Syria: Outside Patronage and a New Offensive for the Regime
Summary The battle for the Syrian city of Al-Qusayr, which came under regime artillery fire May 19, is actually part of a larger battle for the highly coveted Homs governorate. […]
Lebanese farmland firm to invest up to $800m in Sudan
Reuters | May 21, 2013 | JORDAN TIMES KHARTOUM — Lebanese farmland investor GLB Invest plans to invest up to $800 million in Sudan to produce animal feed to be sold to Saudi Arabia, its president said on Tuesday. Arab investors have launched farmland and livestock projects in the vast […]
Switzerland: Alcohol abuse linked to domestic violence
Epigraph: O ye who believe! wine and the game of hazard and idols and divining arrows are only an abomination of Satan’s handiwork. So shun each one of them that you may […]
Kerry in Muscat to help ink $ 2.1 bn defense deal (scare them first, then take their money)
BY JO BIDDLE ARABNEWS Wednesday 22 May 2013 MUSCAT: US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Oman yesterday aiming to help finalize an estimated $ 2.1 billion deal to […]
New Palestinian City Caught in Land Spat : Backers Say Rawabi Needs Access to Some Israeli-Held Areas
By JOSHUA MITNICK WALL STREET JOURNAL RAWABI, West Bank—A project to build what would be the first modern Palestinian city here has stumbled over an issue that has become an […]
Christianity, history and liberty: Constantine’s Cross
Economist: TODAY IS the date when many Christians commemorate Emperor Constantine the Great and his mother Helen, central figures in the late Roman empire’s conversion to Christianity. Historians still argue […]
Germany’s collective blame phobia
Source: The Local People don’t always make the best choices, even if their aims are honest. Realizing this can be painful but it doesn’t debase our common morality. We have to try to do what’s right without presuming that our choice would automatically be so. The Germans collectively made themselves […]
Assad talks, Russia walks
Source: Asiatimes. THE ROVING EYE Assad talks, Russia walks Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wasted a golden opportunity in an interview to explain to the Western public, even briefly, why petro-monarchies Saudi Arabia and Qatar, plus Turkey, have the hots for setting Syria on fire. While he was talking, Russia was […]
Myanmar needs a new nationalism
Source:Asia Times. By Matthew J Walton Many outside observers have been shocked to see Buddhists in Myanmar leading recent violent actions against Muslims. Our recollections of tens of thousands of Buddhist monks chanting loving-kindness while demonstrating peacefully against the former military government in 2007 clash with recent images of monks […]
The Answer to the ‘Christian Right’
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com In a country that is increasingly polarized politically and religiously, it’s always a breath of fresh air to encounter a group or a movement that strays from the social […]
This is Syria’s great chance for change
It is crucial that all sides approach June’s international conference with hope as well as caution When Ban Ki-moon opens the promised international conference on Syria in Geneva next month, the war-ravaged country will experience the first sliver of hope it has dared to feel for months. A year has gone by […]
Prophet Muhammad and the Founding Fathers were kindred Spirits: Dr. Craig Considine
The Muslim Times has the best collection of articles about the Prophet MuhammadEpigraph: And We have sent thee (Muhammad) not but as a mercy for all peoples. (Al Quran 21:108) By Dr. Craig Considine, from his website Although they are typically seen to represent overwhelming opposites, the Prophet Muhammad and […]
Domestic violence conference focuses on honor killings
Source: Buffalo News By Matt Spina | News Staff Reporter Right off the bat, the moderator agreed they were about to discuss “not too pleasant a topic for a sunny Sunday afternoon” – domestic violence and its ugly extreme, honor killings. Domestic violence involves one person out to control another, said Deborah […]
Pakistan’s Ahmadis Face Rising Persecution, Violence
Source:RADIO FREE EUROPE VIA WASIM SR Ahmadi community members carry a coffin during a funeral ceremony in 2010 for victims of a militant attack on one of the sect’s prayer halls, which killed some 80 people. According to a new report by the U.S. State Department, the religious minority Ahmadis […]
Church Whistle-Blowers Join Forces on Abuse
Source: NY Times They call themselves Catholic Whistleblowers, a newly formed cadre of priests and nuns who say the Roman Catholic Church is still protecting sexual predators. Jeffrey Phelps for The New York Times The Rev. James Connell, in Sheboygan, Wis., is a member of Catholic Whistleblowers. Several members of […]
Ahmadis forced to board up Tulungagung mosque after it was wrecked by Islamist Savages
Ahmadiyah Board Up Their Mosque in East Java By Camelia Pasandaran, The Jakarta Globe: Police and residents in Tulungagung, East Java, allegedly forced a member of an Ahmadiyah community to […]
Hefajat leader -‘Siege was designed to oust govt’
Source: The Daily Star A top leader of Hefajat-e Islam has told a court in Dhaka that the group’s May 5 Dhaka siege programme was designed to oust the Awami League-led alliance government, according to court sources. The BNP-led 18-party opposition combine financed the programme, Hefajat Secretary General Junaid Babunagari […]
LHC judge forced to withdraw order
The Express Tribune: by Rana Tanveer. Moeed Ayaz, Asmatullah, Razaullah and Ghulamullah, employees of Black Arrow Printing Press, were arrested by Islampura police on January 7. On Friday, their bail petitions under Sections 295B (defiling the Holy Quran) and 298C (an Ahmadi calling himself Muslim or preaching his faith) of […]
State Dept. Report Says Countries Have Repressed Religious Freedom With Laws
Source: NY Times By STEVEN LEE MYERS WASHINGTON — Countries around the world, including allies of the United States, have used laws on blasphemy and apostasy to suppress political opponents, the State Department said on Monday in an annual report chronicling a grim decline in religious freedom that has resulted in rising […]
Why I’m protesting against Gap over Bangladesh
Source: CNN Money By Emily Jane Fox NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Anu Mandavilli is joining a protest against Gap, at the clothing company’s annual meeting on Tuesday. Her beef: Gap doesn’t do enough to improve worker safety in Bangladesh. “I own Gap clothing and I don’t think it’s acceptable that this […]