Muslims should be free to convert, says cardinal, after death threats

A leading cardinal has called on the Islamic world to allow individual Muslims "the freedom to convert" to Christianity, arguing that this does not threaten Islamic identity.

The baptism in Rome at Easter of Magdi Allam, an Egyptian-born Italian Muslim journalist, by Pope Benedict XVI, caused outrage in parts of the Muslim world. This week death threats to Mr Allam and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, were posted on a website said to be close to al-Qaeda.

Christians on trial in Algeria for spreading faith

LGIERS, Algeria (AP) - Two men who converted from Islam to Christianity went on trial Wednesday on charges that they illegally promoted the Christian faith in Algeria.

Rachid Mohammed Seghir, 40, and Jammal Dahmani, 36, were already convicted in absentia for illegal practice of a non-Muslim religion in 2007 but asked for a new trial, as Algerian law allows, their lawyer said.

They are charged with praying in a building that had not been granted a religious permit by authorities and are also accused of trying to spread the Christian faith among Muslims, the court said.

Islamic law plays a role in British legal system

LONDON -- It was a clear case of irreconcilable differences.
The wife said there was no love left in the marriage, she wanted a divorce. The husband insisted that she had been put under the influence of a taweez, a talisman, that had erased her affections for him. He refused to divorce.
"The husband says he has been pushed away from his home because of this taweez business," said Sheik Haitham al-Haddad, a judge in North London's Sharia council, a panel of Muslim scholars gathered in a back room of London's biggest mosque to determine whether the woman should be granted a divorce under Islamic law.

Pakistan: Man sentenced to death for insulting Islam

Sialkot, 19 June (AKI/DAWN) - A Pakistani judge has sentenced a man to death and life imprisonment on charges of blasphemy and desecration of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

Italy’s migrant tide

WHEN it rains in the charming lakeside town of Como in northern Italy, young Bangladeshi men are ready on nearly every street corner with a supply of cheap umbrellas to meet the needs of unprepared tourists. In the stately open piazzas of Milan and Turin, their compatriots approach couples while brandishing roses, hoping to sell them singly or in bunches. Meanwhile, fake designer bags are hawked on the pavements of Florence and Venice by young Moroccans, who also offer  "ethnic” jewellery and craft items. Street-food vendors in Rome, busy dishing out Italian favourites such as pizza or gelato or newer food crazes such as falafel, come from countries as far apart as Ecuador, Tunisia and Sri Lanka.

Proposal over Muslim churches triggers holy fury

There has been an outcry in Belgium over a proposal to convert little-used churches into mosques. A senior official in Antwerp argues too many of the city's churches stand empty most of the time and he has put forward suggestions to convert them into mosques to benefit the city's large Muslim population.

Christians face arrest for preaching gospel: Pastors told it's 'hate crime' to hand out gospel in Muslim area

Two American-born pastors handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham, England, were threatened with arrest and warned of being beaten for committing what an officer called a "hate crime."