Five people have been arrested following Saturday’s attack on Glasgow’s Airport and after two car bombs were found in London’s West End.
Two people were held at the airport, one of whom is critically ill in hospital. Two further people were arrested in the early hours of Sunday on the M6 and a fifth person has been held in Liverpool. Homes are being searched in a village near Glasgow.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has told the BBC it is clear that “we are dealing in general terms with people who are associated with al-Qaeda.”
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, the UK’s counter terrorism co-ordinator, has travelled to Scotland to co-ordinate the investigation.
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Muhammad is the second most popular name for baby boys in Britain, new research has found.

According to The Times, the name is now second only to Jack and is likely to rise to number one by next year.

The newspaper says the name - if all 14 different spellings are included - was shared by 5,991 new-born boys during last year.

The name’s increased popularity is thought to be partly because more young Muslims are having families.

The official register of names puts Mohammed at number 23, but an analysis of the top 3,000 names puts Muhammad in second place once the different spellings are taken into account. (more…)

Muslim Americans are largely integrated in US society and moderate in their views, a nationwide survey suggests.

The study by the Pew Research Center says US Muslims - most of whom are immigrants - believe in the American work ethic and reject extremism.

Their income and education levels mirror those of the general US public, according to the survey.

However, most respondents say life has become more difficult for US Muslims since the 11 September attacks. (more…)

Five men have been jailed for life for a UK bomb plot linked to al-Qaeda that could have killed hundreds of people.

Jurors in the year-long Old Bailey trial heard of plans to target a shopping centre, nightclub and the gas network with a giant fertiliser bomb.

The judge, Sir Michael Astill, said the men, all British citizens, had “betrayed their country”.

It has also been revealed some of the plotters met two of the 7 July London suicide bombers. (more…)

Schools will be able to ban pupils from wearing full-face veils on security, safety or learning grounds under new uniforms guidance issued by ministers.

It says efforts must be made to accommodate religious clothing, but stresses the importance of teachers and pupils being able to make eye contact.

It comes after a girl failed in a legal bid to overturn her school’s niqab ban.

Islamic groups have been divided in their response - some “shocked” and others welcoming the guidance. (more…)

Pakistan’s early exit and the manner of their three wicket defeat to part-timers Ireland has produced a predictable response in the cricket mad nation.

Pakistan Cricket Board chief Nasim Ashraf is likely to lose his position when he faces a senate standing committee next week.

“We will ask for his (Ashraf’s) resignation in the meeting which is due to take place before March 28,” said Senator Mohammad Enver Baig, a member of the senate standing committee on culture, sports, youth affairs and tourism.

“You lost miserably to a country like Ireland. There is nothing to compensate and the chairman must resign and go back to the United States,” Baig said. (more…)

Released after seven days of detention and interrogation about “trivial matters”, one of nine Muslims arrested in Birmingham’s last week high-profile terror raids, launched a blistering attack on British authorities.

“It’s a police state for Muslims,” Abu Bakr told the BBC News Online on Thursday, February 8.

“It’s not a police state for anybody else … These terror laws are designed specifically for Muslims,” complained the man who was released without charges Wednesday, February 7. (more…)

Nine people have been arrested in Birmingham under anti-terrorism legislation.

Eight men were arrested following a series of morning raids. Police made the ninth arrest this afternoon on a motorway in the city area.

Police said their investigation may take “days, if not weeks”.

A total of 12 addresses in the Sparkhill, Washwood Heath, Kingstanding and Edgbaston areas have been sealed off and are being searched following raids at about 0400 GMT, say police. (more…)

Jermaine Jackson said on Monday he wants his brother Michael to convert to Islam; and he believes the reclusive superstar has given it serious thought.

“Michael, I feel, needs to become a Muslim because I think it’s a great protection for him from all the things that he’s been attacked with, which are false,” said the former Jackson Five singer who now lives in Bahrain.

“There’s a strength and protection there,” Jackson told BBC Asian Newtwork after finishing runner-up to Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty in the “Celebrity Big Brother” TV reality show that was marred by accusations of racist bullying. (more…)

Police are reviewing stop and search policies amid fears they are damaging community relations, a senior officer has confirmed.

Commander Richard Gargini said the Association of Chief Police Officers wanted searches to be led more by intelligence than “appearance”.

He said he was working with Metropolitan Police to develop a more sensitive approach.

Other forces in England and Wales were also rethinking tactics, he added. (more…)

A Dispatches reporter attended mosques run by an organisation whose public face is of a moderate and tolerant contributor to British society. But he found preachers condemning integration into British society, condemning democracy and praising the Taliban for killing British soldiers.

Is this just another attack on Islam and Muslims? Just more propaganda? Or were you offended and disgusted by the comments made by the Imams?

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The moral code my parents instilled in me could help counter this country’s culture of rampant disrespect

In 2006 the gloves came off in the fight to define what it means to be British. Whereas the dominant response to the London bombings was confusion over how anyone raised in this country could commit such atrocities, the veil debate detonated by Jack Straw and the teaching assistant Aisha Azmi was notable for its muscularity. Sentiments that might once have been considered too insensitive were openly expressed. (more…)

Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president, has been hanged, Iraqi officials have said.

The execution took place shortly before 6am (03:00 GMT) on Saturday at an Iraqi miltary facility in northern Baghdad.

