Mosque issues threats
The week's news at a glance.
Islamabad, Pakistan
Clerics at the biggest mosque in Pakistan’s capital city have set up a Taliban-style Islamic court and threatened suicide bombings if their edicts are not followed. Some 11,000 students attend the Lal Masjid mosque’s madrasa, and many of them have already begun enforcing their version of sharia, Islamic law. Recently, female students who were veiled and armed with sticks kidnapped a woman who allegedly ran a brothel. When police tried to free her, the students took several officers hostage. The mosque’s latest fatwa calls for the country’s female tourism minister to be fired because she hugged her parachuting instructor, a man, after her first jump.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Home Depots are the new epicenters of ICE raids
In the Spotlight The chain has not provided many comments on the ongoing raids
-
Why does Trump keep interfering in the NYC mayoral race?
Today's Big Question The president has seemingly taken an outsized interest in his hometown elections, but are his efforts to block Zohran Mamdani about political expediency or something deeper?
-
The pros and cons of banning cellphones in classrooms
Pros and cons The devices could be major distractions