The International Union of Muslim Scholars has criticised France for denying an influential Doha-based cleric a visa. Egyptian-born Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, 86, had been invited to visit France next month by the Union of Islamic Organisations in France (UOIF). “We are surprised, and we admonish France for refusing to grant Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi a visa. [...]
Japan steered off the agenda at a nuclear security summit on Tuesday to hit out at North Korea’s plans for a rocket launch next month, as U.S. President Barack Obama cautioned against complacency in dealing with the threat of nuclear terrorism. A communique issued at the end of the two-day meeting of more than 50 [...]
The brother of an al Qaeda-inspired gunman who murdered seven people was questioned at France’s domestic intelligence hub in Paris on Saturday after he said he was “proud” of his sibling’s killing spree, according to a police source. President Nicolas Sarkozy met ministers and police chiefs to discuss the consequences of Mohamed Merah’s massacre, which [...]
Mohammed Merah, 23, suspected in seven recent killings, remained holed up Thursday in an apartment in the southern French city of Toulouse, more than 24 hours after hundreds of officers lay siege. Police continued to demand the surrender of the self-proclaimed jihadist. Merah is wanted in the killings of three French paratroopers and of three [...]
British people remain doggedly determined to defend the South Atlantic archipelago, according to a Guardian/ICM poll. As the 30th anniversary of the conflict approaches and with Prince William fresh from his “routine” posting, 61% of voters say that “Britain should protect the Falklands so long as the islanders want protecting, no matter what the cost”. [...]
Up to 11 boys were castrated while in the care of the Dutch Roman Catholic church in the 1950s to rid them of homosexuality, a newspaper investigation has said. A young man was castrated in 1956 after telling police he was being abused by priests, the newspaper reported. The justice minister is investigating the role [...]
The Walt Disney Co. said Monday that it expects to book a loss of $200 million on the movie in the quarter through March. That’s among Hollywood’s biggest money-losers ever. Directed by Pixar’s Andrew Stanton, the 3-D effects-laden movie about a Civil War veteran transplanted to Mars was already headed to the “Red Ink Planet,” [...]
Thousands of people flooded into Cairo’s Abbasiya Cathedral on Tuesday to say a final farewell to Pope Shenouda III, the spiritual leader of Egypt’s Coptic Christians for more than four decades. Shenouda III died Saturday at the age of 88. The funeral could bring millions of Christians onto the streets of Egypt at a time [...]
Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. said on Tuesday that it will stop publishing print editions of its flagship encyclopedia for the first time since the sets were originally published more than 200 years ago. The book-form of Encyclopedia Britannica has been in print since it was first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768. It will stop being [...]
At least 28 people – including 22 children – have been killed in a bus crash in Switzerland, police say. Another 24 children were injured in the accident in the Valais canton, near the border with Italy. The bus – which was carrying children from Belgium – crashed into the wall of a tunnel. Both [...]