Afghanistan: Loss of female minister in row over Sharia law

UK newspaper, The Independent reports that Sima Samar's opponents, some of them allied with the President, Hamid Karzai, have branded her the Afghan Salman Rushdie – raising chilling memories of the fatwa that haunted the Indian-born writer for more than a decade. "I don't want to leave," Ms Samar. "But I think I need protection."