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☆ Pakistan suicide car bombing kills one police official, injures others
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Asif Shahzad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Police officers and rescue workers gather at the site of a suicide car bombing in Islamabad, Pakistan December 23, 2022. "Our initial information says that there was a man and a woman in the car," Islamabad operations police chief, Sohail Zafar, told reporters. "Had the car reached its target, it would have caused heavy losses," Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told Geo News TV. Pakistani Taliban claimed the car bombing, saying it was revenge for the killing of one of their leaders. The bombing came two days after a Pakistani military operation killed 25 TTP militants after a standoff at a counter-terrorism facility.

☆ Saudi Arabia and Turkey condemn Taliban university ban for women
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

In another sign of domestic opposition, several Afghan cricketers condemned the university ban. The latest condemnations of the university ban came from Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi foreign ministry expressed “astonishment and regret” at Afghan women being denied a university education. Another show of support for female university students came at Nangarhar Medical University. Local media reported that male students walked out in solidarity and refused to sit exams until women’s university access was reinstated.

☆ Taliban minister defends closing universities to women as global backlash grows
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Female university students were turned away from campuses on Wednesday and the higher education ministry said their access would be suspended "until further notice". "They didn't observe Hijab (Islamic female dress code), they were coming with the clothes that mostly women wear to go to a wedding," he said. Dozens of women gathered outside Kabul University on Thursday to protest in the first major public demonstration in the capital since the decision. [1/4] Afghan women chant slogans in protest against the closure of universities to women by the Taliban in Kabul, Afghanistan, December 22, 2022. The backlash towards restrictions on female education is complicating the Taliban-led administration's efforts to gain formal recognition and the lifting of sanctions that are hampering the economy, diplomats say.

☆ Female students turned away as Taliban fighters enforce university ban
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

The country’s Taliban rulers a day earlier ordered women nationwide to stop attending private and public universities effective immediately and until further notice. Rahimullah Nadeem, a spokesman for Kabul University, confirmed that classes for female students had stopped. Taliban fighters stand guard at the entrance gate of a university in Jalalabad on Wednesday. AFP - Getty ImagesMembers of an activist group called the Unity and Solidarity of Afghanistan Women gathered outside the private Edrak University in Kabul on Wednesday morning, chanting slogans in Dari. AFP - Getty ImagesQatar and Pakistan, both Muslim countries, have expressed their disappointment at the university ban and urged authorities to reconsider their decision.

One hostage, a security official, died during the raid , he said. The army spokesman's comments provided the first detailed official account of the standoff, in which two security personnel were killed when the militants first took over the compound, and two commandoes killed in the ensuing raid. Later other militants at the centre broke into a storeroom where confiscated weapons had been stored. STANDOFFAfter talks failed to resolve a two-day standoff, army commandos stormed the centre on Tuesday. Earlier, residents said they heard explosions coming from the vicinity of the centre on Tuesday as helicopters hovered overhead.

JAKARTA, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Indonesia's new criminal code has grabbed headlines for making sex outside marriage illegal but Islamic parties wanted even harsher punishment for moral crimes in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, accounts of behind-the-scenes negotiations reveal. "We found a middle ground, not only between nationalists and religious parties but also between progressive liberals and conservatives," he said. In forming the laws, a team of legal professors had turned to Indonesia's official dictionary, which defines adultery as any sex outside marriage, not just extramarital sex. The compromise reached in the final version carries a maximum one-year sentence for sex outside marriage and six months for cohabitation. "The Islamic parties benefit from the morality agenda ... while the other parties will benefit from strengthening of authoritarianism," he said.

Pakistani Taliban militants detained at the centre had snatched interrogators' weapons and taken them captive on Sunday. Asif did not say how many militants were killed or how many hostages they had held. Residents said they heard explosions coming from the vicinity of the centre on Tuesday as helicopters hovered overhead. The army operations forced the militants and their leaders to flee to neighbouring Afghan districts. There, Islamabad says, they set up training centres to plan and launch attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Afghan authorities deny.

