United Sikhs, a UN affiliated international advocacy NGO, joined other civil rights organizations over the weekend in asking Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to discuss the Sikh turban issue in France with President Sarkozy.

The Great Mosque in Paris and the French capital city’s Catholic university are getting together to offer non-religious university education for home-grown imams, so as to help integrate foreign-born Muslim leaders in France.

The UK and France should use what ever leverage they have over Chad and Eritrea to encourage them to help build a consensus among the Darfur rebels and bring a just peace to the Sudan killing fields, says a leading church agency.

French religious leaders are calling on newly-elected President Sarkosy to pursue a dialogue on national hramony with those who voted against him and who believe he is bad news for the marginalised.

The presidential election victory this week of neo-Gaullist Nicolas Sarkozy over his remaining rival, Socialist candidate Segolene Royal, has been met with riots and disturbances in many parts of France.

Dring his life, Abbé Pierre, a French priest who combined Catholic faith with a radical social message, shook both church and society. Following his death, his reflections have now been published in English.