Once a dusty desert town, Mecca now soars above its surroundings with a glittering array of skyscrapers and luxury hotels.

All Black and Muslim convert Sonny Bill Williams is getting support to help him through the month of fasting for Ramadan.

But how do you punish such a heinous crime as Anders Breivik's? Paul Holmes says there is nothing that could be good enough.

A Muslim women's group is publicly opposing the wearing of the burqa, but Herald readers are divided on whether they should be allowed in New Zealand society.

John Lindh travelled to Afghanistan to help the ruling Taleban fight against Russian-backed insurgents. Then 9/11 happened. US troops tortured him, tried him as a terrorist and jailed him for 20 years.

Culturalism, schmulteralism: Mask wearers want no part of the West except our privileges, according to Paul Holmes.

In the ancient city of Samarkand stands a monument to the grandiose vision of a brutal warlord. Jim Eagles writes.

There is a current of anti-Muslim feeling in Australia that suggests an entrenched hostility often related to overseas events.

Sydney lawyer and author of Once Were Radicals: My Years as a Teenage Islamo-facist writes that republican-steered terrorism hearings entirely off the mark.

Investors flocked to oil and gold on world markets overnight amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, with violence in Libya gathering steam.

There is also nothing moderate about a government instituting a system of torture against political dissidents.