Three stores hit with molotov cocktails after pictures of socks deemed offensive by Muslims shared on social media

Three stores belonging to a Malaysian minimart chain that sold socks carrying the word “Allah” have been targeted with molotov cocktails over the past week, in a rare case of such violence.

One of KK Super Mart’s stores in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, in Malaysian Borneo, was hit by a molotov cocktail on Sunday, a day after a separate attack on a store in Pahang on the east coast of peninsular Malaysia. On 26 March, a store in Perak was also targeted with a petrol bomb, though it did not ignite, according to local media.

All-female lineup of presenters hope to break harmful Islamic stereotypes after Geert Wilders’ election victory

An hour before dawn in a nondescript building in Hilversum, a sleepy town half an hour south of Amsterdam, Nora Akachar grabs the microphone. There is nothing unique about a radio host summoning the nation out of its slumber. But this is, in her own words, “a big deal”.

The Dutch Moroccan actor turned radio host is live on air presenting Suhoor Stories, a talk radio show presented by seven Dutch Muslim women, inviting Muslim guests to demystify Ramadan for the wider public. The programme is believed to be Europe’s only daily Ramadan radio and television show aired by a national public broadcaster.

A class about free speech was cynically exploited by activists to incite fury in a local community

Three years ago, on 25 March 2021, a teacher from Batley Grammar School (BGS) in West Yorkshire was forced into hiding after a religious studies class he gave led to protests from Muslim parents and to death threats. Today, that incident has been largely forgotten. Except by the teacher. He can’t forget it because, extraordinarily, he and his family are still in hiding. Equally extraordinarily, little is said about this.

The debate about the events at BGS, like many about Islam, blasphemy and offence, has been framed by two polarised arguments. Many on the reactionary right (and not just the reactionary right) view such confrontations as the unacceptable price of mass immigration and the inevitable product of a Muslim presence in western societies. Many liberals and radicals, on the other hand, think it morally wrong to cause offence, believing that for diverse societies to function, there is a need to self-censor so as not to disrespect different cultures and beliefs. Neither argument bears much scrutiny. The most comprehensive account of the events at BGS comes in a review published last week by Sara Khan, the government’s independent adviser on “social cohesion and resilience”. The lesson that sparked the controversy was designed, ironically, to explore issues of blasphemy and free speech, and of appropriate ways of responding to religious disagreements.

Hakim Miloudi and London Broncos teammate Iliess Macani hope Super League stars observing Ramadan will inspire others

London Broncos’ Challenge Cup defeat at Warrington Wolves last weekend was largely uneventful given the final scoreline, but there was a moment of huge significance almost everyone would have missed midway through the Broncos’ 42-0 defeat.

Support staff providing players with water is nothing new, but the sight of London’s physio entering the field with a handful of dates specifically for the Broncos’ Hakim Miloudi to break his fast while the game continued perhaps emphasised the work rugby league still has to do to recognise Muslim athletes. “There was no time to stop and break my fast properly, I was making tackles within seconds of eating,” Miloudi smiles.

Afghan regime’s return to public stoning and flogging is because there is ‘no one to hold them accountable’ for abuses, say activists

The Taliban’s announcement that it is resuming publicly stoning women to death has been enabled by the international community’s silence, human rights groups have said.

Safia Arefi, a lawyer and head of the Afghan human rights organisation Women’s Window of Hope, said the announcement had condemned Afghan women to return to the darkest days of Taliban rule in the 1990s.

Anger from politicians across the spectrum as principal resigns ‘for security reasons’ after asking students to remove headscarves

French politicians from across the spectrum have expressed dismay over the resignation of a Paris school principal who had received death threats after asking a student to remove her Muslim veil on the premises.

In a show of support, prime minister Gabriel Attal, a former education minister, was set to receive the principal late on Wednesday, his office said.

