by Hajira Maryam Mirza

ISTANBUL; 8 May 2019; AA: The Indian election is a protracted exercise but there is never a dull moment. With 900 million registered voters, 29 states and seven union territories, the electoral race in the world’s largest democracy involves two major contestants, each utilising different communication methods and styles. 

by Chase Winter

7 May 2019; DW: US charities and foundations have empowered a web of anti-Muslim groups spreading misinformation and hate, according to a report. The Islamophobia network has extended its tentacles to the halls of power in Washington.

Tehran, May 4, IRNA - The three-day 'New Silk Road' conference ended in Beijing, with some participating delegates raised concerns on Beijing intensions on large investments and trend of financing and project management.

By ISABEL DEBRE and AREEJ HAZBOUN

JERUSALEM (AP) — For 20 years, Hala Kashour has lived with her husband in what she called “paradise,” a bucolic meadow that rolls through a Palestinian neighborhood of east Jerusalem.

The coveted pasture, which Israel calls the “Peace Forest,” lies in the crosshairs of a long-simmering conflict between the city government and its Palestinian residents that flared up on a recent spring morning as Kashour, 47, was jolted awake by the sound of bulldozers crushing her neighbor’s house.

by Sonia Sarkar

30 Apr 2019; DW: Security was beefed up in India-administered Kashmir on Monday, as voters headed to the polls to elect members of parliament. Reportedly, almost no vote was cast at some constituencies, especially in the state capital, Srinagar, and Baramulla city. In a previous round of Kashmir polls a fortnight ago, a similar trend was observed.

30 Apr 2019; AFP: Their Uighur wives vanished in 2017, swept up in a Chinese dragnet tackling Islamic extremism, now they've been released -- but the Pakistani husbands left behind say freedom has come at a price: The women must prove their "adaptability to Chinese society", and publicly sacrifice their religious ideals.

By Robert Evans

On April 27, 2019, at around 11:30 a.m. local time, a young man with a semi-automatic rifle walked into the Chabad of Poway Synagogue in Poway, California. He opened fire, killing one worshipper and wounding three others. In the hours since the shooting, a manifesto, believed to be written by the shooter, began circulating online. Evidence has also surfaced that, like the Christchurch Mosque shooter, this killer began his rampage with a post on 8chan’s /pol/ board.

LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) — On April 20, 1999, two teenage boys dressed in black trench coats went on a killing rampage at Columbine High School in suburban Denver. They shot and killed 12 classmates and a teacher and wounded two dozen others before taking their own lives.

Twenty years later, The Associated Press is republishing this story about the attack, the product of reporting from more than a dozen AP journalists who conducted interviews in the hours after it happened. The article first appeared on April 22, 1999.

By LAURIE KELLMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump isn’t backing down from his tweets about Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress.

In fact, he spoke at an event in Omar’s home state of Minnesota on Monday amid a ferocious fight over her comments about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Omar, a Somali-American, says it’s more than a rhetorical squabble, and that lives, including hers, are at stake. Trump says national security is at issue and Omar is “ungrateful.”

by JOSEPH GEDEON

PHOENIX (AP) — Yousuf Abdelfatah already knows the answer he’ll give about his race on the 2020 census questionnaire will be wrong.

He’s an Arab American, but the only race options on the census are white, black, Asian and categories for American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander. Reluctantly, Abdelfatah will mark white.

“If you look at me, my skin is darker, I’m visibly not white,” said the 22-year-old research assistant. “I’ve lived my life as a person of color, but I’m categorized as white.”

by Joe McDonald, Et al.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Coal-powered plants, mobile networks, major bridges, roads and railways: Chinese investments have been booming throughout Central and Eastern Europe’s cash-strapped developing countries, even as European Union officials scramble to counter Beijing’s mounting economic and political influence on the continent.

10 Apr 2019; DW: Picture this: It's your dream vacation. You're in a car with a driver who's taking you safely from one end of Delhi to the other, your friends are chatting in the backseat ― and you feel like throwing up. Not metaphorically. You're actually nagging the driver to find a way out of rush-hour traffic to pull over, and while nothing ... comes out, the feeling is still miserable.

Well, I felt miserable, anyway.