The upcoming opening of a Muslim high school in Marseilles, the 4th in France, is fanning controversy, also within the Muslim community

A school that will open only at the beginning of 2009 is causing much debate in Marseilles. It concerns the Muslim school, which will be the fourth of its type. Part of the Muslim community asks for this institution, but another, in particular the religious authorities, refuses and denounces the division of the community.

Freedom of speech is under attack. Let us count the ways

The first and most obvious: Those who criticize militant Islamists – from novelist Salman Rushdie to Danish cartoonists to memoirist Ayaan Hirsi Ali – are routinely threatened with deadly violence. It would be black humor to say this is having a chilling effect.

The Lebanese Shiite militia, linked to deadly attacks in Argentina in the 1990s, may be taking advantage of Chavez's ties with its ally Iran, terrorism experts say

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA. Western anti-terrorism officials are increasingly concerned that Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim militia that Washington has labeled a terrorist group, is using Venezuela as a base for operations.

A masjid – Muslim religious building – in the village of Goševo in Sandzak burned down today

NOVI PAZAR. Police confirmed that an investigation has been wrapped up, but would not reveal any findings. The Islamic Community in Serbia, headed by Muamer Zukorlic, is led in this Novi Pazar municipality by Ifet Alickovic.

A devout Muslim who forced boys to beat themselves with blades has been found guilty of child cruelty

Syed Mustafa Zaidi was found guilty of child cruelty. The boys were pressured into hitting themselves with an implement with five blades, called a "zanjeer zani", at a religious ceremony. The two youngsters, aged 13 and 15, admitted they wanted to beat themselves, but not under duress and not using the blades.

Prosecutors in Stuttgart say they have charged a Turkish man with holding his daughter against her will in an alleged effort to prevent her marrying a non-Muslim

FRANKFURT. Prosecutor Bettina Vetter says the 45-year-old man took his daughter's passport and return flight ticket and left her with relatives in Turkey. The 25-year-old woman is a German citizen.

Three Gulf Arab banks will launch a specialised bank to finance infrastructure projects, an agriculture firm and a hospitality fund as rapid growth in the Middle East and North Africa lures billions in new investment

DUBAI. The consortium aims to set up three new Islamic financial institutions with total starting capital of $2.8 billion and authorisation to raise up to $10 billion to invest in roads, sewage treatment, farms, schools and the hospitality industry.

The BBC has denied that its editorial independence was compromised after it emerged that a Radio 4 documentary about Islamic extremism bore similarities to a programme described in a leaked Whitehall document as one at which anti-al-Qaida propaganda was put forward.

Serbia will offer legal help to top war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic’s defence before The Hague Tribunal, Belgrade’s envoy to the Netherlands has said

Belgrade. Radoslav Stojanovic told the Reuters news agency in Belgrade that he would seek the tribunal’s permission to visit Karadzic at The Hague detention unit on September 7, adding he would ask Belgrade to provide all the documents necessary for the trial, if Karadzic thought the Serbian government could facilitate his defence.

Recently adopted by the Religious Affairs Directorate, a central broadcasting system for "azhan," the Islamic call to prayer, has satisfied many citizens who used to be disturbed by its non-simultaneous broadcast from minarets

The central broadcasting system for azhan had been adopted in 64 provinces and 320 districts all around Turkey, said ?zzet Er, deputy director of the directorate. The system had not been adopted in some other provinces or districts simply due to technical reasons or because they do not need it, he said.

The new Principal of the Al-Maktoum Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies in Dundee today marked his appointment with a call for Islamic Studies to be made relevant to the needs of a multicultural society - and expressed alarm at the gulf in understanding on issues of Islam in Scotland

“The study of Islam and Muslims needs to be centralised into the schools and higher education curricula and taught in ways that meet the demands of our multicultural society,” said Professor Malory Nye, who has been acting principal for the past 12 months.

With wide-ranging estimations of between 20 and 100 million Muslims living in the mainly western provinces of the People's Republic of China, one is less surprised at the recent attack on police in the Xinjiang province town of Kashgar.

But read about the PRC's boast of busting "Islamic terror groups" on July 15 and you start seeing the picture of an ongoing struggle that seems to be coming to it's media culmination as 08-08-08 looms.