After years as the only Muslim woman on the comedy circuit, the standup is now making history with a female touring troupe. She relives the attacks she faced on the way, from ‘letterbox’ burqa taunts to Isis allegations

For years, Muslim women have been the butt of the joke. We have been described as looking like “bank robbers” and “letterboxes” by the likes of Bernard Manning and Boris Johnson. And from Jack “take off your veils” Straw to Donald Trump, who said at least we “don’t have to put on makeup”, white men in power have continuously attacked us for cheap laughs.

We couldn’t retaliate. We were the voiceless, faceless, humourless, powerless underdogs of society. While white women operated in a variety of roles – pop stars, models, newsreaders, politicians – we were only ever seen baking cakes in a burqa or becoming Jihadi brides.

Young people are slowly stopping attending Dalston mosque that could be forced to accept developers’ offers, says owner

Nestled among the kebab shops, Caribbean takeaways and flashy new-build flats in Dalston, north-east London, sits the UK’s first Turkish mosque. Like many things built by and for the deep-rooted communities in this heavily gentrified part of London, it is fighting for survival.

“Our bills have tripled, costs to maintain the building have soared and we are not collecting enough money,” said Erkin Güney, 59, who runs and owns Masjid Ramadan, also known as the Shacklewell Lane mosque. He said the mosque could be forced to close its doors by next Ramadan.

In 2022, MoJ data shows 34% of those targeted with synthetic Pava spray were Muslims, who make up 18% of prison population

Muslim prisoners in England and Wales are being disproportionately targeted with the use of pepper spray according to campaigners, with statistics showing the number of incidents has risen sharply in recent years.

The Ministry of Justice data, obtained from a freedom of information request submitted by the advocacy organisation Maslaha, shows that in 2022, 34% of those targeted with Pava, a synthetic form of pepper spray, were Muslim, despite only making up 18% of the prison population. Pava was drawn and used against Muslim prisoners 188 times in 2022 and was drawn but not used by prison officers 54 times.

Whether something is racist or homophobic, or threatens parliamentary democracy, should be obvious without government labelling

How do you define extremism? That depends on whether you want a definition with which most people can agree, or one that is meaningful. A definition acceptable to most people must necessarily be broad and bland. One that has more meaning will inevitably be controversial and contested.

And therein lies one of Michael Gove’s problems in his new definition of extremism. Such a definition is either unnecessary or it creates the very problems it is supposed to solve.

A group of Palestinians in Gaza held their first Friday prayers of Ramadan amid the rubble of a mosque in Rafah destroyed by an Israeli airstrike last month

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The point guard is a talented prospect. But the French Federation of Basketball’s ban on religious headwear means she cannot play in her hometown of Paris

The energy radiating from Diaba Konaté is palpable, even over our transatlantic Zoom chat. The wide-smiling college star has dreamed of playing basketball in the States ever since she was a young girl. She moved to the US from France in December 2018 on a full scholarship from Idaho State University, later transferring as a junior to the University of California, Irvine.

The 23-year-old point guard’s collegiate highlights include averaging 8.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.2 steals per game as a junior, ranking among the top-30 in the nation with her free-throw percentage, and tying eighth in single-season school history with 63 steals. She also reached 1,000 points in her collegiate career after dropping a season-high 20 against UC Santa Barbara in February 2023.

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan, featuring celebrations, prayers, pre-dawn breakfasts and post-sundown meals, began at sunrise Monday in the Middle East and a day later in much of Asia. In the Muslim lunar calendar, months begin only when the new moon is sighted, which can lead to variations of a day or two

Michael Gove is rewriting the government’s definition of ‘extremism’ but his actions have drawn criticism from across the political spectrum. Columnist Rafael Behr reports

Why does the government need a new definition of extremism? There are two ways of answering that, the Guardian’s political columnist Rafael Behr tells Michael Safi. If you listen to the communities secretary, Michael Gove, you would hear a dark story of how certain organisations present themselves as moderate but beneath the surface are ideologically dangerous. These groups must be banned from interacting with the government at any level and blocked from receiving any funding. Another motivation, which the Conservatives would deny, is that it is an election year and they are fighting a campaign based on finding potential cultural dividing lines with Labour.

