2005-2014

Iran's foreign minister called yesterday for an end to the violent protests over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that have left dozens dead in several Muslim countries. "We should try to cool down the situation," Manouchehr Mottaki said in Brussels. "We do not support any violence." Mr Mottaki went on to urge European Union governments and media outlets "to take initiatives" to prevent such...

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan will meet Islamic and European leaders to try to end Muslim protests over the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad that have resulted in deaths in several countries. Annan will attend a Feb. 25 meeting in Qatar of the High- Level Group for the Alliance of Civilizations, a panel he set up last year to bridge gaps...

The trial in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, involving suspended Haryana IG R K Sharma and five other accused, inched towards conclusion after a city court today recorded the deposition of the 193rd witness out of the 200, says a Press Trust of India report in outlookindia.com. With the matter being transferred to Fast Track Court on the direction of the Delhi High Court and only a few more...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed alarm at the closure of a second Russian newspaper that published religious cartoons related to the controversy over Danish drawings of the Prophet Mohammed. The weekly Nash Region in the city of Vologda ran a montage of the Danish cartoons on February 15, with some doctored or printed only partially, international and local media reported...

Feb. 20, 2006 issue - When Hamas called for the Muslim world to calm down last week, European officials hoped they'd turned a corner. They'd been looking frantically for a way out of the clash of civilizations sparked by the publication of cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad. Danish Embassies were burned in Damascus and Beirut. Afghan riots led to at least 11 deaths. Another protester was...

ABUJA, 20 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - At least 17 people, including a Catholic priest, were killed and 30 churches burned in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri when Muslims protesting cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad turned on local Christians, police said. Nigerian police spokesman Haz Iwendi said a crowd of protesters in the predominantly Muslim city targeted the Christian minority...

Vologda, February 20, Interfax - A newspaper in Vologda was shut down by its owners after it reprinted the Danish cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad, Mikhail Smirnov, the owner of the Severinform information holding to which the newspaper belongs, told the press. "The decision to close down the newspaper was made in order to ward off attacks on anyone in the editorial team," Smirnov said....

BRUSSELS, Belgium (UPI) -- The European Union`s homeland security chief suggested Monday that the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten was wrong to have published 12 caricatures of the prophet Mohammed. Since the cartoons` republication last month, almost 50 protestors have died in violent demonstrations, Christian churches have been torched and European and American embassies have been attacked across...

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18: The envoys of Organisation of Islamic Conference on Friday resolved to raise the issue of the publication of blasphemous cartoons in the United Nations General Assembly and establish a common position on the issue to reflect the sentiments and reactions of Muslims around the world. An extraordinary meeting of the OIC ambassadors was held to consider a proposal by Pakistan’s...

JEDDAH – The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) is planning an emergency meeting of foreign ministers of the member states to discuss major issues including the repercussions of the blasphemous cartoons, it was learnt here on Saturday. Secretary-General Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu is in the process of contacting member states for the purpose. According to diplomatic sources, he has...