2005-2014

An umbrella Nigerian Christian body based in the majority Muslim north has condemned the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoons first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September and have sparked Muslim protests across the globe. A leading Islamic cleric in Kaduna, which has previously had deadly religious riots, has also spoken about the insensitivity of printing them...

Members of Switzerland's Muslim community say the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed is unacceptable and provocative. The controversial caricatures first appeared in a Danish newspaper last year, with some of them being reprinted by Swiss and European publications this week. The images - one of which shows the prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb - have caused an outcry...

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw today launched a fierce attack on the decision by some media to republish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. Speaking at a news conference he said: "There is freedom of speech, we all respect that. But there is not any obligation to insult or to be gratuitously inflammatory. "I believe that the republication of these cartoons has been insulting, it has been insensitive...

OSLO (Reuters) - The editor of a Norwegian newspaper which reprinted cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad said on Friday he regretted publication, after dozens of death threats and a growing international furore. Muslims consider any depiction of the founder of Islam as blasphemous, and the drawings, first published in Denmark in September, have whipped up fury around the Arab world. "It's escalating...

French journalists rallied yesterday to the cause of the newspaper France Soir, whose managing editor was sacked for reprinting Danish cartoons that have angered opinion in the Muslim world. The Left-of-centre Le Monde ran a page one cartoon showing the artist obscuring an image of the Prophet's head by repeatedly writing the phrase "I must not draw Mohammed" over it. The newspaper's editorial...

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's leading newspaper El Pais on Friday became part of a growing international row by publishing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad on its front page. The cartoon, originally published by France's Le Monde, portrayed the head of the Prophet Mohammad made up of lines which say "I must not draw Mohammad" in French. Newspapers in France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Hungary...

The Danish Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia was the target of a demonstration today by 200 – 300 people from the Front of the Defenders of Islam (FPI) who were protesting to show their contempt for drawings of the Prophet Muhammad featured last year in a Danish newspaper. The protesters smashed lamps with bamboo sticks and threw chairs around, and shouted "Allahu Akbar" meaning "God is Great". They...

For most of us in the news business, our thoughts, best wishes, prayers and hopes are pulling for the recovery of ABC News co-anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt. The pair was seriously injured in Iraq Sunday when an armored vehicle in which they were riding ran over a homemade bomb. Woodruff reportedly suffered broken ribs, a broken shoulder and a skull fracture. So far, there has been no...

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Once upon a time, you checked your local newspaper's film critic for advice about what to see on any given weekend. Or maybe you read the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly or the New Yorker, or checked out TV critics with national clout such as Roger Ebert or Gene Shalit. Not anymore. With the advent of the Internet, geography is history. Today, more than 90%...

Nepal stands on the brink of "becoming an isolated pariah state" unless it urgently restores democratic rule, freedom of expression and respects the rights of journalists. ENGENDERED: Riot police officers detain a pro-democracy activist during a demonstration on the anniversary of King Gyanendra's absolute rule in Katmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2006. Nepal's king announced Wednesday he would...