Afghanistan
Afghanistan
tones down contentious marriage law - 9 July
Afghanistan's government has revised a law that stirred an
international outcry because it essentially legalized marital rape,
officials said Thursday. The new version no longer requires a woman
submit to sex with her husband, only that she do certain housework.
The changes, which parliament is expected to approve, likely reflect
a calculation by President Hamid Karzai that his reputation as a
reformer is more important than support from conservative Shiites
who favored the original bill. - AP
on Google website
Burqa
losing popularity among young Afghan women - 8 July
Nehmatullah Yusefy's burqa sales have dropped 50 percent since the
Taliban were toppled in 2001, and he says he will soon need to start
stocking other styles of Islamic dress to make up for lost profits.
Yusefy has sold the blue garb, which covers women from head to foot,
for the past 10 years. It was mandatory attire for women during the
austere rule of the Islamist Taliban. - Business
Report website
See
also :
Africa.
Egypt mourns 'headscarf martyr'
Europe.
Freedom of Religion
Iran
Iran
executes 20 on drug charges - 4 July
Iran has executed 20 people for drug trafficking, official media
says. The group - all convicted of buying, selling and possessing
drugs - were hanged in a prison in Karaj, west of Tehran. - BBC
News website
Keyphrase :
Drug smuggling
Iraq
Dutch
hand back looted Iraqi art - 9 July
The Netherlands has returned to Iraqi ownership dozens of ancient
artefacts that were stolen from the country after the US-led
invasion of 2003. The 69 items were surrendered by Dutch art
dealers after Interpol disclosed their illegal origin. Among them
was a terracotta relief of a bearded man praying, believed to be
more than 2 000 years old. - BBC
News website
US
criticised over Babylon damage - 9 July
American troops and contractors caused substantial damage to the
archaelogical site at Babylon in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, a
new UN report says. The report says key structures were harmed and
the site was subjected to "digging, cutting and
levelling". But UN cultural officials stress the damage did
not begin when the Americans arrived, or end when they left. - BBC
News website
Israel
Law
must thwart' Israeli barrier - 8 July
International aid and advocacy group Oxfam is demanding
the "triumph of the rule of law" over Israel's barrier
inside the West Bank. The campaign marks five years since an
International Court of Justice advisory opinion found its
construction was illegal and it should be dismantled. - BBC
News website