on...

The Pentagon has acknowledged five instances in which guards or interrogators at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, handled the Koran in such a way as to cause offense to some who believe it is the revealed word of Allah. Three are said to have been three deliberate and two unintentional. Amnesty International has put the United States high on the list of countries it says are guilty of prisoner and human rights abuses because of the way suspected terrorists are treated. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Richard Myers, rebutted the notion of inappropriate treatment...

Saudi Arabia - Monday May 16, 2005 GOVERNMENT DENIES ACCESS TO JAILED CHRISTIANS Five East Africans held in Riyadh prison. Yemane Gebre Loul, May 16 (Compass) -- Five East African Christians arrested at a private Christian worship service three weeks ago are being refused any access to visitors at the interrogation center where they are jailed in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. An expatriate friend who attempted to visit the three Ethiopians and two Eritreans last week was refused permission by prison officials of the Mabahith, an internal security force under the Saudi Ministry of Interior. When the...

House Church Raided in Saudi Arabia One week after a prayer meeting in Riyadh was raided and forty Christians arrested, a second house church meeting was broken up by the muttawa (religious police) on April 29 and five leaders taken into custody. According to a May 4 report from Compass Direct, sixty Ethiopian and Eritrean Christians had gathered together for prayer when the muttawa, together with high-ranking Muslim sheikhs, burst into the meeting, confiscating forty Bibles and a cross necklace before warning them to never meet there for prayer again. Those detained have been identified as Yemane Gebre Loul, Gazai...

Catholic Radio Station Bombed in Lebanon BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- A Catholic-run radio station in Lebanon was destroyed in a bombing attack May 6, the latest in a series of attacks in Lebanon's Christian areas. The attack was an apparent response to the station's campaign regarding the plight of Lebanese detained in Syrian prisons. The Voice of Charity, operated by the Congregation of Maronite Lebanese Missionaries in the port city of Jounieh since 1984, was completely destroyed in the attack, caused by an estimated 50 pounds of explosives in the main square outside the building. One person was killed, and...

Indonesia-wide terrorist plan found in the wake of anti-Christian attack in Mamasa Poso (AsiaNews) – An attack on April 24 that cost the lives of six people in predominantly Christian Mamasa regency (district) in West Sulawesi was part of a wider terrorist scheme, this according to General Saleh Saaf, South Sulawesi Police Chief Inspector, after the arrest of Amirrudin, 22, a terror suspect arrested following the Mamasa attack. General Saaf said that documents in the young man’s possession reveal the existence of “plans to carry out terror attacks and bombings across the country”. Currently, police is analysing the confiscated documents...

By Jeremy ReynaldsSpecial Correspondent for ASSIST News Service PAKISTAN (ANS) -- After refusing to renounce his Christian faith and embrace Islam, a Pakistani man was seriously beaten. According to a news release from the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), Shahbaz Masih, 29, worked as a driver for the Muslim family of Mir Hussein. Masih’s hard work and honesty earned the trust of his employer. However, that offended a number of area Muslims, APMA reported. On the evening of April 23, Masih was captured by a group of eight armed Muslim men. They brought him to a farm house outside...

Nigeria - Monday May 02, 2005 ARSONISTS BURN DOWN CHURCH FOR FOURTH TIME Muslim extremists suspected in string of attacks in Kaduna. Inside the burned sanctuary May 2 (Compass) -- Unidentified arsonists set fire to the Conquerors Chapel in the Hayin Banki sector of the city of Kaduna, Nigeria, on April 10, destroying the meeting place of the Word of Faith Ministries for the fourth time in five years. The congregation has rebuilt its sanctuary after each previous attack. To date, police have not arrested any suspects in the string of arson attacks. The Rev. Ndubuisi Chiazor, pastor of...

CHURCH FORCED TO MOVE HEADQUARTERS Two-million-member Church of Christ seeking to avoid religious violence. April 26 (Compass) -- Devastation caused by religious conflict and the hostile attitude of Muslims toward Christian refugees returning to their villages in the central Nigerian state of Plateau has forced the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) to relocate its regional headquarters from the town of Wase to Kadarko. “The decision to relocate our regional office and the church in Wase town was made by our church council following the complete destruction of all our churches in Wase town and the killing and displacement of...

