New Delhi, India (AFP): Thirty years after mobs demolished the historic Babri mosque in Ayodhya, India, triggering a wave of sectarian bloodshed that saw thousands killed, fundamentalist Indian Hindu groups are eyeing other Muslim sites — even the world-famous Taj Mahal. Emboldened under Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ai...
BRUSSELS – The European Commission has announced an additional €22 million ($23.3 million) in humanitarian aid for the Rohingya community. The aid will provide shelter, food and health assistance for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and their host communities, as well as displaced Rohingya and other conflict-affected people in Myanmar, the EU’s...
Doug Mastriano, a QAnon conspiracy theorist and Jan. 6 insurrectionist, recently won the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania governor. Mastriano is also anti-Muslim. He previously shared a post claiming Americans “have a right to be fearful” of a large number of Muslims being elected to Congress. Mastriano, a Pennsylvania state senator, is...
Muna Saleh says besides her skills, qualifications and expertise, her “professionalism” is evaluated by one more factor — her hijab. For observant Canadian Muslim women, wearing hijab is a religious obligation and a personal religious decision. But many Muslim women in the country a are facing undue professional consequences for choosing to we...
PARIS – Grenoble city’s decision to allow women to wear the ‘burkini’ in municipal swimming pools has set off a heated controversy in France, with the government deeming the authorization “provocative.” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has objected to the authorization of ‘burkinis’ as “unacceptable communi...
A recent report by the Massachussets chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations found that bullying and harassment of Muslim schoolchildren that was rife before the pandemic has returned. During the pandemic’s remote learning phase, reports of school bullying essentially went down to zero. With classes now back in person, cas...
PARIS – The decision by another French city to allow women to wear head-to-toe swimwear at public pools – dubbed ‘burkinis’ – has once again reignited the contentious debate over religious clothing in France. Grenoble in southeastern France became the second city in the country to allow the wearing of burkinis – worn by some ...
ANKARA / PARIS (AA): A mosque affiliated with Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) in France’s northeastern province of Metz was attacked on Thursday night. The mosque was damaged in a fire that broke out after unknown persons lobbed three Molotov cocktails on the walls of the mosque. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Ali Durak, presi...
ANKARA – The rise of the far-right in Europe should not be underestimated, a prominent Spanish journalist and writer has warned. Miguel Gonzalez, the author of a recent book on Spain’s far-right Vox party, spoke to foreign press members in Madrid. The Spanish journalist said anti-Muslim immigration is the common view of the far right [&h...
PARIS (AA) – France’s General Inspectorate for the National Police in the public prosecutor’s office in Nanterre on Wednesday opened an investigation into the beating of two women wearing headscarves by three officers in the town of Asnieres on April 14, according to French news outlet Le Figaro. An initial complaint was filed by the [&h...
