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New York City public schools have added two Muslim holidays to the school calendar, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina announced Wednesday. Schools will now close for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, making New York City the largest school district in the nation to recognize the two holidays on the official school calendar. “We are committed to having a school calendar that reflects and honors the extraordinary diversity of our students,” said Farina. De Blasio said the change means that Muslim families won’t be forced to choose between observing the holidays and sending their kids to school....

Muslim holiday being ‘honored’ by Conn. school district includes animal sacrifice We reported on the basics of this story earlier. I felt another post was necessary for some of the specifics. According to the NY Daily News, one of the holidays that the Waterbury school district has decided to ‘honor’ is Eid al-Adha: The board voted to recognize Eid Al-Fitr, marking the end of the month of Ramadan, and Eid Al-Adha, an annual feast day, by giving observant students the day off to celebrate with their families. It also voted to instruct educators not to schedule any field trips, major...

Edeki Osaremwinda The director of the Nigerian Army Medical Corps, Major-General Obashina Ogunbiyi has stated that the Nigerian Army have placed 1332 of its peace keeping troops in Liberia under surveillance following their contact with a Sudanese who later died of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). According to the Army medical officer who made this revelation yesterday in Abuja, the incident followed the death of a Sudanese Muslim man who had come to the camp of the soldiers to lead them in prayer during the Eid-el Fitri celebration, but developed Ebola symptoms the following day and later died. Major-General Ogunbuyi...

Moscow, October 1, Interfax - Prayers marking the Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, will begin at all Moscow mosques at 7 a.m. on October 4, a spokesman for the city's inter-regional cooperation, national policy and religious organizations department said. "Moscow authorities help Muslims religious organizations each year to organize festive services, providing security, maintenance, medical assistance and broadcasts," he said. But Muscovites and visitors have been warned that the sale and slaughter of sacrificial animals will be banned in Moscow. Sacrificial sheep will be slaughtered on farms and in slaughter houses in individual villages of the Moscow Region., the spokesman said....

The highly polished publicity wing of the terrorist group Islamic State, now trying to establish itself as a sovereign nation, continues to publish high-production videos to encourage Muslims around the world to abandon their lives and families and move to Islamic State-controlled lands in Syria and Iraq. Muslims, they say, "don't need any democracy" to be happy.

Obama’s Muslim Founding FathersPosted By Robert Spencer On July 30, 2014 @ 12:24 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 8 Comments In his message to Muslims on their holiday Eid al-Fitr, issued Sunday, Barack Obama asserted that “Eid also reminds us of the many achievements and contributions of Muslim Americans to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy.” He did not, unfortunately, provide even a single example of these “many achievements and contributions” that Muslims have made to “building the very fabric of our nation,” but he said that there were many, so they...

Via White House website: As Muslims throughout the United States and around the world celebrate Eid-al-Fitr, Michelle and I extend our warmest wishes to them and their families. This last month has been a time of fasting, reflection, spiritual renewal, and service to the less fortunate. While Eid marks the completion of Ramadan, it also celebrates the common values that unite us in our humanity and reinforces the obligations that people of all faiths have to each other, especially those impacted by poverty, conflict, and disease. In the United States, Eid also reminds us of the many achievements and contributions...

Ethopian teenager says she was raped by seven men last August, and now faces possible sentence of death by stoning. ... The woman is charged with adultery, although she denied the charges and is pleading not guilty on the basis that the sexual act was against her will. Her attempt to make a complaint of rape has been denied on the technicality that she is under investigation on other charges and she should have complained at the time of the incident. Her request for bail has been denied by the attorney general. "The intention to place culpability on the part...

Muslim groups may be out of luck, in getting Islamic religious holidays included in the upcoming Montgomery County school calendar. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A REPORT BY WMALSchool board members are scheduled to consider next year's calendar at their meeting today. And school officials are ready to present a report showing only a small uptick in absenteeism on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Adding a holiday to the school calendar typically requires a showing that large numbers of students and faculty will take the day off. Schooll officials say they can't simply declare a "day off" for a...

