Author: Nidal al-Mughrabi

Source: The Boston Globe

Wire Service: Reuters

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2008/02/16/senior_islamic_jihad_leader_killed_in_gaza_blast/

Eight people were killed, including a commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, and about 40 were wounded when an explosion destroyed the militant's house in the...

Author: Francis Njuguna

Source: Independent Catholic News

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/kifi325.html

An interfaith peace initiative group was launched in Nairobi's Holy Family Minor Basilica yesterday, with the aim of contributing to peace making efforts led by the former UN general secretary, Kofi Annan.

Source: United States Department of Justice

http://www.usdoj.gov/crs/

Officer survival is the first priority. However, in order to be safe and effective, officers must be able to differentiate between a threat and a cultural norm. Under emergency circumstances events always dictate an officer's response. This video will address only non-crisis situations and will provide basic tools to recognize cultural norms of some Arab and Muslim Americans.

Author: Vikram Dodd

Source: The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/14/uksecurity.ukcrime

Five young Muslim men yesterday had their terrorism convictions quashed after judges concluded that reading Islamist material was not illegal unless there was "direct" proof it was to be used to inspire violent extremism.

The men had been jailed in July 2006 with the trial judge saying they had been "intoxicated" by extremism after...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08045/857290-192.stm

In the 18 years Dr. Moniem El-Ganayni has held a security clearance at Bettis Laboratory in West Mifflin, his superiors have never questioned his work ethic or his loyalty to this nation.

The 57-year-old Egyptian-born nuclear scientist is a devout Muslim and co-founder of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh in Oakland. He was also the imam...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Gulf News

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Heritage_and_Culture/10189586.html

An agreement to help bridge the cultural divide between Muslims and Christians was signed by the Juma Al Majid Centre for Culture and Heritage and the Patriarch of Alexandria.

The agreement was signed by Juma Al Majid, head of the centre, and Patriarch Theodore II, Eastern Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and all Africa,...

Author: ANN MARIE SOMMA

Source: The Courant

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-muslimburial0218.artfeb18,0,3501263.story

Muslims bury their dead quickly — within 24 hours. The dead must be interred without a casket, facing the holy city of Mecca.

Before the burial, the body is washed with soap and scented water, then wrapped in a seamless cloth, tied at the head and feet. Cremation and embalming are...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Boston Globe

Wire Service: AP

htt p://ww w.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2008/02/14/greenwich_library_reverses_course_on_mideast_lecture_ban/

Greenwich Library officials, yielding to free speech arguments, reversed their decision to bar a group from giving two lectures on Israeli-Palestinian relations at the library.

David Brownwood, a member of the library's Board of Trustees, said Wednesday that officials...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Economist

http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10696111

AMONG family-law buffs, the case is seen as a key example of the messy ways in which religious and civil law can get entangled. It concerns an Italian couple who wed in a Catholic church in 1962. After 25 years of less-than-blissful union, she got a legal separation from a civil court, which told him to...

Author: ROBERT BENZIE

Source: The Star

http://www.thestar.com/article/303495

Premier Dalton McGuinty wants to end the daily recital of the Lord's Prayer in the Legislature in what opposition parties are calling a bid to heal wounds from a divisive provincial election fought over religious schools.

McGuinty, whose Liberals were re-elected Oct. 10 partly by defending public funding of Catholic schools while attacking a Progressive Conservative scheme to...

Author: Ken Kusmer

Source: Daily Breeze

Wire Service: AP

http://www.dailybreeze.com/lifeandculture/ci_8250963

A convert to Islam stands an election victory away from becoming the second Muslim elected to Congress and a role model for a faith community seeking to make its mark in national politics.

Political newcomer Andre Carson is the Democratic nominee in a March 11 special election to succeed his late...

Author: David Charter

Source: The Timees

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3355938.ece

Denmark’s three main newspapers will take the provocative step today of reprinting a cartoon showing the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb instead of a turban after the arrest yesterday of three suspected Islamic terrorists for plotting to murder the artist.

The cartoon by Kurt Westergaard was one of 12...

Author: Greg Trotter

Source: Religion News Service

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=14954

Congress is again considering a bill to protect religious expression in the workplace, but the bill, which has been bandied about for a decade or more, continues to draw steep opposition from business interests.

The Workplace Religious Freedom Act would require employers to be more accommodating of employees who wish to wear religious headgear...

Author: BOB SMIETANA

Source: The Tennessean

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/NEWS06/802120364/1006/NEWS01

Daoud Abudiab walked through the ashes of the Islamic Center of Columbia on Monday and gave thanks that the three men blamed for destroying the mosque were behind bars.

"They have proven that they are a danger to our community," he said. "They do not need to be roaming...

Author: AMIR SHAH

Source: The State

Wire Service: AP

http://www.thestate.com/372/story/314894.html

Afghanistan needs more international help to build Islamic schools so fewer students will attend more radical ones outside the country, President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday.

Karzai said parents would not know what their children study in Islamic schools or madrassas outside the country - an apparent reference to...