A senior Iranian commander has floated the idea that the time may have come for Muslims to militarily stop Israel's offensive on Gaza.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has wished Christians around the world a Merry Christmas in a message to Pope Benedict XVI.

Traditional Christmas Day message covers global hotspots besides financial crisis.

Channel 4's decision to broadcast an alternative Christmas speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is criticised.

by Hua Chunyu, Qi Xianghui BETHLEHEM, Dec. 25 ...

Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations GAZA, Dec. ...

Gay groups and activists react angrily after Pope Benedict XVI says mankind needs to be saved from a blurring of gender.

It's Christmas. Let's feel sorry for the pope. In the course of what seems to have been a wide-ranging lecture to the Curia, the Vatican's bureaucracy, he said that human nature was endangered by gender studies. To judge from some of the headlines, you would have thought he claimed that extirpating homosexuality was as urgent as protecting the rainforest.

An arson attack in a mosque near Lyon in central France has damaged copies of Qur'an and left damage to the mosque's entrance.

Three million Muslims have gathered in Saudi Arabia to spend five days and nights in prayer and devotion for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

Hate is a terrible thing but it is all the more terrible when directed at a person or people who in no way deserve to be recipients of it.

In this news report from Harris County, Texas we see how hatred of Islam lead to Police officers unfairly targeting a family of Sikhs.

"The story begins on Thanksgiving weekend when the Tagore family realised that they had been burgled. They called the local police only to be accused of being Muslims and some how connected to "the bombings in Bombay":

"At the beginning of the Thanksgiving weekend, the Tagore family came home to find a window broken and their master bedroom ransacked. When they called 911 to report the crime, Harris County police officers were dispatched to investigate. But instead of pursuing the thieves, the

police officers began grilling a family member. Officers ordered Ms. Kawaljeet Kaur to hand over her kirpan -- a religious article mandated by the Sikh faith -- which she wore over her shoulder. Ms. Kaur offered to leave the room if her kirpan made the officers uncomfortable, but to no avail.

Instead, she, along with her brother, mother and cousin, were handcuffed and led into the street. Officers verbally abused them as they were searched. An officer applied pressure to Ms. Kaur's back as she sat on the ground. One officer asked the family whether they had "heard about the bombings in Bombay" while another told them that he "knew about Muslims."

Hours later, the entire family was released without being arrested or charged.

"How can the police stop us from practicing our religion in our own home?" asked Ms. Kaur. "We called the police to help us. Instead, they humiliated and harassed us. They handcuffed my 60-year-old mother in front of my 8-year-old niece. They think they can get away with it because we look different."

Israeli forces are on high alert following the eviction of Jewish settlers from a building in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Several Palestinians were attacked, with homes set ablaze and mosques desecrated with anti-Muslim graffiti.

Israeli officials have also restricted entry by Muslim worshipers to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the opponents of Islam can not tolerance the presence of sovereign and advanced Muslim nations.

Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has admitted that there had been longtime discrimination against Arabs in occupied Palestine.

Pope Benedict XVI has called on Christians and Muslims to overcome their misunderstandings, urging more cooperation between both faiths.

A romantic novel telling the story of one of the wives of Islam's prophet has caused controversy among Muslims - and its publication has been indefinitely postponed in the UK. But is The Jewel of Medina actually any good?

So let's deal with its literary merits. If you're a man, you'll probably hate this bodice-ripper. If you like well-written prose, then you should steer clear too.

Aisha's angst is the angst of 19th Century western writers who couldn't understand the culture they were observing. And when they couldn't understand, they maligned the ideas they found unfamiliar, such as veiling of women like Aisha.

The result is an awkward unconvincing story, created to fit a pre-existing pre-determined idea of what life for Muslim women ought to be like. The cover art is The Queen of the Harem, a 19th Century Orientalist painting of a European-looking woman.

Intolerance is on the rise across continental Europe from Russia to France

I did a drive-by of Palin’s church when I was traveling through Wasilla yesterday, not realizing the furor that would be churning the blogosphere less than 24-hours later about a speech Palin delivered there only three months ago. Here’s what she said regarding the war in Iraq.

“Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God.”

Let that sink in a minute. A task that is from God. Sarah’s war is a holy war. It’s not, apparently from the God that says “turn the other cheek” or “I am my brother’s keeper” or “the greatest of all these is love”. It’s not about diplomacy, international relations, figuring out why we are so despised in the Middle East, keeping Israel secure, revamping how the U.S. deals with its unsustainable dependence on foreign oil, combating poverty and desperation that leads young men to terrorism. Nope. This war is God’s will. It’s God’s holy war. She went on:

That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.

So the plan is to pray for a plan? Perhaps it would have been better to pray for a plan beFORE we went to Iraq. Better still to sit down and create a plan - a thoughtful, intelligent, human-type plan.

Three months before she was thrust into the national political spotlight, Gov. Sarah Palin was asked to handle a much smaller task: addressing the graduating class of commission students at her one-time church, Wasilla Assembly of God.

Her speech in June provides as much insight into her policy leanings as anything uncovered since she was asked to be John McCain's running mate.

Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

Dear Editorial

Thank you for bringing us great news from around the world.

I was deeply offended by the film Iron Man. Its a deeply disturbing film, especially for me, as I have lost family due to the Iraq invasion.

I found this review which has really touched on the anti-arab, anti-muslim content of the film. Its a decent, erudite review from a respectable American film journal (according to Wiki). Could you please share it on your Film section? I think more people should know about this film before it gets to DVD.

