Obama Envoy John Allen: No ‘Short-Term Solutions’ for Stopping Islamic State Interview Conducted By Matthias Gebauer and Holger Stark AP/dpa Islamic State fighters parade in Mosul, Iraq in June: “When you can defeat the idea, then you have destroyed the organization” says Obama’s envoy tasked to help stop the terrorist group’s menace. In an interview, […]
“Ancient Trees: Portraits of Time” is one of the most beautiful books to come out in 2014.Filled with “mesmerizing black-and-white photographs of the world’s most majestic ancient trees,” San Francisco photographer Beth Moon‘s masterpiece makes me want to follow in her footsteps and see these beauties for myself in real […]
Huff Post: by Dan Arel — The search for the truth is not easy and can mean being critical of many beliefs. I encourage others to be critical of all religion, but I believe criticism should be based on statements of fact, not biased misinformation, much like the information I […]
Huff Post — Celebrations of light, redemption, rebirth and honoring of the gods and goddesses. In 2014, people from faith traditions around the world gathered for religious festivals and holidays, lifting up the spirit of the divine in many different ways. These photographs capture moments from a broad array of […]
Epigraph: So go on reminding; surely, reminding is profitable. (Al Quran 87:10) By Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor Happy and a prosperous new year to all our readers, from the […]
In a nondescript grey box of a building on an industrial estate in Sheffield, a medical revolution is in progress. “Things have been done the same way for hundreds of years. We want to change it. We think it could change the world,” says Ash Kovind, the man in charge. […]
Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria have proclaimed the end of the Sykes-Picot Agreement that carved up the region at the end of the First World War. But who is really destroying it, asks Jeremy Salt in Ankara The Sykes-Picot Agreement was the post-First World War agreement by which Britain and […]
2014 marked a farewell to a turbulent decade, but it could be replaced by an even more chaotic one, writes Salah Nasrawi A map generated by the Islamic State group, with regions renamed to conform to its representation of the ‘caliphate’ They weren’t exactly foreseen by Nostradamus, but the dramatic events […]
By Ruth Eglash and Carol Morello December 31 at 2:50 PM JERUSALEM — A day after a failed bid at the United Nations to push a Middle East peace settlement, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signed an appeal Wednesday to join the International Criminal Court — a move that could open the way for filing war […]
The Huffington Post UK | By Jessica Elgot Jürgen Todenhöfer spent months in covert negotiations with Islamic State fighters over Skype, until he had reassurances from the very highest levels of the “Caliphate” that he would be safe in Iraq and Syria. The veteran German reporter then packed a small bag and […]
Jason Hickel Follow @@jasonhickel Dr Jason Hickel lectures at the London School of Economics and serves as an adviser to /The Rules. Poverty is created by rules that rig the economy in the interests of the rich, writes Hickel [AFP] International development is dying; people just don’t buy it anymore. […]
Blessings of Marriage in Islam Dr Bilal Rana Sadr MKA USA Jalsa West Coast USA 2014
Source: The Independent The Taliban called Jibran Nasir, a charismatic 27-year-old lawyer, on his mobile phone. “If you don’t take your actions back, and if you don’t stop harassing the […]
BERLIN: German chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday warned the country’s citizens not to participate in weekly anti-Islam rallies that have attracted growing numbers of supporters in the eastern German city of Dresden. Merkel condemned the organisers of the protests and said they were driven by prejudices and hatred against foreigners. The chancellor […]
Epigraph: Indeed, you have in the Prophet of Allah an excellent model, for him who fears Allah and the Last Day and who remembers Allah much. (Al Quran 33:22) […]
By SPIEGEL Staff AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth Combat operations in Afghanistan may be coming to an end, but a look at secret NATO documents reveals that the US and the UK were far less scrupulous in choosing targets for killing than previously believed. Drug dealers were also on the lists. http://www.facebook.com/v2.0/plugins/share_button.php?locale=en_US&href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Finternational%2Fworld%2Fsecret-docs-reveal-dubious-details-of-targeted-killings-in-afghanistan-a-1010358.html&type=button&width=110&font=verdana&colorscheme=light&height=21 http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?locale=en_US&href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Finternational%2Fworld%2Fsecret-docs-reveal-dubious-details-of-targeted-killings-in-afghanistan-a-1010358.html&layout=button_count&show_faces=false&width=140&action=recommend&font=verdana&colorscheme=light&height=21 […]
theguardian: by Henry McDonald — Atheists have called the Irish government’s failure to put the controversial blasphemy laws up for a vote a betrayal. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Irish atheists and secularists have accused their government of breaking a promise to call a referendum over the Republic’s controversial blasphemy laws […]
The Kingdom has decided to allow Syrians to stay in the country without iqamas as long as their visit, Haj, or Umrah visas are valid, but they would have to correct their status later. According to the Minister of Justice Mohammed Al-Issa, the ministry would allow Syrians holding these visas […]
Huff Post: by Tim Suttle —- The hostility we feel toward those who are not like us is acceptable in almost every other part of our society, but it is distinctly out of place in Christian worship. Any hostility toward “the other” offends God, and it offends the community. As […]
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour, left, goes to shake hands with members after a meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday at the United Nations headquarters. The UNSC has rejected a Palestinian resolution demanding an end to Israeli occupation within three years. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) […]