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Dr. Denis MacEoin addresses The Committee of the Edinburgh University Student Association. TO: The Committee Edinburgh University Student Association. May I be permitted to say a few words to members of the EUSA? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic and Islamic History in Buccleuch Place under William Montgomery Watt and Laurence Elwell Sutton, two of Britain's great Middle East experts in their day. I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge and to teach Arabic and Islamic Studies at Newcastle University. Naturally, I am the author of several books and hundreds of articles...

A PIONEERING new form of keyhole surgery will be used to save the lives of dozens of unborn babies every year, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. The remarkable technique involves a 'fetoscope' about the width of three grains of sugar which is used to internally examine babies while they are still in the womb. The resulting images will allow Scottish doctors to perform surgical and other procedures on fetuses - many of whom would otherwise die - from as little as 24 weeks' gestation. At this point, the fetus would fit in the palm of an adult man's hand and...

Scotland's University of Edinburgh, after proposing a ban on Bibles and denying a Christian campus group the right to hold a conference on the immorality of homosexuality, has extended the welcome mat to the school's Pagan Society to hold its annual meeting on campus next month. The pagan conference will feature presentations on a variety of topics, including Magic and Witchcraft in the 21st Century, Pagan Parenting, Pagan Marriage, Pagan Symbolism and Practice and Ancient Greek magic. A workshop in tribal dance will be held at the university Student's Association. "It will be an opportunity for people to listen to...

A bus company in Edinburgh has sparked anger over rules requiring drivers to ask Muslim women wearing the veil to show their faces. Religious groups and unions said the rules introduced by Lothian Buses to catch potential fare cheats were unnecessary. Passengers have been told to lift their veils or produce a passport or driving licence when boarding.

THERE’S NOTHING I like more than a Jewish joke. It’s the anti-Jewish ones I’m not so keen on. Wandering through the streets of Edinburgh during the world’s largest arts festival, you never know what sight or sound you will be bombarded with next. Half-naked men on 6ft stilts meander by, half-naked girls rush to sell you their show, troops of Japanese acrobats tumble past. But I wasn’t prepared for the verbal assault I got when I wandered into a comedy gig this week. There have always been anti- Semitic jokes. But you know times are changing when you go along...

JOKES about Jews and the Holocaust have become increasingly common at the Edinburgh Fringe as comedians tackle one of the last taboos. Some think that controversy over Israeli attacks on Lebanon have made Jewish history and beliefs worthy topics for stand-up routines. But one comedian has apologised after his outburst offended Jewish comedians and audience members. Steve Hughes, an Australian stand-up, told The Times that he regretted describing Richard Perle, an advisor to President George Bush, as “that f***ing Jew Richard Perle”. The comment, in his show The Storm, offended audience members including Jamie Glassman, a Jewish comedy writer. Glassman...

Students from St. Louis de Montfort Acadmeny pose for a picture in front of Dunnottar Castle, on the east coast of Scotland. Around Scotland for Our Ladyby Paul FolleyUntil recently, it would have been rash to travel around staunchly Presbyterian Scotland handing out fliers about Our Lady. However, times have changed and what the eight of us, consisting of myself and seven American high school students from the TFP-staffed Saint Louis de Montfort Academy in Pennsylvania, proposed to do for three weeks in June 2005 was precisely that. We would start in Glasgow and work east to Edinburgh, and...

A MOSQUE and a community centre in Edinburgh have been daubed with racist graffiti in the wake of the London terror attacks. Messages such as "Islam Scum" and "This centre sympathises with the Terrorists", were scrawled over the buildings' doors and walls following last Thursday's bombings. It comes as police revealed a worrying increase in cases of racial abuse shouted at Muslims in Edinburgh. Senior officers today branded the attacks "appalling" and said that security had been stepped up around the city's Muslim communities in the wake of the atrocities. The graffiti attacks happened at the Sha Jalal mosque, in...

ANARCHIST protesters brought chaos to the city centre today as they clashed with police in a series of violent confrontations. Every business in the city centre was advised to close their doors as riot police confronted protesters along Princes Street and in the West End. Bottles and plants were used as missiles as the violence spilled over into Princes Street Gardens. Police appealed for motorists to steer clear of the city centre. About 200 protesters, some dressed as clowns, tried to break through police lines after being corralled in to Canning Street in the West End as they staged their...

