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FEARS are emerging that vulnerable children might be groomed for religious extremism or even terrorism at taxpayers’ expense. Muslim pupils are being taken out of classes and sent to study at Islamic schools, or madrassas. A pilot scheme, the Open Madrasah Network, has received a £550,000 government grant to pay for under-achievers to attend lessons in Arabic, Urdu and religion. The classes, described as booster lessons for primary and GCSE age pupils, are already running at four madrassas in Bradford, West Yorkshire. If pupils show improvement, the scheme is likely to be rolled out nationally. But critics say it will...

Cambridge University will allow female Muslim students to wear burkas at graduation ceremonies, it emerged yesterday. By tradition, students are required to wear dark suits and white shirts under their graduation gowns. Cambridge has clamped down on breaches of the rules after officials complained students were increasingly wearing casual clothes to ceremonies. They warned the code 'is strictly enforced at ceremonies, and if you do not observe it, you may not be permitted to graduate on a particular occasion'. Yesterday it clarified that clothing linked to religious observance, such as burkas, would still be allowed. Scottish students who want to...

Cambridge University Allows Muslim Students To Wear Burkhas Under Their Mortar Boards At Graduation By DAILY MAIL REPORTER 30th October 2009 Strict dress code: How a Muslim Cambridge University student might look at their graduation ceremony. Cambridge University is to allow female Muslim students to wear burkhas under their mortar boards at graduation ceremonies, it emerged today. The university has a strict dress code for the prestigious events at the city's Senate House, to which all students must adhere in order to graduate. The university website warns students that the code 'is strictly enforced at ceremonies, and if you do...

A burka-wearing student has been banned from enrolling at a college after staff claimed the Muslim garment was a barrier to ‘safety and communication’. Shawana Bilqes, 18, was forced to abandon her learning plans after she refused to remove the head-to-toe gown which reveals only her eyes. She had been asked to show her face as a check to avoid identity fraud in case she was posing as someone else. But when she explained she could not due to her religious belief she was forced off her Access course for an HE Diploma at Burnley College, Lancashire. Today Miss Bilqes...

A Christian couple in England is now at risk of losing their business after being prosecuted for debating Islam with a Muslim guest. Police arrested Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang, who run the Bounty House Hotel in Liverpool, after a Muslim woman complained that she was offended by comments made to her in March. Because the legal case is ongoing the couple cannot comment publicly. According to newspaper reports, the debate at the hotel involved discussion of whether Jesus was the son of God or just a minor prophet of Islam. Newspapers also reported the debate included comments that Mohammed was...

A teenage girl was raped four times by a gang who took pictures of the abuse on their mobile phones. The 16-year-old victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked in the attic room of a house in Rochdale on 28 May 2008. The girl's mother called her mobile phone after noticing she was missing from their home, only to hear the cries of her daughter on the end of the line. Her four attackers, aged 17 to 20, pleaded guilty at Bolton Crown Court. The girl had gone to the house after being called on her mobile....

They praised the Lord by singing their hearts out and chanting prayers at packed services. But members of a congregation in north London have abandoned their church - because of a council noise ban. The Immanuel International Christian Centre was ordered to keep its amplified music and sermons quieter after a neighbour complained. But the church's pastor Dunni Odetoyinbo claimed Waltham Forest council had only told them to keep quiet so as not to offend the Muslim community. The church also argued the council had 'taken away its ability to praise God', and that congregation numbers had dwindled from 100...

It started as a religious discussion over the breakfast table at a private hotel. Several months later, the Christian owners face ruin after a Muslim guest complained that she had been insulted. Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang are being prosecuted under controversial public order laws designed to target yobbish and abusive behaviour on the streets. If convicted they face a fine of up to £5,000 and a criminal record. They have also lost 80 per cent of their bookings and have been forced to put the business up for sale. The charges relate to a heated conversation the couple had with...

Telegraph.co.uk today reports that Mohammed has become the most common name for baby boys born in London and in three other English regions. In the capital, the Islamic name - including its varient spellings - was twice as popular as the second-placed name, Daniel, in 2008. For those who follow these things, this won’t come as a huge surprise. We know that the UK’s Muslim population is growing, both through immigration and through its higher birthrate. We know that there are particular concentrations in London, the West Midlands and the North of England. We know that Muslim families tend to...

