Former Labour MP Margaret Moran sobs in court

Expenses charge ex-MP Margaret Moran has appeared in court accused of fiddling her expenses by around £80,000. The 56-year-old former Labour MP, who represented Luton South, faces 15 charges of false accounting and six of using a false instrument. It is alleged that she "flipped" her designated second home, making claims for properties in London, Luton and Southampton. Prosecutors also claim that she submitted forged invoices. Moran appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday,...

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France bans Muslim street prayers

A French ban on praying in the street came into force on Friday, driving thousands of Muslim worshippers in northern Paris into a makeshift prayer site in a disused fire brigade barracks, angering a small but vocal minority. The street-prayer ban has highlighted the problem of a 5-million-strong Muslim community assimilating into  French way of life and traditions, and follows a long-running controversy, fanned by Marine Le Pen, over Muslims forced to lay their prayer mats on the...

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Dutch Government Drafts Burqa Ban Legislation

The Dutch prime minister says the government has drawn up legislation to ban face-covering veils such as the burqa worn by some Muslim women. Mark Rutte says the proposed ban will be sent to the government's legal advisory body, the Council of State, before lawmakers vote on it, a process likely to take months. The government said in a statement Friday that the ban aims at "protecting the character and customs of public life in the Netherlands." If, as expected, parliament approves the ban, the Netherlands will follow in the footsteps of European neighbors France and Belgium in outlawing...

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