In an attempt to revive flagging interest in women’s badminton as the 2012 London Olympics approach, officials governing the sport have decided that its female athletes need to appear more, how to put it, womanly. To create a more “attractive presentation,” the Badminton World Federation has decreed that women must […]
Years of conflict in Iraq have left the country with more than one million war widows and a shortage of young unmarried men – pressures that may be bringing about the return of polygamy. Politicians have suggested financial incentives for men who marry widows. Hanan lost eight members of her […]
MUSCAT: The Majlis Al Shura yesterday approved the recommendations of the Majlis Al Shura Health and Social Committee’s report on the Marriage Support Fund. The Majlis decided to present the report to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said. The approval came after expanded and detailed discussions by members of the […]
By Nayla Razzouk Iraqi Airways will appeal a court order to freeze its bank accounts in Jordan following a lawsuit by Kuwait Airways Corp., Karim al-Nuri, a spokesman for the Iraqi Minister of Transport, said. “We are preparing to appeal the Jordanian court order,” he said in a phone interview […]
A girls’ secondary school has championed the diversity cause by appointing a veil-wearing Muslim girl to head her form. Fourteen-year-old Sara Ezabe is proof of what Blata l-Bajda’s St Ignatius College Girls’ Junior Lyceum headmaster Victor Agius insists is important for the school – diversity and tolerance. After two years […]
The Bishops of Malta and Gozo yesterday expressed their sorrow to those who during the run up to the referendum may have felt wronged by the words or actions of members of the clergy, and similarly professed unconditional forgiveness to all those the Church feels may have insulted it. “We […]
The decision brought Malta in line with judgments delivered by the European Court of Human Rights, which on more than one occasion decreed that denying an arrested person the right to see his lawyer was in breach of the fundamental right to a fair trial. But the government’s reluctance over […]
Outgoing US Ambassador Douglas Kmiec speaks to Anthony Manduca about his Catholic faith, disappointment with the State Department, and continuing loyalty to Barack Obama. US Ambassador Douglas Kmiec leaves office on Tuesday after being criticised by the State Department for spending too much time writing and speaking about his religious […]
by Matthew Allen, swissinfo.ch Manufacturers are shifting a greater share of investments out of Switzerland with the dollar in the doldrums and the euro plunging to record lows against the franc. Renewed fears that Greece might default on its debts has sparked a fresh wave of euro weakening while the […]
Several of the world’s leading newspapers say they want to see Stanley Fischer as the next International Monetary Fund chief, and the Bank of Israel governor isn’t rejecting the option out of hand, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an anonymous source. Last week, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde officially […]
Many have long held views that the artificial exploitation of the Ahmadiyya community, the closed-door hearings and the passage of anti-Ahmadiyya constitutional amendment in the National Assembly were all a political stunt by Mr. Bhutto to appease the extremist element in the Pakistani legislature where he was suffering from popularity deficiency. […]
The part of the brain used by people who can “see like a bat” has been identified by researchers in Canada. Some blind people have learned to echolocate by making clicking noises and listening to the returning echoes. A study of two such people, published in PLoS ONE, showed a […]
A Californian team say they have managed to convert human skin cells directly into functioning brain cells. The scientists manipulated the process by which DNA is transcribed within foetal skin cells to create cells which behaved like neurons. The technique had previously been demonstrated in mice, says the report in […]
Promoted posts: We are all living in the Womb of God-the-Mother, 13.8 billion Years Pregnancy and After Monotheism, the Two Most Seminal Verses of the Quran By ARAB NEWS MAKKAH: The number of holy water distribution outlets at the King Abdullah Zamzam Water Purification Project in Kudai will be increased to 42. The increase is part […]
DOHA (Reuters) – The Palestinian leader said on Saturday there were “no shared foundations” for peace talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and seeking UN recognition of Palestinian statehood was his only option. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, addressing an Arab League meeting in Doha, expressed concern that taking the […]
By Suleiman Khalili Reuters AMMAN – The young man was dangling upside down, white, foaming saliva dripping from his mouth. His groans sounded more bestial than human. It was one of many fleeting images of human degradation I witnessed during four days as an unwilling guest of Syrian intelligence, when […]
Certainly, in the first hours after the tragedy happened the operators were too shocked to unveil any details to the public. However, things did not get clearer with time. Deputy Director at the Russian Institute for Nuclear Engineering, Chernobyl clean-up worker Igor Ostretsov commented on the situation in an interview […]
Over 60 African refugees, including women and children, recently died trying to reach Europe when their boat ran adrift for two weeks in the Mediterranean. Western military personnel allegedly saw the boat and did nothing to help. Now the United Nations is investigating the case. SPIEGEL talked to survivors and […]
by Abdelhafidh Abdeleli, swissinfo.ch The protests and subsequent government crackdown are dividing opinion among Syrians watching events unfold from Switzerland. While some Syrians feel the protests are a consequence of the Arab Spring sweeping through North Africa, others say wider diplomatic forces are at work. Although all the Syrians who […]
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono officially launched on Friday his administration’s ambitious Rp 4,000 trillion (US$468 billion) economic master plan for 2011 to 2025, but some of the announced “ground-breaking projects” were criticized as overlapping with the existing ones. The so-called “Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic […]