PARIS – Domenique de Villepin proposed Sunday the creation of a “Foundation for Muslim works” to allow the financing of the places of Muslim worship in France, “within the framework of the law of 1905”.
PARIS – One of France’s largest Muslim organizations yesterday rejected charges of anti-Semitism brought by a U.S.-based Jewish group seeking legal action to replace its leadership with more moderate Muslims. Fouad Alaoui, secretary general of the powerful Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF), denied his group was anti-Jewish and accused the Simon Wiesenthal Center of…
PARIS: France’s Finance Minister, a presidential hopeful, says mosques need state funding and it is time to modernise a century-old law banning financing for religious groups, newspapers report. Nicolas Sarkozy, in a new book that hit the shelves yesterday, says extremism is festering in underground mosques and Islamic groups do not have money to build…
By Jamey Keaten, Associated Press PARIS In a new book seen as a prelude to a presidential bid, France’s finance minister is taking up the thorny question of how to reach out to an increasingly assertive Muslim minority and integrate it into a largely secular society. Nicolas Sarkozy argues his countrymen need to worry less…
PARIS – A powerful Muslim organization said yesterday that officials were abusing a new French law banning religious symbols from schools by expelling Muslim girls who were wearing printed bandannas, not Islamic head scarves. The head of the Union of Islamic Organizations of France urged girls expelled for wearing bandannas to seek court action. Seven…
