Source : Wesh.com / 06 Feb 2014

A Florida girl said she has been verbally and physically assaulted because she wears a hijab, or head scarf, to school.

Zahrah Habibulla, 14, said she didn't have problems at school with other children until she started wearing her hijab on Dec. 14. The Polk County teen said she wears the hijab for religious reasons.

Source : Central Asia online / 1 Feb 2014 

Devout women in Tajikistan soon will have more public religious freedoms than they have had in years as the country looks to reverse a fatwa that restricted women's ability to attend mosques.

"Traditionally, many women in Tajikistan pray at home, because they feel more comfortable there," Isrofil Hajibulloh, an imam from Khujand, said. "But if women want to pray at the mosques, they should be allowed to do so."

Source : Arab News / 1 Feb 2014

Muslim Science, a UK-based online magazine, has named two Saudis in its top 20 list of most influential Muslim women in the scientific field.

The two women are Samera Ibrahim Islam and Hayat Sindi. Samera Islam, the drug safety advocate, is a board member of the Arab Science and Technology Foundation and head of the medicine unit at King Fahd Center for Medical Research at King Abdul Aziz University.

Source : Trust.org / 31 Jan 2014

One out of four young people in poor countries - and one of three young women in South and West Asia - are unable to read all or even part of a sentence, according to a new report, which estimates 175 million youths in developing countries are illiterate.

Source : AP / 29 Jan 2014

A Pakistani university intending to hold a ceremony launching a book by a teenage activist shot by the Taliban called off the event over security concerns in the country’s northwest on Tuesday, government and university officials said.

Sarfraz Khan, director of the Area Study Center of the University of Peshawar, said the ceremony was to launch Malala Yousafzai’s book “I am Malala.” But campus police told him to cancel the event due to safety concerns.

Source : World Bulletin / 28 Jan 2014 

The people of the Central American Republic of Panama have began construction work on the country’s first ever official mosque for natives, as more and more Panamanians turn to Islam.

The first bricks of the Al Haqq Mosque are now being laid, after a 9 year campaign led by Muslim converts Josefina Bell-Munajj and Khadijah Jackson to get building permission.

By Fadia Jiffry / 31 Dec 2013

Many Saudi female sales representatives working in shops across the Kingdom of  Saudi Arabia are demanding English-speaking courses, saying that they are facing communication difficulties when dealing with foreign customers.

Generally, companies operating in the Kingdom of  Saudi Arabia hire Saudis who can understand and speak English, particularly in jobs that involve interaction with expatriates.

Source : Reuters / 25 Dec 2013

France decided on Monday to maintain a ban on Muslim headscarves for volunteer school monitors despite a warning that it overstepped the law requiring religious neutrality in the public service.

By MD Rasooldeen / Arab news / 19 Dec 2013

The average Saudi woman spends three times more on clothes than her male counterpart, a prominent Saudi fashion designer said on Tuesday.

“A Saudi woman spends nearly SR30,000 annually on clothes while a man spends SR10,000 per annum,” Aishah Al-Otaibi said, adding that this was high expenditure compared to some other countries around the world.

Source : Islamophobiawatch.co.uk / 10 Dec 2013

Edmonton Police Services has designed and approved a new hijab female police officers can wear as part of their uniform.

A hijab tailor worked with the police tactics training unit, as well as the police equity, diversity and human rights team, to design a head scarf that covers the head and neck of an officer without covering the face.