Its written by a Cristobal Giraldez Catalan. Please do check it when you have time.

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/61/61ironmancatalan.html

Sudanese ambassador to Iran says international aid organizations have launched a campaign to change the 'Islamic identity' of his country.

Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) fighters have killed ten members of Barre Hiiraale's militia, while taking 31 others into captivity.

A Palestinian Member of Parliament says the Israeli tunnel project has reached to the foundations of al-Aqsa mosque in al-Quds.

A 14-year-old Sikh girl has won her High Court discrimination claim against her school after it excluded her for breaking its "no jewellery" rule.

A Sikh teenager excluded from school for breaking a "no jewellery" rule by refusing to remove a bangle which is central to her faith was a victim of unlawful discrimination, a judge has ruled

A British documentary on the Qur'an has angered leading Muslim scholars for making inaccurate statements about the Shia branch of the faith.

A gunman has opened fire in a Knoxville church in the US state of Tennessee, killing one person and wounding seven others, reports say.

A US Muslim group aims to promote Islam in New York City subway through advertisements, a plan faced with unparalleled opposition.

Why the UK government's plans for an Islamic theology board will prove enormously controversial among Muslim communities.

The Department for Communities is responsible for driving the "Prevent" package of measures in the government's counter-terrorism strategy.

It has been placing bets on projects and initiatives which it hopes will strengthen the hand of mainstream Muslims and marginalise militants.

Its plan to fund an Islamic theology board at Cambridge and Oxford universities is an exceptionally high-risk move that is fraught with dangers for both communities and government.

But in this battle for hearts and minds, there are huge challenges for government.

There are already accusations that ministers are repeating what some communities see as the mistakes in the past - picking and choosing who they work with from a faith that is not organised.

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears says the theology board will be representative of Muslim communities.

But to date her department has very publicly shunned not just the hard-line fringe but also many core Muslim leaders.

Where the Foreign Office and elements of the Metropolitan Police have worked with hard-liners in the name of enlightened self-interest, they have come under sustained political and media attack.

Senior voices within Britain's Muslim communities say this board will need to include voices that will make government feel very uncomfortable - otherwise it will get nowhere at all.

"If this body is stuffed full of people from the third group, pretending the other two don't exist, it's doomed to fail. It will have no credibility at all."

A top Turkish prosecutor has brought charges against 86 people allegedly involved in a coup plot.

Aykut Cengiz Engin said those charged included leading figures from the army, business and the secular press.

The charges follow speculation about a shadowy group of hardline nationalists determined to act in what they see as defence of Turkey's secular values.

On Monday prosecutor Mr Engin filed charges at an Istanbul court against 86 people, 48 of whom are already in custody.

"The indictment covers crimes such as forming an armed terror group... and attempting to overthrow the government by force," Mr Engin said.

A court must decide within two weeks whether to open the case against the 86 suspects.

They are accused of plotting to create chaos in Turkey, provoking secularist anger and a military coup that would topple the government.

The indictment referred to the killing of a judge in a 2006 armed attack on a court, and the bombing of a secularist newspaper.

There have been several coups by the Turkish military.

Dozens of suspects have been arrested over the past year, following the discovery of a cache of hand grenades at the house of a retired army officer.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to crack down on the so-called Ergenekon group - an alleged "deep state" network of renegade ultra-nationalists from the military, police, business and press.

Prosecutor Engin said the 86 charged on Monday include at least one former general, along with journalists, academicians and businessmen.

He said an additional indictment was being prepared against a dozen others, including two senior retired generals arrested earlier this month.

A French court denies citizenship to a Muslim woman, ruling that her practice of "radical" Islam is not compatible with French values.

Italy may take its discriminatory practices to a new level, calling for measures to make mosque leaders quit unless they recognize Israel.

Israeli troops have shut down three facilities of a Hamas-affiliated charity and a medical center in the West Bank town of Nablus.

Witnesses say troops confiscated computers, documents, cash and furniture.

They also raided offices of the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Israel is trying to negotiate a peace deal with the Palestinians and it was not clear why the ministry was targeted in Monday's sweep, APTN reported.

The troops shut down a girls school, a sports club and the headquarters of the Solidarity charity. Witnesses say the medical center bears the same name as the charity, but is run by a different charitable organization that once was controlled by Hamas.

Although leaders of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank are negotiating with the Israelis over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and despite the agreement over the Egypt-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Zionist regime continues its atrocities against the Palestinians both in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

IslamExpo attracts thousands of people every year. George Galloway will be speaking at the event again this year. For more detail of the variety of events at IslamExpo, go to http://www.islamexpo.com/. And this year we have a special offer for Respect members from the organisers:

"We would love for members and supporters of Respect to be able to attend IslamExpo. We are therefore willing to provide 100 free tickets.

"100 pairs of tickets available to attend IslamExpo for the first 100 people to send their name and address to promotion @islamexpo.com. Please state single ticket or family ticket (admits 2 adults and 3 children)."

Respect will have a stall at Islam Expo for all four days of the event. We need as many people as possible to help out staffing the stall and leafletting the event. If you can help at any time, please contact office @respectrenewal.org

Chad troops kill more than 60 followers of a Muslim spiritual leader who threatened holy war.

Jordanian King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein says creating any conflict with the Islamic Republic is like playing with Pandora's Box.