Islamist zealots attack Ahmadiyya Mosque in Bangladesh Unruly Islamist zealots attacked an Ahmadiyya mosque and the homes of a number of leaders of the minority Muslim sect in south-western Satkhira district of Bangladesh on Sunday. Witnesses said several hundred bigots brought out a procession in Joginagar village of Samnagar Upazial of the district, demanding that members of the Ahmadiyya community be officially declared 'non-Muslim'. They marched towards the mosque and replaced a signboard inscribed with "It's not a mosque and no Muslim will enter here for namaj (prayer)" instead of the "Ahmadiyya mosque". "The Islamist bigots captured the mosque complex...

Pakistani killed for desecrating Koran A man in a small village in western Pakistan was shot and killed after a local cleric declared him an infidel for desecrating the Koran. Ashiq Nabi, who had been on the run since Monday after being accused of blasphemy, was shot Wednesday after begging for his life and then climbing a tree to escape an angry mob of about 400 villagers, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported. Ashiq, who lived in a village about 18 miles outside Peshawar, allegedly had desecrated the Koran Monday during an argument with his wife. After his uncle complained, police...

The West seems to have suddenly woken up to Muslim fundamentalism in South Asia when the Taleban demolished the Bamiyan statues, in spite of frantic appeals from all over the world. But there is a bit of hypocrisy in the outrage triggered by this destruction. Firstly, Islam is very clear about statues: didn't Prophet Mohammad break the first stone Gods himself? Thereafter, it became a holy duty for all good Muslims. Firuz Shah Tughlak (1351-1388), who has an avenue named after him in New Delhi, wrote: 'On the day of a Hindu festival, I went there myself, ordered the executions ...

<p>Pastor and assistant attacked following baptism ceremony.</p> <p>April 15 (Compass) -- Hindu and Muslim villagers burned down a prayer hall and physically attacked three church members following a baptism ceremony in Kerala, India, on April 1. Two days later, villagers assaulted Pastor Paul Ciniraj Mohammed and his 54-year-old assistant.</p>

The world's war against terrorism continues - as does the Palestinians' terrorism war against Israel. Two Palestinian terrorists opened random and wild fire while running from the Afula Central Bus Station to the nearby open-air market late this morning, killing two Jews and wounding over 30. Security forces gave chase, and a soldier - an immigrant from Ethiopia - finally shot and killed the terrorists. Police took off in pursuit of what they thought was a third terrorist, but called it off upon concluding that there had been only two. Ten people are listed in serious condition in Afula's HaEmek ...

Report: Suicide bomber strikes Afula bus station Initial unconfirmed reports indicate a terror attack has taken place in the northern city of Afula just moments ago. [This story last updated at 08:50]

Bangladesh - Monday April 04, 2005 LAY PASTOR BEHEADED Widow fears reprisals from murderers as she struggles to support her family. Dulal Sarkar April 4 (Compass) — Sources have confirmed the murder by beheading on March 8 of Dulal Sarkar, a lay pastor and evangelist in Bangladesh. Sarkar, 35, worked with a local branch of the Bangladesh Free Baptist Church in Jalalpur village, in the southwest division of Khulna. He had planted several churches in the area and also worked as a guard and general caretaker for the church. Shared His FaithThe week before he was murdered, he shared...

Lead story - Monday April 11, 2005 PAKISTAN : PASTOR AND DRIVER MURDERED Kidnapping followed threats for ‘converting Muslims.’ Daniel Emmanuel and Pastor Babar Samsoun April 11 (Compass) -- Unknown killers kidnapped and brutally killed a Protestant pastor and his driver near the capital of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) last week, apparently in retribution for their evangelizing activities among Muslims. The bullet-ridden, mutilated bodies of Pentecostal pastor Babar Samsoun and his driver and fellow evangelist, Daniel Emmanuel, were found dumped on a roadside near the outskirts of Peshawar on April 7, two days after they were kidnapped. Both...

The bleak statistics from Gush Katif will not - for now - precipitate any change in Israeli policy. Nearly 80 mortars and Qassam rockets landed on the settlements of Gush Katif in the last 36 hours, but it seems that as long as the shelling does not cause casualties, the troops will be kept in their positions. On Saturday night the settlers had hoped for "a proper Zionist response" - a euphemism for aggressive action against the mortar launchers - when they heard the helicopters over Khan Yunis. But their hopes were quickly dashed. The pilots were told only to...

In my previous article Why Good Muslims Become Terrorists I wrote:http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=13969 “Everyone who has a brush with Islam is at risk. Any Muslim can become a terrorist overnight. As long as people believe Muhammad was a messenger of God, they are at risk of contracting Islamic terrorist fever.” Not everyone agreed. Mr. Hugh Fitzgerald of jihadwatch.org in a private email wrote: "'any Muslim' and 'overnight'? I think too much is claimed”. Let me respond to this concern and clarify my position. Of course not everyone who reads the Quran becomes a terrorist overnight. I said "can" not "will". In the...

