There are references to Islamic scholars in the prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1386).

Following the Crusades against Islam, Britain became friendly with some Islamic countries. Queen Elizabeth I, for example, asked the Ottoman Sultan Murad for naval assistance against the Spanish Armada.

The first recorded Englishman to become a Muslim was John Nelson, who converted to Islam at some point in the 16th Century.

A 1641 document refers to "a sect of Mahomatens" being "discovered here in London". There were also a few conversions to Islam during the period, and a few years later, in 1649, came the first English version of the Qur'an, by Alexander Ross.

German prosecutors have charged a 90-year-old alleged former Nazi SS member with the killing of 58 Jewish forced labourers, officials say.

The man is accused of murdering the workers in Deutsch Schuetzen, a village in eastern Austria, at the end of World War II.

The court has identified the suspect only as a "retiree from Duisburg".

The victims' remains were found in a mass grave in 1995 by the Austrian Jewish association.

The German state court was told that on 29 March 1945, the accused and accomplices brought at least 57 Jewish forced labourers to a forest "where they had to give up their valuables and kneel by a grave".

Gordon Brown is to apologise for the UK's role in sending thousands of its children to former colonies in the 20th century, the BBC has learned.

Under the Child Migrants Programme - which ended just 40 years ago - poor children were sent to a "better life" in Australia, Canada and elsewhere.

But many were abused and ended up in institutions or as labourers on farms.

Officials are consulting survivors of the programme so that a statement can be made in the new year.

On Monday, Australia's prime minister will apologise to the 7,000 UK migrants living there for the mistreatment.

Two-year-olds at risk from 'gender-bending' chemicals, report says

#Two-year-old children are being exposed to dangerous levels of hormone-disrupting chemicals in domestic products such as rubber clogs and sun creams, according to an EU investigation being studied by the government.

The 327-page report says that while risks from "anti-androgen" and "oestrogen-like" substances in individual items have been recognised, the cumulative impact of such chemicals, particularly on boys, is being ignored.

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