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As a faithful Muslim, I do not believe the pope should have apologized. I've read what's been described as his inflammatory speech. Actually, he called for dialogue with the Muslim world. To ignore that larger context and to focus on a mere few words of the speech is like reducing the Koran, Islam's holy book, to its most bloodthirsty passages. We Muslims hate it when people do that. The hypocrisy of doing this to the pope stinks to high heaven.

Islam is history because we live in the 21st century now, opined controversial exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen here Tuesday. ‘The Islam religion and their scriptures are out of place and out of time. It still follows the 7th century laws and is hopeless. The need of the hour is not reformation but revolution,’ said Nasreen interacting with reporters here. The feminist author of Bengali book ‘Lajja’ is in Kerala in connection with the release of the Malayalam translation of four of her books, which would be released at Thrissur on Aug 24. Nasreen said a secular state should have...

Last Tuesday, after a 90-minute meeting with John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, to discuss the challenges of extremism and foreign policy, I emerged and was immediately asked by the media whether I agreed that what British Muslims needed were Islamic holidays and sharia (Islamic law). I thought I had walked into some parallel universe. Sadly this was not a joke. These issues had apparently formed part of the discussion the day before between Prescott, Ruth Kelly, the communities minister, and a selection of “Muslim leaders”. I realised then that it wasn’t me and the media who were living in...

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria will support its allies Hizbollah and Lebanon against Israel's attacks on the country, the ruling Baath Party said on Friday. "The Syrian people are ready to extend full support to the Lebanese people and their heroic resistance to remain steadfast and confront the barbaric Israeli aggression and its crimes," a communiqu issued by the party's national command said.

Saudi Columnist on June 25 Gaza Attack: This is a Despicable Attack by Hamas, Which is Acting Like a Terrorist Organization In an article in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa titled "The Crime at the Kerem Shalom Crossing," Saudi columnist Yusuf Nasir Al-Suweidan argues that the June 25, 2006 attack at the Kerem Shalom crossing, in which Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit was taken hostage, has turned the Palestinian dream of an independent state into a thing of the past, and that after Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians should have laid down their weapons and worked to develop...

BEIJING (AFP) - Thousands of students at a central China university have continued to stare down police as they maintained a boycott of classes over their treatment by school management. Students have been on strike since between 5,000 and 10,000 of them began ransacking the campus on Thursday night, with several hundred police brought in to quell the unrest, according to witnesses and participants.

Daniel Shayesteh was not long graduated from the University of Tehran when on Nov. 4, 1979, 500 students siezed the American embassy in the capital of Iran. He sympathized with their cause and indirectly supported it, but refrained from bullying the Americans. Not because it was wrong, but because he felt that westerners needed to be kept unaware of the deep hatred Muslims held for them. Mr. Shayesteh, 50, grew up in northern Iran, along the coast of the Caspian Sea. Once a Qur’anic teacher and scholar, Mr. Shayesteh earned a doctorate in international business in Turkey.

ABDUL RAHMAN TO BE RELEASED By Michelle Malkin   ·   March 26, 2006 08:47 AM ***scroll for updates...Video: Condi Rice thinks Afghanistan has "come a long way" because when the Taliban ruled, they "wantonly" executed people for playing music (as opposed to now, you know, where executions of people for abandoning Islam are contemplated in a much more civilized, non-wanton manner.)...Kofi Annan dodges...*** Abdul Rahman: Still not safe Just in...But this story is far from over: An Afghan court on Sunday dismissed a case against a man who converted from Islam to Christianity because of a lack of evidence, and...

Italian religious affairs magazine 30 Giorni reports Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has asked Pope Benedict XVI to visit the Palestinian people. Abbas urges Benedict to 'use all his weight and the spiritual and moral importance of the Catholic Church to put an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people and to guarantee their legitimate right to create an independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital.' Developing...

TORONTO (CP) - The doctor at the centre of the tainted blood tragedy that left thousands infected with HIV and hepatitis C will know next month whether he will stand trial. Defence lawyer Eddie Greenspan says any insinuations that Dr. Roger Perrault, the former head of the Canadian Red Cross, wants to escape justice are "dead wrong." Greenspan says Perrault appreciates the enormity of the disaster and that if he were healthy he would stand trial "in a New York minute." Perrault is charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm and common nuisance endangering the public. The 68-year-old is applying...

ELEI SINAI, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Jewish settler Avi Farhan, determined not to give up his home overlooking the sea when Israel quits the occupied Gaza Strip, is looking into becoming a Palestinian. "I have met with Palestinians. I am willing to be a test case for peace and take up Palestinian citizenship," Farhan told Reuters. "It will hurt me to give up my Israeli citizenship, but I want to remain here." One Palestinian official suggested he might be allowed to stay in overcrowded Gaza -- home to 1.4 million Palestinians -- as long as he obeyed Palestinian laws. Actual...