Free Republic

A SOMALI man who claims to be 112 years old has married a 17-year old girl. "Today God helped me realise my dream," Ahmed Mohamed Dhore said, after the wedding in the region of Galguduud. Bride Safiya Abdulle's family said she was "happy with her new husband". Mr Dhore says he wanted to marry Safiya for a long time but waited for her to grow up. "I didn't force her, but used my experience to convince her of my love; and then we agreed to marry," he was quoted by the BBC as saying. He said his children and two...

CAIRO — It is unlikely anyone has ever come to this city and commented on how clean the streets are. But this litter-strewn metropolis is now wrestling with a garbage problem so severe it has managed to incite its weary residents and command the attention of the president. “The problem is clear in the streets,” said Haitham Kamal, a spokesman for the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs. “There is a strict and intensive effort now from the state to address this issue.” But the crisis should not have come as a surprise. When the government killed all the...

Afghan journalist gets death for insulting Islam By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor Last Updated: 2:30am GMT 24/01/2008 The Taliban-style intimidation of Afghan newspapers came to the surface after a journalist was sentenced to death for distributing an article deemed to have "insulted Islam". Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh's crime was to have passed around a piece taken from a website questioning why Muslim women cannot have multiple husbands in the same way as their menfolk can legally take four wives. Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh, 23, sentenced to death for 'insulting Islam' Mr Kaambakhsh, who works for "The New World", a newspaper in Afghanistan's...

Muslims force home church to close down by Benteng Reges In West Java yesterday, a crowd of local residents and Islamic activists broke into the home of a Christian that was being used as a church. The owner ceded to their requests and stopped the religious service. The revision of a Decree on places of worship has proved to be insufficient to guarantee Indonesian Christians the right to worship Jakarta (AsiaNews) – A crowd of Muslims has forced the closure of another home church in Bandung regency in the Indonesian province of West Java. Yesterday, 11 February, around 100 people...

Despite opposition from her family a 13-year-old girl in a Bihar village married her 75-year-old "heartthrob". Asir Ansari, father and grandfather to many, married Raveena Begum in Purnea district. "The 'nikah' (Islamic ritual of marriage) was solemnised a few days ago and as per customs the girl will shortly move into the groom's house," Nasir Miyan of the same village said. Ansari insists that he did not force the girl to marry him. "We fell in love and decided to marry," he said. He also claimed that his bride is not a minor. Similarly, Raveena Begum claims that it was...