Dozens in the US have received notices that their bank accounts have been closed, without explanation. Some say the banks are trying to eliminate risk, but a Muslim civil rights group suspects racist policies and has complained to the Justice Department.

The letters have been sent to business owners, nonprofits, and students across the country, according to reports. However, no explanation has been provided in any of the notices.

Last year, reports surfaced that Iranian students studying at the University of Minnesota had their accounts closed. Now banks appear to be closing the accounts of people who have connections to Kuwait and Syria.

Florida businessman Sofian Zakout had barely opened his new accounts at Chase Bank when he received a letter stating that both his personal and business accounts were being closed, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"To shut me down — this is not good,” Zakout told the Times. “This kind of prejudice is not acceptable.”

Zakout runs American Muslims for Emergency and Relief Inc., which has helped victims of Hurricane Katrina, as well as the civil war in Syria.

“Usually nonprofit and charitable organizations are scared to publicize such things,” he told the Times of the account closures. “I'm not going to be quiet. I don't want to see this happening to anyone again.”

The bank offered no explanation to Zakout. According to banking analysts, a financial institution can avoid giving a reason for such closures, as it might tip a party involved in a fraud investigation.

An attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations has asked the US Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to look into whether race is playing a role in the decisions.

The Justice Department told the Times that it is a matter for banking regulators and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

What could be to blame, however, are the effects of regulation introduced since the global financial crisis, as well as US agency crackdowns on money laundering (resulting in large fines for banks) and the increased use of sanctions as a tactic of US foreign policy.

International banking giant HSBC was fined $1.9 billion by the US after a Senate sub-committee found that the bank allowed drug cartels to launder money through the US financial system. HSBC wrote to the Finsbury Park Mosque in London in August to say it was closing its bank account because it didn't fit the HSBC “risk appetite,” according to The Telegraph.

A US Treasury Department spokesman said “we expect banks to practice due diligence in order to adhere to appropriate laws.” The department's website features a current list of sanctions against various countries.

Banking experts say they are facing increasing scrutiny from the IRS, and are trying to eliminate as much risk as possible.

Brian Kindle of the Association of Certified Financial Crime told the Times that it is not inconceivable that Islamic-Americans or Arab-Americans are being singled out because of their perceived high risk.

“There's something going on here, and I think it ties back to the de-risking trend,” he said.

The Minnesota chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it became involved in a similar situation in January 2013, when several Iranian students studying at the University of Minnesota had their accounts closed.

“None of these individuals have been charged with any crimes or engaged in any transaction that violates US law. The only thing these individuals have in common, aside from TCF [Bank] abruptly and without explanation closing their bank accounts, is that they have Muslim names,” Saly Abd Alla, CAIR's civil rights director, told MintPressNews.

"All of the clients are American citizens. Some are converts to Islam, others were born into a Muslim family; they are various ages and professions; different ethnicities and races," Alla added.

The chapter said it has also heard about the closure of bank accounts belonging to Minnesota Muslims of Somali, Middle Eastern, and South Asian origin, occurring between 2012 and 2013.

The office is working with other CAIR chapters to bring a complaint against TCF Bank, Chase, and other institutions which it claims “have violated civil rights laws.”

The BBS says that the government influence the Muslim extremists.

Addressing media in Colombo, the national organizer Ven. Vitharandeniye Nanda thero said that the Sharia law is there in the Muslim banks and if it goes further, the Sinhalese will be asked to close their accounts for those banks.

Sri Lanka Muslim council is planning to introduce a new costume to Sri Lankan Muslim ladies instead of the present black long gown dress.

This costume used by the Muslim ladies world wide is called “Abaya” and Sri Lankan Muslim ladies wear “black Abayas”

Expressing the reasons for this new program the vice president of the council Hilmi Ahamad says that the Abayas in other colours are very expensive in the market.

He said that low cost colorful “abayas”  will be introduced to the market.Expressing the ideas on behalf of Muslim ladies, Anberia Haneefa said that colorful “abaya” costume is more beautiful than the black one.

Ameena Hussain, a writer said that ancient days Muslim ladies used to wear sarees instead of black Abaya.

She further said that there is no rule in the religion that black Abaya should be worn.

Sri Lanka Muslim council says that there will be a program organized to give away colourful Abaya free to the poor families.

