Daily media briefing

Four trustees at a church once accused of pressuring its congregation to sell blood for funds have been disqualified by the regulator due to "serious" financial and safeguarding failings.

The Times*

Another candidate in Leicester South has accused independent MP Shockat Adam of intimidation during his general election campaign.

The Jewish Chronicle

The Met Police have been informed that leaders of a scandal-ridden church have been disqualified from being charity trustees following grave financial and safeguarding misconduct, The Independent understands.

The Independent*

London-based Rabbi Jonathan Abraham has been granted bail and allowed to return to the UK having been remanded in custody for three weeks in Dublin on charges over the registration of a circumcision.

Jewish News

Admirers of Elena of Montenegro, the penultimate Queen of Italy, are calling on the Vatican to beatify her, despite her family's association with fascism.

The Times*

A judge in Pakistan on Thursday said the country's Supreme Court would amend a ruling that recognised some religious freedoms for the persecuted Ahmadiyya minority, after weeks of widespread protests from far-right Islamist groups.

Daily Mail

Edict also forbids talking too loudly, singing or reading the Koran in public … and men must not trim their beards

The Telegraph*

The Charity Commission has disqualified the trustees of a Christian charity for inadequate financial and safeguarding practices.

Civil Society

The "entire Jewish community stands fairly and squarely" behind a London-based rabbi awaiting trial accused of performing an illegal circumcision on a baby boy in Dublin, the High Court has heard.

The Irish Times

Prosecutors say two men accused of planning an attack in Sweden for an affiliate of the Islamic State group in response to the burning of the Quran have been charged in Germany

Independent*

The Taliban has banned UN human rights special rapporteur Richard Bennett from entering Afghanistan after he repeatedly advocated for the restoration of basic rights for girls, women and minorities in the country.

Independent*

Militant group has also destroyed thousands of musical instruments in Afghanistan over the past year in campaign to enforce Sharia law.

The Telegraph*

A domestic dispute in Lahore's Badami Bagh area escalated into an allegation of blasphemy, leading to unrest.

The Express Tribune

Canadian law-enforcement officials are investigating some 100 bomb threats on Wednesday sent to synagogues, community centres and other Jewish organisations across the country.

The Jewish Chronicle

Trump staffers have called the left 'godless,' but this year's DNC painted a very different picture.

Religion News Service

A group of trainee female doctors from Afghanistan have travelled to Edinburgh to complete their medical degrees after the Taliban forced them to quit studying.

The Guardian

"A Muslim caller felt entirely comfortable repeating antisemitic conspiracies about the riots."

The Jewish Chronicle

Treating misogyny as a form of extremism could threaten freedom of speech, the Government has been warned.

The Telegraph*

Ukraine's parliament has banned the Russian Orthodox Church from operating in the country.

The Times*

A teenager has appeared in an Irish court charged with stabbing an army chaplain in Co Galway.

Independent*

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has criticized the upcoming horror film 'Heretic' starring Hugh Grant, claiming it misrepresents the religion.

Daily Mail

A web developer accused of spreading the lie that the Southport knifeman was a Muslim asylum seeker has been tracked down and arrested in Pakistan.

The Times*

"While those who developed the APPG definition say it has no legal application, I foresee that it will be bandied around on social media to threaten those who question such practices as polygamy with the label "Islamophobic". It will curtail free speech with no tangible legal basis."

The Times*

The Bishop of Blackburn has called for urgent reform of the way clergy are vetted, in the wake of scandal surrounding Blackburn Canon Andrew Hindley.

Premier Christian News

Silent prayer could be banned outside abortion clinics as part of legislation to curb protests and allow patients safe access, it has been reported.

Evening Standard*

A Christian charity volunteer has received a £13,000 payout and apology from police after she claimed her arrest for praying silently outside an abortion clinic was unjust and breached her human rights.

The Telegraph*

Harris Bokhari says exodus of middle-class Muslims will cause a 'brain drain' on Britain. He blames social media, Andrew Tate and a lack of exposure to diversity

The Times*

"One danger of trying to outlaw 'fake news' is that mistaken views have a habit of turning out to be true."

The Times*

Police called Lisa Friloux's complaint against Gilbert Enderle 'unfounded'. After a Guardian investigation, they're now examining whether the clergyman committed battery

The Guardian

An imam at a London mosque led by an extremist preacher has claimed that Zionists were behind the recent hard-right riots.

The Times*

A couple at Leeds University suffered 400 abusive calls and texts in one night after the husband was called up as an Israeli reservist. Did the university care?

The Times*

'Misogynistic, racist and homophobic' imam prayed for 'victory' over Israel on Oct 7 and linked rioters to Zionism

The Telegraph*

The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has vowed to crack down on people "pushing harmful and hateful beliefs", including extreme misogyny, as she announced a new approach to fighting extremism.

The Guardian

A man has been jailed for threatening to burn down five mosques and kill Muslim leaders.

BBC

The Vatican on Wednesday expelled the founder of an influential Peruvian religious movement, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, after the Catholic hierarchy spent more than a decade of downplaying allegations of sexual and psychological abuse and financial corruption against him and his community.

Associated Press

Most of the suspects in a rampage last year against minority Christians in eastern Pakistan over alleged blasphemy are not in custody and authorities have failed to deliver justice to the victims, a human rights group said Friday.

Associated Press

A float in Sunday's upcoming India Day Parade in New York City that celebrates a Hindu temple built over a razed mosque in India is being criticized as anti-Muslim.

Associated Press

Maine didn't violate the U.S. constitutional rights of religious schools by requiring them to abide by the state's antidiscrimination law to receive taxpayer-funded tuition assistance, a federal judge ruled. But the judge also acknowledged that a higher court will ultimately have the final say.

Associated Press

Asked if - given the details we now know - he trusts the Church to which he belongs, the Dean of Blackburn said, "I categorically do not."

BBC

An application to dismiss a further count of grievous bodily harm is due to be heard in January.

Premier Christian News

Concerns were raised by the National Secular Society, based on posts on the church's website describing a miracle night where a man was "delivered from a homosexual spirit which had bound him for many years"

Religion Medica Centre

Reginald D Hunter reportedly mocked an Israeli couple in the audience and asked them to leave after they objected to a joke.

The Times*

"If we have to wait too much longer, one is bound to ask whether the time has come for disestablishment to free up both sides to mind their own business unencumbered by the complexities of taking up legislative time with the niceties of Canon Law."

Church Times*

"I was in Afghanistan and I saw the Taliban shoot women and girls, just because they didn't wear the hijab," she says.

BBC

Afghanistan is the only country in the world that bans female secondary and higher education.

ITV

Founded in China in the early 1990s, Falun Gong unsettled Chinese government officials and quickly became subject to brutal repression.

The New York Times*

A newly registered Pentecostal Christian charity in Scotland is promoting gay 'conversion therapy', spiritual abuse and the subjugation of women, say secularists.

TFN

The church's teachings also extend to marital roles, with one sermon asserting that sexual availability is the "very reason" for marriage.

The Zimbabwe Mail