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.
QUETTA: While the army chief gave a ‘gift to Balochistan’ in his second visit to the province within two weeks, the military cantonment in Quetta was attacked, leaving one person dead on Friday night. Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, while inaugurating Musakhail Mineral Development Project on Friday, said […]
Source / Courtesy: Dawn LAHORE: Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday alleged that he was getting threats from President Asif Ali Zardari, DawnNews reported. Shahbaz said he would expose “the corruption perpetrated” by President Zardari even if he had to sacrifice his life in the process. Speaking to a gathering in Bahawalpur, he […]
Noha El Hennawy, Almasy Alyoum, Cairo. Despite ongoing feuds over the identity of the state in post-Mubarak Egypt, both secularists and Islamists have recently agreed on one issue: the necessity of liberating Al-Azhar from government control. Yet, each camp has its own motives for supporting an autonomous clergy. Islamists view an autonomous Al-Azhar as key […]
KARACHI: An Anti-Terrorism Court in Karachi has handed down the death penalty to a Ranger accused of extrajudicial murder of a 22-year-old boy in Karachi in June. At the final hearing of the two-month-long case on Friday, ATC-I judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso found accused Shahid Zafar, of the Abdullah Shah Ghazi […]
By Kenneth Rogoff, Straight Times, Singapore CAMBRIDGE – WHY is everyone still referring to the recent financial crisis as the ‘Great Recession’? The term, after all, is predicated on a dangerous misdiagnosis of the problems that confront the United States and other countries, leading to bad forecasts and bad policy. […]
By RIMA AL-MUKHTAR, RIMA.ALMUKHTAR@ARABNEWS.COM Mesaharati is a 30-day job created especially for Ramadan that requires a man with a special drum to go around his neighborhood early in the morning to wake up people to eat suhoor (starting of the fast meal) before Fajr prayer, signifying the start of the […]
Editorial: ARABNEWS How in the real world can anyone sell something that they do not already own? The decision by France, Italy, Spain and Belgium to impose a ban on the short selling of shares will be approved by many well beyond the confines of those particular four countries. Indeed, […]
By DAREEN GALAL | ARAB NEWS JEDDAH: Islamic songs of late have been gaining popularity among various sections of society in the Arab world. This is more evident by the tremendous response to video clips of songs by some prominent Arab singers aired by satellite channels. These singers can also […]
By HAMZA HENDAWI | AP, ARABNEWS CAIRO: The USAID director in Egypt has abruptly flown back to Washington after less than a year on the job, the first major casualty of a row between the two longtime allies over American funding for pro-democracy groups. Jim Bever left his post Thursday, […]
TAGESANZEIGER, Zurich. Muslim parents, who did not send their daughters to swimming lessons, have to pay a fine of 1400 Swiss Francs. According to the Basel court swimming lessons are in the public interest. Parents who refuse participation of their children in the mandatory swimming lessons at school have been […]
LONDON — Ever since Lehman Brothers collapsed nearly three years ago, Europe’s leaders have repeatedly vowed to prevent any major European bank from failing. But as bank shares plummeted this week, the question on investors’ minds was not whether governments would rescue their banks if necessary. It was how much […]
The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) said in a hadith: According to Abu Hurara (RA), the prophet (saw) said “there are three types of dreams: a righteous dream which is glad tidings from Allah, the dream which cause sadness is from satan, and the dreams from […]
The Taliban in Pakistan have clearly demonstrated they are currently detaining two Swiss citizens kidnapped in July, say specialists. According to the Geneva Center for Training and Analysis of Terrorism, pictures taken of the hostages’ passports and broadcast by the Al Arabyia television network earlier this week are formal proof. […]
By REUTERS, ARABNEWS BAGHDAD: Iraq’s fiercely anti-US preacher Moqtada Sadr has warned that US military trainers will be targets if they stay in the country beyond a year-end deadline for American troops to leave. The statement from Sadr, whose Mehdi Army militia fought US troops until 2008, follows a deal […]
By ARAB NEWS Published: Aug 12, 2011 02:04 Updated: Aug 12, 2011 02:04 JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah will lay the foundation stone to the Makkah Haram expansion works in a few days. The project is called the King Abdullah Expansion of the Makkah Haram. The […]
By ABDUL HANNAN TAGO | ARAB NEWS RIYADH: Delaying payment of salaries to workers is a clear human rights violation that Islam does not tolerate, according to a member of the Saudi Jurisprudence Assembly. Abdulrahman Abdul Aziz Al-Muhrij, who was participating in a four-day symposium organized by the Princess Al-Anood […]
By Muath Freij AMMAN – The passion for making juice has been passed on from generation to generation in the Khalili family, which is well-known for preparing different flavours of juice. Ramadan Khalili, owner of the Ramadan Khalili shop in downtown Amman, said his family never abandoned the juice-making profession […]
RAMALLAH/OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Agencies) – Jordan Times. A delegation of Arab foreign ministers will urge permanent members of the Security Council next week to vote for Palestinian UN membership, a top Palestinian official said Thursday. Negotiator Saeb Erekat told Agence France-Presse the group would talk with representatives from the veto-wielding Britain, […]
Source: Physics World NASA has launched a mission to Jupiter that will shed light on the origin and inner structure of the largest planet in our solar system. The $1.1bn Juno probe was launched today from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 12.25 p.m. local time and will now begin a five-year […]
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: August 8: Two Katusha rockets fell on west Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone on Wednesday, but losses were not known, a security source reported. “Two Katusha rockets fell on the Green Zone, but losses were not known,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said […]