Haj 2013: Fewer pilgrims likely
JEDDAH: ARAB NEWS Tuesday 11 June 2013 The Haj Ministry is currently planning to considerably reduce the number of foreign and domestic Haj pilgrims this season, a reliable source has […]
Author Archives
Rafiq A. Tschannen
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.
World-class Madinah pilgrim city to house 200,000 faithful
JEDDAH: P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR ARABNEWS Tuesday 11 June 2013 A state-of-the-art pilgrim city will be established in Madinah on an area of 1.6 million square meters along Hijrah Road with […]
Switzerland: Somali girls with hijab permitted to come back to school
Two Somali girls are again allowed to attend school lessens after country-wide criticism- with their hijab. One teacher from the Primary School in Au-Heerbrugg had previously sent the girls home. […]
Islamic economy higher committee tackles plans
Sunday, June 09, 2013 – Dubai—The initiative to transform Dubai into the world’s capital of the Islamic economy is progressing steadily with confidence towards the goals as scheduled, said Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Chairman of the Executive Office of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime […]
Assad may prevail in Syria’s civil war – Israeli minister
June 10, 2013 – 15:07 By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, may prevail in the more than two-year-old uprising against him, Israel’s intelligence minister said on Monday. Though the assessment was quickly disavowed by others in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s […]
Qatari leaders expected to step down – sources
June 10, 2013 – 14:09 By Regan Doherty DOHA (Reuters) – Qatar’s powerful prime minister is preparing to step down as part of a wider power transition that may also […]
Spending cuts likely deeper in 2014
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) There’s been a lot of concern about the effects of the spending cuts under the so-called sequester this year. But it’s likely that federal spending will soon go down even further in many ways. That’s because, barring action by lawmakers, the cap on total defense and domestic […]
Ensure that blasphemy law is not misused
Source: ET Speaking of women and minorities, the president said that they are the most vulnerable segments of the society and the state must protect them. He added that the government should ensure that blasphemy law is not misused for personal gains. Admitting that dialogue can alone ensure peace, Zardari, […]
Pakistan Taliban members killed near Syrian capital
Source: LUBP Around 1,000 members of the Pakistani Taliban have been killed in clashes near the Syrian capital city of Damascus, reports say. According to recent reports, the bodies of the Pakistani Taliban members, who were killed during battles around Syria’s International Airport near Damascus, have been buried in mass […]
Mandela’s Pal: ‘Time to Let Him Go’
Source: CNN Johannesburg (CNN) — South Africans offered prayers at church services while the rest of the world awaited word Sunday on Nelson Mandela‘s condition, a day after the ailing civil rights icon was rushed to the hospital yet again. The office hasn’t offered a new update since informing the […]
Santa Monica Shootings
Source: CBS News: The man suspected of a shooting rampage that left six people dead and shattered the calm of Santa Monica, Calif., allegedly began his spree of violence by killing his father and brother, and then setting their home on fire, a law enforcement source told ABC News. The […]
Taliban attack on Kabul airport quashed as 7 insurgents killed
Source: CBS News KABUL, Afghanistan Seven heavily armed insurgents launched an hours-long gun battle with security forces near Afghanistan’s main airport Monday, after they apparently tried to attack NATO’s airport headquarters with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and at least one large bomb, the army and police said. Kabul police chief […]
Four UK teens arrested after Islamic school fire
Source: TOI LONDON: British Police say four teenagers have been arrested after a suspicious weekend fire at an Islamic boarding school in a London suburb. More:
Obama rocks foreign-policy pundits
Source: TOI How far the cabinet appointments in the United States reflect ideological considerations or how merely subjective and whimsical they could be on the part of the president remains a matter of debate. Perhaps, the president largely chooses the men (or women) he is comfortable with as cabinet colleagues. […]
Russia’s new Middle Eastern role
Source: Asia Times: Russia has thrown a monkey wrench into Western plans for Syria by promising to deliver its top-of-the-line S300 surface-to-air missile system to the Bashar al-Assad government. Exactly when the missiles might arrive remains unclear; the last word from Moscow is that the missiles are not yet in […]
Switzerland: Tighter Asylum Law: Minister pushes for more and fair asylum reforms
by Urs Geiser, swissinfo.ch June 9, 2013 – 20:20 Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga says voters’ approval on Sunday of the latest reform paves the way for the introduction of faster […]
San Francisco Airport’s garage now Muslim house of worship
Here’s a sign of the changing times — Muslim cabbies now have their very own place at San Francisco International Airport to wash their hands and feet before they pray. […]
Hours after launching, NI21 in polygamy row
by Sam McBride sam.mcbride@newsletter.co.uk Just hours after an enthusiastic launch attended by hundreds of people, Northern Ireland’s newest political party found itself backed into an extraordinary cul-de-sac in a debate […]
How to destroy the future: From the Cuban missile crisis to a fossil fuels frenzy, the US is intent on winning the race to disaster by Noam Chomsky
What is the future likely to bring? A reasonable stance might be to try to look at the human species from the outside. So imagine that you’re an extraterrestrial observer who is trying to figure out what’s happening here or, for that matter, imagine you’re an historian 100 years from […]
NSA’s Prism surveillance program: how it works and what it can do
Slide from secret PowerPoint presentation describes how program collects data ‘directly from the servers’ of tech firms James Ball guardian.co.uk, Saturday 8 June 201 The slide details different methods of data collection under the FISA Amendment Act. Since Prism was first revealed by the Guardian and the Washington Post, there […]