Islam in Media Roundup | 3 Aug – 9 Aug 2020

International

Archaeology Shock: Brutal ‘Hardline’ Reality For Researchers In Middle East Laid Bare

Archaeology Shock: Brutal ‘Hardline’ Reality For Researchers In Middle East Laid Bare

Express

Until achieving independence, many countries in the Middle East were unable to excavate and locate their histories. When emancipation came, along with the return of plundered antiquities from Western nations, the Middle East was able to reclaim its identity. Yet, with independence, sham elections, despot leaders and near-totalitarian regimes, archaeology in the Middle East has been disturbed by political unrest.
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How Coronavirus Has Exposed Middle East's Gaping Digital Divide

How Coronavirus Has Exposed Middle East's Gaping Digital Divide

ZD Net

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted businesses and the working habits and lives of billions around the world. But it has also shone a spotlight on some of the wider IT challenges already being faced by many governments, businesses and communities.
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Middle East Film Companies Team For Beirut Disaster Relief Screenings

Middle East Film Companies Team For Beirut Disaster Relief Screenings

Deadline

Middle East distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment and the Kuwait National Cinema Company are partnering with Gulf arthouse venue Cinema Akil for the Beirut Disaster Relief Screenings. Ziad Doueiri’s West Beirut and Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now? will screen today at Cinema Akil with repeat screenings this coming weekend, Friday August 14 and Saturday August 15. All proceeds from the ticket sales go to the Lebanese Red Cross relief efforts.
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Update 3-South Africa's MTN to Exit Middle East to Focus on Africa

Update 3-South Africa's MTN to Exit Middle East to Focus on Africa

Reuters

South African mobile operator MTN Group will exit the Middle East in the medium term, it said on Thursday, starting with the sale of its 75% stake in MTN Syria, as part of plans to focus on Africa.
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Here is a Look at the Recent Forbes List of Top Women Behind Middle Eastern Brand 2020

Here is a Look at the Recent Forbes List of Top Women Behind Middle Eastern Brand 2020

Gulf News

These trailblazers have sustained their brands in the region despite the COVID-19 pandemic
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Egypt

CNN Presents 30-Minute ‘Inside The Middle East’ Program Explores The Exhibits Of Grand Egyptian Museum ,What It Means For Egypt

CNN Presents 30-Minute ‘Inside The Middle East’ Program Explores The Exhibits Of Grand Egyptian Museum ,What It Means For Egypt

Egypt Today

The acclaimed American news-based pay television channel CNN will present this weekend a 30-minute Inside the Middle East special program explores the conservation of treasures, the exhibits of the Grand Egyptian Museum and what it means for Egypt.
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Two Egyptian Entrepreneurs Make Forbes’ Top 10 Women Behind Middle Eastern Brands

Two Egyptian Entrepreneurs Make Forbes’ Top 10 Women Behind Middle Eastern Brands

Egypt Independent

Forbes Middle East Magazine announced a list of ten women — including two Egyptians — who established the best online brands in the Middle East, and who managed to maintain them despite challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
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India

A Strong India Cannot Be Built On Religious Division

A Strong India Cannot Be Built On Religious Division

Financial Times

When prime minister Narendra Modi laid the silver foundation stone this week at the site of what will become a temple to the Hindu deity Lord Ram in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, it in many ways signalled the end of India as a secular, multifaith republic.
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At Site Of Razed Mosque, India's Modi Lays Foundation For Controversial Hindu Temple

At Site Of Razed Mosque, India's Modi Lays Foundation For Controversial Hindu Temple

NPR

Nearly 30 years ago, Hindu extremists armed with pickaxes tore down a 16th-century mosque in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya, sparking riots that killed thousands of Muslims.
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Fact Check: No, Salman Rushdie Never Said Muslims Destroy A Nation In The Name Of Islam

Fact Check: No, Salman Rushdie Never Said Muslims Destroy A Nation In The Name Of Islam