According to a provincial government spokesman, the militants were demanding safe passage to Afghanistan. "We are in negotiations with the central leaders of the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan," Mohammad Ali Saif, a spokesman for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, said. He said the authorities were yet to receive a response from the Pakistani Taliban, adding that relatives of the militants and area tribal elders had also been involved in initiating talks with the Islamists inside the facility. The militants in control of the interrogation facility had demanded a safe passage to Afghanistan, a TTP statement sent to a Reuters reporter said. It added the TTP had also conveyed the demand to Pakistani authorities, but hadn't heard back any "positive" response.

☆ One country, one picture, one year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Dave Lucas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Bulgarian Muslim bride Kimile Avdinova has makeup applied to her face during her wedding ceremony in the village of Ribnovo, in the Rhodope Mountains, Bulgaria, January 2. The remote mountain village of Ribnovo in southwest Bulgaria has kept its...moreBulgarian Muslim bride Kimile Avdinova has makeup applied to her face during her wedding ceremony in the village of Ribnovo, in the Rhodope Mountains, Bulgaria, January 2. The remote mountain village of Ribnovo in southwest Bulgaria has kept its traditional winter marriage ceremony alive despite decades of Communist persecution, followed by poverty that forced many men to seek work abroad. The wedding ritual was resurrected with vigour among the Pomaks - Slavs who converted to Islam under Ottoman rule. The highlight of the ceremony is the painting of the bride's face, where in a private rite open only to female in-laws, her face is covered in thick, chalky white paint and decorated with colourful sequins.

☆ Egypt: How the Arab world's most populous country became addicted to debt
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Cnn Staff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

The loan, along with billions of dollars in cash inflows from Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, are Band-Aids, experts say, designed to keep the Arab world’s most populous country afloat. Without proper reforms, however, Egypt may never be able to shake off its chronic financial woes and break its growing debt addiction. Billions of dollars from Abu Dhabi and Riyadh have poured into the Egyptian economy in recent years. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) also launched the Saudi Egyptian Investment Company (SEIC) in August, a company dedicated to investments in several vital sectors of the Egyptian economy. Still, the Egyptian economy has struggled to shake off its economic woes.

☆ Malaysia PM signs cooperation pact with smaller parties ahead of confidence vote
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Malaysian political parties supporting Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Friday signed a cooperation pact promising to ensure stability, ahead of a confidence vote on the premier next week. Anwar - who has spent more than two decades as an opposition figure - became prime minister last month, forming a government with rival political blocs after an election that produced a hung parliament. Anwar is Malaysia's fourth prime minister since 2020, after two previous administrations collapsed due to political turmoil. "We agreed on the broad parameters and broad policies including to ensure the government is stable," he said after a ceremony where political party chiefs signed the pact. Barisan had ruled Malaysia for more than six decades before being voted out in a 2018 election amid widespread corruption allegations.

☆ Pictures of the year: Religion
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Jeremy Schultz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

☆ Nigerian Army massacred children in war on insurgents, witnesses say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Reuters Graphic | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

CJTF members provide the army with intelligence on suspected insurgents, serve as interpreters and help soldiers navigate sometimes unfamiliar terrain. Bello Danbatta, a spokesman for the CJTF, told Reuters that the military and CJTF forces did not target civilians. During combat operations, soldiers told Reuters, it was common to take aim at anyone they came across in areas the army did not fully control. And in a war in which insurgents have forced minors to fight, soldiers said they couldn't even trust in the innocence of children. Soldiers told the women that their children needed injections for malaria and other afflictions, she said.

☆ The Taliban has reintroduced public floggings and executions in Afghanistan, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Taliban have reintroduced public floggings and executions in Afghanistan under sharia law. On Wednesday, the Taliban performed the first public execution since seizing Kabul in August 2021. Girls attend class at a secret school on August 14, 2022 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo by Nava Jamshidi/Getty ImagesAn Afghan woman spoke to Al Jazeera about her experience living under the Taliban regime and her fear of public floggings or execution. Sadaf told Al Jazeera she was sentenced to a public flogging and whipped around 30 times until she passed out.

