Mosques

The most visceral opponents of the proposed mosque in Temecula warned that it could become a potential foothold for Islamic extremists, accusing local Muslim leaders of backing terrorist groups. Supporters, including numerous residents and a contingent of pastors, rabbis and other religious leaders, called the months-long controversy a test of religious freedom and praised the peaceful virtues of Islam. Some dismissed critics as Islamophobic. After a marathon eight-hour hearing that ended at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Temecula City Council unanimously approved the mosque, a decision officials said was based not on incendiary religious or political issues but rather on such mundane matters as traffic, parking and environmental impact.

The Temecula City Council early Wednesday morning unanimously approved a proposed mosque after a marathon eight-hour hearing that seesawed from vitriolic rants from residents castigating Muslims as terrorists to interfaith leaders praising the peaceful virtues of Islam. In the end, the council's decision was made solely based on mundane issues such as traffic, parking and environmental impacts, with the council agreeing that the project exceeded all legal requirements for approval.

They struck shortly after dawn on a weekday morning this month, taking bulldozers, backhoes and sledgehammers to the Noor Masjid mosque. But the stealth tactics by municipal workers fell short: Well before they finished razing the building, 1,000 Muslim protesters had gathered, and things got ugly. Across town a few hours later, the city's public works department was busy again, this time leveling the Hindu Pushp Vihar temple. Followers clashed with police, devotees sang to the gods and protesters blocked a main road, sparking massive traffic jams.

At least 21 people attending a Christian Mass were killed and 79 injured when a bomb exploded outside an Alexandria church in the first hour of the New Year, Egyptian officials said. The blast struck Coptic worshipers as they exited the Qidiseen, or saints, church just after a New Year's Eve Mass in the eastern section of Alexandria, the ancient city along Egypt's Mediterranean coast. According to the Ministry of Health, all but eight of the injured and all the fatalities were Christians.

Swedish authorities said Monday that the would-be suicide attacker who blew himself up in Stockholm over the weekend was carrying at least three bombs and may have had accomplices. Prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand said the man, believed to be Taimour Abdulwahab Abdaly, 28, was also the owner of a car that exploded Saturday afternoon in a busy shopping district in the Swedish capital. A few minutes after that blast, the bomber blew up explosives he was carrying. No one else was killed, although two people suffered minor injuries.

A proposed mosque in Temecula has won the unanimous support of the local planning commission after more than five hours of often-heated public testimony. Critics assailed the project as promoting terrorism and traffic tie-ups. But commissioners ruled late Wednesday that the new religious center complied with local laws and would be aesthetically impressive. "Many good people came to support it ? Christians, Jews, Baha'is, you name it," Hadi Nael, chairman of the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley, said Thursday.

Call it a case of dueling consulates. Almost every morning, crowds of visa-seekers flock to the sprawling Iranian diplomatic mission here, a prime center of gravity in this western Afghan city with deep Persian roots. Now, a new U.S. Consulate is poised to open as well, staking out a commanding hillside position in a landmark building that was once a luxury hotel. Diplomats being diplomats, neither the U.S. nor the Iranian side acknowledges any rivalry, or any wish to keep tabs on the other's activities.

At least 65 people were killed Friday afternoon in a suicide bombing at a mosque in northwestern Pakistan filled with worshipers, the latest major terrorist strike on houses of worship in the country. Pakistani television reported that militants also carried out a grenade attack on a mosque in the Badhber area outside Peshawar. According to initial reports, three worshipers were killed and 15 were injured in that attack Friday evening. The first blast occurred in Darra Adam Khel, a town just outside Pakistan's largely lawless tribal belt, where Taliban and Al Qaeda militants have strongholds.

For the second time in two months, the Obama administration has interjected itself into a dispute over a proposed Islamic center, warning local officials that opposing the mosque could violate the civil rights of its members. The Justice Department filed court papers Monday in support of construction of a Murfreesboro, Tenn., mosque, saying local Muslims were protected by the 1st Amendment right to free exercise of religion and disputing opponents' claims that Islam is not a valid religion.