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Reuters blog archive
from FaithWorld:
European Jewish groups vow to fight Dutch ritual slaughter ban
(A kosher food shop in Berlin's Mitte district November 3, 2008/Fabrizio Bensch)
Two leading Jewish organizations in Europe vowed on Wednesday to fight a looming ban on ritual animal slaughter in the Netherlands approved by the lower house of the Dutch parliament in a bid to protect animal rights.
The European Jewish Congress (EJC) announced it was considering taking legal action to block the ban, which it said violated the freedom of religion enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights.
The Conference of European Rabbis (CER) appealed to the Dutch Senate, which must approve the bill before it can become law, to block the ban that the lower house approved on Tuesday.
from Oddly Enough Blog:
The most romantic protests ever?
Blog Guy, I read that they're having street protests in Casablanca. Can you give us some details?
You know I don't like to do research.
Well, maybe you could just look at some recent photos and guess what's going on, as usual?
from Photographers Blog:
Spain’s spontaneous street revolution
What soon became known as “The 15M Movement” and its camped-out protesters labeled “The Indignant” caught me, and the rest of Spain, totally by surprise. As one demonstrator’s sign read “Nobody expected the Spanish Revolution” couldn’t have been more true! The surprise came not from the lack of a cause for protest, in a country in which the unemployment rate of 22% is the highest in Europe, but rather the spontaneity of the movement, its resolve to stick it out through weeks of massive outdoor camps in city squares across Spain and its ability to remain a largely peaceful demonstration.
Since the crisis began in Spain, photographer Andrea Comas covered press conferences by Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, ministers announcing several major economic reforms, meetings between the main unions, employers and government, fighting between the ruling Socialists and the opposition Popular Party at Parliament, a trade union demonstration, a relatively weak general strike and, hardest of all, the unemployment lines. The economic numbers and unemployment were particularly devastating. And yet, out in the street nothing was happening. Far less happened than during the mass protests over the war in Iraq. But whoever you talked to, everyone was worried, tightening their belts and angry with the politicians and bankers.
from FaithWorld:
Sunni-Shi’ite sectarian divide widens after Bahrain unrest
(A new sign showing the direction towards Al Farooq Junction, previously known as Pearl Square, stands along a road in Manama May 31, 2011. Bahraini authorities demolished the monument in Pearl Square in March following the country's unrest where thousands of Shiite Muslims protested by camping there/Hamad I Mohammed)
Sectarian tension between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims has reached new heights in Bahrain after pro-democracy protests that the Sunni minority government crushed with martial law and foreign military forces. Inspired by the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, Sunni and Shi'ite Bahrainis took to the streets in early February to demand political reforms in a country where the ruling Al Khalifa family appoints cabinet ministers and an upper house of parliament, neutering the powers of the elected assembly.
from FaithWorld:
Protests in Bahrain’s Shi’ite neighbourhoods fall on deaf ears
(Shi'ite protesters march in the Sanabis neighbourhood in Manama June 3, 2011/Hamad I Mohammed)
In a poor district of Bahrain's capital, a few hundred people marched through cramped, crumbling alleyways banging pans and screaming, "Down with the regime." A mile (1.5 km) away, in the city centre, with its gleaming malls and office blocks, no one heard them.
from FaithWorld:
Indian police break up hunger strike by yoga guru Swami Ramdev
(A supporter of India's yoga guru Swami Ramdev is detained by police at the Ramlila grounds where Ramdev was observing his fast against corruption in New Delhi June 5, 2011/stringer)
Police swooped on India's most famous yoga guru on Sunday, using teargas and batons to break up a fast against graft, risking more political headaches for scandal-tainted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Swami Ramdev began his hunger strike with tens of thousands of followers at a tent in New Delhi on Saturday. Less than 24 hours into the fast, police detained him and flew him to near Haridwar in northern India, centre of his global yoga business.
from FaithWorld:
Shi’ites say they endured reign of terror under martial law in Sunni-ruled Bahrain
(Martial law troops at Salmaniya Hospital in Manama March 18, 2011/Hamad I Mohammed)
Bahraini Shi'ites say they have endured a reign of terror during 11 weeks of martial law imposed to break up a pro-democracy movement that for the first time threatened the control of a Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab dynasty. Martial law was lifted on Wednesday. The authorities hope this will show investors and tourists that the island state is back to normal.
from FaithWorld:
Did Bahrain’s Shi’ite opposition squander its democracy chance?
(Thousands of protesters gather at Pearl Roundabout in the heart of the Bahraini capital Manama February 15, 2011/Hamad I Mohammed)
As martial law comes to an end in the Gulf Arab state of Bahrain this week, opposition activists are wondering whether they threw away what might have been the first real chance for democracy in the Gulf Arab region.
from FaithWorld:
Bahrain Sunni says majority Shi’ite opposition must change leaders
(An anti-government protester waves a Bahraini flag during a rally in Manama March 3, 2011/James Lawler Duggan)
Bahrain's opposition must change its leadership for the divided Gulf Arab state to move on with political reconciliation after crushing a pro-democracy movement led by majority Shi'ites, a Sunni cleric said on Saturday. Sheikh Abdullatif Al-Mahmoud said the democracy movement, which began in February when protesters inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt occupied a roundabout in Manama, had been hijacked by Shi'ite opposition leaders with a sectarian agenda who were in contact with Iran's clerical leadership.
from FaithWorld:
Bahrain Shi’ite leader backs the royal family, rejects alleged Iran links
(Head of Al Wafaq Society, Sheikh Ali Salman, speaks during an anti-government protest at Bahrian's Foreign Ministry in Manama March 4, 2011/James Lawler Duggan)
The leader of Bahrain's main Shi'ite opposition party said on Sunday his goal was to help bring political reform, rejecting accusations of taking orders from Iran or seeking to install Shi'ite religious rule. Sheikh Ali Salman, head of the opposition group Wefaq, said his party supported the Al Khalifa family as rulers and wanted to help the government with constitutional reforms.
