ALGERIA - Samir Saioud, number-two of the Islamic Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat killed in fighting in Si Mustapha. (BBC, Apr 26)
MOROCCO - Govt and independence group for Western Sahara, Polisario Front, agreed to talks. They’ve been fighting for 32 years. (BBC, Apr 30)
INDONESIA - Civilian police patrol areas like Tangerang looking for alcohol or prostitutes. Many districts now have Islamic-style laws. (BBC, May 11)
TURKEY - Top court annulled parliamentary vote for Abdullah Gul, ruling Islamist party’s candidate for Pres, accusing him of an Islamist agenda. His wife, as well as that of the PM, wear scarves, hated by secularists and the army. (BBC, May 3)
AFGHANISTAN - 50 civilians killed 1st week May by US. Hundreds of families fled the area and 100 houses destroyed. 4,000 killed in 2006, many civilians. Taleban's top commander Mullah Dadullah killed in fighting with NATO. (BBC, May 2, 13)
SOMALIA - 1,400 people, mainly civilians, died in weeks of Mogadishu fighting between Mujahideen and Ethiopian troops. 400,000 fled since Feb. An EU official accused Ethiopia of war crimes. Soldiers ordered women to remove face veils and burnt them. (IOL, May 3; BBC, May 9)
MALAYSIA - 13th king, Sultan Zainal Abidin, enthroned. Under a rotational monarchy, heads of 9 states occupy the throne for 5 years. (BBC, Apr 26)
PALESTINE - 27 killed in Jewish airstrikes. 50 killed in clashes between Hamas and Fatah. (IOL, May 21)
KASHMIR - Hundreds marched to protest the demolition of a Musjid in a 16th century fort occupied by Indian forces for 17 years. (BBC, Apr 27)
USA - Somali Muslim cabdrivers at a Minnesota airport lost their legal battle after refusing to transport passengers with alcohol or dogs. They face penalties if they refuse. (IOL, Apr 19)
UK - Muslim women will be legally allowed to wear Niqab, or full-face veil, in courts. (IOL, Apr 25)
FRANCE - Graves of 59 Muslim WWI soldiers painted with Nazi swastikas. In World War 1, France mobilized 600,000 colonial subjects, including many Muslims from Algeria and Tunisia, of whom 78,000 died in the war. (IOL, Apr 21)
MOROCCO - Missionaries Christianizing lyrics of folk songs to convert Muslims. (IOL, Apr 23)
UK - Secret service MI5 is testing surveillance cameras in Muslim-dominated areas. The cameras have lenses linked to software that can indicate 50 behaviour patterns to identify a ‘potential terrorist’. It then tracks a suspect in and out of buildings and as he drives away. (IOL, Apr 22)
UK - Muslims in Clitheroe got permission to turn a former chapel into a Musjid after a 30-year struggle. There are 1,600 Musjids in UK, while 1700 Church of England churches closed since 1969. (IOL, Apr 29)
DENMARK - A Muslim woman announced she’d run for Parliament. She wears a scarf and was criticized by right-wing MPs. 3 MPs were reported to police for comparing Hijab to Nazi swastikas. (IOL, Apr 22,29)
USA - Head of US Agency for International Aid resigned over a sex scandal in the latest scandal jolting the Bush govt. World Bank pres Wolfowitz, former deputy defense secretary and architect of the Iraq war, resigned over a hefty pay raise to his girlfriend, a bank employee. (IOL, Apr 28)
PAKISTAN - Culture ministry banned the play Burqavaganza. It contains immoral scenes and remarks against the Burqa (veil). (IOL, Apr 28)
NIGERIA - Islamic police (Hisbah) demolished 4 theatres in Kano to stamp out immorality after a lesbian ‘marriage’ in one. (BBC, May 11)
PHILIPPINES - 4 children aged 4-9 of a wanted Indonesian Muslim ‘militant’ of Jemaah Islamiah were arrested. (BBC, May 11)
INDIA - 7 killed in bomb attack on Makkah Musjid in Hyderabad during Juma. (BBC, May 18)
LEBANON - Troops pounded Palestinian refugee
camp where, Fatah Islam, group ‘linked’ to al-Qaida is holed up. 40 dead in fighting. (IOL, May 21)
IRAQ - 8 US soldiers killed May 20. May could be one of the deadliest months since Mar 2003, with 76 soldiers killed already. (BBC, May 20)
WORLD NEWS MAY 2007