Heed the New Hindu Mood March 11, 2003 It is not easy to be an Indian living abroad: Not only one has to retain one's Indian-ness while coping with the West's positive and less positive aspects which creep into one's life, but one is also subjected to the humiliation of seeing one's own countrymen spit on India in mainstream foreign newspapers and television. Recently, the Gujarat riots and the IDRF episode have been used by a few Indian academics/scholars/writers, particularly in the United States, to demean India and Hindus. Many of us are appalled by the comments people like Pankaj...

Protest at Pakistan priest murder About 200 Pakistani Christians have marched in Peshawar to protest over the murder and mutilation of a priest and his driver. The bodies of Protestant priest Babar Shamoun and Daniel Emmanuel were found near the North-West Frontier Province's capital on Thursday. The protesters blocked a main road for more than two hours, demanding the killers be brought to justice. A woman and a man have been arrested in connection with the killings. Motive 'unclear' The men's bodies were found dumped on a roadside. "The victims had been stabbed and shot," a senior police officer told...

Defending Terrorism: Interview with Kristine Withers Ryan Mauro - 3/28/2005 Kristine Withers claims to have been assaulted by the Islamic Thinkers' Society, a group she says is likely tied to Al-Muhajiroun, which is a radical Islamic group that is believed to have worked with Al-Qaeda. The following is our conversation about ongoing threats to her from the group, and charges that have been brought against her by the group. Ryan Mauro: First of all, Kristine, what got you involved in looking at the activities of these Islamic protesters you are warning about? Kristine Withers: I noticed a group of Muslim...

Lay Pastor Beheaded in Bangladesh (Compass) - Sources have confirmed the murder by beheading on March 8 of Dulal Sarkar, a lay pastor and evangelist in Bangladesh. Sarkar worked with the Bangladesh Free Baptist Church in Jalalpur village as an evangelist and church planter. On the night of March 8 as he returned home, he was attacked and killed by Muslim extremists. His wife, Aruna, immediately filed a case against the killers, and three suspects were arrested. However, militants are now threatening Aruna and her children. The beheading is the second in the space of a year. Dr. Abdul Gani,...

The Jihad against John Paul II Posted by @ 11 11 200212:02 AM Revelations of an ongoing Al Qaeda conspiracy to kill John Paul II should cause us to examine the 1981 attempt on the Pope's life. The London Times is reporting that Al Qaeda planned to kill John Paul II in the Philippines in 1999. Bin Laden's lieutenant Khalid Mohammad, who is still at large, was reportedly the mastermind. The plot was apparently called off because the papal visit was cancelled. An earlier Qaeda plot to murder the pope was foiled on January 6, 1995, when a fire led...

Injured Pakistani Christians Receive Poor Treatment Believers in Khambay, Pakistan continue to live through the consequences of last Sunday's attack on their church (click here for details).  On Monday the funeral was held for Arshad Masih who was killed.  Click here for pictures of the funeral.  Of those injured, VOM has learned, two remain in hospital while the other four were forcibly released, despite their injuries.  Pervez Masih remains unconscious and in critical condition.  Ismael Masih (65) has been crying out in pain.  He told VOM contacts on March 28 that he had received no medication for his pain....

Ever mindful of keeping the West on the defensive and portraying it as the guilty party in today’s global jihad, Al-Azhar (the highest ranking religious authority in Egypt and most respected Sunni Muslim authority in the world), has asked the Vatican for an official apology for the Crusades. Sheikh Fawzi Zafzaf, President of the Interfaith Dialogue Committee of Al-Azhar, explained that “Al-Azhar is only asking for a similar treatment” following Vatican apologies to other groups. According to the Vatican ambassador to Egypt, the Holy See is thinking it over. This is just the latest indication that the Crusades have grown...

In discussions about refugees in the Middle East, a major piece of the narrative is routinely omitted, and my life is part of the tapestry of what's missing. I am a Jew, and I, too, am a refugee. Some of my childhood was spent in a refugee camp in Israel (yes, Israel). And I am far from being alone. This experience is shared by hundreds of thousands of other indigenous Jewish Middle Easterners who share a similar background to my own. However, unlike the Palestinian Arabs, our narrative is largely ignored by the world because our story -- that of...

