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.
By Khetam Malkawi – Feb 21,2016 – JORDAN TIMES His Majesty King Abdullah greets US Secretary of State John Kerry ahead of their meeting in Aqaba, on Sunday (Photo courtesy of Royal Court) AMMAN — The US has finalised a law that will allow the administration to increase military […]
Feb 20,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – MUSA KEILANI The king of Morocco decided not to host the forthcoming Arab summit that was due to be convened in his country. His foreign minister explained that the events in the Arab world require a more serious agenda and tangible results to match […]
By Veronica DeVore swissinfo.ch FEB 19, 2016 – 11:00 Two participants in a food service apprenticeship for refugees show off their creations. Launched in 2006 on a national level, the programme now continues to be run by canton Lucerne. (Hotel & Gastro Formation) After first testing the waters […]
Business Insider Ben Moshinsky SAUDI ARABIA MILITARY PARADE When British Aerospace Engineering, better known as BAE Systems, announced a bumper set of annual results this week, much of that success was down to the lavish spending of the Saudi Arabian air force. The Gulf state took delivery of £800 million […]
You will learn a lot about Syria’s tragedy driving between Damascus and the ancient city – and you must drive fast Robert Fisk Aleppo @indyvoices A government soldier relaxes after the recapture of Salma from IS AFP/Getty You can drive these days from Damascus to Aleppo but the road is […]
Suspect ‘completely eliminated’ from inquiry as Jalalia Jamé mosque website recommends its patrons ‘wait for the facts to be established by the police’ Jay Uddin was found with serious head injuries on Thursday night and died in hospital soon afterwards. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA Nadia Khomami @nadiakhomami Saturday 20 February 2016 […]
18 FEB 2016 BY ROBERT CUMBER The mosque in Wellington Road South will serve free hot meals to those who need it most on the first Friday and Saturday of each month The launch of the community kitchen and food bank at Hounslow Mosque. Pictured left to right are Amin […]
AFP The siege of Aleppo is a humanitarian catastrophe on a dramatic scale — and a victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has seized on the Syrian civil war to expose an impotent West and show his own geopolitical muscle. By SPIEGEL Staff Aleppo has been a horrific place […]
SYRIA CRISIS By swissinfo.ch and agencies FEB 9, 2016 – 10:54 Syrians huddle in a lorry near the Turkish border to protect themselves against the cold on February 6 (Keystone) For three years Switzerland has been dealing directly with the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad concerning the humanitarian situation in […]
FIGHTING TERRORISM FEB 11, 2016 – 15:52 The young man’s identity has not been made public. (Keystone) The Swiss Federal Criminal Court has upheld the decision of the Swiss Attorney General’s Office to confiscate the Swiss passport and identifying documents of an alleged Swiss-Lebanese jihadist. He was arrested at Zurich […]
STATE VISIT By Slaheddine Jourchi FEB 18, 2016 – 17:30 Tunisia’s president visits Bern to talk about democracy building and frozen assets (Reuters) On his first state visit to Bern as the first democratically elected president of Tunisia, Essebsi said the neutral Swiss government had been particularly helpful because it […]
Militants of the Daesh group. (AP) REUTERS Published — Thursday 18 February 2016 BEIRUT: At least 38 people were killed in air strikes carried out by a US-led coalition in Hasaka province in northeast Syria in the past two days, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on […]
VITAL ASSISTANCE: A Syrian refugee receives medications from a pharmacy run by the Saudi National Campaign to Help Syrian Refugees, in Jordan. (SPA) RASHID HASSAN Published — Thursday 18 February 2016 RIYADH: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), also known as the UN Refugee Agency, commended the Kingdom […]
By Reuters – Feb 17,2016 – JORDAN TIMES ANKARA — Twenty-eight people were killed and dozens wounded in Turkey’s capital Ankara on Wednesday when a car laden with explosives detonated […]
Feb 17,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – Joshua Kurlantzick Next week, at a summit in California, US President Barack Obama will meet with the leaders of the 10 countries of Asia’s most important regional grouping: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The event, the first-ever US-ASEAN summit on American soil, is being […]
Feb 17,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – MICHAEL JANSEN The US has had a long history of overthrowing regimes it does not like. Among the most dramatic examples are Mexico in 1910, Guatemala in 1954, the failed 1961 attempt in Cuba, Chile in 1973, Nicaragua in the 1980s and Panama in […]
BY BETHAN MCKERNAN Warning: Some people may find some of the photos in this article distressing An image of a man passing a baby under a barbed wire fence […]
‘A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian’, he said Andrew Buncombe New York @AndrewBuncombe AFP/Getty Pope Francis has declared that presidential candidate Donald Trump is not a Christian because of strident views on immigration and his desire to […]
In this subtle war, men of the Free Syrian Army are being allowed to rejoin the ranks of the government army they deserted on their return to the shattered neighbourhood of al-Qadam Robert Fisk Damascus @indyvoices Tuesday 16 February 2016 The aftermath of Russian bombing in Aleppo Ahmed Muhammed Ali/Anadolu/Getty Images “That is a […]
Dr. Annemarie Schimmel, a German ‘Orientalist’, wrote in her book ‘Die Traeume der Kalifen’: It is reported that Hadhrat Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, prayed as follows: ” O Allah, let me sleep well tonight and grant me true dreams, dreams that are beneficial to me and […]