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Somali meatpacking workers complain of religious harassment By OSKAR GARCIA Sunday, July 22, 2007 3:44 PM CDT OMAHA, Neb. - An American-Islamic advocacy group has drafted a complaint to federal officials that is awaiting the signatures of dozens of Muslim Somali workers who allege they were fired or harassed by supervisors at a Grand Island meatpacking plant for trying to pray at sunset. The complaint from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, to be filed with federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission officials, compiles testimony from at least 44 workers who say they quit or were either fired or verbally and physically...

CONFLICT. Whether past, ongoing, or imminent, conflict has become one of the most severe threats to cultural heritage. Among the sites at grave risk on the 2008 Watch List are: - Cultural Heritage Sites of Iraq, where ongoing conflict has led to catastrophic loss at the world's oldest and most important cultural sites, and where the damage continues. (by islam) - Bamiyan Buddhas, Afghanistan, tragic illustrations of the importance of cultural heritage and the consequences of its destruction, the leftover fragments and historic context remain endangered, and their future in question. (by islam) - Church of the Holy Nativity, Bethlehem,...

I was watching Extreme Makeover on ABC and Mcdonald's had a commercial come on. At the end of the commercial they had something over their logo that looked odd. Does anyone know what these stars and moon mean? http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x36/isthisnickcool/DSCF0146.jpg

Furious parents staged protests outside a school over its decision to serve up only halal meat at lunchtimes. Staff were forced to call the police after one father strode into the school in North London to challenge the new meals policy. More here... • Muslim organisation offers to help school ban full-face veil Kingsgate Primary in West Hampstead is among growing numbers of schools with high Muslim populations to use halal-only meat in cooking. But the menus, which will feature only meat that has been slaughtered in the halal way with a single cut to the throat, have not always...

An important and interesting report by an independent think-tank released in Britain Monday has found that young Muslims are heading toward religious extremism. This is not just a warning bell, it is a thunderous one, but Europeans are unable to take action lest they be accused of not being liberal. On the contrary, the main lessons drawn from the British research is one of self–flagellation, with Brits asking what they did wrong and why they had discriminated against the Muslim community. The research was based, among other things, on a survey conducted among the Muslim population that showed 37 percent...

Halal Chicken McNuggets at Detroit McDonald's WASHINGTON, July 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - McDonald's restaurants in the Detroit area have started to provide halal Chicken McNuggets for the growing population of Muslim customers there, an online American daily reported Tuesday. The large Arab Muslim population of the Dearborn area was initially seen as the impetus for the move, but store supervisor Maurene Smith, of Dearborn's Michigan Ave. McDonald's, said she gets Muslim customers from many different ethnic backgrounds and cultures, according to the article published on The Freep, the online version of the Detroit Free Press. Islamic rulings stipulate...

McDONALD'S latest bid to attract more customers -- Muslim fast-food lovers -- has caused uproar among customers. The fast-food chain has introduced halal products at two Melbourne restaurants, significantly boosting sales. However some non-Muslim customers are furious they were not told their hamburger meat was slaughtered and blessed in accordance with Islamic rules laid down in the Koran.

Hundreds of Pagans serving prison sentences are to be given the day off work for Halloween out of respect for their religious beliefs.Prison Service bosses have instructed staff to grant the convicts, who include Devil worshippers and Satanists, special privileges on Tuesday.While fellow prisoners sew mail bags and undertake other jail work, the Pagans will be allowed to celebrate their 'holiday'.They can use certain artefacts, including rune stones, flexible twigs and hoodless robes, provided they are kept in their cells or worn during communal worship. Robes with hoods are banned for 'security reasons', however.The move is revealed in Home Office...

Tapping into a growing Muslim American population, the market for food products lawful to eat under Islamic regulations has boomed, with some industry leaders predicting billions of dollars in U.S. sales. But different interpretations of what Muslims consider halal, or religiously sanctioned, has led to confusion, misunderstanding and even fraud, prompting some states to step in with regulations. Muslims pay a premium for religiously sanctioned foods, but definitions of halal differ. (By Lisa Billings -- Associated Press)

News from Nine MSN, Australia's ABC Rural and Bernama reports that three abattoirs have been given the seal of approval by a Malaysian religious body to perform halal slaughter of beef, which can then be exported to Malaysia. The abattoirs are Stanbroke Beef Pty Ltd, based in Grantham, Queensland, and two from Victoria - Tasman Group Services, Brooklyn, and Victoria and Novic Food Processing, in Wodonga. On June 4 last year, Malaysia suspended its beef imports from Australia, as it was decided that normal humane methods of killing bovines did not conform to halal standards. Traditionally, halal meat has to...

