Hinduism
Shravan Chinnala cleans the Peetam, a silver pedestal for the image of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, in preparation for Maha Kumbhabhishekam, a five-day rededication ceremony at the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Penn Hills, Pa., Tuesday, June 22, 2021. Built in the 1970s, the Sri Venkateswara Temple is the oldest major Hindu temple in the country. Maha Kumbhabhishekams occur about every 12 years and involve ceremonies to reenergize the temple and its deities. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
At landmark US Hindu temple, a timely rite of rejuvenation

By Peter Smith Jun. 28, 2021 12:25 PM EDT

Policemen stand guard as Nepalese devotees pull a chariot during the Rato Machindranath chariot festival in Lalitpur, Nepal, Saturday, May 15, 2021. A truncated version of a Hindu chariot festival took place in Nepal's capital on Saturday amid strict COVID-19 restrictions, following an agreement between organizers and authorities that prevented a repeat of violent confrontations between police and protesters at last year's festival. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Nepal scales back Hindu chariot festival amid virus surge

By Binaj Gurubacharya May. 15, 2021 10:16 AM EDT

From left, Dr. Abhu Kaur, Manpreet Kaur, director for Khalsa Aid USA, and Ray Fredericks, assistant director for Medisys, sort and pack dozens of electrical transformers, which will be shipped to New Delhi with oxygen concentrators this week on New York’s Long Island, Friday, May 7, 2021. With teams deployed in India to help support COVID-19 patients, Khalsa Aid USA plans to provide a total of 500 oxygen concentrators and 500 transformers to cities throughout the country. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Across faiths, US volunteers mobilize for India crisis

By Luis Andres Henao And Jessie Wardarski May. 11, 2021 12:07 AM EDT

Brahmavihari Swami, the head of BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, the main Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, throws rose petals during a blessing ceremony before shipping hundreds of liquid oxygen cylinders and massive containers of compressed oxygen to India, in Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, May 10, 2021. The organizers, Indian owners of Global Gases Group, a Dubai helium factory, shifted production to oxygen when the latest surge in virus cases hit India. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
Hindu temple in UAE ships oxygen aid to crisis-hit India

May. 10, 2021 12:59 PM EDT

FILE - In this May 1, 2021, file photo, people take part in "Cycle to Save Lives" a 48 hour, non-stop static relay cycle challenge at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, also know as the Neasden Temple, the largest Hindu temple in the UK, in north London, to raise money to help coronavirus relief efforts in India. India's large diaspora — long a boon to India's economy — is tapping its wealth, political clout and expertise to help its home country combat the catastrophic coronavirus surge that has left people to die outside overwhelmed hospitals. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
On the ground and afar, diaspora boosts India's virus fight

By Sudhin Thanawala May. 06, 2021 01:02 AM EDT

Election officials sit wearing masks and face shields during the counting of votes of Assam state assembly election in Gauhati, India, Sunday, May 2, 2021. With Indian hospitals struggling to secure a steady supply of oxygen, and more COVID-19 patients dying amid the shortages, a court in New Delhi said it would start punishing government officials for failing to deliver the life-saving items. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Indian leader's party takes electoral hit amid virus surge

By Ashok Sharma May. 02, 2021 08:34 AM EDT

A relative of a person who died of COVID-19 breaks down during cremation in Jammu, India, Sunday, April 25, 2021. India’s crematoriums and burial grounds are being overwhelmed by the devastating new surge of infections tearing through the populous country with terrifying speed, depleting the supply of life-saving oxygen to critical levels and leaving patients to die while waiting in line to see doctors. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Virus 'swallowing' people in India; crematoriums overwhelmed

By Sheikh Saaliq And Aijaz Hussain Apr. 25, 2021 03:31 AM EDT

Devotees take holy dips in the river Ganges during Shahi snan or a Royal bath at Kumbh mela, in Haridwar in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, Monday, April 12, 2021. As states across India are declaring some version of a lockdown to battle rising Covid cases as part of a nationwide second-wave, thousands of pilgrims are gathering on the banks of the river Ganga for the Hindu festival Kumbh Mela. The faithful believe that a dip in the waters of the Ganga will absolve them of their sins and deliver them from the cycle of birth and death. (AP Photo/Karma Sonam)
Huge gatherings at India's Hindu festival as virus surges

By Neha Mehrotra And Sheikh Saaliq Apr. 12, 2021 04:02 AM EDT

Editorial Roundup: Alabama

By The Associated Press Apr. 07, 2021 06:58 AM EDT
Recent editorials from Alabama newspapers: ___ April 7 The Decatur Daily on vaccine technology: ...

Voters stand in a queue to cast their votes during the first phase of elections in West Bengal state in Pirakata, India, Saturday, March 27, 2021. Voting began Saturday in two key Indian states with sizeable minority Muslim populations posing a tough test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity amid a months-long farmers’ protest and the economy plunging with millions of people losing jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
Modi's party seeks big win as 2 key Indian states vote

By Ashok Sharma Mar. 27, 2021 12:07 AM EDT

FILE - In this March 7, 2021, file photo, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public rally ahead of West Bengal state elections in Kolkata, India. Modi and his Hindu nationalist party are making a serious bid for electoral victories in three states that have sizeable minority Muslim population. (AP Photo/Bikas Das, File)
India's PM Modi faces big electoral test in Muslim areas

By Ashok Sharma Mar. 26, 2021 12:05 AM EDT

Pilgrims take holy dips early morning at Sangam, the sacred confluence of the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, during Magh Mela festival, in Prayagraj, India. Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. Hindus believe that ritual bathing on auspicious days can cleanse them of all sins. A tented city for the religious leaders and the believers has come up at the sprawling festival site with mounted police personnel keeping a close watch on the activities. The festival is being held amid rising COVID-19 cases in some parts of India after months of a steady nationwide decline. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
AP PHOTOS: Hindu festival draws crowds of bathers to rivers

By Rajesh Kumar Singh Feb. 25, 2021 12:14 AM EST

FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020, file photo, farmers huddle together as they share a hookah while blocking a major highway during a protest against new farm laws at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh state border, India. The protests gained momentum in November when the farmers tried to march into New Delhi but were stopped by police. Since then, they have promised to hunker down at the edge of the city until the laws are repealed. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)
EXPLAINER: Why India's farmers are revolting against PM Modi

By Sheikh Saaliq Jan. 27, 2021 11:24 AM EST

Sikh farmers sit inside their makeshift tent at Singhu, the Delhi-Haryana border camp for protesting farmers against three farm bills, in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. Leaders of a protest movement sought Wednesday to distance themselves from a day of violence when thousands of farmers stormed India's historic Red Fort, the most dramatic moment in two months of demonstrations that have grown into a major challenge of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Protesting farmers return to camp after storming Indian fort

By Ashok Sharma Jan. 26, 2021 10:32 PM EST

Police officers escort Arzoo Raja, background center, after her appearance in Sindh High Court, in Karachi, Pakistan, on Nov. 3, 2020. Raja was 13 when she disappeared from her home in central Karachi. The Christian girl’s parents reported her missing and pleaded with police to find her. Two days later, officers reported back that she had been converted to Islam and was married to their 40-year-old Muslim neighbor. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Each year, 1,000 Pakistani girls forcibly converted to Islam

By Kathy Gannon Dec. 28, 2020 02:28 AM EST

Indians throng a market for shopping ahead of Hindu festival Diwali in Ahmedabad, India, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. India's tally of coronavirus cases is currently the second largest in the world behind the United States. The government warns that the situation can worsen due to people crowding markets for festival shopping. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
India's festive mood raises fears of surge of coronavirus

By Ashok Sharma And Shonal Ganguly Nov. 13, 2020 01:33 AM EST

A Hindu priest wearing a face shield applies vermilion paste on the forehead of a child during Durga Puja festival in Gauhati, India, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020. Weeks after India fully opened up from a harsh lockdown and began to modestly turn a corner by cutting new infections by near half, a Hindu festival season is raising fears that the disease could spoil the hard-won gains. Health experts worry the festivals can set off a whole new cascade of infections, further testing and straining India’s battered health care system. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
India's festive season spawns fears of renewed virus surge

By Sheikh Saaliq Oct. 25, 2020 03:19 AM EDT

In this image made from UNTV video, Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, speaks in a pre-recorded message which was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 25, 2020, at UN headquarters. (UNTV via AP)
At UN, Pakistani leader says India sponsors anti-Muslim hate

By Munir Ahmed And Aya Batrawy Sep. 25, 2020 03:24 PM EDT

A member of a social media rights group displays pictures of actress Saba Qamar and singer Bilal Saeed's music video meant to depict a young bride’s joy that as shot in a mosque and went viral on the internet, at his office in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. The video infuriated religious radicals who inundated social media with claims that Qamar’s dancing sullied the historic Wazir Khan Mosque. The uproar was the latest example of how trolling has exploded online in Pakistan since a lockdown, imposed in March over coronavirus concerns, confined tens of millions to their homes. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Trolls flood social media in Pakistan amid virus lockdown

By Kathy Gannon Aug. 27, 2020 02:41 AM EDT

FILE - In this Sept. 27, 2015, file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, right, hugs Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi at Facebook in Menlo Park, Calif. Members of India's governing party on Monday rejected allegations that Facebook had chosen to turn a blind eye to partisan hate speech on its platform to protect its growing business interests in India. As usage has spread across India, Facebook and its subsidiary WhatsApp have become fierce battlegrounds for India’s political parties, but spokesmen for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party denied a newspaper report that asserted Facebook officials chose not to take action against party members whose posts violated rules against hate speech. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
India ruling party denies preferential treatment by Facebook

By Emily Schmall And Sheikh Saaliq Aug. 17, 2020 09:11 AM EDT