The article below actually dates to October 2010. I am bringing it here, as the discussion continues. A political party in Switzerland launches a new effort to discontinue the ‘automatic church tax’ for ‘juristic entities’ (companies), which for instance ‘forces’ Muslim and Jewish firm owners to pay taxes to Christian […]
by Marie-Christine Bonzom in Washington, swissinfo.ch A report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy has concluded that the war on drugs has failed, triggering a heated debate in the United States. The report, written by a high-profile panel including former Swiss cabinet minister Ruth Dreifuss, criticises the repressive approach […]
Leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan political party raising joined hands as a show of solidarity during a demonstration in Quetta, yesterday, to protest against the US drone attacks and the Nato supply. The drone war, targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda commanders in Pakistan’s tribal badlands, is hugely unpopular among a public […]
By MD RASOOLDEEN | ARAB NEWS RIYADH: The family of a Sri Lankan maid murdered in Saudi Arabia has agreed to pardon her killer and accept SR50,000 in blood money, the Sri Lankan Embassy here announced on Tuesday. Pavani Devi Sinnaiyah, 36, who was working in Qurayat in Al-Jouf province, […]
GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN | ARAB NEWS RIYADH: A Saudi-Spanish consortium has emerged as a frontrunner among bidders to win an $8 billion contract to build a high-speed rail network linking Makkah, Jeddah and Madinah. “The Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) has already invited the consortium to its headquarters in Dammam to discuss […]
By Mohammad Ghazal, Jordan Times AMMAN – Inconsistency in determining the start of lunar months, particularly Ramadan, casts doubt on the credibility of astronomy, according to Mohammad Odeh, chairman of the Islamic Crescents Observation Project (ICOP). “There are different approaches among countries in determining the start of the lunar month. […]
AMMAN (Petra) – Jordan today marks the 60th anniversary of the death of His Majesty King Abdullah I (1882-1951), who was assassinated as he was entering Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for Friday prayers. King Abdullah I, the founder of the Kingdom, led the Arab forces of the Great Arab […]
Source: The New York Times NEW DELHI — Canada, which has long promoted its eagerness to attract foreigners, is experiencing a surge in the number of Indian students heading there for higher education. Besides the country’s positive attitude toward outsiders, the chief attractions for Indian students are the lower costs for […]
China has executed two officials from eastern cities after convicting them of corruption. Xu Maiyong, a former vice-mayor of Hangzhou, and Jiang Renjie, who was vice-mayor of Suzhou, were put to death after their appeals were rejected. Officials said Xu and Jiang took almost 300m yuan ($46m; £29m) by embezzling and taking […]
By AMY TEIBEL | AP – Arab News JERUSALEM: Israeli naval commandos on Tuesday seized control of a French ship attempting to break Israel’s sea blockade of the Gaza Strip and towed it into port, reporting no resistance during the takeover in international waters. The incident was the latest in […]
Source http://blog.thejerusalemfund.org/2011/07/dramatic-spike-in-settler-violence.html For the past 18 months we’ve been working at the Palestine Center to analyze Israeli settler violence against Palestinian civilians and their property. We’ve put together the most comprehensive database of Israeli settler violence available and continue to add data to our records. In April of this year […]
Source/Credit: Yahoo News WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A 17-year-old boy is accused of bludgeoning his parents with a hammer, then hosting dozens of friends for a party while their bodies lay in the bedroom, police said Monday. Tyler Hadley of Port St. Lucie is charged with twin counts of […]
Housing starts in the U.S. rose more than forecast in June to the fastest pace in five months, led by a surge in work on multifamily dwellings like apartments. Work began on 629,000 houses at an annual pace, up 14.6 percent from the prior month, figures from the Commerce Department […]
We are ready to lay down lives (jaan bhee hazir hai) for the honour of the companions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leader Malik Ishaq said after he was freed from jail amid Kalashnikov-wielding supporters on a Land Cruiser motorcade. He did not specify whose lives he was […]
Annual survey taken by New York’s Travel + Leisure magazine finds Cape Town to be readers’ favorite Middle East/Africa city to visit. Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are among the top three cities in the region to visit, according to a recent poll taken by the New York-based magazine Travel + […]
The couples joining the mass wedding were of various ethnics and religion. The youngest couple was aged 16, while the oldest was 86. JAKARTA – INDONESIA broke the world record for mass weddings when 4,501 couples got married at the Sports Palace of Senayan in Jakarta, local media reported on […]
Source/Credit: Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopaedia Lake Saiful Muluk (Urdu: سیف الملوک) is a lake located at the northern end of the Kaghan Valley (34°52′37.34″N 73°41′37.71″E) near Naran. It is in the north east of Mansehra Districtin the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. At an altitude of 3,224 m (10,578 feet) above sea level it is amongst one of the highest lakes in Pakistan. The weather here […]
Every Christian and Muslim, who is knowledgeable about commentary or exegesis of the scriptures, knows that verses cannot be interpreted in isolation and are understood in the context of their neighboring verses and ultimately in the context of the whole of the scripture. This poses a very special problem for the […]
Source. Arabnews.com LONDON: Despite a recent move to classify mobile phones as possibly carcinogenic, the scientific evidence increasingly points away from a link between their use and brain tumors, according to a new study. A major review of previously published research by a committee of experts from Britain, the US […]
Source: Arabnews. According to the police in Jeddah, 20 percent of cases of physical abuse between married couples — 145 a month — involve wives attacking their husbands. More: