WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump retweeted a string of inflammatory videos Wednesday that purported to show violence being committed by Muslims, drawing quick condemnation from civil rights groups who said the president was fanning anti-Muslim sentiment just as he did during his presidential campaign. Trump retweeted videos from Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — The share of Americans who identify as white and Christian has dropped below 50 percent, a transformation fueled by immigration and by growing numbers of people who reject organized religion altogether, according to a new survey released Wednesday. Christians overall remain a large majority in the U.S., at nearly 70 percent … Continue reading
HOUSTON (AP) — The gymnasium at the Champions Islamic Center is covered with mats and blankets, donated clothes and boxes of food lining its walls. On the eve of the Eid al-Adha festival, one of Islam’s holiest days, it’s become the temporary home for 15 of the thousands of Harvey evacuees, Muslim and non-Muslim. And … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s maiden international trip, a five-stop marathon across the Middle East and Europe, has long loomed as a crucial first test abroad for the chaos-courting president. That was before he fired his FBI director — and the chain reaction of scandal that followed. Now, with the eyes of the world … Continue reading
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Police officers have killed four suspected extremists in Kenya’s volatile Mandera County, a border region hard-hit by recent attacks by the Somali extremist group al-Shabab. Police killed the men at the Somali border while ambushing a group of about 20 suspected members of a cell of al-Shabab militants on Saturday, North … Continue reading
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has slammed President-elect Donald Trump over his “escalating statements… against Islam and Muslims,” and criticized him for not distinguishing between radical and moderate Muslims. In written statement issued Thursday, the influential anti-U.S. cleric responded to the outcome of the U.S. presidential election saying “Even if the president … Continue reading
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the stabbings of nine people at a Minnesota mall as a potential act of terrorism, a finding that would realize long-held fears of an attack in the immigrant-rich state that has struggled to stop the recruiting of its young men by groups including the Islamic State. A … Continue reading
CAIRO (AP ) — An armed Muslim mob stripped an elderly Christian woman and paraded her naked on the streets in an attack last week in which seven Christian homes were also looted and torched in a province south of the Egyptian capital. According to the local Orthodox Coptic church and security officials, the assault … Continue reading
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Months before Abu Sayyaf militants beheaded retired Canadian mining executive John Ridsdel in the tropical jungles of the southern Philippines, they showed him pleading for life in a video with three other hostages that demanded a record-high ransom. The scene was all too familiar in a Southeast Asian nation that has … Continue reading
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The suicide bombing in the city of Lahore on Easter underscores how Pakistan’s Christian minority has become an easy target for the country’s Islamic militants, although Muslims also were among the victims. There are barely 2.5 million Christians in the mostly Muslim country of 180 million, and they say they worry about … Continue reading
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — In an emotional televised address, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed Monday to hunt down and defeat the militants who have been carrying out attacks like the Easter bombing that targeted Christians and killed 72 people. “We will not allow them to play with the lives of the people of Pakistan,” Sharif … Continue reading
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Some American Muslims feel they are once again on the defensive following presidential candidate Ted Cruz’s suggestion that Muslim-dominated neighborhoods should be subject to increased surveillance in the wake of the deadly attacks in Brussels claimed by the Islamic State militant group. “We’re targeted even if it’s not our fault,” … Continue reading
DALLAS (AP) — On a sofa in their small apartment, Bashar al Jaddou’s three children climb on his lap and speak in quick, soft Arabic as a photographer takes their picture. They smile and mug for the camera. The 30-year-old al Jaddou decided to leave Syria in 2012 after his family’s home in Homs … Continue reading
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Muslims around the U.S. are facing backlash following the deadly attacks in Paris, including vandalism to mosques and Islamic centers, hate-filled phone and online messages and threats of violence. Advocacy leaders say they have come to expect some anti-Muslim sentiment following such attacks, but they now see a spike that seems … Continue reading
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Sixty-three senior police officers, including a police spokesman, have been fired for “corruption and integrity issues,” an official of the Kenyan National Police Service Commission said Thursday. The investigations have revealed a hierarchy in the way proceeds of corruption are shared among police officers, Johnstone Kavuludi said. “During the vetting, investigations … Continue reading
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