☆ Iran executes protester for injuring guard with knife - Tasnim
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBAI, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Iran executed a protester on Thursday who was convicted of injuring a security guard with a knife and closing off a street in the capital, Tehran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, part of a clampdown on nationwide unrest. The Tasnim news agency identified the person who was executed as Mohsen Shekari but gave no more details. Amnesty International has said the Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 21 people in what it called "sham trials designed to intimidate those participating in the popular uprising that has rocked Iran". Iran has blamed the unrest on its foreign foes including the United States. Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Michael GeorgyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Xi Jinping: Chinese president lands in Saudi Arabia amid tensions with US
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Nadeen Ebrahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Chinese President Xi Jinping landed in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh on Wednesday for a multiple-day visit, China’s official news agency Xinhua reported, amid frayed ties between the two countries and the United States. A purple carpet was rolled out for the Chinese president, and canons were fired. But Saudi Arabia’s grand reception of the Chinese president is only emblematic of the magnitude of their growing relationship, specifically around oil, trade and security. Saudi Arabia has also traditionally been China’s top oil supplier, with Saudi barrels making up around 17% of total Chinese oil imports as of last year, according to the Saudi-backed Arab News. Apart from oil exports, Saudi Arabia has this year ramped up its Chinese investments, which culminated in Aramco’s whopping $10 billion dollar investment into a refinery and petrochemical complex in China’s northeast.

JAKARTA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Indonesia's new criminal code ushers in a raft of new laws, including banning sex outside of marriage, insulting the president, and expressing any view that runs counter to state ideology. Indonesia is also trying to entice foreign visitors back after the pandemic and the national tourism board described the new code as "totally counter-productive". We have already expressed our concern to the ministry of tourism about how harmful this law is," said Maulana Yusran, deputy chief of Indonesia's tourism industry board. Indonesia has been discussing revising its criminal code since declaring independence from the Dutch in 1945. Defending the passage of the bill against criticism, Indonesia's Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly told parliament on Tuesday: "It's not easy for a multicultural and multi-ethnic country to make a criminal code that can accommodate all interests."

☆ The most expensive drug in the world has a $3.5 million price tag. 2 potential patients share their hopes and fears for the one-time treatment.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The FDA has approved a new gene therapy to treat hemophilia B, a genetic bleeding disorder. The drugmaker CSL Behring set a $3.5 million price for the one-time treatment. Lackey is learning to live with a severe case of hemophilia B, a rare genetic condition that keeps blood from clotting properly. But a critical unknown in judging CSL's $3.5 million price is the durability of the treatment. Lojewski said the $3.5 million price wasn't guided by other gene-therapy prices.

☆ Iranian city shops shut after strike call, judiciary blames 'rioters'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

DUBAI, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Iranian shops shut their doors in several cities on Monday, following calls for a three-day nationwide general strike from protesters seeking the fall of clerical rulers, with the head of the judiciary blaming "rioters" for threatening shopkeepers. Amini was arrested by Iran's morality police for flouting the strict hijab policy, which requires women to dress modestly and wear headscarfs. Iran's public prosecutor on Saturday was cited by the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency as saying that the morality police had been disbanded. Security forces would show no mercy towards "rioters, thugs, terrorists", the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the guards as saying. Kurdish Iranian rights group Hengaw also reported that 19 cities had joined the general strike movement in western Iran, where most of the country's Kurdish population live.

