Source: BBC A Muslim stonemason in France has been immortalised by having his face carved on a gargoyle on the side of the medieval cathedral in Lyon. 59-year-old master mason Ahmed Benzizine, who is due to retire soon, has spent nearly four decades helping to restore the ancient Roman Catholic […]
Quebec’s charter of values: Less like Putin, more like poutine: Salutin The Star: The Parti Québécois government in Quebec is floating a “Charter of Quebec Values.” It makes me nostalgic […]
By: Naoki Higashida Published on Fri Aug 23 2013 Toronto Star, August 24, 2013, section INSIGHT Naoki Higashida was born in 1992 and diagnosed with autism when he was 5. While still in junior high school, using a Japanese language alphabet board to communicate, he completed The Reason I Jump: […]
The Star: Quebec’s Parti Québécois government is plumbing new depths in its cynical campaign to pump oxygen into the sputtering cause of sovereignty. Its latest manoeuvre, according to a trial […]
RT: Dutch scientists have made another step towards reading people’s minds by creating a computer program, which uses brain scans to decode what a person is looking at. A team […]
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica Worldwide Adherents of All Religions TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Islamic Issues Sexual Abuse Church-State Issues Internal Conflicts People in the News Worldwide Adherents of All Religions Religious Adherents in the U.S Related Contributors & Bibliography Figures on Worldwide Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas are […]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Abuja National Mosque in Abuja, Nigeria. From its beginning, Islam has been a central feature in Africa. Africa was the first continent into which Islam expanded, and it has become an […]
Syrian army soldiers have found chemical agents when they entered rebel tunnels in Damascus suburb of Jobar, Syrian TV reports, adding that some of them started suffocating. Soldiers “entered the terrorists’ tunnels and saw chemical agents,” state television quoted a “news source” as saying. “In some cases, soldiers started suffocating […]
Source: The Spiegel. But Germans aren’t the only ones with interests at stake. Across the Atlantic, theUnited States is watching too — and Washington is hoping that, once the campaign is history, Germany will take on a greater global leadership role on issues like trade, the euro crisis and international security. […]
Source: The Local If Berlin was not full of vacuous election posters, a foreign visitor to the city would never clock on to the fact that a German parliament will be elected in five weeks. And if, out of curiosity, the visitor was to look at these posters or, in […]
By Peter Stevenson CYPRUS MAIL PAPHOS Municipality was ordered by the interior ministry yesterday not to remove any temporary structures set up by Muslim worshippers on land that falls under […]
Source: The Economist: INDIA is so crammed with colourful “godmen”, quacks hawking dodgy medicines and palmists to trace your fate, it is easy to miss the mild-mannered rationalists in the scrum. Extreme followers of Kali, the goddess of power, occasionally still leave a decapitated human sacrifice at one of her […]
Source: The Economist. “YOU see: the more persecution, the more the church grows,” said Pastor Samuel Lamb in 1993. Before he was jailed for 20 years in 1958, fewer than 400 worshippers attended his underground church, Damazhan. When he returned to his pulpit, the congregation grew to 900. It swelled […]
Dawn: NEW YORK: Pakistan’s new government should urgently address serious human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today in a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif outlining “10 Steps to Improve Human Rights.” The abuses include attacks on religious minorities, disappearances in Balochistan, and impunity for abusive militant groups. In May […]
Global Post: Following reports of a large-scale chemical weapons strike, pressure is mounting on the United States and its Western allies to act to halt the violence in Syria. But, with politicians and public […]
Russia Today: Despite President Obama cautioning against intervention in Syria, the Pentagon is making “initial preparations” for a cruise missile attack on Syrian government forces, according to a new report. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey is expected to present options for such a strike at a White House meeting […]
Source: NY Times: Our genes may have a more elevated moral sense than our minds do, according to a new study of the genetic effects of happiness. They can, it seems, reward us with healthy gene activity when we’re unselfish — and chastise us, at a microscopic level, when we […]
Source: NY Times: If the U.S. goes in and attacks another country without a U.N. mandate and without clear evidence that can be presented, then there are questions in terms of whether international law supports it, do we have the coalition to make it work?” Mr. Obama said on Friday […]
Source: Dawn.Com ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT: The Pentagon is moving forces into place in case President Barack Obama opts for military action against Syria, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel suggested Friday. Amid calls for military intervention after the Syrian regime carried out an alleged chemical weapons attack this week, […]
Source: ET On Friday, rival members confronted each other before an intermittent exchange of fire ensued. The firing killed three people on the spot, while two more died as they were being shifted to the hospital. Another died while under treatment at the hospital. More: