Arab television stations have launched a media blitz for the death of Pope Paul John II, giving Mideast viewers hours of live broadcasts from the Vatican and programs on the pontiff's life -- coverage rarely seen even for the region's autocrats.
The lavish airtime made the Arab world a participant in the giant outpouring of grief that took place in Rome and was aired heavily on pan-Arab stations like Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, which have been increasing their coverage of major events outside the Arab world.
But it also generated a backlash. Islamic fundamentalists in particular criticized the parade of Muslim leaders on TV praising the head of a faith that they consider an enemy of Islam.
PHOTO: EPA
"How can the death of a non-Muslim be a loss to the Muslim world?" said Gamal Sultan, an Egyptian Islamic activist and editor of Al-Manar, a journal that serves as a mouthpiece of Islamic fundamentalists.
The pope had a mixed legacy among Arabs, particularly the region's Muslim majority. He was widely respected for criticizing the US invasion of Iraq and for calling for a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis, meeting several times with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
He was also the first pope to visit a mosque -- the revered Omayyad Mosque in Damascus during a 2001 trip to Syria -- and he promoted Muslim-Christian dialogue.
On Arab television stations, numerous Muslim clerics went on the air to praise John Paul.
"His death is a great loss not only to the Catholic church but to the Islamic world," Sheik Mohammed Seyed Tantawi, the leader of Cairo's Al-Azhar, one of the world's top Islamic institutions, said in a statement read over the Egyptian state-run television.
In Web sites known as clearing houses for Islamic militant materials, criticism was even harsher.
"How is it that these [Muslim] clerics of the royal courts heap praise on an infidel and an enemy of Islam," wrote a participant on one of Web forum.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
CHEER ON: Students were greeted by citizens who honked their car horns or offered them food and drinks, while taxi drivers said they would give marchers a lift home Hundreds of students protesting graft they blame for 15 deaths in a building collapse on Friday marched through Serbia to the northern city of Novi Sad, where they plan to block three Danube River bridges this weekend. They received a hero’s welcome from fellow students and thousands of local residents in Novi Said after arriving on foot in their two-day, 80km journey from Belgrade. A small red carpet was placed on one of the bridges across the Danube that the students crossed as they entered the city. The bridge blockade planned for yesterday is to mark three months since a huge concrete construction
RSS