☆ Protesters in southern Syria call for overthrow of President Assad
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Earlier, more than 200 people had gathered around the building in the center of the Druze-majority city, chanting slogans calling for the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad, they said, amid spiraling prices and economic hardship. Syrian state media said tens of “outlaws” stormed the governor’s office and burned files and official papers. Three witnesses told Reuters the governor was not in the building which was vacated before protesters stormed the offices. The minority Druze sect, whose faith draws its roots from Islam, have long resisted being drawn into the Syrian conflict that pits mainly Sunni rebels against Assad’s rule. Witnesses in Sweida told Reuters that once inside the building, demonstrators brought down pictures of Assad.

CNN —A top Iranian official has said that the nation’s mandatory hijab law is being reviewed, as state media played down the same official’s claim that the country’s much-feared morality police force had been “abolished” amid ongoing protests. Montazeri was also quoted as saying on Saturday that Iran’s morality police had been “abolished,” but Iranian state media strongly pushed back on those comments, saying the interior ministry oversees the force, not the judiciary. The wearing of a hijab in public is currently mandatory for women in Iran under strict Islamic law that is enforced by the country’s so-called morality police. Her death on September 16 touched a nerve in the Islamic Republic, with prominent public figures coming out in support of the movement, including top Iranian actor Taraneh Alidoosti. “But no official of the Islamic Republic of Iran has said that the Guidance Patrol has been shut,” Al-Alam said Sunday afternoon.

[1/2] Activists protest in the Indiana Statehouse during a special session debating on banning abortion in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. July 25, 2022. REUTERS/Cheney OrrDec 2 (Reuters) - A second Indiana judge on Friday blocked the state from enforcing its law banning most abortions after Jewish, Muslim and other non-Christian women challenged it in a lawsuit. The plaintiffs have argued that the measure infringes on religious freedom protected by another state law. The law had already been on hold, as another judge in September blocked Indiana from enforcing it while Planned Parenthood and other healthcare providers challenge it in court. The ACLU said the plaintiffs represented religions including Judaism and Islam as well as "independent spiritual belief systems."

☆ Asian American voters could help decide the Senate runoff in Georgia, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Sakshi Venkatraman | Sakshi Venkatraman Is A Reporter For Nbc Asian America. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

“We’re also meeting people at their doors.”When it came to appealing to South Asian voters in Georgia, Nabilah Islam said her “secret weapon” had been under her nose for years. During her recent campaign for state Senate, the 33-year-old Bangladeshi American brought conversations about issues to aunties and uncles on their home turf: WhatsApp. She's now the first South Asian ever elected to the Georgia state Senate. A bloc starting to gain more recognitionAccording to Karthick Ramakrishnan, co-director of AAPI Data, the concerted efforts to appeal to Asian voters in Georgia are reflected in nationwide politics. Steps like these prove grassroots efforts to appeal to AAPI voters work, Makhija said.

☆ The most expensive drug in the world just got approved at $3.5 million, and hemophilia patients are conflicted: 'Compared to what we pay, it doesn't seem too terrible.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The FDA has approved a new gene therapy to treat hemophilia B, a genetic bleeding disorder. Hemophilia patients told Insider they're excited about the new drug but worried about the price. Lackey is learning to live with a severe case of hemophilia B, a rare genetic condition that keeps blood from clotting properly. While the treatment breaks ground as the first approved gene therapy for hemophilia, its price is also unprecedented. Lojewski said the $3.5 million price wasn't guided by other gene-therapy prices.

☆ Islamic State leader Quraishi blew himself up after being surrounded -sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AMMAN, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Islamic State (IS) militant leader Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, who was killed in mid-October in Syria, blew himself up after he and his aides were surrounded by local fighters in the town of Jasem, fighters involved in the clash told Reuters. The province was brought under the control of the Syrian army following Russian-brokered reconciliation agreements in 2018 that gave control of southern Syria back to Damascus. Islamic State has selected Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi as its new leader, a spokesman for the group said in a recording. Islamic State emerged from the chaos of the civil war in neighbouring Iraq and took over vast swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014. Former IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamic caliphate from a mosque in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul that year and proclaimed himself caliph of all Muslims.

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