High-speed train on fast track to success

BEIJING – High-speed trains linking Beijing and Shanghai made their passenger debut on Thursday, extending China’s high-speed rail network to nearly 10,000 km. Premier Wen Jiabao attended the railway’s opening ceremony at Beijing South Railway Station and boarded the first train to Shanghai. The high-speed line, built in only 38 months […]

Pornography and sexual addiction

It is hard to ignore how many highly visible men in recent years (indeed, months) have behaved in sexually self-destructive ways. Some powerful men have long been sexually voracious; unlike today, though, they were far more discreet and generally used much better judgment in order to cover their tracks. … As […]

Who’s afraid of Islamist rule?

Fears of political Islam have increased to unprecedented levels both inside and outside Egypt, but are such worries justified? Whereas Western governments have long been frightened of the rise of political Islam, local fears of Islamists representing political Islam in Egypt have also now peaked, with many liberal, secular and […]

Iran crisis close to climax?

TEL AVIV – As the standoff between Iran, the United States and their allies intensifies, the number of possibilities that lie ahead gradually shrinks. Some sort of a compromise seems inevitable down the road, but whether violence will precede it and who exactly will be left to negotiate remains a mystery. Armed […]

Swiss Cabinet rules out new suicide legislation

by Urs Geiser, swissinfo.ch The government will not introduce specific regulations on organised assisted suicide, but will extend measures to boost palliative care and suicide prevention. The decision is the latest step in a drawn-out public controversy over current regulations on the right to die and so-called ‘suicide tourism’ – […]

Members want OIC to be more active

By SIRAJ WAHAB | ARAB NEWS ASTANA, Kazakhstan: The three-day annual Council of Foreign Ministers meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation ended with a sense of optimism and new direction among the delegations. The deliberations in the Kazakh capital were frank and honest and sometimes critical. Minister after minister […]

German Banks Agree to Roll Over Greek Debt

PARIS — The biggest financial institutions in Germany followed the lead of their French counterparts Thursday by agreeing to roll over some of their holdings of Greek debt — a crucial step toward obtaining international agreement on a second bailout for the crippled Greek economy. The German finance minister, Wolfgang […]

Hundreds of thousands strike in UK pensions row

Hundreds of thousands of British public sector workers went on strike Thursday to defend their pensions, causing widespread disruption to schools and state-run services. A third of English schools were closed and another third were affected, officials said, as up to 350,000 teachers, lecturers and education staff took action against plans […]

A MAN OF GOD with his followers: A spiritual gathering of ‘remembrance of Allah’ ended with prayers

On Sunday 26th June, in the afternoon, the spiritual gathering of thousands ended with a silent prayer lead by the Khalifa-tul-Massih V aba, the Spiritual Head of the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat. The annual convention of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Germany was started on Friday 24th June with the Flag Hoisting Ceremony and Friday Sermon by […]

Muslims in China

History – Early Muslim Ties with China Islam was introduced to China as early as the 7th century (during the Tang Dynasty) when merchants from Arabia and Persia came to China to trade via the Silk Road. In AD.651, the third Caliph Uthman Ibn Affan, sent an envoy to call on the reigning […]

Ibn-Batuta and Muslim Geography

Andrew J. Mogensen, Valparaiso University The prominence of geography in Muslim scholarship—and perhaps even the existence of a distinct field of Muslim geography—stems from two factors: 1) the fact that Islam itself is concerned with proper cardinal directions and 2) that trade with distant lands demanded accurate maps or descriptions. […]