Christians in Muslim-majority Malaysia can use the word "Allah" in publications, a court ruled Wednesday, overturning a decades-old ban after a lengthy legal battle that fuelled religious tensions.The Arabic word for God has long been divisive in Malaysia, with Christians complaining attempts to stop them using it highlight creeping Islamisation.
The following is the full speech delivered by Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic in Les Mureaux, outside Paris, France on 2 October, 2020.
By the time COVID-19 reached South Asia, it had already penetrated most other regions of the world. Pakistan was one of the first in the region to be hit. In late February, Shia pilgrims who had come in contact with Chinese pilgrims while visiting holy sites in Iran brought it home with them. Not long after, Indian expatriates visiting from the United States (US) carried the virus to India.
A Buddhist monk scrawls a prayer on an orange face mask beseeching "an end to the suffering" caused by the deadly coronavirus - a finishing touch to the facial covering weaved out of recycled plastic at one Thai temple.The country has one of the highest numbers of confirmed cases in Southeast Asia, and over the weekend infections doubled to 721 in a pandemic that has killed more than 15,000 globally.As borders close and public spaces shut down, a group of innovative monks near Bangk
The COVID-19 pandemic started in the city of Wuhan in China. However, the once epicentre of the virus has closed all of its public facility-turned temporary hospitals on 10 March as the number of infected patients continues to decrease. According to local media in the country, life in China is gradually returning to normal since the lockdown.
Six Malaysian Muslims have reportedly been handed one-month jail terms for skipping prayers in violation of Islamic laws, sparking fresh concern Wednesday about rising religious conservatism in the multi-ethnic country.Attending Friday prayers is obligatory for Muslim men in Malaysia, but it is rare for such harsh punishments to be meted out for missing them.Aged 17 to 35, the men had been caught having a picnic by a waterfall instead of taking part in prayers on a Friday, the holiest day of
More than 500 people were arrested after clashes in Indonesia's capital amid nationwide protests against a raft of divisive reforms - including banning pre-marital sex and weakening the anti-graft agency - authorities said Tuesday.The arrests came after a night of pitched street battles between riot police and stone-throwing protesters - many high school and university students - in Jakarta's sprawling downtown core.Security forces geared up for more unrest Tuesday as some 575 lawma
As Malaysia celebrates its 62nd Independence Day today, the country can reflect upon six decades of peace and progress since the country’s first Prime Minister, Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj, declared Malaya’s independence from the British in 1957.Its rich resources paved the way for a thriving trade in agriculture and commodities, and diversification efforts have since created healthy manufacturing and services sectors - with the country’s open economy making it one of the world’s leading export
At least some form of religious intolerance is apparent in several ASEAN countries. Myanmar has its conflict with the Rohingya issue which is propagating religious intolerance among the country’s Buddhists and Muslims. Similarly, Thailand’s deep south insurgency has resulted in some level of intolerance among the Buddhists and Muslims there as well.
A hijab-wearing, diminutive Malaysian wrestler known as "Phoenix" cuts an unusual figure in the ring, a female Muslim fighter taking on hulking opponents in a male-dominated world.Dressed in flame-patterned trousers, a black and orange hijab and top, Nor Diana uses sophisticated moves to throw and pin down her larger rivals in front of hundreds of cheering spectators. Standing just 155 centimetres (five-foot, one inch) tall and weighing 43 kilograms (six stone, 10 pounds),
Ultra-nationalist monks in Myanmar accepted a cash donation from the military on Monday while condemning Aung San Suu Kyi and her government for allowing Rohingya Muslims to enter the country "illegally".Hundreds of monks swathed in saffron and maroon robes filed early morning into a Yangon monastery for the annual meeting of the Buddha Dhamma Parahita Foundation.The group was known as Ma Ba Tha until a ban by the government and religious authorities in 2017 aimed at curbing its inf
A man was nailed to a cross with up to 10 more to follow while barefoot men beat themselves with flails on Good Friday, in a blood-soaked display of religious fervour in the Philippines.Frowned upon by the Church, the ritual crucifixions and self-flagellation in the north of the country are extreme affirmations of faith performed every Easter in Asia's Catholic outpost.Wilfredo Salvador stared at the sky and appeared to mumble a prayer after the slight 62-year-old with wild grey hair and