India Today

According to a message doing the rounds on social media, author of the well-known book Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie has said that the only goal of Muslims in the world, whether they live in India or Pakistan, is to destroy nations by terrorism in the name of Islam.
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Jammu/Kashmir

India: Abuses Persist In Jammu And Kashmir

India: Abuses Persist In Jammu And Kashmir

HRW

Indian authorities continue to impose harsh and discriminatory restrictions on Muslim-majority areas in Jammu and Kashmir, one year after the revocation of the state’s constitutional status on August 5, 2019, Human Rights Watch said today.
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Lebanon

Backstory: Covering The Beirut Blast, Bruised And Bloodied

Backstory: Covering The Beirut Blast, Bruised And Bloodied

Reuters

Imagine what it’s like to be flung to the floor by a gigantic explosion, dodge a falling wardrobe in your home, be cut in the forehead by flying glass – and then brush off the blood and start filming the news.
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How To Help Lebanon After Beirut Explosion

How To Help Lebanon After Beirut Explosion

NY Times

As the search for survivors continues, aid groups have mobilized to help the thousands of people wounded by the blast, and the hundreds of thousands of others who have been made homeless.
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New Zealand

New Zealand Extends Middle East, Africa Peace Support Deployments

New Zealand Extends Middle East, Africa Peace Support Deployments

Xinhua Net

The New Zealand government has extended three Defense Force deployments to the Middle East and Africa by two years. “These deployments promote peace in the Middle East and Africa by protecting civilians and countering the spread of violent extremism,” Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement on Monday.
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Nigeria

Islamic Court In Northern Nigeria Sentences Man To Death For Blasphemy

Islamic Court In Northern Nigeria Sentences Man To Death For Blasphemy

Reuters

An Islamic court in northern Nigeria sentenced a 22-year old singer to death on Monday for blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad in a song he circulated on the messaging platform WhatsApp in March.
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Pakistan

Poor And Desperate, Pakistani Hindus Accept Islam To Get By

Poor And Desperate, Pakistani Hindus Accept Islam To Get By

NY Times

Drawn by jobs or land offered by Muslim groups, some Hindus, facing discrimination and a virus-ravaged economy, are essentially converting to survive.
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Poland

Couple Create Interactive Muslim Map Of Poland To Show The Many Faces Of Polish Islam

Couple Create Interactive Muslim Map Of Poland To Show The Many Faces Of Polish Islam

The First News

A Polish couple have made an interactive map of Poland marking sites and communities connected with Islam in an effort to demonstrate that there is more to the country than Tatars when it comes to the Muslim faith.
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Poland

Over 87% Of Pakistan Migrant Workers Headed For Uae, Saudi Arabia In 2019

Over 87% Of Pakistan Migrant Workers Headed For Uae, Saudi Arabia In 2019

Middle East Monitor

According to the data shared by the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment as quoted by the State Bank of Pakistan, the inflow of remittances from workers overseas has remained high despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with the country having received approximately $5.4 billion from Saudi Arabia and $4.7 billion from the UAE.
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USA

Baton Rouge Islamic Center Celebrates Eid With Changes Amid Pandemic

Baton Rouge Islamic Center Celebrates Eid With Changes Amid Pandemic

WBRZ

Since the start of the year, COVID-19 has ravaged nations across the world, leaving death and economic hardship in its wake, but as people of faith traverse the precarious waters of the pandemic, they find various reasons to hold on to hope and to even have joy.
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Destroyed In Minneapolis Riots, Gandhi Mahal Restaurant Will Move Into Former Chef Shack Ranch

Destroyed In Minneapolis Riots, Gandhi Mahal Restaurant Will Move Into Former Chef Shack Ranch

Star Tribune

Gandhi Mahal has found a temporary home, while the restaurant — destroyed by fire in the Minneapolis riots — rebuilds. Owner Ruhel Islam has signed a lease on the former Chef Shack Ranch, on the corner of S. 31st and Franklin avenues, according to Gandhi Mahal’s Facebook page.
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