U.S. Copts Association

Rights group highlights ‘increasing incidence’ of gruesome methods by Ethiopian forces in Somalia.
NAIROBI - Ethiopian troops in Somalia are increasingly resorting to throat-slitting executions, Amnesty International (AI) said Tuesday in a new report on the killing of civilians in Somalia.

The report by the rights watchdog said the blame for civilian deaths was shared by all parties in the conflict, but highlighted an “increasing incidence” of gruesome methods by Ethiopian forces.
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State-backed body representing Muslims in France shrouded in uncertainty once again.
PARIS - The future of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), the state-backed body meant to represent the country’s second-largest religion, is once again shrouded in uncertainty.

The Grand Mosque of Paris (GMP) announced on Saturday it would boycott elections next month for the CFCM leadership.
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By Dean Yates

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military has “multiple” detainees who say the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah is providing training near Tehran for Iraqi militants, a senior military official said on Monday.

Colonel Donald Bacon, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said interrogation transcripts from these detainees were recently given to the Iraqi government.
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By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict and the Archbishop of Canterbury discussed Christian-Muslim relations on Monday in their first meeting since the Anglican leader caused a storm with comments on the role of Sharia law in Britain.

The Vatican said the Pope had received Rowan Williams in a private audience but gave no details.
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Authorities now accuse Shi Weihan as ‘dangerous religious element.’

LOS ANGELES, May 2 (Compass Direct News) - An advocacy organization reported this week that Chinese authorities now accuse a Beijing businessman of being a “dangerous religious element” - which a long-time friend dismissed as contrary to Christian bookstore owner Shi Weihan’s gentle, patriotic nature.
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Vatican, Iranian representatives call for mutual respect between Christians, Muslims.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday met an Iranian Muslim delegation taking part in a seminar on “faith and reason” in Christianity and Islam, the Vatican said.

The delegation was led by the head of Iran’s Islamic Culture and Relations Organisation, Mahdi Mostafavi, the Holy See said in a communique.
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Al-Qaeda is still the greatest terrorist threat to the US and its allies, according to a report from the US state department.

The department’s annual Country Reports on Terrorism also names Iran as the biggest state sponsor of terrorism.
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Democratic US presidential hopeful Barack Obama has expressed “outrage” at comments made by Rev Jeremiah Wright.

He said that any relationship he had with his former pastor “has now changed” as a result of the comments.
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FAILURES OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY 

Apostasy is the renunciation of religious faith, and apostasy from Islam in particular has always been a contentious issue. Although the Qur’an does not prescribe a temporal punishment for apostasy, the vast majority of traditional Islamic theology and jurisprudence has advocated the death penalty for a mentally sane male apostate and life-long imprisonment or harsh treatment for a female apostate. Proponents of the death penalty have legitimised their stance from the sayings and deeds attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, his companions and subsequent caliphs.

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A French delegate to a conference of socialists in Lebanon has said he was detained by gunmen linked to the Islamist movement Hezbollah.

Karim Pakzad said he was held for four hours after being stopped while taking photographs from an open-top car in an area known as a Hezbollah stronghold.
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