Iraqi television later showed footage of Saddam being placed in a noose by hangmen, cutting away just before his execution.

Kurds also welcomed the hanging and the office of the Kurdish regional president, Massud Barzani, issued a statement saying: “We hope that Saddam Hussein’s execution will open a new chapter among Iraqis and the end of using violence against civilians.” (more…)

In an unprecedented strongly-worded language, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called on immigrants to accept British values or “stay away”, and re- advocated a face-veil ban in public places, reported The Independent on Saturday, December 9.

“Our tolerance is part of what makes Britain Britain. So conform to it; or don’t come here,” Blair told an audience grouping academics, students and Muslim leaders.

“We don’t want the hate-mongers, whatever their race, religion or creed,” he added.

Blair defined British values as “belief in democracy, the rule of law, tolerance, equal treatment for all, respect for this country and its shared heritage”.

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British Muslims are being failed by official attempts to engage with them after the 7 July bombs, a study claims.

Policies since the attacks in London have “driven a wedge” between Muslims and the wider community rather than isolate extremists, the report says.

The study, by think tank Demos, accused ministers of failing to engage Muslims over British foreign policy in Iraq.

It called for “community relations to be at the heart of security policy”. (more…)

Khaled el-Masri was supposed to have been disappeared by black-hooded CIA paramilitaries in the dead of night. One minute he was riding a bus in Macedonia, the next–poof–gone. Grabbed by Macedonian agents, he was handed off to junior CIA operatives in Skopje and then secretly flown to a prison in Afghanistan that didn’t officially exist, to be interrogated with rough measures that weren’t officially on the books. And then never to be heard from again–one fewer terrorist in the post-9/11 world.

Instead, on Tuesday, Masri found himself sitting in an American courtroom so elegant that even his experienced lawyers are commenting on its beautiful dark wood and graceful chandeliers. (more…)

The Dutch government has said it intends to ban the wearing of burqas and other Muslim full-face veils in public, justifying the move on security grounds.

Reports said on Friday that Rita Verdonk, the Dutch minister for immigration, would soon draw up legislation to implement a ban on the burqa.

This will make the Netherlands, once among Europe’s most liberal states, the first European country to impose a complete ban on Muslim veil.

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LONDON — Yusuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens before he became a Muslim in the 1970s, has released his first commercial album for nearly three decades.

“An Other Cup” was released in the United States on Tuesday, November 14, one day after it went on sale in Britain along with a single, “Heaven/Where True Love Goes”.

The album includes 12 brand new songs with hits like “One Day at a Time” and “The Beloved” — a hymn of praise to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

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MI5 knows of 30 terror plots threatening the UK and is keeping 1,600 individuals under surveillance, the security service’s head has said. Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller warned the threat was “serious” and “growing”.

She said future attacks could be chemical or nuclear and that many of the plots were linked to al-Qaeda.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said the terrorist threat was “very real” and spoke of “poisonous propaganda” warping the minds of young people. (more…)

Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, has been sentenced to death by a Baghdad court after being found guilty of crimes against humanity.

When the judge announced the sentence, Saddam appeared shaken.

However he soon recovered and shouted: “Allahu Akbar!” [God is greatest] and “Long live the nation!”

Saddam was found guilty by the Iraqi High Tribunal on Sunday for ordering the killing of 178 Shia civilians in the town of Dujail in 1982. (more…)

Watch this shocking video of Palestinian women being shot at and killed in cold blood by the Israeli Army. Clear Israeli state terrorism in front of your eyes. But the world is silent!

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MORE than 30 people were arrested or cautioned on the second day of the Islamic Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations in Manchester.

But police chiefs insisted the day was largely peaceful and welcoming and that the vast majority of the estimated 10,000 people who attended yesterday, the second of three days of the celebrations, were well behaved.

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police confirmed 22 people had been arrested and 11 cautioned yesterday. (more…)

“Eid is on Tuesday. What d’you mean, we’re having our on Monday. How come? Hey that’s when our mosque is doing it so don’t ask me!”

How many of us have had this kind of chat year in year out? Why do we have Eid on two separate days? Why can’t the ulema agree to have it on one day? What are the arguments and debates behind the scene? Who’s to blame? (more…)

In an unprecedented move, an open letter signed by 38 leading Muslim religious scholars and leaders around the world was sent to Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 12, 2006.

The letter, which is the outcome of a joint effort, was signed by top religious authorities such as Shaykh Ali Jumu‘ah (the Grand Mufti of Egypt), Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah (former Vice President of Mauritania, and leading religious scholar), and Shaykh Sa‘id Ramadan Al-Buti (from Syria), in addition to the Grand Muftis of Russia, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Slovenia, Istanbul, Uzbekistan, and Oman, as well as leading figures from the Shi‘a community such as Ayatollah Muhammad Ali Taskhiri of Iran. (more…)

University bosses and lecturers reacted with anger and alarm last night over government plans to encourage academics to spy on their students. They said the measures, outlined in a leaked document obtained by the Guardian, were misplaced and likely to be counterproductive in the drive to root out extremist activity on university campuses.

According to the proposals drawn up by the Department for Education and Skills, ministers are to ask staff to spy on “Asian looking” or Muslim students, informing special branch of anyone they suspect of being involved in Islamic extremism. (more…)