Obama administration to appeal healthcare ruling

Reuters) – Lawyers for President Barack Obama will on Wednesday seek to stave off the biggest legal challenge yet to healthcare reform, his signature domestic policy achievement. The administration will present oral arguments as it appeals a ruling by a Florida judge who declared the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, backing […]

More than 5,000 flee as winds stoke Arizona fires

(CNN) — A fast-moving wildfire that has sent thousands fleeing in eastern Arizona is the second-largest blaze in the history of the state, records show. The so-called Wallow Fire sweeping through Apache National Forest has burned approximately 389,000 acres, Incident commander Joe Reinarz told reporters Tuesday. That surpasses the 2005 Cave […]

A Different Kind of Uprising

Throughout history, it has often been the young who have initiated the biggest changes. In January this year, the Egyptian revolution was sparked by the country’s youth, who were fed up with the 30-year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. Something similar happened in Indonesia in 1998 when Suharto, president of the […]

Makkah hotels cash in on Umrah rush

By ARAB NEWS MAKKAH: There has been an unprecedented increase in the occupancy rates of hotels and residential apartments in Makkah this year thanks to the huge inflow of Umrah pilgrims. Some hotels are fully booked for the peak Umrah season this year, according to an official. “This tremendous increase […]

If Syria unravels…

If Damascus goes down, its effects will be felt by the whole region Where’s Syria headed? Things appear to be worsening by the day with deepening fears in the region about the largest country in the Levant unraveling. Every day brings in more bad news, with the crackdown on anti-government […]

Ahmadiyya Release Offers Hope for Rohingya

BANGKOK – “We are so happy this day to be released,” said Haraan Sidique, boarding a bus at Bangkok’s Suan Plu Immigration Detention Center (IDC) on Monday morning after spending almost 7 months at a refugee prison in central Bangkok. Sidique is one of 96 Ahmadiyya refugees from Pakistan who […]

Photo of the Day: Praying for Freedom of Faith

Ahmadi refugees who sought to escape persecution by fleeing to Thailand were held for more than six months in Bangkok’s overcrowded immigration detention centers. A group of 94 Ahmadi Muslim refugees and two asylum seekers were released on bail on Monday. They await the results of resettlement applications, mainly to […]

Iran to contest ban on players wearing hijab.

Iran will lodge a formal complaint to the world football body after its women’s team was barred from playing in an Olympic qualifier for wearing the traditional Islamic head scarf, media reports said Monday. “We will file a complaint against the match’s FIFA organizer to the International Federation of Association […]

Hijab scarf rule comes to a head as Iranian women’s soccer team banned

GENEVA—Iran’s women’s team was correctly prevented from playing a 2012 Olympics qualifier wearing Islamic head scarves, FIFA said Monday. Iranian officials were “informed thoroughly” before Friday’s match against Jordan that the hijab scarf is banned for safety reasons, soccer’s governing body said. “Despite initial assurances that the Iranian delegation understood […]