• Pakistan's under-fire minorities have little faith in democracy

    Anja Niedringhaus / AP

    Ahmedi guards protecting an Ahmedi mosque in Lahore, Pakistan on April 30, 2013. Ahmedis are reviled by mainstream Muslims as heretics because they believe a prophet followed Mohammed, defying the basic tenet of Islam that says Mohammed is the last prophet.

    By Kathy Gannon, The Associated Press

    Lahore, Pakistan — In majority Muslim Pakistan, religious minorities say democracy is killing them.

    Intolerance has been on the rise for the past five years under Pakistan's democratically elected government because of the growing violence of Islamic radicals, who are then courted by political parties, say many in the country's communities of Shiite Muslims, Christians, Hindus and other minorities.

    On Saturday, the country will elect a new parliament, marking the first time one elected government is replaced by another in the history of Pakistan, which over its 66-year existence has repeatedly seen military rule. But minorities are not celebrating. Some of the fiercest Islamic extremists are candidates in the vote, and minorities say even the mainstream political parties pander to radicals to get votes, often campaigning side-by-side with well-known militants.

    Anja Niedringhaus / AP

    Ahmedis praying in their mosque, which displays an Arabic sign saying 'In the name of god, people are praying', in Lahore on April 30, 2013.

    Anja Niedringhaus / AP

    A Shiite worshipper at a shrine in Jhang on May 1, 2013. Minority Shiites in Pakistan have little hope that the May 11 general elections will help them because they fear Sunni radicals, who have targeted Shiites, could gain political strength.

    About 96 percent of Pakistan's population of 180 million is Muslim. Most are Sunni, but according to the CIA Factbook about 10 to 15 percent are members of the Shiite sect. The remaining 4 percent are adherents to other religions such as Christians, Hindus and Ahmedis.

    More than a dozen representatives of Pakistan's minorities interviewed by The Associated Press expressed fears the vote will only hand more influence to extremists. Since the 2008 elections, sectarian attacks have been relentless and minorities have found themselves increasingly targeted by radical Islamic militants. Minorities have little faith the new election will change that. Read the full story.

    Anja Niedringhaus / AP

    A Christian woman peering out from inside a church as angry Christians protest the beating of a young man from the Joseph Colony, a Christian neighborhood in Lahore, on April 30, 2013.

    Anja Niedringhaus / AP

    Barber Elias, 25, a Christian who was injured when he was beaten by radical Muslims, in the Joseph Colony in Lahore on April 30, 2013.

    Anja Niedringhaus / AP

    Christians protesting the beating of a young Christian belonging to the Joseph Colony, in Lahore on April 30, 2013.

    Anja Niedringhaus / AP

    A Christian repairing his home after it was attacked by radical Muslims, in the Joseph Colony in Lahore on April 30, 2013.

    Anja Niedringhaus / AP

    Homeless Hindus sleeping in a shrine cared for by Omparkarh Narian, 55, in Rawalpindi on May 4, 2013.

    Slideshow: Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

    Asif Hassan / AFP - Getty Images

    Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

    Launch slideshow

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Zoubeir Souissi / Reuters

    Salafists pray during a sit-in protest in front of the foreign ministry in Tunis Nov. 9, 2011. The demonstrators are demanding the release of prisoners sentenced to death in Iraq for their involvement in the Gulf war.

    Salafists in Tunisia demand release of prisoners in Iraq

    By Rich Shulman

    One of the results of the Arab Spring is the re-emergence of ethnic and religious minority groups. In Tunisia, the Salafists are an Islamist party that suffered repression under ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's government.

    Related:

    Tunisia's vocal Salafist minority

    Religious minorities put faith in Tunisia's democracy

    Libyan Jew returns home after 44-year exile

  • Bebeto Matthews / AP

    People pass below a New York Police security camera, upper left, situated above a mosque on Fulton St., in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant in New York on Aug. 18. After the attacks of Sept. 11, the New York Police Department has dispatched teams of undercover officers into minority neighborhoods and used informants to monitor sermons at mosques, even when there's no evidence of wrongdoing.

    With CIA help, NYPD moves covertly in Muslim areas

    The AP reports from NEW YORK:

    In New Brunswick, N.J., a building superintendent opened the door to apartment No. 1076 one balmy Tuesday and discovered an alarming scene: terrorist literature strewn about the table and computer and surveillance equipment set up in the next room.

    The panicked superintendent dialed 911, sending police and the FBI rushing to the building near Rutgers University on the afternoon of June 2, 2009. What they found in that first-floor apartment, however, was not a terrorist hideout but a command center set up by a secret team of New York Police Department intelligence officers. Continue reading.

    Related content: msnbc.com's Allison Linn reports on the lasting boom in the surveillance industry that began after the 9/11 attacks.

  • Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    A Nepalese indigenous woman attends a program to mark the International Day of the World's Indigenous People in Kathmandu on August 9. Various ethnic and indigenous people of Nepal took part in a parade calling for the preservation of their cultural identity.

    Indigenous peoples of the world unite

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    This woman wasn't on her own for too long. The wires moved various pictures showing larger crowds of people attending this event, but this was the image that caught my attention.

    Read more about the International Day of the World's Indigenous People and see more pictures of Nepal on PhotoBlog.

  • Iraqi Christians targeted in church bombing

    The AP reports from SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq:

    A car bomb outside a Christian church wounded 23 people Tuesday as security forces found and disabled vehicles packed with explosives outside two other churches in northern Iraq.

    The bombing and the two averted attacks in the northern city of Kirkuk signal continued violence against Iraqi Christians, nearly 1 million of whom have fled since the war began in 2003. Continue reading.

    Emad Matti / AP

    Iraqis inspect the site of an early morning car bomb attack in front of a church in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, on Aug. 2. Scores of people were injured in the attack, police said.

    Emad Matti / AP

    The damaged interior of the holy family Syrian Catholic Church after an early morning car bomb attack in Kirkuk on Aug. 2.

    Marwan Ibrahim / AFP - Getty Images

    Medics stitch the forehead of a young girl who was wounded when a car bomb exploded outside a church in Kirkuk on Aug. 2.

     

  • In summer pastures: Romania's Csángó people

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    Photographer Peter Kollanyi spent some time earlier this month with a small community of Csángó people in Romania's Ghimes Mountains. EPA reports:

    The Csángó people are a Hungarian ethnic group of Roman Catholic faith, living mostly in the Romanian region of Moldavia where they moved from Transylvania between the 12th and 17th century. A smaller group, however, lives in the Ghimes Mountains of Romania, where, from spring to late autumn, they move to summer cottages in the high mountain forests and pastures of the upper Tatros valley from their winter villages, where they herd animals and make dairy products. Their traditional language, Csángó, is an old Hungarian dialect which is still in use among the ethnic minority, though many of the Csángó people also speak Romanian. The Csángó-speaking population is estimated at about 60,000 in Romania. 

    Peter Kollanyi / EPA

    A Ghimes Csángó man shuts his barn for the night in the Ghimes Mountains in Romania on June 7.

    Peter Kollanyi / EPA

    A Ghimes Csángó woman makes cheese in her summer cottage in the Ghimes Mountains on June 8.

    Peter Kollanyi / EPA

    Zoltan Antal, a blind Ghimes Csángó musician, plays the violin in his home in Lunca de Jos (Gyimeskozeplok in Hungarian), in the Ghimes region of Romania on June 6.

    Peter Kollanyi / EPA

    A Ghimes Csángó family slaughters a pig in Lunca de Jos on June 6.

    Peter Kollanyi / EPA

    Ghimes Csángó men sit in their summer cottage, where they make cheese, on June 10.

    Read more about the Csángó people, and listen to some of their music, at National Geographic.

  • Mob attacks two churches in Indonesia after blasphemy row

    Slamet Riyadi / AP

    A statue of Jesus Christ is left smashed on the floor at a church that was attacked by Muslim hardliners in Temanggung, Central Java, Indonesia on Feb. 8. Hundreds of Islamic hard-liners stormed a courthouse and set two churches on fire to protest what they considered a lenient sentence for a Christian convicted of blaspheming Islam.

    Titian Silaban / EPA

    Police stand guard after a riot in Temanggung on Feb. 8. Hundreds of Islamic hard-liners stormed a courthouse and set two churches on fire to protest what they considered a lenient sentence for a Christian convicted of blaspheming Islam.Witnesses said at least nine people were rushed to the hospital with injuries and police led away some protesters for questioning.

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    Hundreds of Islamic hard-liners stormed a courthouse and set two churches on fire today in central Indonesia to protest what they considered a lenient sentence for a Christian convicted of blaspheming Islam.

    Antonius Richmond Bawengan, 58, was found guilty of distributing books and leaflets that "spread hatred about Islam" and sentenced to five years for blasphemy.

    Full story.

  • Ethiopian Jews fly into Tel Aviv to begin a new life as Israeli citizens

    Uriel Sinai / Getty Images

    Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel on Jan. 18. The Jewish Agency For Israel (JAFI) started organising flights for Ethiopians who claim Jewish descent after the Israeli government authorised 8,000 Ethiopian Jewish people to obtain Israeli citizenship, most of whom have waited for years in transit camps.

    Uriel Sinai / Getty Images

    Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport.

    Uriel Sinai / Getty Images

    Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport.

    By David R Arnott, NBC News

    Members of the Falash Mura community of Ethiopian Jews flew into Tel Aviv today to begin a new life as Israeli citizens. Many had been living up until now in poor conditions in transit camps in northern Ethiopia.