Two days ago 15 October - the date changes every year - was the wonderful Islamic festival of Eid-ul-Adha, celebrated by Muslims worldwide by sacrificing fully conscious animals. Of course, considering that this is a multi-million-animal slaughter - on Eid, 7.5 million animals are sacrificed every year in Pakistan alone -, by the theory of probability some incident or another is bound to happen. Like this in Gaza, where some poor, oppressed (sob) Palestinians showed their great kindness of heart - why, they would never hurt an Israeli, promise - when, not content with simply butchering the animals, started torturing...

When it comes to Christmas, Gov. Deval Patrick is a “happy holidays” kind of guy.I mean, if the bar exam had had a political correctness section on it, it wouldn’t have taken Deval three tries to pass it. As you know, it’s important never, ever to mention the name of a Christian holiday, because you might offend somebody.

Huge numbers of goats, cows and even camels will be slaughtered in Pakistani on Wednesday homes to mark the Islamic holy day of Eid al-Adha. The sacrificial offering of around 6m animals will allow families to fulfil a religious duty, guarantee some much appreciated meat handouts to the poor and provide nearly half of the annual requirement of the country's leather industry. It will also generate an extraordinary cash windfall for some of Pakistan's most dangerous militant groups. Thinly disguised front organisations have been gearing up to compete against each other and legitimate charities to collect as many animal skins...

Muslim families in Montgomery County are pushing to make the Islamic holy day Eid al-Adha a full-fledged school holiday. Muslim leaders have started a petition in recent weeks and have won support from some elected leaders and religious groups. Montgomery County has a growing Islamic population, though there are no county or census figures on the Muslim community. This year, the Eid al-Adha holiday falls on Tuesday. Some families plan to keep their children home from school, even though they will miss classes and sporting events. But they point out that school is closed for Christmas, Good Friday, Easter and...

U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama sent their warmest greetings to Muslims celebrating Eid al-Fitr around the world, calling it "part of a great tapestry of America's many traditions." "Michelle and I send our warmest greetings to Muslims celebrating Eid-al-Fitr in the United States and around the world," Obama said in his message. "For millions of Americans, Eid is part of a great tapestry of America's many traditions, and I wish all Muslims a blessed and joyful celebration. Eid Mubarak," Obama said. Eid is being celebrated on Thursday in the Arab world and most of the East...

In wake of Tuesday’s decision by police officials in charge of the Temple Mount to ban non-Muslims entrance to the holy site, some two hundred protesters stood Wednesday morning at the foot of the Mugrabi entrance seeking to reverse their exclusion. The mass protest was prearranged following an announcement by Police Commander Avi Bitton that the Temple Mount will remain closed to Jews and tourists at least until after the end of Ramadan’s closing festival of “Eid” which is to be next Sunday, the 11th of August. video .....

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — A Gaza health official says a panicking cow killed a Palestinian man who was trying slaughter the beast during the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice).

<p>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A panicking cow killed a Palestinian man who was trying to slaughter the beast on Saturday during the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha, a Gaza health official said.</p> <p>Muslims around the world slaughter sheep, cows and goats during the four-day holiday that began Friday to commemorate the sacrifice by their Prophet Ibrahim — known to Christians and Jews as Abraham.</p>

President Barack Obama wished Muslims well for the feast of Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. … Wishing Muslims across the United States and around the world "Eid mubarak" (happy holiday), Obama said the celebrations in America speak to "the truth that communities of faith—including Muslim Americans—enrich our national life, strengthen our democracy and uphold our freedoms, including the freedom of religion. That is why we stand with people of all faiths, in the United States and around the world, in protecting and advancing this universal human right." …

President Barack Obama called Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, an 'American patriot' at a White House Iftar dinner celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. His praise came after a group of Republican lawmakers accused her of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political organization. 'She has been nothing less than extraordinary in representing our country and the democratic values that we hold dear,' Obama said.

The 65 page indictment unsealed Wednesday outlines a massive conspiracy to defraud employees, IHOP corporate, investors, the Internal Revenue Service and federal, state and local law enforcement. Background Prior to 2003, Tarek Elkafrawi owned and operated two IHOP franchises; one in Decatur, Illinois and the other in Evansville, Indiana. During his time in Decatur, the indictment alleges, Elkafrowi began a social friendship with Autumn Lee Tangas, an employee of IHOP Corporate in Decatur. Between 2003 and 2006 Elkafrawi purchased, either entirely or in partnership with other investors, 6 other IHOP franchises. Those stores are located in Toledo (2), Holland, Findlay,...