The Cartoon Controversy

9 Feb, 2006: About half a million Muslims turn the Shiite ceremony of Ashura into a peaceful protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah says "today, we are defending the dignity of our prophet with a word, a demonstration... but let George Bush and the arrogant world know that if we have to ... we will defend our prophet with our blood, not our voices."

9. Feb, 2006: The Malaysian government suspends the printing license of the Sarawak Tribuner that printed one of the cartoons on Saturday, 4 February. The newspaper's owners have apologised for what it said was an "editorial oversight".

9. Feb, 2006: Five Muslim groups in Singapore issue a joint statement saying they objected to "any forms of violence by fellow Muslims who have responded emotionally to the issue" and "being overly emotional and responding irrationally and violently will only intensify the negative image that others have toward Islam."

8. Feb, 2006: Three editors and a staff writer at the New York Press, a weekly alternative newspaper, resign after being ordered not to publish reprints of the Danish cartoons. Its editor-in-chief Harry Siegel, who also resigned, says "we have no desire to be free speech martyrs, but it would have been nakedly hypocritical to avoid the same cartoons we'd criticized others for not running."

8 Feb, 2006: Meeting Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House, US President George Bush says " we believe in a free press. We also recognize that with freedom comes responsibilities....I call upon the governments around the world to stop the violence, to be respectful, to protect property, protect the lives of innocent diplomats who are serving their countries overseas." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accuses Iran and Syria of fuelling anti-Western sentiment saying both countries have used the opportunity to incite violence and exploit Muslim anger.

8 Feb, 2006: On the third consecutive day of violent protests in Afghanistan,four people are killed and up to 22 injured in police firingin the town of Qalat as some 400 protestors tried to march on a nearby US military base.

8 Feb, 2006: French magazine Charlie Hebdo publishes all the12 cartoons after winning the backing of a French court. Several Islamic organisations had complained that publication would amount to an insult to theirreligion, but lost the case on technicality because the relevant authorities had not been notified.Some 160,000 copies of Charlie Hebdo are sold within hours and the magazinepromises to print thousands more.The French government closes its embassy in Baghdad, for four days as a precaution. President Jacques Chirac criticise newspapers for reprinting the caricatures, saying "I condemn all manifest provocation that might dangerously fan passions".

8 Feb, 2006: Several hundred people march to Italian embassy in Dhaka,Bangladesh but are blocked by police..

8 Feb, 2006: About 300 Palestinian protesters attack an international observers' mission in the West Bank town of Hebron, throwing rocks and bottles and trying to torch one of its buildings.

8 Feb, 2006: Almost 1,000 Danish and 1600 Western websites are defaced by hackers. Internet monitoring group Zone-H claims thatindividual hackers and groups in different Islamic nations, mainly Turkey, SaudiArabia, Oman and Indonesia,have banded together to make the protests more effective.

7 Feb 2006: WSJ confirms the rumours about how cartoons neverpublished by the Danish newspaper or anywhere else were used by the delegationssent to Middle East and other places by interviewing the people directlyinvolved.

7 Feb, 2006: Norway demands compensation from Syria after its embassy in Damascus was set on fire on Saturday. Denmark says it holds Iranian government responsible for attacks on its Tehran embassy.

7 Feb, 2006: Three demonstrators are killed in an exchange of gunfire with Afghan police and NATO peacekeepers in the north-western town of Meymaneh after hundreds of Afghans attacked a Norwegian-led base.