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South Asia
Over 1,000 Indian Muslim clerics deem IS ‘un-Islamic’
More than 1,000 Muslim clerics in India have backed a religious ruling condemning the Islamic State, calling the extremist group’s actions “un-Islamic.” Religious leaders from hundreds of mosques, education institutions and civic groups across India have signed the edict, or fatwa, saying the actions of the Islamic State group went…
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West Asia
Iranian photographer to share prize money with refugees
Iranian photographer Newsha Tavakolian has said she will donate part of a 100,000-euro ($112,000) Dutch award to charity, including Syrian and Iraqi refugees. “It is hard for me to enjoy this prize as much as I would like to, seeing the region where I work and live in flames and…
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West Asia
Syrian boy’s death sparks media’s attention
As many Syrian refugee families, Abduallah Kurdi’s family was trying to take shelter in another country, when the wife and the two kids died. In a rubber raft, they were trying to make their way from Turkey to Greece, when the waves hit the boat, and the two boys, Aylan…
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West Asia
Egyptian billionaire offers to buy island for refugees
Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, telecom tycoon and owner of an Egyptian TV channel, has offered to buy an island off the shores of Greece or Italy and develop it to help thousands of refugees. He first wrote on Twitter, “Greece or Italy sell me an island, I’ll call its independence…
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South Asia
61 infants died at Indian hospital in 2 weeks
Sixty-one infants have died at a children’s hospital in Cuttack, India in just two weeks, sparking protests and forcing the state government to launch an investigation. The deaths highlight the challenges faced in India’s underfunded public health system, where successive governments have failed to address the acute shortage of staff…
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West Asia
Qatar to finish first world cup venue by 2016
According to Qatari officials, it’s expected that Qatar, the host of the next football world cup on 2022, will finish work on it’s first tournament venue by 2016, 6 years before the event takes place. It is also the venue for the 2019 World Athletics Championships, the first time that…
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West Asia
UAE’s Filipino Times Awards honors exemplary Filipinos
Recognizing global success and world-class excellence, The Filipino Times Awards 2015 has successfully gathered the most influential of UAE’s Filipino community in a red-carpet event in honor of exemplary Filipinos and in recognition of top brands which Filipinos prefer. The role of Filipinos in nation building across the globe has become…
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West Asia
Egyptian imam suspended over ‘Facebook prayer call’
An imam in Cairo has been suspended by the authorities after being accused of intoning “Prayer is better than Facebook” in his early morning call for people to pray, AFP reports. The action was taken against Mahmud al-Moghazi, who denies the charge, after devout Muslims complained that he had altered…
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South Asia
Indian village council orders rape of two sisters for brother’s elopement
An unofficial, all-male village council in India’s Uttar Pradesh state has ordered the rape of two young sisters after their brother eloped with a woman of a higher caste. The ‘sentence’ was handed down after the brother of two girls aged 23 and 15, the elder of whom is…
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West Asia
Social media saves Syrian refugee
When Gissur Simonarson, an activist from Oslo, Norway, posted a photo on his twitter of a father selling pens on the streets of Beirut as he cradled his sleeping daughter, he struck a chord with more than 6,000 followers. Requests came offering to help the man, but Simonarson didn’t know the…
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