International

(CNSNews.com) - More than two dozen people have been killed in another weekend of Muslim rioting linked to cartoons of the Muslim prophet Mohammed, with the most serious violence occurring in Nigeria, where Christians bore the brunt of Muslim anger. At least 16 people were killed in the country's northern Borno state, and Muslim rioters also torched more than a dozen churches and businesses linked...

TALLINN, Estonia (UPI) -- Even as many Russian commentators continue to speculate about who is behind Muslim protests against the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, some Russian analysts are beginning to consider the broader issues of whether and how these events may shift the positions many countries have on other issues. Virtually all Moscow commentaries suggest that the dispute by putting...

Kano - The northern Nigerian state of Gombe on Monday banned a planned protest over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad after demonstrations in two other cities sparked riots claiming 16 lives. "We will not allow the processions against the Danish cartoons planned for today to go on," state police commissioner Atiku Yusuf told AFP over phone. "This is in the interest of peace," he said. "Of course...

ALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Hundreds of Afghan students shouted support on Monday for Osama bin Laden and threatened to join al Qaeda during a protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. Speaking after a weekend of deadly riots in Nigeria and Libya, Pope Benedict said the world's religions and their symbols had to be respected but warned such protests were wrong. However, Pakistan's...

THE Danish cartoonist whose depiction of the prophet Muhammad has sparked a worldwide furore says he has no regrets about the drawings. Kurt Westergaard told a Glasgow newspaper, The Herald, that his inspiration for the pictures was terrorism, which he said received "spiritual ammunition" from Islam. Westergaard defended the drawings on the grounds of freedom of expression and the press. He is now...

They may have graphic depictions for anything under the sun, but not even the best cartoonists could have illustrated the type of fury that would result from the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons’ controversy. The Muslim world is incensed. Passions are overflowing. Protesters are igniting embassies with flames. Effigies are getting burnt and stomped on. Smoke bellows out of city centres. United...

In Palestinian towns, for several weeks now, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets seeking vengeance and international apologies for blasphemy. The same scene was repeated, with alarming regularity and furor, in Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia as Muslims clamored indignantly and threatened death to those who had perpetrated these horrific acts against Islam. Jordan’s mass...

The television cartoon show of a Virgin Mary statue bleeding will go to air despite Catholic bishops urging their congregations to boycott TV3's news and advertisers. Responding to an open letter from Catholic bishops, the chief of TV3 and sister channel C4 said if Catholics feared they might be offended by the "Bloody Mary" episode of the South Park show, they should switch it off. "We absolutely...

A New Zealand television network says it plans to show a controversial cartoon depicting a statue of the Virgin Mary bleeding, despite a boycott call by Catholic bishops read at masses throughout the country. New Zealand's seven Catholic bishops signed a pastoral letter read to worshippers at Sunday services dubbing the Bloody Mary episode of the South Park cartoon series due to be screened in May...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the closure of Russian newspaper Gorodskiye Vesti (City of Volgograd), following the publication of a cartoon showing the Prophet Mohammed and other religious figures last week. "At a time when editorial independence needs to be defended, we find the closure of this newspaper shocking," IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said in a...