Rafiq A. Tschannen is a Swiss national. He converted to Islam and joined the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at the age of 16 after reading the German translation of the Holy Qur'an. He worked in 15 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, first as Finance Director in the private industry and later as Chief Executive Officer of NGOs and International Governmental Organizations. He is now devoting his time to The Muslim Times as Editor for Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and Switzerland and as Associate Chief Editor.
ASYLUM STUDY SEP 23, 2016 – 09:14 Europe is in the grip of a migration crisis. Here, Italian officers rescue a woman from a crowded wooden boat carrying more than 700 migrants (Keystone) Europeans are more likely to accept asylum seekers who have a higher employability, have been persecuted […]
Sep 08,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – JONATHAN POWER The French ambassador to the US from 1902 to 1924, Jean-Jules Jusserand, observed that distant powers could not easily threaten the US because “on the north, she has a weak neighbour; on the south, another weak neighbour; on the east fish and […]
Sep 22,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – JONATHAN POWER Russia recently announced that it has decided to go where angels fear to tread: into the whirlpool of negotiations between Palestine and Israel. Long a preserve of the Americans and the French, the attempt to bring peace between the two and to […]
Sep 22,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – MICHAEL JANSEN US President Barack Obama should give back the Nobel Peace Prize he was awarded a few months after taking office in 2009. Instead of making peace, he has waged war in this region and the Indian subcontinent, and sold more arms to […]
Sep 22,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – RAMI G. KHOURI Many dramatic, significant, even historic events have occurred in the world in the last few days, including barbaric wars, broken ceasefires, terrorism in several American and Middle Eastern cities, global summits on refugees and migrants, and other such scourges. So why […]
Any settlement in Syria will probably look more like the Russian version (with a weakened Assad) than the Western version (without him). This has nothing in common with the era of the Cold War; far more with the shifting sands of the Middle East today Mary Dejevsky @IndyVoices A […]
What, the Saudis must be asking themselves, has happened to the fawning leaders who would normally grovel to the Kingdom? Robert Fisk @indyvoices Iran boycotted the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, this year after rising tensions between the nations AP The Saudis step deeper into trouble almost by the […]
ARAB NEWS | Published — Saturday 17 September 2016 The expansion of the holy mosques takes into account the expected surge in Muslim population worldwide by 2030. (AN photo by Ahmed Hashad) RIYADH: A government proposal to extend the Umrah season from the current eight months to 10 is […]
September 20, 2016 TEHRAN – Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Tuesday underscored the importance of unity across the Islamic world, calling on the Shiite Muslims to avoid making vituperative comments about the Sunni figures. The Supreme Leader made the remarks as he received thousands of people from all walks […]
September 21, 2016 TEHRAN – The Center for Scriptural Heritage Studies of Iran and Islam was inaugurated in the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday. The ceremony, which took place in the Green Hall of the institute, was attended by the […]
September 21, 2016 | by Rabwah Times | Iran has slammed the decision by United Nations to appoint Asma Jahangir as special rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and called her out as a ‘Qadiani’, a derogatory term used for members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Sect. Pakistani Lawyer and Human […]
Let’s Squash the Myth That the Irish Were Ever American Slaves Madeleine Davies Éirinn go Brách and Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to my fellow children of the Emerald Isle! From oppression by the British to oppression in the United States to oppression on cereal boxes, we have endured a lot […]
HUMANITARIAN PILOTS INITIATIVE http://tp.srgssr.ch/p/swi/embed?urn=urn:swi:video:42461012 SEP 21, 2016 – 17:00 A private group of Swiss pilots has founded an NGO to search for migrants’ boats in distress in the Mediterranean. (SRF/swissinfo.ch) The volunteers from the Humanitarian Pilots Initiative claim its easier to spot small boats from the air than it is from […]
MIGRATION SERIES (PART 3) By Duc-Quang Nguyen SEP 22, 2016 – Phrases like “refugee crisis” and “migrant waves” have routinely made the headlines in recent years. But is the prevailing feeling that Europe is facing an unparalleled level of mass migration backed by hard numbers? Here is a much quoted […]
Sep 21,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – Devesh Kapur World Bank President Jim Yong Kim’s nomination for a second term is inexorably moving forward with a lack of transparency that has become all too typical. Many observers are once again gnashing their teeth at the United States’ continued monopoly over the top […]
Sep 20,2016 – JORDAN TIMES EDITORIAL World leaders are meeting in New York where the United Nations General Assembly is holding the first-ever summit on “Addressing large movements of refugees and migrants”. With numbers of people forced to flee conflict and hunger in their countries unprecedented since World War II, […]
Sep 21,2016 – JORDAN TIMES EDITORIAL The US Congress has recently passed a bill giving Israel $38 billion over 10 years in military assistance, making it the largest to any of US’ allies. Israel hailed the deal as historic, and historic it is for this country that continues to defy […]
By JT – Sep 22,2016 – JORDAN TIMES EDITORIAL His Majesty King Abdullah takes part in Tuesday’s Leaders Summit on Refugees in New York (Photo courtesy of Royal Court) AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Tuesday reiterated that an apt response to the escalating refugee crisis is […]
As ceasefire sits on the brink of collapse, MPs’ report paints a damning picture of Britain’s bombing campaign Patrick Cockburn @indyworld The Government is failing to implement its policy of making war on Isis in Syria which it was supposed to have launched nine months ago after rancorous debate. A […]
The Russian Defence Ministry has denied its air force targeted humanitarian workers and said drone footage from the incident shows a rebel vehicle carrying a heavy mortar was travelling alongside the convoy Bethan McKernan Beirut Food, medical supplies and winter clothes for 78,000 people en route to Urum al-Kubra, near Aleppo, were […]