Vicious murderer Farooq Shah has been jailed for life after stabbing to death a pregnant Romanian prostitute in Ilford, Essex. 

Shah will serve a minimum of 29 years for the motiveless killing of Mariana Popa after being sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday.

The 21-year-old, of Forest Gate, east London, stalked the 24-year-old Popa on bicycle and on foot before unleashing a sickening knife attack in Redbridge, north-east London, in October last year, after warning her not to work near a mosque.

CCTV shows Shah brandishing the blade from his back pocket before twice plunging it into Popa's chest, heedless of passing cars.

The victim can be seen staggering into a takeaway shop where emergency services were called after she collapsed. She later died at an east London hospital from shock and haemorrhage and stab wounds to the chest.

Popa had only been in the UK for a matter of weeks before the deadly attack and was found to be in the early stages of pregnancy at the time. Police had already cautioned her for soliciting sex, shortly before she died.

Shah, who was seen riding a bike alongside Popa before he killed her, immediately fled the scene of the murder.

400 hours of footage

CCTV played a key role in tracing Shah with detectives pouring over 400 hours of footage throughout the investigation.

One camera caught the murder taking place while another showed the bike Shah was riding, which turned out to be a vital piece of evidence.

Through the footage, detectives were able to trace the attacker  and during door-to-door enquiries in November, officers discovered a bicycle matching the description of that seen in the CCTV footage.

Shah was found inside a flat near the bicycle and was immediately arrested.

Detective inspector Darren Richards, the investigating officer, said: "Shah has never given any reason or expressed any remorse for killing Mariana. He's given no reason because there was no reason, other than he'd armed himself with a knife and was prepared to use it that night. First he threatened a vulnerable man for his phone, then he attacked Mariana, thinking they were alone.

"Fortunately he was caught on camera and we were able to put together his movements and bring him before the courts.

"His callous murder has deprived a young daughter of her mother and a family of their loved one. I hope today's sentence brings some sense of justice for them."

Shah was also also sentenced to six years, to run concurrently, for carrying out a knife-point robbery less than an hour before committing the murder.

The attackers drove a car into the station and set off explosives on Saturday morning, the local government said on its website.

Three police suffered minor injuries but no civilians were hurt, it added.

The Chinese authorities blame Muslim Uighurs from Xinjiang for an increasing number of attacks in the province.

"On the morning of 21 June, a group of thugs drove a car into a police building in Yecheng County, Kashgar province and detonated explosives," the local government website said.

"Police shot dead the 13 attackers," it reported. It provided no further details.

Verifying reports from the Xinjiang region is difficult because access for journalists is restricted and the flow of information is tightly controlled.

The authorities have tightened security in Xinjiang in recent months.

On Monday, China executed 13 people in Xinjiang for what it called "terrorist attacks".

The authorities also sentenced three men - believed to Uighurs - over a fatal car crash in Beijing last year.

Five people were killed when a car ploughed into a crowd in Beijing's Tiananmen Square last October. Dozens of others were injured.

Attacks blamed by Beijing on Uighur separatists include deadly bomb and knife attacks on railway stations in Urumqi in Xinjiang, and Kunming in south-west China.

Uighur leaders deny that they are co-ordinating a terrorist campaign.

Activists have accused Beijing of exaggerating the threat from Uighur separatists to justify a crackdown on the Uighurs' religious and cultural freedoms.

It is reported that there are 2 killed during the fights of Dharga town.

Their bodies are been kept at Nagoda hospital, Kalutara.

Eighty individuals have been injured in the tense situation that arose in the Beruwala and Aluthgama areas on Sunday evening. The injured have been sent to the Kalutara Base Hospital, the Beruwala District Hospital, the Government Hospital in Dharga town and the Aluthgama Rural Hospital.

A spokeswoman of the Kalutara Base Hospital stated that 36 persons, including the seven who were shot, were receiving treatment at the hospital.

Seven individuals, including a police officer, have been admitted to Beruwala District Hospital.

A spokeswoman of the Government Hospital of the Dharga town stated that two persons are currently receiving treatment.

Ten individuals, including a member of the Special Task Force, were admitted to the Aluthgama Rural Village Hospital, while eight of them were later transferred to the Kalutara Base Hospital. A spokeswoman of the hospital stated that two of them had left after receiving treatment.

Meanwhile, the police curfew that was imposed on the Beruwala and Aluthgama police divisions is still in effect.