International

Free expression groups from around the world gathering in Brussels February 20 at the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) conference pledged themselves to confront a "growing number of attacks against the media." "It's no news to anyone here that the war on terror has put freedom of expression under threat," said Christopher Warren, the International Federation of Journalists' (IFJ...

Tehran, Iran, Feb. 19 – Iran criticised its principal opposition movement on Saturday for charging that it was behind the recent violence over cartoons depicting negatively the Islamic prophet Muhammad published in European dailies. A coalition of Iranian dissidents, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), had accused Tehran of dispatching several clerics to European and Muslim...

The Danish newspaper that published the Mohammed cartoons said Sunday that it had not published an apology to Muslims in Saudi Arabian newspapers, but that these newspapers had simply republished an apology posted on its web site earlier this month. Full-page advertisements appeared in Asharq al-Awsat, which is printed around the Arab world, as well as the local al-Riyadh and al-Jazira. "Allow me...

Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten has denied reports that it was behind an ad published in Arabic-language newspapers to apologize for cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad that have sparked deadly protests around the world. Earlier, news agencies reported Saudi Arabian newspapers printed an apology on behalf of the Danish newspaper. The full-page advertisements appeared in al-Sharq al-Awsat...

A student newspaper at Canada's largest university is refusing to back down after publishing a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus kissing. The cartoon was published last Wednesday alongside an editorial addressing the debate on whether to publish controversial Danish cartoons that have sparked protest around the world Nick Ragaz, managing editor for the Strand, says the newspaper is...

A student newspaper at the University of Toronto will not be pressured into pulling a cartoon from their website of the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus kissing despite demands from the Students' Administrative Council and the Muslim Students' Association, its editor says. "The cartoon is a sort of Canadian statement on religious tolerance," said Nick Ragaz, managing editor of The Strand, the student...

RIYADH Saudi newspapers Sunday published full-page apologies by the Danish newspaper that first ran cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that have touched off violent anti-western protests around the Muslim world. But Jyllands-Posten's website said the newspaper wasn't involved in the ads. It said businesses placed the ad on their own initiative, using an apology issued by the newspaper late last...

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian newspapers on Sunday printed an apology by the Danish paper whose cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad have sparked deadly protests around the world. "Allow me in the name of Jyllands-Posten to apologize for what happened and declare my strong condemnation of any step that attacks specific religions, ethnic groups and peoples. I hope that with this I have...

Childish. Irresponsible. Hate speech. A provocation just for the sake of provocation. A PR stunt. Critics of 12 cartoons of the prophet Muhammad I decided to publish in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten have not minced their words. They say that freedom of expression does not imply an endorsement of insulting people's religious feelings, and besides, they add, the media censor themselves every...

LINXIA: China Religion is often hidden in China, so the unabashed public display of Islam here in the city known as Little Mecca is particularly striking. Men have beards and wear white caps. Women wear head scarves. Minarets poke up from large mosques. A bookstore sells Korans and religious study guides in Arabic. These are reminders that with almost 21 million followers of Islam, China has...