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Opposition says prime minister targeting Muslim minority with ‘hate speech’ and violating election rulesIndia’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been accused of hate speech during a campaign rally where he called Muslims “infiltrators” who had “many children” and claimed they would take people’s hard-earned money.The opposition accused Modi of “blatantly targeting” India’s 200 million Muslim minority with comments made while addressing voters at a...

Pope Francis to attend installation that includes short film featuring Zoë Saldaña and Giudecca inmatesOriginally a convent dating to the 13th century, and once a reformatory for prostitutes, the Giudecca women’s prison, set on an island in the Venetian lagoon, will this summer perform a quite different role: as the official pavilion for the Vatican at this year’s Venice Biennale.Pope Francis is due to...

Gabriel Attal says state will file a complaint against student over accusation against principal who had to resign for his safetyThe French prime minister, Gabriel Attal, has defended French secularism following the resignation of a Paris school principal who received death threats after asking a student to remove her Muslim veil on the premises.Attal, a former education minister, said the state would be filing...

Citizenship amendment act grants Indian nationality to refugees who are Hindu, Christian, Parsi, Jain or Buddhist, but not MuslimThe Indian government has enacted a divisive citizenship law that critics say discriminates against Muslims, just weeks before prime minister Narendra Modi heads into a general election.The law, known as the citizenship amendment act (CAA), was one of the most controversial pieces of legislation proposed by...

Displaced families prepare to spend holy month in Rafah amid food shortages and fear of attackMiddle East crisis – live updatesSeventy days after they were forced to leave their house in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, Hanaa al-Masry, her husband and their six children are preparing for Ramadan in their new home: a dilapidated tent. Here, there will be no decorations, no...

Prayer room of Great Mosque of Algiers, beset by political wrangling and cost overruns, accommodates 120,000 peopleAlgeria has inaugurated a gigantic mosque on its Mediterranean coastline after years of political upheaval transformed the project from a symbol of state-sponsored strength and religiosity to one of delays and cost overruns.Built by a Chinese construction firm throughout the 2010s, the Great Mosque of Algiers features the...

Controversy in West Bengal centres around Akbar and Sita, named for a Hindu deity, being placed in the same enclosureAn Indian Hindu nationalist organisation has launched a court petition to stop two lions named after a Hindu deity and a 16th-century Muslim emperor from sharing a zoo enclosure.Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a prominent rightwing Hindu organisation, went to court in the state of West...

Fears decision on Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi could increase religious tensions and inspire more claimsAn Indian court has ruled that Hindus can worship inside a contested mosque, a verdict that it is feared will increase religious tensions and galvanise further claims against other Muslim places of worship.Gyanvapi mosque, in the holy city of Varanasi, was built in the 17th century by the Mughal emperor...

Shop will be open only to non-Muslim diplomats – but some fear it is first step to wider availability of alcohol in teetotal kingdomThe news that Saudi Arabia will allow its first alcohol shop has citizens and foreigners alike mulling one question: is this a minor policy tweak, or a major upheaval?Sources familiar with preparations for the store disclosed details of the plan on...

Narendra Modi hails controversial opening as fulfilment of ‘dream that many have cherished for years’More than three decades after a mob of militant Hindu radicals razed a mosque to the ground in the Indian town of Ayodhya, the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has inaugurated the new Hindu temple that will stand in its place.For some, the inauguration marks a hugely significant religious moment....

Prosecutors say they intend to charge Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and dozens of other suspects with murder and terrorismKenyan prosecutors have said they intend to charge a suspected cult leader and dozens of other suspects with murder and terrorism over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers, after a court warned it may have to free him.The self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is...

Church court says Aleksiy Uminsky broke his oath by refusing to recite ‘Prayer for Holy Rus’, which church has made compulsory at servicesA prominent liberal priest faces expulsion from the Russian Orthodox church for refusing to read out a prayer asking God to guide Russia to victory over Ukraine.In a verdict published on Saturday, a church court said Aleksiy Uminsky should be “expelled from...

New York City emergency inspection discovers potentially dangerous conditions and issues order to vacateThe illegal tunnel discovered beneath the historic Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue in Brooklyn was found to have compromised the stability of several structures surrounding the house of worship, New York City officials said on Thursday.After city officials had to conduct an emergency inspection of the building earlier this week, an order to vacate...