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 Hani Hazaimeh | May 23, 2013 JORDAN TIMES AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah met with top Western diplomats as Amman hosted the “Friends of Syria” meeting on Wednesday. […]
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE ARABNEWS
P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR, ARAB NEWS Monday 14 February 2005 JEDDAH, 14 February 2005 — Expatriates seeking Saudi citizenship can apply within two to three months, according to a top official. “A working team has been appointed to prepare the naturalization law’s executive regulations, which will allow the department of civil […]
Source: The daily Beast. A blood-splattered jihadist with a meat cleaver in one hand declaring to a bystander’s smartphone camera “Allahu Akbar” and “we will always beat you” in a pronounced south London accent? While waiting twenty minutes for the police to arrive after he’s taken part in what seemed […]
Source: Asia Times. Contradictory discourse in the US over the Syrian civil conflict underlines how American strategy in the Middle East has become watered-down to the point of impotence. It’s a far cry from the days of invading Iraq and carving up the region through “peace deals” – yet this […]
Source: Asiatimes. Iran’s roster of would-be presidents has been whittled down to eight from nearly 700, courtesy vetting by the Guardian Council. Two potential big draws are ruled out – former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim, too much outgoing President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s man. That leaves an uninspiring […]
by Urs Geiser, swissinfo.ch May 22, 2013 – 18:15 Cabinet has presented a draft bill setting the rules for the freezing and restoring assets obtained illegally by foreign dictators and […]
A man believed to be soldier has been beheaded in an attack on a street outside Woolwich barracks in South East London. Armed police who responded to incident have also reportedly shot and injured two people, one of them seriously. http://rt.com/news/woolwich-killing-emergency-cameron-650/
The Bradford Synagogue in northern England was facing a dwindling population and serious financial woes when the local Muslim community reached into its pockets to save the day. By Hadani […]
(Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is not expected to hint at a pending policy change when he testifies before the U.S. Congress on Wednesday despite some speculation among investors that the central bank could soon reduce its massive bond buying program. Bernanke’s close ally, New York Fed President […]
Source: ABC News via Wasim Sr Pope Francis’ fascination with the devil took on remarkable new twists Tuesday, with a well-known exorcist insisting Francis helped “liberate” a Mexican man possessed by four different demons despite the Vatican’s insistence that no such papal exorcism took place. The case concerns a 43-year-old […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]