Islamic

Two years into her marriage, Angie El Sherif found herself drifting from her husband. One-on-one time was scarce, and she felt like the high school sweetheart she married was no longer her best friend. She saw divorce everywhere - in the media, among friends, in her family. Then she found direction from some unexpected sources: the conservative family values of self-help authors such as Laura Schlessinger and Laura Doyle, whose beliefs seemed aligned with her Islamic views on marriage.

Rebels who took over northern Mali this year clashed Friday with Islamists who had ejected them from major cities, spokesmen for both sides told reporters. A Tuareg rebel spokesman said the clashes near Ansango were part of an offensive to recapture the Gao region, Agence France-Presse reported . Oumar Ould Hamaha, spokesman for the Islamist group MUJAO, told the Associated Press the Tuareg started the fray by kidnapping a dozen of its members. “The fighting began this morning,” Hamaha said.

President Obama faces a more volatile Middle East than the one he brought a sense of promise to nearly four years ago when he delivered his seminal "new beginnings" speech here to an intrigued, if suspicious, Muslim world. Unpopular Western-friendly autocrats no longer run Egypt and Tunisia, and in Libya, the mercurial Moammar Kadafi is dead and gone. But the White House has to contend with an aggressive political Islam that rose from "Arab Spring" movements even as it grapples with ongoing bloodshed in Syria, terrorist attacks on Americans and the persistent tinderbox that is Iran.

The filmmaker behind "Innocence of Muslims," the anti-Islam film that sparked rioting across the globe, was sentenced Wednesday to a year behind bars after he admitted to violating the terms of his release from an earlier conviction. Mark Basseley Youssef admitted to four violations, including lying to his probation officer and using bogus names. In exchange, prosecutors dropped four other counts, which included allegations that Youssef lied to federal authorities in telling them his role in the film's production was limited to writing the script.

Re "Shooting of teenage activist unleashes outrage in Pakistan," Oct. 11 Where are the riots in the rest of the Muslim world? Where are the fatwas against the shooter and Taliban leaders from Muslims throughout the world? Isn't the subhuman shooting of an innocent child, and its justification as an Islamic religious act by Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan, a much bigger insult to the religion and its prophet than a lame movie trailer posted on YouTube? Alan Segal San Diego ALSO: Letters: U.S. law abroad Letters: A less religious America Letters: Abortion back in the campaign

It's appalling enough that 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who publicly championed the cause of education for girls in Pakistan, was shot in the head and neck and critically injured by gunmen who boarded her school bus in the Swat Valley. Even more horrendous is that a Taliban spokesman declared that she had been singled out for attack because of her support of girls' education in defiance of Taliban edict. "Let this be a lesson," the spokesman told the New York Times. We hope it will be a lesson - that such violence is barbaric and counterproductive.

CAIRO - Egypt unveiled a proposed draft of a new constitution Wednesday amid criticism from liberals and human rights groups that the document is tilted toward Islamic law and endangers the democratic ideals of the uprising that last year overthrew Hosni Mubarak. The partial draft, which was opened for public review, immediately revealed the battle lines between Islamists and secularists over the nation's character. Dominated by ultraconservative and moderate Islamists, the 100-member assembly that wrote the charter made it clear that civil and religious rights would be shaped through the prism of Islam.

The filmmaker behind the anti-Islamic video that has sparked violence across the globe was arrested Thursday on suspicion of violating the terms of his probation, including allegedly lying about his role in the film's production. Magistrate Judge Suzanne H. Segal ordered Nakoula Basseley Nakoula detained, citing a "lengthy pattern of deception" by the man, adding that he poses "some danger to the community. " Nakoula could face up to three years behind bars. The hearing occurred amid high security, with the public allowed to watch only through a video feed in a separate courthouse blocks away.

A shadowy but well organized hacker group in the Middle East has disrupted the electronic banking operations of America's largest financial institutions in recent days, underscoring U.S. vulnerability to online terrorism. A group identifying itself as Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters attacked the websites of Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp and Bank of America. The strikes left customers temporarily unable to access their checking accounts, mortgages and other services. The banks said account and personal information for their tens of millions of online and mobile customers were not compromised.

The annual U.N. General Assembly meeting, which is intended to celebrate the world's common values, this year is exposing instead the gulf between Western and Islamic perspectives on freedom of expression, posing an unexpected challenge for President Obama when he speaks here Tuesday. Prompted by the anti-Islam video produced in California that has stirred deadly riots around the world, delegations from major Muslim nations have arrived at the U.N. prepared to demand international curbs on speech or media that they believe defame their religion or the prophet Muhammad.