Key points • Sailors asked to use their boats to ferry summit protestors from France • Up to 3,000 expected to make journey to join capital marches • Businesses told to board up premises as a week of chaos is predicted Key quote"We are asking people to get into their boats in their thousands and pick up the people of France who wish to participate" - Sir Bob Geldof Story in full BOB Geldof yesterday sparked new fears of G8 chaos as he invited thousands of French protesters to descend on Edinburgh, promising a Dunkirk-style flotilla of small ships to...

The last of my grandparents just passed away. We had been keeping a vigil over my grandmother for the last couple of weeks knowing that her time was near. About 2 months ago she fell and broke her hip and leg as well as fracturing several vertebrae in her back. Since that time she had progressively deteriorated to the point we knew her death was inevitable. Interestingly enough - apparently this morning my uncle was sitting with my Grandmother and she sat up and asked him 'why won't you let me die?' He responded with 'mother, if that's what you...

An Edinburgh man was arrested by police after they discovered an alligator in the boot of his car, a court has heard. Anthony Quinn, 34, of Leith, was trying to sell the 4ft reptile after buying it over the internet and then realising that he could not care for it. He advertised the caiman for sale and was arrested by undercover police officers for keeping the animal. Quinn pleaded guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to keeping a dangerous wild animal in his 15th floor flat. The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) initially spotted that the...

Muslims to fight bar bid near mosque JASON CUMMING RELIGIOUS leaders have attacked a multi-million-pound plan to build a pub just yards from Edinburgh’s Central Mosque. Pub tycoon Kenny Waugh wants to redevelop a long vacant site at the corner of Nicolson Square and Nicolson Street into a style bar. But the Capital’s Muslim community has launched a campaign against the development over fears it will disrupt prayers and stir up racial tensions. They claim the area is "oversaturated" with nightspots and say that frequent harassment from drunken revellers is already a major problem for people using the Potterrow place...

THE Capital’s first cannabis cafe is set to open next month when the drug is downgraded from class B to class C. The Purple Haze internet cafe in Leith will become a private club where people can bring small amounts of the narcotic to smoke. It will be the first such establishment to open in Scotland and will test how the new laws are to be applied by police. Cafe owner Paul Stewart believes turning the former greasy spoon into a private club in the evenings would allow him to operate within the law. Thirty-seven-year-old Mr Stewart said: "I use...

Billing itself as "ultimate minimalism," a play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is charging theatre-goers to stare at an empty and silent stage for an hour. With no cast, no plot, no props and no script, the play has attracted wide media coverage in Britain but, alas, completes its emptiness by also attracting next to no audience. Appropriately called Sweet FA, the play's opening night attracted six journalists to the early morning performance at the 142-seat theatre inside Edinburgh's Crowne Plaza Hotel. On the second night, one journalist turned up but fell asleep in the lobby before the show began....

For aproximately 100 years now, a battle has been raging over the question, "Where is the Word of God?"

FEARS of a terrorist attack in Scotland were played down yesterday after police made a second wave of raids in Edinburgh. Police and civic leaders moved to quell public fears of an al-Qaeda bomb attack, after claims that the capital’s massive Hogmanay celebrations could be hit, along with a simultaneous attack in London’s Trafalgar Square. The move came after an MI5 source claimed that terrorists had hatched plans to place Bali-style car bombs as close as possible to crowds in Princes Street in an attempt to inflict hundreds of casualties. Terrorism experts last night agreed Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations posed a...

Seven people have been arrested in London and Scotland under the Terrorism Act. Three men of North African origin were arrested in Edinburgh in an operation by Lothian and Borders Police and the anti-terrorist branch of the Metropolitan Police. A further four men were arrested in west London and are on their way to Scotland to be questioned. All those arrested are in their early 30s and have been detained under the Terrorism Act. A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said that they would be held at a secure location while inquiries continue. It is understood that the operation...

A major fire in Edinburgh's historic Old Town may not be fully extinguished for another two days, fire chiefs have said. The blaze, which broke out on Saturday evening above a nightclub in the Cowgate area, took fire crews more than 18 hours to bring under control. However, pockets of fires burning within the complex network of business and residential properties could take days to put out. Several properties have been burnt out by the blaze, including the famous Gilded Balloon comedy venue, and firefighters fear some could collapse. Efforts to stop the fire from spreading to other buildings in...