Dentist to become 1st Sikh soldier to complete Army officer school in decades

1st Sikh in decades to wrap up Army officer school

Protesting in verse: A Saudi woman criticizes Muslim clerics’ in a TV poetry contest

Saudi woman blasts clerics in TV contest poem

Islamic clerics in Yemen declare supporters of child bride ban to be apostates

Top Yemeni clerics oppose ban on child brides

World Expo in Shanghai to showcase China’s rise as modern power, world’s green ambitions

Shanghai World Expo forecasts 70 million visitors

West Bengal doubles funds for Muslims, madrasas education

KOLKATA - In an apparent bid to woo the Muslims ahead of next year’s assembly polls, the West Bengal government Monday proposed to more than double the plan outlay for minorities and madrasa education from Rs.121 crore to Rs.300 crore next year.

Religious leaders discuss HIV issues in the Netherlands

AMSTERDAM - Religious leaders and top UN officials began Monday a two-day conference in the Netherlands to debate HIV issues and religions’ response to the illness.

BJP leader calls for Hindu state again in Nepal

KATHMANDU - A little-known Hindu organisation’s call for reinstatement of a Hindu state in Nepal received an unexpected support here from a visiting top leader of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

Bareilly’s Hindus, Muslims rebuild shrines and peace

BAREILLY - If the recent riots made Bareilly cry for peace, the trouble-torn district in western Uttar Pradesh is now witnessing a rare show of communal harmony now — Muslims taking up the construction of a damaged temple and Hindus joining hands to restore a mazar (mausoleum).

Germany’s Regensburg diocese says 6 people accused of abuse, asks for forgiveness

German diocese say 6 accused over abuse

REGENSBURG, Germany — The Regensburg diocese in the pope’s native Bavaria says six people there face sexual abuse allegations, many of them dating back decades.

Bangladesh Islamist leaders sued for hurting Muslim sentiments

DHAKA - Top leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, have been sued for hurting Muslim sentiments by a comparison with the prophet at a public function, a media report said.

West Nepal shut down by group seeking Hindu state

KATHMANDU - Violence erupted in western Nepal Monday as a Hindu group clamped a shutdown demanding the restoration of a Hindu state ahead of the promulgation of a new constitution in May.