An autistic general election candidate and her autistic children have been targeted by vile online abuse which branded them “inbred mongolians”.

A decision on planning permission for a mosque in Tralee, Co Kerry, has been stalled pending confirmation over whether a call to prayer public address system is to be installed in the 23m high minaret attached to the structure.

POPE FRANCIS yesterday devoted his Easter Urbi et Orbi address to one of the world’s escalating and seemingly intractable problems — religious persecution and intolerance.

French police have released three of the 12 suspects arrested in an anti-terror sweep following the attacks in Paris by Islamic extremists that killed 17 people and put Europe on high alert.

Germany’s anti-immigrant movement Pegida isn’t some sinister Russian plot. Instead, it is striking for the ordinariness of the people it attracts and must be taken seriously, writes Lucian Kim

As a climate of fear takes hold across Europe, the authorities in France are concerned about a backlash against Muslims after the Charlie Hebdo attack, Elaine Ganley reports

Everyone who marched in Paris or elsewhere did so for their own

Tens of thousands of people are protesting in the eastern German city of Dresden against racism and for an open society.

Nick Clegg has accused Ukip leader Nigel Farage of using the Paris shooting to make “political points” and to imply British Muslims are “part of the problem”.

The German chancellor Angela Merkel has warned the country’s citizens not to participate in weekly anti-Islam rallies that have attracted growing numbers of supporters in the eastern city of Dresden.