Asia Bibi, the Christian farm labourer who spent eight years on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy, is expected to leave the country after the supreme court upheld her acquittal. The court on Tuesday rejected a challenge to October’s ruling brought...
Until 29 January 2017, random motorists on the busy Chemin Sainte-Foy would sometimes pull over to the Quebec City Grand Mosque to withdraw some money. Converted from a Desjardins Bank, it still looks like one, with its rows of rectangular glass pan...
The streets of Xi’an’s Muslim quarter are bustling. Tourists from all over China and the rest of the world throng the small stalls and restaurants for delicacies such as yangrou paomo lamb stew, roujiamo lamb burgers, persimmon cakes and “smoked ice...
A senior member of India’s Congress party has been sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the mass murder of Sikhs that followed the assassination of the prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1984. Sajjan Kumar, a former MP, is the most prominent...
A handwritten missive by Albert Einstein known as the “God letter” is expected to fetch up to $1.5m (£1.2m) when it goes under the hammer. The one-and-a-half-page letter, written in 1954 in German and addressed to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, conta...
An Indian city in a state led by a hardline Hindu nationalist preacher accused of instigating violence against Muslims has had its Muslim name changed to one with Hindu associations. The state cabinet in Uttar Pradesh announced on Tuesday that it ha...
Pope Francis has made a saint of murdered Salvadoran archbishop Óscar Romero, one of the most contentious Roman Catholic figures of the 20th century. In a ceremony before tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square, Francis declared Romero and...
Ireland will hold a referendum in October to remove the offence of blasphemy from its constitution, Charlie Flanagan, the justice and equality minister, has said. The Irish government has approved the preparation of a bill to remove blasphemy as pa...
Guardsman Charanpreet Singh Lall, 22, makes history during Queen’s birthday parade A Coldstream Guards soldier has become the first person to wear a turban during the trooping the colour ceremony. More than 1,000 soldiers took part in the c...
Pope Francis has told oil company chiefs that the world must switch to clean energy because climate change risks destroying humanity. “Civilisation requires energy, but energy use must not destroy civilisation,” he said at the end of a two-day confe...
Fou Fou always liked the good things in life. The pomeranian puppy had “a heart of gold” and a taste for expensive grilled pork. Varunthip Manthin loved the tiny dog as much as any of her sons. When she discovered him dead in the road having been hi...
It’s Sunday afternoon on Rue Dussac, a dusty cobbled street in downtown Antananarivo, and a relaxed crowd of young, elegantly dressed Malagasy women has gathered in the shade outside the Rex cinema. Among them is Kantou, 20, who has come with her mo...
Ben-Gurion Boulevard climbs from the bustling port on Haifa’s Mediterranean shore up Mount Carmel towards the famous Bahai shrine, its gleaming golden dome surrounded by lush terraced gardens. On the south side of the palm-lined road, on a spring lu...