International

VOLGOGRAD, February 16 (Itar-Tass) - Volgograd authorities have closed the Gorodskiye Vesti /City News/ daily over the publication of a religious cartoon. The relevant instruction was signed by acting mayor Andrei Doronin on Wednesday evening. On February 9, the newspaper published a cartoon, as an illustration to the article titled "Racists Have No Place in Government." It depicts Jesus, Moses...

JEDDAH – Saudi Arabia has urged all countries and governments to respect sanctities of all religions and join hands in the efforts to ensure peaceful coexistence of civilisations, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has called for joint efforts with the European Union to adopt United Nations resolution to prohibit blasphemy of all religions...

JUST when it has become apparent to levelheaded people around the world that what is needed in the Danish cartoons row is a period of calm, an Italian government minister tries to make things worse. Roberto Calderoli, Italy’s minister for reform has had T-shirts printed with the offensive cartoons and says he plans to wear them. This is not only outrageous, it is unbelievable. In all the furor, no...

THREE people died yesterday as more than 70,000 demonstrators took part in Pakistan’s biggest protest against cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Police, who used teargas to disperse mobs that were ransacking franchises of Western shops and fast-food restaurants, were drawn into gun battles in several cities. An eight-year-old boy was killed in Peshawar when a protester shot into a crowd, and...

ROME: Italy's Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli said on Wednesday he had been asked to resign after he had a T-shirt made emblazoned with cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. Calderoli, who is a member of the radical Northern League party, unbuttoned his shirt on state television RAI to show he was wearing one of the T-shirts. "(Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi) has even asked me to resign," he said...

BERLIN, Feb. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said here Wednesday that she will meet Muslim leaders in the country aiming at calm down the anger over the publication of caricature depicting the Prophet Mohammad. In an interview with the Stern magazine, Merkel said she was "very encouraged" over public calls for calm made by Muslim leaders in Germany. But she did not say when and...

It was not surprising to see news of violent protests against cartoons defaming the Muslim prophet Muhammad, nor was it surprising to read of the indignant response to these protests on the part of European governments. Careful diplomacy does not seem to be the modus operandi of the world we live in. But if we are to think beyond the steadfast principles Europeans and Muslims bring up in this...

The publication Spare Change News today published one of the hugely controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad and called other Boston newspapers "cowardly" for refusing to print the drawings that have touched off weeks of rioting. The biweekly newspaper, which is mostly distributed by members of the homeless community, juxtaposed one of the offending cartoons, which has fueled riots in...

Russian prosecutors has opened an investigation after a newspaper in the southern city of Volgograd published a cartoon of Jesus, Moses, Buddha and the Prophet Mohammed, a senior prosecutor said today. The Prosecutor General’s office for southern Russia has sent investigators to the city to determine whether to open a criminal case for inciting religious hatred, said Deputy Prosecutor General...

MOSCOW, February 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's media and culture watchdog pledged Wednesday to take tough measures against any publications in the country insulting religious feelings. "Measures envisaged in Russian legislation, including the cancellation [of a body's] registration, will be taken if some Russian media issue materials insulting religious feelings," the Federal Service for the...