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Worthy News Asia Service: Suspected Al Qaeda, Taliban Militants Destroy Pakistan Church, Christians Say. Suspected Muslim militants with links to the terror groups Al Qaeda and the Taliban attacked a historic church in northwestern Pakistan and burned Bibles and other Christian books, but police are reluctant to investigate the case and detain suspects, Christians said Tuesday, May 26. The destruction of the St. George Grecian Church was discovered by workers renovating the building, said the church’s pastor Ijaz Masih in a statement distributed by rights group International Christian Concern (ICC). [...] Ijaz said he had started as the pastor of St. George Church two years ago, and that the Christians in Bannu Cantt had been living peacefully with their Muslim neighbors. He believes the attack was carried out by “radical Muslims linked to the Taliban or Al Qaeda with the goal of provoking a clash between local Christians and Muslims.”

CNN: Saudi judge says it’s OK to slap spendthrift wives. Husbands are allowed to slap their wives if they spend lavishly, a Saudi judge said recently during a seminar on domestic violence, Saudi media reported Sunday. Arab News, a Saudi English-language daily newspaper based in Riyadh, reported that Judge Hamad Al-Razine said that “if a person gives SR 1,200 [$320] to his wife and she spends 900 riyals [$240] to purchase an abaya [the black cover that women in Saudi Arabia must wear] from a brand shop and if her husband slaps her on the face as a reaction to her action, she deserves that punishment.”

AP: Apparent poison gas hospitalizes 84 Afghan girls. Officials accused extremist militants of launching a poison gas attack Tuesday that caused dozens of schoolgirls to collapse with headaches and nausea as they waited in line for a Quran reading at their school in northeastern Afghanistan. The Taliban and other Islamic fundamentalists have regularly attacked girls schools in Afghanistan and the second apparent poisoning in two days has raised concerns that they have now found a new weapon to scare girls into staying at home rather than going to class.

Riaz Khan: Pakistan fighting kills 15, headless bodies found. The five headless bodies were found near the valley’s main town, Mingora, the army said, giving no details of the victims’ identities. Residents have said the Taliban have repeatedly decapitated opponents and dumped their bodies in Mingora.

ANSAMed: Honour Killing. A few days after the attempted honour killing of a young women, Yildiz A. – whose nose and ears were cut off in order to disfigure her – another honour crime has been reported in the same region in Turkey, which resulted in the death of a man and the injury of a girl, as reported by Turkish daily Hurriyet.

[Good grief! The Muslim world must be up in arms about all these people! Surely they're in the courts right now trying to do something to save what little reputation they may have left!]

Ibrahim Usta: Turkish author on trial for insulting Islam. A Turkish author on trial over accusations that his latest book insulted Islam denied the charges Tuesday and insisted he was respectful of religion. Nedim Gursel faces up to a year in prison if found guilty on charges of humiliating religious values and inciting religious hatred in his novel “The Daughters of Allah.” Gursel, who was born in Turkey but has French citizenship and is based in France, is the latest intellectual to be prosecuted in Turkey under laws that restrict free speech.

[Oh. Well, then. I guess we all have our priorities. - Trevor Blake]