The World in Brief

Sudan mom won't be killed for apostasy

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- A Sudanese woman sentenced to death for apostasy was freed Monday by a Khartoum court and has rejoined her Christian husband with their two young children, her lawyer and state media said.

State news agency SUNA said the Court of Cassation threw out the death sentence against 27-year-old Meriam Ibrahim after defense lawyers presented their case. Her lawyer, Eman Abdul-Rahim, said that Ibrahim left prison and was with her husband. Her 18-month-old son, Martin, had been with her in jail, where she gave birth last month to her second child.

Ibrahim, whose father was Muslim but who was raised by her Christian mother, was convicted of apostasy for marrying a Christian. Sudan's penal code forbids Muslims from converting to other religions, a crime punishable by death.

Ibrahim married a Christian man from southern Sudan in a church ceremony in 2011. As in many Muslim nations, Muslim women in Sudan are prohibited from marrying non-Muslims, though Muslim men can marry outside their faith. By law, children must follow their father's religion.

The sentence drew international condemnation.

Malaysia court: 'Allah' for Muslims only

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia's top court weighed in Monday on the country's long-standing fight over the word "Allah," saying non-Muslims cannot use it to refer to God. But the government said hours later that the judgment applied only to one newspaper at the center of the case, adding still more confusion to a deeply divisive debate over religious freedom in the Muslim-majority country.

In a 4-3 ruling, the Federal Court upheld a government ban on the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims in a case against The Herald, a Catholic Malay-language weekly. The court did not elaborate on the implication of its ruling, but the government issued a tersely worded statement saying it applied only to The Herald and that Malaysian Christians can still use the word Allah in churches.

The government statement appeared to be an attempt to diffuse tensions in the nation of 29 million people, including a large non-Muslim minority that has often complained that it is treated unfairly in jobs and education and is denied full freedom of religion.

Israel arrests 2 in fatal Passover shooting

JERUSALEM -- Israeli authorities on Monday announced the arrest of an alleged Hamas operative for involvement in the deadly shooting of an Israeli police officer in the West Bank over the Passover holiday in April.

The announcement came as Israel pressed forward with a crackdown on Hamas across the West Bank in response to the June 12 disappearance of three Israeli teenagers. Israel has said the Islamic militant group abducted the youths, though it has presented no proof.

The Israeli military and the Shin Bet security agency said Monday that they arrested Ziad Awad, 42, and his 18-year-old son. They said the elder Awad was among more than 1,000 prisoners freed in 2011 in exchange for an Israeli soldier held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

In the April 14 shooting, gunmen fired at civilian vehicles traveling in the West Bank, killing a senior Israeli police commander on his way to a traditional Passover dinner with relatives. The officer's wife was critically wounded and a child in another car was also hurt, while the assailants fled the scene.

The statement said the suspects were arrested May 7. A gag order preventing publication of the arrests was lifted Monday.

China arrests 380 in terrorism crackdown

BEIJING -- Chinese authorities said Monday they broke up 32 terror groups and arrested more than 380 suspects in the far west in the first month of a crackdown aimed at demonstrating the Communist Party's resolve to maintain order in a borderland hit by recent unrest. Many suspects received rapid trials and stiff sentences, including death penalties.

Security forces also seized several hundred explosive devices, a few tons of explosive material and computers and books about terrorism and religious extremism, officials from the Xinjiang region told reporters.

The crackdown follows a string of high-profile attacks on civilians since late October. Last month, a market bombing killed 43 people in the region's capital, Urumqi.

Authorities have responded to the attacks by taking an even harder line toward the already tightly controlled region.

-- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS

A Section on 06/24/2014

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