France: Teacher attacked for calling al-Qaeda terrorists The student is of North African origin. ( NL )  A 15-year-old French schoolboy sprayed a teacher with teargas after she described al-Qaeda as a “terrorist group”, she told reporters on Tuesday as prosecutors began their investigation. “I had just explained that the attacks on September 11, 2001 were carried out by the terrorist organisation al-Qaeda, as is written in the text book,” said the history teacher, speaking on condition of anonymity

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France: Town sues restaurant for serving halal I reported about this more than a month ago .  A couple of months ago the Quick fast food chain decided to serve only halal food at eight of its branches for a test-run period.   For some reason, it's now hit the news again, apparently due to the upcoming local elections. From Quick's point of view, the move was made for purely commercial reasons, and it seems to be having the desired effects (ie, more money for Quick).   How does 'discrimination' figure in here?  Don't businesses have a right to sell whatever they want to

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France: Youth vandalize mosque crescent Young assailants twisted the metal crescent atop a mosque in eastern France, the local gendarmerie said on Saturday, adding it had launched an investigation.

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France: Headscarf wearing Muslim on Communist party list France is in an uproar after the extreme-leftist and anti-religious party NPA put a Muslim women with a headscarf on its list.

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France: Minister denies he converted to Islam The debate on Islam in Europe is usually painted in black and white. Nationalists/racists on one hand and Muslims/immigrants on the other. But the recent French debate was not driven by extreme right-wingers

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Netherlands: Geert Wilders trial As a reader pointed out, I’ve been remiss in not covering the trial of Geert Wilders. I had collected stories, but I felt I was going into data overload with it all. I will try to keep up in the future

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France: PM unveils national identity measures French children are to be given a “citizen's handbook” to teach them to be better republicans, as part of national identity measures announced by the government today. Schools will be ordered to fly the French flag and to have a copy of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in every classroom. The measures, announced by the French prime minister, François Fillon, are the first to emerge from the country's controversial debate on national identity

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France: Minister proposes immigrant contract should include burkas, FGM Foreigners who come to live in France should sign a contract recognising that the wearing of the full Islamic veil is banned, a minister said on Sunday. The “no burqa” clause and a second provision rejecting female genital mutilation should be added to the “integration contract” that newcomers have been asked to sign since 2007, said Families Minister Nadine Morano.

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France: Minister proposes immigrant contract should include burkas, FGM Foreigners who come to live in France should sign a contract recognising that the wearing of the full Islamic veil is banned, a minister said on Sunday.

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Belgium: ‘A daughter is a small catastrophe’ for a Muslim A briefing about Islam earlier this week for Belgian soldiers just before departure to Afghanistan has given rise to controversy. During the briefing professor Jacques Rifflet gave a highly remarkable explanation in which he said that a daughter is a catastrophe for a Muslim man, as it’s considered a sign of poor sperm quality and she must be married off, reports Le Soir

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