After years of threats, attacks and court action, the Islamic Centre of Murfreesboro’s new mosque opened its doors on August 10, allowing 300 people to mark the occasion on Islam’s day of weekly public prayer. After the shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Sunday and an arson attack on a mosque in Missouri on Monday, the opening went off without the protests or violence that some had feared.  Muslims from across Tennessee gathered at the 12,000-s...

The Turkish government on August 22 blamed a Kurdish rebel group for a bomb attack that killed nine people near the Syrian border, amid concerns by ruling party officials that the militants may be developing links with the regime in Syria, and its civil war could have a destabilising effect on Turkey.
The explosion in the southern city of Gaziantep followed an escalation in fighting between Turkish forces and the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which had close ties in the...

Israeli authorities are lax in pursuing Israelis suspected of attacking Palestinians, noting few indictments or convictions in dozens of cases of assaults on Palestinians and their property every year, according to activists. They also accuse some of Israel’s leaders of creating a toxic atmosphere by condoning – and even encouraging – violence against Palestinians. Two vicious attacks on Palestinians, reported in recent days, have some Israelis worried that their society is ...

Medics in Syria have been treating more wounds from tank and aircraft bombardment in the past month, charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on August 21, the latest sign government forces are using heavier weaponry to try to crush the uprising. Wounds inflicted on victims of the violence have worsened since the July 18 bomb attack that killed members of President Bashar Assad’s inner circle, including his defence minister and brother-in-law, the medical organisation said. Medics from the...

Burma Task Force-New York is hosting an inter-faith press conference to speak out against and spread awareness about the pogrom currently taking place against Rohingya Muslims in Burma / Myanmar. The clergy will also address the spate of shootings in the US, the most recent being the New York City shooting.  Muslim Peace Coalition USA, a national alliance of Muslim organisations has welcomed Mayor Blomberg’s prompt announcement that the New York shooter was a disgruntled emplo...

Egypt has asked for a $ 4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, which stressed the need for a reform programme to deal with the country’s economic crisis. The request was made during a visit by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde to Cairo, where she met President Muhammad Morsi and Prime Minister Hisham Qandil. “The loan in general terms is worth $ 3.2 billion. We talked about increasing it up to probably 4.8 and maybe more,” Qandil told a joint news confe...

Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik was jailed for a maximum term on August 24 when judges declared him sane enough to answer for the murder of 77 people last year, drawing a smirk of triumph from the self-styled warrior against Islam. An unrepentant Breivik, 33, gave the Oslo court a stiff-armed, clench-fisted salute before being handed the steepest possible penalty, 21 years. His release, however, can be put off indefinitely should he still pose a threat to a liberal society left t...