The reign of Elizabeth I was the first time that Muslims began openly living in England. It stemmed from the queen’s isolation from Catholic Europe and her excommunication by Pope Pius V in 1570. Attitudes towards Islam then have parallels for us today, writes Josephine Fenton.

IN training for the Irish Examiner Cork City marathon, my body has taken severe punishment to be fit enough to run non-stop for four hours.

 

A 19th century incenses storage box from Japan shows a monkey holding a peach; while another is in the shape of a lute.

IF IT’S summer, it must be Warners.

Why We Run: A Story of Obsession. Robin HarvieJohn Murray; £12.99

A suicide bomber killed five senior commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guard and at least 26 others in an area of south-eastern Iran that has been at the centre of a simmering Sunni insurgency, state media reported.

A STOREHOUSE of 30 Egyptian mummies has been unearthed inside a 2,600-year-old tomb, in a new round of excavations at the vast necropolis of Saqqara outside Cairo, archeologists said yesterday.

Al-Qaida today accused Iran of collaborating with the United States in a video message summarising the state of jihad.

FOR a long time we’ve known that cars are to men what clothes are to women.

Moviemaker Oliver Stone has responded to Iranian critics who called him "part of the Great Satan" as they refused his official request to make a movie about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Moviemaker Oliver Stone has petitioned Iranian officials in a bid to make a biopic about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Al-Qaida’s No 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, blasted US President George Bush, saying he had been an alcoholic and was now a liar who gambled on the American people in Iraq and lost, according to a new audiotape released today.

Executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was buried shortly before sunrise today inside a compound for religious ceremonies in the town of his birth.

Mexico 3 Iran 1

Jordan has refused to license the printing of a novel written by Saddam Hussein because it would harm the kingdom’s relations with its eastern neighbour, a senior government official said today.

Saddam Hussein’s family will publish next week a novel written by the ousted Iraqi leader before the US-led war on Iraq, his daughter said today.

FOUR bombs exploded in the capital of an oil-rich province on the Iranian border with Iraq yesterday, killing at least eight people and wounding at least 36.

JAPAN booked their place at a third consecutive World Cup finals as goals from Atsushi Yanagisawa and Masashi Oguro gave the Asian champions a 2-0 win over North Korea in Group B of Asia’s World Cup qualifying tournament in Bangkok.

Iran booked a place at their third World Cup as Branko Ivankovic’s side defeated Bahrain 1-0 in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium today to guarantee a place in next year’s finals in Germany.

IRAQ, a cradle of early civilisation and reputed birthplace of agriculture, beer and the written word, boasts proven oil reservessecond only to those of Saudi Arabia.

Two Muslim militants accused of killed three American Christian missionaries and a Yemeni politician had also planned attacks on journalists and other foreigners, security officials said today.

Environmentalists are planning a major protest campaign to stop Athens 2004 organizers from building an Olympic rowing centre on marshlands next to the ancient battleground of Marathon.