Mohammed is now the most common name for baby boys born in London and three other English regions, official Government figures have shown. The Islamic name overtook traditional choices like Jack, Thomas and Daniel to become the number one name in the West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the North West, as well as in the capital, in 2008. The figures emerged in a detailed regional breakdown of figures published last week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

At least ten people were arrested after police were attacked with bricks and bottles as demonstrations outside the Harrow Central Mosque in north London turned violent. Officers were caught in a stand-off between hundreds of anti-Islam and Muslim protesters outside the mosque, in Station Road, Harrow late on Friday. Heavily armed police struggled to contain the escalating violence and at least 10 people were arrested as more than a 1,000 people descended on the area. Scotland Yard condemned the violent protesters, many of whom had covered their faces with ski masks, motorcycle helmets and scarves. The violence came after the...

A British judge lambasted a rapist for claiming his victim was a liar - then commended him for becoming a muslim. Judge Anthony Goldstaub QC sentenced Stuart Wood for seven years for the attack, then told him: 'You have turned to Islam and this promises well for your future, particularly as you are now an adherent of a religion which respects women and self-discipline.'

This week, the Office of National Statistics published a list of the most popular boys' names in Britain: Jack, Oliver, Thomas, Harry, Joshua, Alfie, Charlie, Daniel. There is just one small problem: the list is deceitful. In reality, the third most popular choice for boy children. The ONS explains blithely that it had no intent to deceive. Its normal practice is to catalogue different spellings separately, as in Mohammed, Muhammed and so on. But if you add these variants together, as surely seems logical, then Mohammed is right up there, near the top of the list. Unfortunately, in recent

Mohammed, in all its various spellings, is now the second most common boys' name in the UK, next only to Jack. ==snip== Mohammed was placed 16th with 3,423, Muhammad 37th with 2,068 and Mohammad 65th with 1,100. Figures for five other spellings - Muhammad (496), Mohamed (428), Mohamad (40), and Mohammod (10), were later released. That made a total of 7,576 and put Mohammed and its alternatives ahead of the official second placed name, Oliver, of whom there were 7,413.

Ninety people have been arrested after fighting erupted at a right-wing protest in a busy shopping street. A planned demonstration in Birmingham against Islamic fundamentalism, by The English Defence League, resulted in angry clashes with anti-fascist campaigners. Gangs of men and youths hurled bottles at one another and pelted riot police with bricks as trouble erupted in the New Street area of the city, close to the main train station. The disorder, which involved around 250 people, spilled onto the adjoining Bennetts Hill - a street lined with a number of pubs popular with shoppers.

London, Sep. 4 : British hate preacher Anjem Choudary has controversially demanded capital punishment for Koran-bashing author Sebastian Faulks if he is found guilty under sharia law. “Mr Faulks was extremely naïve for what he said and it could have some grave consequence for him. Someone like this needs to be assessed in an Islamic court of law and if he’s found guilty then there would be capital punishment,” the Daily Express quoted him, as saying. “Just as we chopping the hand off a thief and stoning the adulterer, we have for the one who insults the Prophet the death...

A GROUP of controversial Muslim clerics funded by Colonel Gaddafi are set to make appearances at three Midland Mosques. Eleven preachers sponsored by the World Islamic Call Society (Wics), which was founded, led and paid for by the Libyan leader, will be holding events in Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham during Ramadan. The speeches come just a month after the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasset Ali Al Megrahi caused a storm between Britain and the US when he returned to a hero’s welcome in Tripoli. And in a recent speech, Colonel Gaddafi said that the aim of Wics was to...

September 7, 2009 Mass murder at 30,000 feet: Islamic extremists guilty of airline bomb plot Philippe Naughton Three British Muslims were found guilty today of conspiracy to murder thousands of passengers and crew in an unprecedented airline bomb plot that could have proved as deadly as the 9/11 attacks. After a retrial at Woolwich Crown Court, jurors found the ringleader, Abdulla Ahmed, and two other men, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain, guilty of plotting to use liquid bombs to blow up airliners en route from Heathrow to the United States. Another defendant, Umar Islam, was found guilty of a more...

It is great that these three Islamic terrorists were taken off of the streets, but if the accommodations to Islam do not stop soon in the UK they are still going to lose this war. UK court convicts 3 of plot to blow up airliners By DAVID STRINGER LONDON – Three British Muslims were convicted Monday of plotting to murder thousands by downing at least seven airliners bound for the U.S. and Canada in what was intended as the largest terrorist attack since Sept. 11.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has recommended that non-Muslims take the opportunity of the month of Ramadan to fast, along with their Muslim neighbors, in order to promote "understanding between cultures."