It’s been a bumpy week for the government to be highlighting its plan to deal with extremism. Rishi Sunak has spend much of it fending off demands to return a donation of £10m from a man who told a 2019 meeting that seeing Diane Abbott made you ‘want to hate all black women’ and that the MP ‘should be shot’. Downing Street eventually upgraded its criticism from ‘unacceptable’ to ‘racist and wrong’ but at the time of recording was refusing to return the donation.

The government’s new approach is not a serious effort to tackle rising hatred and division

It is never a good sign when a minister needs to spend as long talking about what a new policy doesn’t do as what it does. Much of Michael Gove’s Thursday was occupied with stressing the limits of the new extremism definition. It will not be statutory, the communities secretary pointed out. It will “in no way threaten” free speech. It will not be used against environmental groups. It would not be used in response to an individual comment, he added, responding to the inevitable questions that arose because the crackdown coincided with the Guardian’s revelation that one of the Conservatives’ top donors, Frank Hester, said in 2019 that Diane Abbott “should be shot”.

What the new measure will do, said Mr Gove, is help the fight against extremism. It won’t. Had community cohesion and tackling hatred truly been a priority, a full public consultation and proper engagement with faith groups would have been the right way forward. Instead came what the Conservative peer Sayeeda Warsi described as a “divide and rule approach”.

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Sadiq Khan says new extremism policy announced by Michael Gove risks increasing division

• Gove says three Muslim-led groups and two far-right to be assessed for extremism

In his speech Keir Starmer has just confirmed that Labour would stop ticket touts buying up tickets for events and re-selling them at rip-off prices.

This is what Labour said about the plan in a news release this morning.

Reselling tickets for profit has already been banned in many countries, but under the Tories, fans have been let down.

Too often, genuine fans are missing out on getting tickets only to see those same tickets on secondary ticketing websites at far higher prices, making them unaffordable and putting them out of reach.

My first ever trip abroad was to Malta with the Croydon youth Philharmonic Orchestra. You will know that excitement you feel when you have an encounter with the arts that changes your life. Everyone in the room will know that the sense, I suppose, of being drawn into something that seems bigger than ourselves, of being truly moved by a piece of music, or painting, or a play …

Even now even now, listening to Beethoven or Brahms as I read the Sunday papers, takes the edge off some of the more uncomfortable stories.

Community secretary’s new definition of extremism attracts criticism in parliament, including from former Tory minister

• UK politics – latest updates

Three Muslim-led organisations and two far-right groups will be assessed under the government’s controversial new extremism definition, Michael Gove has told MPs.

The communities secretary named the Muslim Association of Britain, Mend and Cage as groups with “Islamist orientation and beliefs” that would be held to account following the launch of a new definition of extremism.

Zara Mohammed says Tories ending relationship with leading, trusted Muslim body leaves a gap between the community and the government

A couple of months ago, Zara Mohammed, the 33-year-old secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), learned that the Ministry of Defence was ending its 12-year relationship with the organisation.

The MCB, the UK’s largest Muslim umbrella group, with more than 500 affiliated members including mosques, schools and charitable associations, had been acting as a referee for potential imam chaplains in the armed forces.

Clerics say Michael Gove’s anti-extremism strategy risks targeting Muslims and may threaten freedom of speech and peaceful protest

The archbishops of Canterbury and York have joined the growing list of critics of the government’s new extremism definition, which they have warned risks “disproportionately targeting Muslim communities” and “driving us apart”.

Michael Gove will present his new counter-extremism strategy on Thursday, which he says will target organisations that undermine British democracy.

Controversial rules grant Indian nationality to refugees who are Hindu, Christian, Parsi, Jain or Buddhist, but not Muslim

India’s interior ministry has said it was enacting a citizenship law that critics say discriminates against Muslims, just weeks before the world’s most populous country heads into a general election.

While the law was passed in December 2019, its implementation was delayed after widespread protests and deadly violence erupted in which more than 100 people were reported to have been killed.