Headlines:

• Islam Spreading in Britain
• IMF Chief Economist Warns Possible ‘Dangerous Downward Spiral' in World
• Turkey Denounces French Genocide bill
• US Official Meets Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood
• GCC Follows Saudi Arabia and Pulls its Observers Out of Syria

Details:

Islam Spreading in Britain:

The number of Britons choosing to become Muslims has nearly doubled in the past decade, according to one of the most comprehensive attempts to estimate how many people have embraced Islam. Following the global spread of violent Islamism, British Muslims have faced more scrutiny, criticism and analysis than any other religious community. Yet, despite the often negative portrayal of Islam, thousands of Britons are adopting the religion every year. Estimating the number of converts living in Britain has always been difficult because census data does not differentiate between whether a religious person has adopted a new faith or was born into it. Previous estimates have placed the number of Muslim converts in the UK at between 14,000 and 25,000. But a new study by the inter-faith think-tank Faith Matters suggests the real figure could be as high as 100,000, with as many as 5,000 new conversions nationwide each year. The figures are comparable with studies in Germany and France which found that there were around 4,000 conversions a year.

IMF Chief Economist Warns Possible ‘Dangerous Downward Spiral' in World:

The International Monetary Fund's chief economist warned Tuesday of the potential for a "very dangerous downward spiral" if fiscal consolidation and bank deleveraging continue in major economies without any resolution to the European debt crisis. At a briefing on the quarterly update of the IMF's World Economic Outlook, Olivier Blanchard, economic counsellor and director of the Research Department, stressed the need to hold off on debt cuts in the short term to allow the European and world economies to stabilize. The WEO slashed the IMF's previous forecast for world growth and for the euro zone -- by seven-tenths and 1.6 percentage points, respectively -- and the accompanying Global Financial Stability Report and Fiscal Monitor cautioned against moving too fast with adjustment, although credible medium-term debt reduction plans are needed. Blanchard said doubts about fiscal sustainability are leading to high yields on sovereign bonds, and in turn doubts about bank solvency, which has led governments and banks to try to reassure markets by consolidating further, and by deleveraging and tightening credit. "But both actions have decreased growth leading to a very dangerous downward spiral," Blanchard told reporters. "Now, if this downward spiral is not contained it could lead to much worse outcomes, be it disorderly default or euro exit, with then major spillovers first to rest of euro area and then to rest of the world," he warned.

Turkey Denounces French Genocide Bill:

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday blasted France over a controversial genocide bill passed by the French Senate earlier this week, and warned that the relations between the two nations would be damaged permanently if the bill becomes law. The development came a day after the French Senate ignored Turkey's strong objections and approved a bill making it a crime to deny officially recognized genocides including the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire. Addressing members of his AK Party in the Parliament on Tuesday, Erdogan denounced the French bill as racist and a "massacre of freedom of thought," and said: "We have not lost our hope yet that this mistake can be corrected." Noting that the bill was aimed at gaining "votes through anti-Turkishness," Erdogan said his government intends to impose "sanctions step by step with certainty and without hesitation" against France if the bill is signed into law by the French President.

The legislation stipulates a year in jail and a fine of EUR 45,000 on anyone in France denying genocide. It will now be sent to President Nicolas Sarkozi for signing it into law, as Lower House of the Parliament, the National Assembly, had passed the measure in December.

US Official Meets Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood:

The number two official in the U.S. State Department met with a leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday but chose not to see a more hardline Islamist group that has also fared well in Egypt's first free legislative vote in decades. Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns met Mohamed Morsi, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), in Washington's highest level outreach to the Islamist group as part of a series of meetings with Egyptian political figures in Cairo, the State Department said."From our perspective it was an opportunity to hear from them and to reinforce our expectation that all the major parties will support human rights, tolerance, rights of women and will also uphold Egypt's existing international obligations," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. Burns, the principal deputy to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is the highest-level U.S. official to meet with Muslim Brotherhood officials since Washington tweaked a long-standing ban on formal contacts with the Islamist group earlier this year. Burns' talks with Brotherhood representatives follows Washington's decision last year to drop a ban on formal meetings with the group in recognition of its political role in Egypt's democratic transformation. The shift, which looked likely to upset Israel and its U.S. supporters, was first reported by Reuters in June.

GCC Follows Saudi Arabia and Pulls its Observers Out of Syria:

The Gulf Cooperation Council said it had decided "to follow Saudi Arabia's decision to pull out its observers from the Arab League mission in Syria". It called on "members of the UN Security Council... to take all needed measures to press Syria to implement the Arab League decisions and the Arab initiative on Syria." The Gulf states accounted for 54 of the 165 monitors in the Arab League mission to Syria, a GCC official said. Saudi Arabia decided on Sunday to pull out its observers. The Arab League said it had requested a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to present its proposals on resolving the crisis and seek support from the Security Council. The request was issued by the league's secretary general Nabil Al Arabi and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, deputy secretary general Ahmad bin Helli told AFP. Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said: "Enough of the Arab solutions from now," accusing the group of "plotting" to internationalise the crisis and taking decisions while "knowing that they will be rejected" by Syria. His remarks came after the bloc called on Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to hand over power to his deputy and clear the way for a unity government within two months. "We do not want Arab solutions. We said that two days ago when we refused the initiative and when the ministers' council decided to turn to the Security Council," Mr Muallem said. "We categorically refused (this proposal)."