Racist and anti-Semitic violence in France nearly doubled in 2004, hitting its highest level in a decade and showing no sign of slowing, according to a study to be published Monday. Jews and Muslims were the main victims of 1,565 recorded threats and violent attacks in 2004, up from 833 a year earlier, according to the National Consultative Commission of Human Rights annual report, which was being submitted Monday to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. It was the highest recorded number of attacks since 1994, said the report, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. Anti-Semitic acts rose...

Front Line News Seher Shafi, a Muslim convert on run for safety with her baby Angela and husband Naveed Paul. PCP Report. Karachi. Seher Shafi was born and raised in fundamental Muslim family. She accepted Christianity and witnessed change in life. She said "I always prayed that Jesus took me out from the darkness and place in everlasting light" Talking to PCP, she said "when I told my family that I am Christian now" My life came under constant threat and my family members tortured me day and night" I met Neveed Paul, a Christian and married him with my...

NIGERIA : MUSLIM MILITANTS KILL 36 IN CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY March 4 (Compass) -- Muslim militants attacked the Christian community in Demsa village, Adamawa state, northern Nigeria, on Friday, February 4, killing 36 people, destroying property and displacing about 3,000 others. The surviving Christians have taken refuge in Mayolope village in the neighboring state of Taraba. Alhaji Saleh Jatau, a Muslim who spoke to Compass in Mayolope, confirmed the attack on Demsa. However, he said the militants do not have the support of the Muslim community when they attack Christians. “I am appealing that the government should act quickly to end...

Osama bin Laden prophesies that Islam will triumph over the West by God's right, by His will and by His power. On its face, this is a preposterous boast. There is simply no comparison between the military power of the Muslim world and that of the West, indeed of the United States alone. Islam, even in its pure form as understood by bin Laden, in Taliban-led Afghanistan, could hardly stand a few weeks against America's sophisticated military wizardry. On paper, Saddam Hussein's Iraq had one of the largest armies in the world and it fell in days, disintegrating as a...

Winston emerges menacingly from the kitchen, a meat cleaver in one hand and a kitchen knife with an eight-inch blade in the other. "I love knives," he says, his eyes gleaming as he begins to slash the air inches from my face. "Guns make a f***ing noise, but knives go in," he pauses, " silentlike, easy." He begins stabbing the wall and hacking the plaster, and then, just as suddenly, stops, seemingly sated, like an addict who has had his fix. He holds up his blades to inspect them. "F***ing quality," he says, and deposits them unceremoniously his trousers. Winston,...

Last week, a team from Jubilee Campaign traveled to the Maluku Islands of Indonesia to visit the Caleb Chandler House, a residential facility for children orphaned during the religious violence that rocked Maluku Province for nearly three years, from 1999 to 2001. Jubilee Campaign has conducted a sponsorship program for a number of years to provide housing, food, education and spiritual and emotional nurture to the orphans. In the following report, Jubilee Director Ann Buwalda offers her reflections on the history of the place and her hopes for the future of the residents of Caleb House and the Christian...

PAKISTAN: CHRISTIANS VULNERABLE AND PERSECUTED By Elizabeth KendalWorld Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC)Special to ASSIST News Service AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- Pakistani Christians are extremely vulnerable to suffering persecution due to the widespread Islamic intolerance of Christians, the discriminatory sharia (Islamic law), the endemic lawlessness and corruption (including the police force), and the impunity granted to persecutors. On 28 November 2004, a Muslim named Ahmed Ali (26) attacked a Christian shop-keeper, Shahbaz Masih (22), with a butcher's axe, severing his left arm. Ahmed Ali was arrested only after church authorities pressed the case. Though he is currently imprisoned in...

One killed, another injured by suspected militant shooting NARATHIWAT, March 3 (TNA) - Suspected militants shot dead one man and injured his colleague early Thursday here as nearly daily attacks by Muslim insurgents in Thailand's deep south have continued, said local police. Kuhasan Lueba, 24, was a temporary clerk for the Southern Border Provinces Peace-building Command to build peace in three Southern border provinces. He died instantly from gunshot wounds in his torso while his colleague, Muhama Sahea, who rode on the pillion of his motorcycle, survived the shooting, said Pol. Sub-Lt. Sornphet Tantiamornchaikul, an officer at Ra Ngae District...

Nigerian Christians Brace for More 'Taleban' Attack Kaburu Salisu looks at burnt property belonging to Christian settlers in Sharada (AP photo) Small Christian communities in northeastern Nigeria are bracing for new attacks by groups of Islamic radicals, who call themselves the Taleban. A Christian businessman who was once abducted by the group styling itself to Islamic hardliners in Afghanistan says it could happen again. Speaking in Haussa, Ali Dangwa says he was returning from a bartering trip to Cameroon, walking through hilly terrain, when he was abducted at gunpoint by men wearing stolen police uniforms. They told him he should...

