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 Rami G. Khouri The Daily Star Story Summary The fast pace of developments in and around Syria in the past week has pushed the country more quickly toward the end of Bashar Assad’s regime, a situation many of us thought was imminent last autumn. The Syrian government that ruled […]
Story Summary The moderate political and military command structure the United States has been trying to foster within the Syrian opposition appears to be fracturing, a victim of bitter Arab regional rivalries. The battle for political influence has centered around the opposition’s March 19 appointment of Ghassan Hitto as interim […]
By Vessela Sergueva Daily Star, Lebanon KORNITSA, Bulgaria: “Here, feel the bullet, it was never taken out,” says Ibrahim Byalk, presenting his arm where a bullet is still lodged 40 […]
Source: A times: By M K Bhadrakumar Writing in the Los Angeles Times a year ago, predicting with extraordinary prescience how exasperating the American efforts to negotiate an Afghan settlement would turn out to be when the crunch time comes, Peter Tomsen who was president Ronald Reagan’s special envoy to […]
by Mohamed Cherif, swissinfo.ch Mar 27, 2013 – 11:00 The aim of international sanctions is to de-escalate and solve conflicts, but there must be no hidden agendas, says Hans-Christof von […]
by Andrea Ornelas and Marcela Aguila Rubin with input from Simon Bradley, swissinfo.ch Mar 27, 2013 Since the end of the Cold War the United Nations Security Council has increasingly […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia March 28, 2013 (AP) Thai authorities and Muslim separatist leaders on Thursday started peace talks aimed at ending almost a decade of unrest in the country’s far south, as a fresh attack by suspected militants killed three Thai soldiers. Thailand’s National Security Council secretary-general Paradorn Pattanathabutr said […]
There is outrage in Chicago over plans to close more than 50 public schools – most of them in poor and minority neighbourhoods. Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the closures are tough but necessary in order to deal with a $1bn deficit and what he called “underutilised” schools. He also […]
(Reuters) – Cyprus is expected to stop people taking their money out of the country but will not restrict dealings at home as it tries to avert a run on its banksafter agreeing a tough rescue package with international lenders. Cypriots have taken to the streets of Nicosia in their […]
Source: ET PHOTO: FILE ISLAMABAD: A key clue in unlocking the mysteries of the evolutionary path of modern man — the Sivapithecus Indicus fossil skull, which was discovered in Pakistan’s Potohar plateau and went missing in 1996, had been shipped to the United States under a secret deal. The revelation was […]
Source: The Local As Easter approaches and Germany’s supermarkets are filled to the brim with holiday-themed chocolate, we at The Local put our heads together and came up with a list of appropriate egg idioms for your egg-ification. More:
Source: NY Times: SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea cut off the last remaining military hotlines with South Korea on Wednesday, accusing President Park Geun-hye of South Korea of pursuing the same hard-line policy of her predecessor that the North blamed for a prolonged chill in inter-Korean relations. More:
Source: Spiegel: Many believe that Mali’s de facto leader Amadou Sanogo thrust the country into a deep crisis when he staged a coup a year ago. But that’s not how he sees it. In a SPIEGEL interview he says he helped a sick, old regime die, ushering in a new […]
Source^: TOI PARIS: Carla Bruni said the charges faced by her husband and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Sarkozy in connection with a probe into illegal party funding were “painful” for her and her family, local media reported today. “It’s painful to talk about it and equally painful to […]
Source: ET For many years now, we have been hearing the valid complaint that nearly one-third of the federal budget is taken up by military spending while vital needs like health and education receive only a minuscule amount of money. Now, we find out that the military is swallowing up […]
Source: ET. LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday approved the name of journalist Najam Sethi for the Punjab caretaker chief minister slot, Express News reported. Hours before the matter would have gone to the Election Commission of Pakistan for a final solution, the PML-N, after a grand review meeting […]
MARCH 26, 2013 BY REZA JAVAHERI Muslim Secular Democracy: Voices from Within Edited by Lily Zubaidah Rahim (University of Sydney) Published by Palgrave Macmillan March 20, 2013 Description: Muslim Secular […]
The prime minister has resigned, there’s no government to speak of, there are further street battles in Tripoli, the threat of more kidnappings. Lebanon, as we used to say in the civil war, returns to normal. And in some ways, it’s true. Lebanon is always living through the greatest crisis […]
ISLAMABAD: ARAB NEWS Wednesday 27 March 2013 Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Zardari will not be leading the party’s election campaign as party officials confirmed his departure for London […]
by Mohammad Ghazal THE JORDAN TIMES DOHA — His Majesty King Abdullah on Tuesday said that the international community is responsible for restoring the trust between the Palestinians and the […]