An email sent by Town Hall leaders urged all Muslim and non-Muslim councillors to meet new arrangements during committee meetings marking the month of Ramadan, Muslim fasting period, reports the East London Advertiser.

Tower Hamlets council’s Lib Dem group leader, Stephanie Eaton, has condemned the move as ‘divisive’ as it favours and ‘imposes’ rules of one religious group over others.

The Scottish Islamic Foundation (SIF), a new group that acts a vehicle for Muslim Brotherhood ideology, has organised a meeting between the Scottish government and the head of Al-Jazeera in an attempt to encourage the Arabic news channel to set up a bureau in Scotland.

The Herald newspaper reported yeterday that the SIF had arranged for Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's Deputy First Minister, and Wadah Khanfar, the director general of Al-Jazeera, to meet in Glasgow to discuss opening a Scottish bureau while the latter was in Scotland to deliver a speech at the International TV Festival in Edinburgh earlier this week.

Guest blog by Tom Parkinson, CSC Research Intern:

In what has been described as a ‘British legal first’ today, the jury at Manchester Crown Court convicted 44-year-old Syed Mustafa Zaidi for two counts of child cruelty after effectively ruling that he forced two Muslim youths to flog themselves as part of the Ashura ceremony.

The Ashura takes place during Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, and commemorates the death of Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed and a central figure in the Shia faith. The ceremony involves Shia Muslims flailing themselves with a zanjeer zani, an implement with a wooden handle and five chains attached to sharp knives. The youths were left with several deep cuts across their backs.

Guest blog by Mohamed Tarraf, CSC research intern:

Mohammed Al-Majed, an English language student from Qatar has been murdered in Hastings, East Sussex, in what appears to be a racially motivated attack.

He and his friends were ganged-up on by drunken youths as the group made their way home after socialising at a local take away restaurant.

Channel 4 has announced plans to broadcast a sequel to its investigation into extremism in mainstream British mosques, “Undercover Mosque”.

The original Dispatches programme, broadcast in January 2007, sparked controversy when undercover reporters revealed preachers condemning non-Muslims and integration into British society, praising the Taliban for killing British soldiers and calling for the death of homosexuals.

Ann Cryer, the Labour MP for Keighley in Yorkshire, has announced that she will step down at the next election. The 69-year old cited "age, health and decreasing energy levels" as a reasons for her decision.

Her departure from parliament will greatly set back attempts to tackle issues such as honour-related violence towards women. Since becoming an MP in 1997, she has campaigned tirelessly - and often in the face of opposition from local male "community leaders" - to raise awareness of issues such as forced marriage, domestic violence and honour-killing.

Children's minister Beverly Hughes has allocated £4.5 million to a programme which will bring together children from diverse backgrounds in an attempt to promote social cohesion.

It is hoped that youngsters on the programme will develop their social skills and better appreciate diversity in gender, race, class and religion.

Haroon Akhtar, 28, has been found guilty today for treating his young 20 year old wife as a ‘slave’ and for constantly beating her. His mother Zafia Bibi has also been found guilty for causing fear of violence and harassment. Akhtar has been found guilty on five counts of actual bodily harm.

Sania Bibi, the young wife, came from Pakistan for an arranged marriage to Haroon Akhtar. She lived with Akhtar’s family and was forced to work 17 hours per day doing household chores for his family.

A schoolboy and two other men were today found guilty of terrorism charges after a trial at London’s Blackfriars Crown Court.

Hammaad Munshi, 18, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire – found guilty of possessing a guide to making napalm – is the youngest person to be convicted under the Terrorism Act. Co-defendants Aabid Khan, 23, and Sultan Muhammad, 23, were convicted of possessing documents useful to terrorists.

As published in today's Daily Express:

The conflict between Russia and Georgia rings some ominous bells from our collective past. The nationalist and territorial claims and counter-claims which tore apart the Balkans in the 1990s are now echoing in the Caucuses.

Like the tearing apart of the former Yugoslavia, the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1990 led to a confusion of tribal demands. Then, as now, multiple claims to the same pieces of land baffled outsiders. South Ossetians, North Ossetians, Russians, Abkhazis, Georgians – when nations break-up the attention-span of other nations is troublingly short. Who knows whose claim is greater or whose grievances are nobler?

Hizb ut-Tahrir, the extreme Islamist group which wants to establish a worldwide Caliphate, has pressed ahead with plans to hold its annual conference in East London this weekend, despite criticism from a wide range of local politicans.

Jim Fitzpatrick, the Labour MP for Poplar and Canning Town, where the event is being held, told the East London advertiser that "It's an organisation that preaches intolerance and division and there should be no place for it ... it's disappointing that they're coming to Tower Hamlets when so many people are working hard to build up community relations."

The winner of the 2007 'Muslim Writer of the Year', Max Malik, has accused the Muslim Writers Awards of "censoring" his work after his 2008 entry was not read by its judges- despite being on a short list of five to win the prize.

Malik's 'The Butterfly Hunter' attempts to deal with issues facing the Muslim community such as 'the clash of civilisations', extremism, suicide bombing, paedophilia, drug abuse and sexual assault.

Guest blog from Mohamed Tarraf, CSC research intern:

Once again, London’s reputation as the “Islamic financial centre of Europe” has been reinforced with the launching of the UK’s first prepaid MasterCard.

The fact that it’s a prepaid card means that the customer pays no interest. In turn, the Cordoba Financial Group doesn’t earn any interest on any unspent credit “as you can neither earn nor pay interest under sharia law."

Today the City Circle will host the launch of a new Muslim marriage contract negotiated by leading Islamic organisations and clerics in Britain.

Muslim couples will now have greater equality under this new contract, which provides written proof of the spouses' marriage and their agreed terms and conditions.

Guest blog from James Kitching, CSC research intern:

Hazel Blears today made it clear that she intended to put more work into creating a "critical dialogue" between ministers and young Muslims who are disaffected with the government.

Blears said "part of the challenge is how do we ensure that those young people who are angry about injustice, about poverty...can channel some of that anger through democratic means."

A ‘Prayer Meeting’ was convened between Hindu and Muslim community groups in Harrow, London in response to the recent terrorist bombings in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.

In an act of showing solidarity, 30 members from various Muslim and Hindu organisations attended and called the bombings an act of ‘creating division, fear and social unrest’.

The jury have been dismissed after failed to reach a verdict in the 7/7 plotters trial.

Leeds residents Waheed Ali, Sadeer Saleem, and Mohammed Shakil admitted to knowing the 7/7 bombers but denied a charge of conspiracy to cause an explosion.