Daily media briefing

As archbishop of Canterbury visits Jamaica, research reveals trader left money to church's missionary arm.

The Guardian

Lords are set to debate legalising assisted dying after a peer won the right to table legislation to enact the change next week.

The Telegraph*

The Catholic Church already knew by 2021 of claims of sexual abuse against a beloved humanitarian French priest, the late Abbe Pierre, members of an independent commission said Saturday.

France 24

"Scenes at the Republican National Convention—the former president shown bloodied and bowed, and his fans, decked in bandages, imitating his suffering—were reminiscent of Counter-Reformation zeal."

Prospect Magazine*

"Shamsa Sharawe has become infamous within the Somali community across the world for speaking out against female genital mutilation. In a video to illustrate what happened to her vulva when she was aged six she cut off the petals of a rose with a razor blade and then stitched up what was left of the flower."

BBC

Police in northern India have been accused of fuelling an "economic boycott of Muslims" after they asked restaurants to display the names of their owners to "avoid confusion" during a Hindu holy month when thousands of devotees will undertake a pilgrimage on foot.

The Independent*

In June The Sunday Telegraph revealed concerns about imams in Leicester East exerting spiritual pressure over Muslim voters.

The Telegraph*

The Vatican insisted Thursday at the close of a trial in Britain that it was the victim of a yearslong fraud over its investment in a London property.

AP News

Those setting up such camps search for uncircumcised boys to undergo the ritual, known as "mukanda" - often going to schools and forcing their way into classrooms to pick up those they deem the right age.

BBC

New charges filed against Anthony Odiong after eight accusers came forward alleging unwelcome sexual conduct.

The Guardian

Itamar Ben-Gvir, who seeks to disrupt ceasefire talks, makes video at contested holy site in Jerusalem.

The Guardian

Officials and analysts warn of evidence of increased Islamic State and al-Qaida militant activity across Middle East.

The Guardian

The new Labour government's educational plans have implications for parts of the Strictly Orthodox community that go beyond its intention to impose VAT on independent schools.

The Jewish Chronicle

Saudi exiles living in the UK have spoken of threats to their lives and harassment over their support for improvements in human rights in their home country.

The Guardian

The appearance of a loyalist paramilitary flag close to a Catholic primary school and a church in Co Down is being investigated as a sectarian hate crime.

The Irish News*

"Donald Trump's running mate shows how the church can survive as a countercultural movement."

The Times*

Israel's army, for much of its seven decades the country's pre-eminent secular institution, is increasingly coming under the sway of a national religious movement that has made bold moves across Israeli society in recent years.

The Guardian

The Israeli army has updated its service rules for ultra-Orthodox men, after backlash from Charedim over expanded conscription

Jewish Chronicle

"The Muslim Vote campaign has cropped up Down Under."

Spiked

In a world where many elite athletes take up sport almost as soon as they can walk, Fariba, 21, and Yulduz, 24, came late to cycling. They grew up in Faryab, one of the most remote and conservative provinces in Afghanistan, where it was practically unheard of to see women on bicycles.

BBC

A legal bid brought on behalf of Charedi children in Stamford Hill to get London Mayor Sadiq Khan to extend his school meals' subsidy to independent schools has failed.

The Jewish Chronicle

An Iranian television presenter, who was attacked in London by men believed to be acting for the Tehran regime, has moved abroad, saying that he no longer felt safe in the UK.

The Guardian

Pope Francis has urged religious orders to work and pray harder for new priests and nuns to join.

Independent*

Donald Trump's narrow brush with a would-be assassin's bullet has further convinced his evangelical supporters he is blessed by God, reinforcing the messianic undertones of his populist presidential campaign.

Reuters

The Israeli military on Tuesday said it would begin sending draft notices to Jewish ultra-Orthodox men on Sunday — a step that could destabilize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Associated Press

Six people, including a policeman, have been killed and 28 others injured in a rare shooting attack near a Shia Muslim mosque in Oman's capital, Muscat, police say.

BBC

Students at the network of schools linked to the fundamentalist Exclusive Brethren sect are given access only to learning materials that have been approved internally as conforming to the church's "ethos", multiple former teachers have claimed.

The Guardian

The Home Office will be "following up" on complaints submitted by individual MPs and candidates who have reported facing threats and intimidation during the recent general election campaign, Downing Street has confirmed.

Jewish News

Donald Trump's vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, said the UK could become the first "truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon" after Labour won the election, it can be revealed.

The Guardian

Sectarian signs branding all Catholics as "targets" put up on a loyalist bonfire in south Belfast has been condemned.

Irish News

Hamza Alam's videos included hostile references to Jewish people alongside a post that encouraged viewers to attack and kill Jews following the Gaza and Israel conflict

Jewish News

Fine Gael TD and Minister of State Colm Burke was refused Holy Communion at a funeral Mass on Friday. He was told this was because he had been "excommunicated" over his "support for abortion", according to Irish broadcaster RTÉ.

BBC

MPs in the Gambia voted on Monday to retain a law outlawing female genital mutilation, sparking joy and relief among campaigners.

The Guardian

The Catholic Bishop of Christchurch has asked a religious order accused of holding prolonged, unsanctioned exorcisms to leave the diocese.

RNZ

The Charity Commission has published inquiry findings into St Laurence Educational Trust and Ampleforth Abbey Trust, having opened investigations in November 2016.

Civil Society

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with multiple offences after an attack involving a bladed weapon at a Sikh place of worship in Kent, police said.

The Guardian

"There is much to do to restore trust in politicians but branding Labour as supporters of genocide won't help understanding."

The Guardian

"Fighting anti-Muslim hatred is vital, but so is defending freedom of expression. A balance can surely be found."

The Telegraph

"Labour would be smart to find Muslim allies aghast at the success of The Muslim Vote and clear in their opposition to organisations like MEND and the Muslim Association of Britain."

The Jewish Chronicle

A German Muslim woman has been barred from working as a lay judge because she wears a headscarf which was alleged to be in violation of the requirement of neutrality. The matter is now before the constitutional court.

De Welle

Police in Iran shut down the Turkish Airlines office in the capital of Tehran, Iranian media reported Tuesday, after female employees there apparently refused to wear the mandatory headscarf, or hijab, in an act of defiance of the country's law.

Associated Press

In Kenya, the youth protests against planned tax increases have served as a wake-up call for the Church.

BBC

Few dared question Gambia's former dictator, Yahya Jammeh, when he outlawed female genital mutilation (FGM) over a decade later, in 2015, saying it was not required by Islam, the country's majority religion. But today, efforts to repeal the ban are underway.

Reuters

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has lauded President Putin as a divine instrument for saving mankind, ignoring global condemnation of Russian missile attacks on a children's hospital and other civilian targets in Ukraine.

Church Times*

MPs have been allowed to make a secular affirmation since 1888, after the cause célèbre of Charles Bradlaugh, the first atheist MP, who was barred from taking his seat over his refusal to swear on the Bible, but was repeatedly re-elected.

The Times*

Serious safeguarding weaknesses at a religious charitable trust exposed children to appalling sexual abuse over decades, the Charity Commission said today.

Third Sector*

During her 14-years representing Bethnal Green "we've seen a lot, but not this level of hostility," Ms Ali said. Ms Ali said groups had been "weaponising" what she said was "legitimate anger about what's happening" in Gaza.

BBC

Two bishops — Blackburn and Newcastle — who had previously wanted to implement the independent structures recommended in the Jay report changed their minds in support of the route now being taken.

Church Times*