“Marine Gen. John Allen flew to Logar province to personally deliver his regrets to villagers and provincial officials for the deaths of women, children and village elders in Wednesday’s pre-dawn raid to capture a Taliban operative. Afghan officials have said the airstrike called in by NATO troops killed 18 civilians”:
- NATO Apologizes for Civilian Deaths in Afghan Airstrike (Christian Science Monitor)
Blaming “several longtime commissioners” the “suit quotes Shea as writing that ‘hiring a Muslim like Ms. Ghori-Ahmad to analyze religious freedom in Pakistan would be like “hiring an IRA activist to research the UK twenty years ago”’â€:
- Federal Lawsuit Charges Religious Freedom Commission with Discriminating Against Muslims (AP / Washington Post)
“Writing a new constitution is a key step in Egypt’s transition because it will not only define the powers of the new president and the parliament, but it will also lay out the relationship between Islam and the state and define the military’s role in politics”
- Egypt’s Islamists Give Secular Parties Equal Role in Constitution Writing (Christian Science Monitor)
“On what was supposed to be the “Friday of Isolating Ahmed Shafiq,†a call to protest the Egyptian presidential candidate who was Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister, the crowd in Tahrir Square could be counted in the hundreds”:
- Empty Tahrir Square Underscores Split Between Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s Revolutionaries (Kanas City Star)
In Europe, “backlash against Muslim integration will continue to come from … the populist movements that are in a stronger position because of the recession and the currency crisis, and from foreign governments and international movements that don’t intend to let go without a fight” despite “signs of Muslims’ social and political normalization”:
- Islam’s Place in Europe (Global Public Square)
The debate over Islam and hip hop in Europe is heating up as governments wade in:
- Don’t Panik! Islam and Europe’s ‘Hip Hop Wars’Â (Al Jazeera)
Sectarian tension escalates in Syria and raises fears of an Iraq-style sectarian bloodbath and worsened tensions between Shi’ite Iran and mainly Sunni-led Arab states:
- Killings Suggest Syria Already in the Grip of Sectarian Conflict (Irish Times)
- U.N. Monitors Shot at in Syria, Annan Plan Crumbles (Reuters)
- U.N. Monitors Investigate Syrian Massacre (Washington Post with Foreign Policy)
“Do the US and Israel believe that Iran has a nuclear weapons program? Â Did President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad really promise to ‘wipe Israel off the map’? Â The answers may surprise you”:
- Iran’s Nuclear Program: 4 Things You Probably Didn’t Know (Christian Science Monitor)
“The leader of a Belgian Islamist group, Sharia4Belgium, was arrested on Thursday for posting an Internet video urging attacks on non-Muslims after a woman was detained in Brussels for wearing a face veil” and “detained at his home in … Antwerp and remanded in custody on suspicion of breaking anti-discrimination laws and inciting violence”:
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