Christians in Lahore Attacked ICC has received a report about an attack on Christians in the 'Essa Nigir' suburbs of Lahore, Pakistan. Moslems attacked the homes of Christians in this community and forced them to flee during the last week of Jan. '05. One Christian was killed and scores of others were seriously injured and were forced to flee their homes (some of the families have returned).Some of the christian representatives succeeded to bring the families back. Pray that there is truce between the two communities.  Christians make just the 2% of population in Pakistan where Islam is the state religion.The...

September 30, 2000 Terrorism against Jews by Radical Islamic Organizations and Groups Dr. Ely Karmon ICT This article is based on a paper presented at the Conference on Extremism and Anti-Semitism on the Eve of the New Millennium, organized by The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism of Tel Aviv University, ADL and WJC, in New York (9 - 12 January 2000), and will be published by The Stephen Roth Institute. During the last decade, terrorism by radical Islamist groups has been considered the greatest threat to Jews and Jewish communities worldwide. The most...

PATTANI, JAN 5 (TNA) – Schools in Thailand's three southern-most provinces are expected to re-open on Wednesday after new safety measures were mapped out. Government officials, police, soldiers and representatives of the teacher federation in the country's three southern border provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani met on Tuesday to revise safety measures in order to protect teachers from insurgent attacks, the Deputy Director of the southern provinces peacekeeping command, Siva Sangmanee told TNA. The meeting considered improved safety plans. Teachers, who attended the meeting, told TNA that they were satisfied with the proposed plans. “They are much better than...

Churches and faithful attacked in Central Sulawesi by Mathias Hariyadi Terror and violence is still existing in Central Sulawesi, as fresh violence and terror rock the Protestant Immanuel Church in the provincial capital of Palu, Monday (12 Dec) at 07.20 PM local time (09.20 Jakarta time). The blast happened and rocked the front door of the church as its congregation are still attending Sunday’s evening service when unknown assailant on motorcycle suddenly throw the bomb. The attacker who was believed to be only one had previously shot the leg of Bintin Jaya, the church’s security guard. At least 200 Christians...

08/11/04 | IRAN – One Muslim is worth 12 Christians De facto 'dhimmitude' persists in Muslim countries. Today the concept of 'dhimmitude' is an historical phenomenon and does not exist as an official legal status in any Muslim state; yet much the same discrimination faces Christians today as it did centuries ago, especially in countries like Iran that have reimposed shariah law (Quranic jurisprudence). For many Christians it is a de facto reality of living in a Muslim country that they are thought of and treated as second-class citizens. In virtually every Muslim-majority context around the world, Christians face social...

ISTANBUL, October 6 (Compass) -- Concern is growing among Iran’s evangelical community for the safety of a pastor arrested four weeks ago by the Iranian security police. Iranian authorities have refused to give any reason for the arrest and prolonged detention of Hamid Pourmand, 47, a lay pastor in the Assemblies of God Church. No one has been allowed contact with Pourmand since September 9, when he was arrested along with 85 other evangelical church leaders. However, Compass confirmed today that Pourmand, who is a colonel in the Iranian army, was allowed one very short telephone call to his wife...

<p>For the first time in 20 years, Southern Sudan stands on the threshold of peace. The guns are silent. Slave raiding is suspended. Humanitarian aid is flowing. Plans for reconstruction are on the drawing board. Secretary of State Colin Powell expects a comprehensive peace agreement before the end of the year.</p>

TEHRAN, Nov 3 (AFP) - Majlis approved a law Sunday granting non-Muslim minorities the right to the same "blood money" as a Muslim, IRNA reported. The blood money for a non-Muslim had earlier been one-twelfth that of a Muslim. The value currently put on the life of a Muslim man is 150 million rials (18,750 dollars), and half that for a woman. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has recently authorised the granting of equal blood money to the family of a murdered Christian man. Under Islamic law, relatives of a murder victim can either claim blood money, pardon a criminal...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia warned non-Muslim residents Sunday not to eat, drink or smoke in public during the fasting hours of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, starting later this week. A statement by the Ministry of Interior, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, said violators could face ``deterrent measures'' that include loosing their jobs and deportation. The ministry issues similar warnings every year just before the start of Ramadan, which is expected to begin this year around Nov. 6, depending on the sighting of the new crescent moon. There are seven million foreigners living in...