Despite the recent firebombing of its Islington HQ, Gibson Square announced today that they intend to continue with publication of The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones. The book, concerning the life and times of the Prophet Muhammad's first wife A'isha, was initially snapped up by Random House before they backed out following a storm of controversy, largely spun by University of Texas professor Denise Spellberg. who stoked fears that employees could be the victims......

Parents, eh? They can be so embarrassing. If they're not getting pissed on the port at a family wedding and hokey-cokeying themselves into the nearest A&E, then they're threatening former Beatles or predicting a British 9/11. That's what Abdul Fostock has to deal with - his pappy is the ex-Tottenham Ayatollah, Omar Bakri Muhammad. Dad's latest outbursts aren't helping the 25-year old Mr Fostock, who lives in Britain, as he trys to reclaim some......

Little over three years on from the day when suicide bombers struck at London's transportation network, the design for a memorial to the people who lost their lives has been unveiled. The memorial, created by architects Carmody Groarke, in consultation with relatives of the deceased and artist Anthony Gormley, will comprise 52 steel pillars, one for every life lost in the attacks, each 3 metres tall and 15cm square. They will be arranged in......

58. Doomsday! For centuries mankind has been superstitious about certain happenings and signs, perceiving such anomalous symbols and events as omens of doom, or forewarnings of death and destruction. Of course we'll never truly know if such fears are justified, but what we do know is that the end of the world has always been nigh... In our modern climate the dread of terrorist attacks is common, an inner fear that lurks, for although......

Samina Malik, the Southall resident convicted last November after being found guilty of owning terror manuals, today had her sentence quashed. The Court of Appeal ruled that her conviction was unsafe, and that there was "a very real danger that the jury had became confused" in passing a guilty verdict. The Crown Prosecution Service will not seek a retrial. Malik's case became infamous for two reasons: she was the first woman convicted under Section......

'Martyrdom videos' made by accused jet bombers Ken's clandestine kids cause controversy For those keeping up with the Tube strike ping-pong rally: it's off again Holland Park statue goes up in flames - but is that pic from before or after the blaze? A home in your shell, like: 'Raw space' demand spreads to London Image of An Ordinary Life (isn't that what we all want, really?) courtesy of unusualimage via the Londonist flickr......

Olympic news items are like buses, or decent Boris Johnson policies: you wait for ages then two come along at once. This week we've heard about the package of security measures announced for the Games, while the International Olympic Committee popped by to check up on how we're doing. The announcement in July 2005 of London's Olympic triumph came just hours before the worst terrorist atrocity the city has ever seen, so from the......

Blogophobia: an irrational fear, intolerance of, or aversion to the blogosphere. Martin Amis has been accused of far worse, but after hearing him talk at RADA yesterday evening, this was the only accusation we felt it safe to lodge against him. The offending remark came early in the evening when, during his reading from the recently published The Second Plane, Amis effectively dissed Londonist and its ilk as “semi-literate windbags of the blogosphere”. Gauntlet,......

Despite Londoners being inveigled mere days ago to report any suspicious activity to the police, people in Marylebone are now being advised to, er, do the opposite. The reason? A Home Office-run project is to simulate a dirty bomb attack on the capital. The trials, part of a study called Dispersion of Air Pollution and Penetration into the Local Environment, or DAPPLE, will involve scientists releasing colourless, odourless gas from canisters on the street.......

That burly fella on the tube looking a bit shifty? The diminutive woman with a suspiciously large rucksack giving you the heeby jeebies? Got a funny feeling about that couple walking along Oxford Street? The Met want you to report it. A new campaign is being launched to encourage Londoners to "trust their instincts" and contact the Anti-Terrorist Hotline if they see anything untoward. Adverts on the tube and on radio will exhort people......