By TREVOR PADDENBURG 18dec05 A WA hospital has scrubbed baked ham from its Christmas menu, fearing Muslim patients could be offended. It has also overhauled its entire menu so that all meals are now halal – containing only meat and other food prepared according to Muslim customs. But Port Hedland Regional Hospital staff and many non-Muslim patients are outraged, saying it is a case of political correctness gone mad. Kitchen staff are so angry that they have organised a petition demanding ham be put back on the Christmas menu. Other WA hospitals are also introducing halal dining, though the Health...

PATERSON, N.J. Inmates at the Passaic County Jail are no longer getting kosher and halal meals. A jail spokesman says they're too expensive. Bill Maer tells The Record of Bergen County the jail will make its own halal and kosher meals by adding a lawyer of plastic wrap under the food and over the food. Federal immigration detainees are among the inmate population and Maer says Muslims are the biggest group of federal detainees to request the special meals. The change comes during Ramadan, Muslim's holy month, and while the jail is being audited by the Homeland Security Department following...

For three hours, Imad Rababe helped slit the throats of more than 100 goats and lambs at his white cinderblock slaughterhouse near Hagerstown, murmuring a quick blessing to Allah with each flick of his sharpened knife then immediately hoisting the animals by their feet on hooks to drain the blood. It's a tough business, Rababe said. Turnover is high among his eight employees, most of them Muslim immigrants who could not find other jobs. In addition to teaching them the Islamic style of slaughter, Rababe must also shop for livestock, drum up business, track orders and collect payments -- often...

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A Muslim group plans to slaughter 100 lambs on a farm this weekend as part of a religious rite, but state officials plan to be there with their video cameras to monitor what they consider an unlicensed slaughterhouse. The arrangement is the result of negotiations between the state, the Muslims and father-son farmers Kenneth and Eddie Rowe, who have leased their farm in rural Princeton for use during Eid al-Adha, also known as the Feast of Sacrifice.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Muslims observing a religious holiday will be allowed to sacrifice about 100 lambs at a Johnston County farm this weekend, but state agriculture officials will be keeping a close eye. The attorney for the farmers said the slaughter in observance of Eid al-Adha isn't that much different than hog killings. State Agriculture Department officials will be there to observe and possibly pursue a claim that the farmers are violating state law by allowing the slaughter. The slaughter will go on through the weekend after the agriculture officials and the farmers reached a court agreement. Agriculture officials will...

It finally dawned on me today. Ahah. My local Boston Market (Burke, VA) has removed ham from its menu--all the ham/pork products. This is in spite of the fact that the corporate menu still includes ham. I did happen to notice quite a few muslims working at the restaurant. So what do you think about that? Personally, I find it pretty offensive that the freedom of many is affected by the Islamic dietary laws in public franchises.

ALBU-ISA, Iraq (AFP) - The residents of Albu-Isa rejoiced at the killing of 16 US soldiers when a helicopter was downed near their sleepy village, in the deadliest single attack on the Americans since the start of the war. "It's party time for us," said farmer Ahmad al-Issawi, summing up the bellicose mood after a Chinook military transport helicopter was shot down Sunday, ferrying soldiers on leave. "If the resistance carries on like this, the Americans will leave Iraq." The villagers' spirits were further roused by the site of American troops removing by truck the heaps of wreckage. A convoy...

The Guantanamo Thirteen Packing on the pounds at America's toughest prison. By Manny Howard Posted Thursday, May 29, 2003, at 11:52 AM PT Is America the only country in the world that could run a prison camp where prisoners gain weight? Between April 2002 and March 2003, the Joint Task Force returned to Afghanistan 19 of the approximately 664 men (from 42 countries) who have been held in the detention camps at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay. Upon leaving, it has been reported, each man received two parting gifts: a brand new copy of the Koran as well...

Halal McNuggets a Hit in Detroit Sales are so good, McDonalds expands the idea to another area restaurant Last September, a McDonalds restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan began offering a halal version of its chicken nuggets, in response to requests from area customers. In the past 11 months, sales have been so good that they have expanded the idea to a second Dearborn location. At the Michigan Avenue restaurant (14860 Michigan Avenue), McNugget sales are about double the restaurant chain's average, and 65 percent of the orders are for the halal version. The halal product has been so successful that McDonalds...

WASHINGTON, 14 July — A bill making it a misdemeanor to sell food products falsely labeled as halal, was signed into law in California on Monday by Gov. Gray Davis. Gov. Davis signed the bill, which was sponsored by Assemblyman Bill Campbell, during a news conference at the Islamic Cultural Center in Los Angeles. “Halal is the Islamic equivalent to the Jewish kosher, and therefore a sacred necessity for the Islamic faithful,” Gov. Davis said. The law made it a penalty that includes as much as 90 days in jail and a $600 fine for misrepresentation of foods that have...