- In Iran, “three years after the death in custody of Mahsa Jina Amini, which sparked the widespread ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ movement, women are still finding ways to protest against the regime’s new methods of crackdown.” According to Human Rights Watch, “Iran’s authorities have failed to conduct effective, impartial, and independent investigations into serious human rights violations and crimes under international law during and since the 2022…protests.” Iran Human Rights reported that “at least 2,910 people, including 83 women, have been executed in Iran since September 2022” including “14 protesters, most linked to the Women, Life, Freedom movement.”
- The AFP covered the recent rise in the number of cosmetic surgery clinics in Kabul where “20 or so clinics…have flourished since the end of decades of war in the country.”
- “The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) has closed eight centres providing support to Afghan refugees forced back to the country because Taliban authorities are preventing female U.N. staff from entering them.”
- The Borneo Bulletin featured four recent graduates of the Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali [Brunei] “with stories that spanned the fields of Islamic finance [and] halal science.”
- “In a significant step towards Islamic values-based artificial intelligence, Zetrix AI Berhad, developer of the world’s first Shariah-aligned Large Language Model (LLM) NurAi and the Government of Malaysia, through the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs)…signed a Letter of Intent to collaborate on establishing the foremost global framework for Shariah compliance, certification and governance in AI.”
- “The world’s first international halal standards for biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, and nutraceuticals are in the works…led by the Istanbul-based Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC).”
- The “Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Damascus University…issued a controversial decree, under the name Directive No. 25, which bans the use of nude models in graduation projects….These developments come amid rapid transformations in Syria’s cultural and social landscape, following the political changes that began in December 2024.”
- “The Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs has strongly denounced an Israeli decision to take over parts of the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil City.”