Exhibition shows 1,000 years of Muslim science
February 1st, 20100 LONDON — The debt owed by European scholars to their Muslim counterparts on everything from water pumps and blood circulation to engineering and map-making was unveiled in a London exhibition on Jan. 21. The organizers of "1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World," hope to illuminate 1,000 years of neglected...Arabs, Muslims answer Haiti’s call
While their contributions haven't been spotlighted much in the mainstream media, Arabs and Muslims around the world have quietly coordinated numerous efforts to help the country of Haiti in response to the devastating earthquake that hit on January 12. Four-year-old Haitian boy Pierre-Stephane drinks some water as he...Turkey going its own way
WASHINGTON — The recent diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel has raised questions about the future of relations between the two closest allies of the United States in the region and the direction of the markedly independent foreign policy agenda that Turkey has pursued in recent years. Turkish honor guard soldiers hold...Why German public schools now teach Islam
Dinslaken-Lohberg, Germany – When Lamya Kaddor started teaching at the Gluecklauf School in this mining town, where most children are of Turkish origin, she didn't expect her "Islamic Studies in German" class to focus on everyday life. Mosque in Duisburg But it has, says Ms. Kaddor, a Muslim whose parents are Syrian. Her...U.S. names Bagram prisoners, withholds details
NEW YORK — After years of stonewalling, the U.S. Defense Department has released the names of people imprisoned at the notorious Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan Made available in response to an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, the list contains...Runaway Ohio girl to remain separated from Muslim parents
Rifqa Bary COLUMBUS, Ohio — A runaway teenage girl from Ohio who converted from Islam to Christianity has reached a court settlement that allows her to remain free of her Muslim parents. The agreement Tuesday says that 17-year-old Rifqa Bary will stay in a foster home under state custody in Columbus until she turns 18 in...
HOW YOU CAN HELP… Haiti donations
January 16th, 20100 The American Red Cross is contributing an initial $1 million from the International Response Fund to support the relief operation in Haiti, and has opened its warehouse in Panama to provide tarps, mosquito nets and cooking sets for approximately 5,000 families. In addition to Red Cross staff already in Haiti, six disaster management...
Bodies pile up as Haiti quake toll rises
January 16th, 20100 PORT-AU-PRINCE - Troops and planeloads of food and medicine trickled in to Haiti on Thursday to aid a traumatized nation still rattled by aftershocks from the catastrophic earthquake that flattened homes and government buildings and buried countless people. A Haitian reacts after an earthquake in Port-au-Prince January 13, 2010....
Dubai debts prompt review of Islamic finance
January 16th, 20100 BEIRUT (IPS) - 'The World’ is a manmade archipelago off the coast of Dubai. Developed by the Nakheel real estate company - which partly relied on the issuance of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, to finance the ambitious project - it has come to symbolize for many the vulnerability of the Islamic financial market. “The World”...Israel declares war on peace NGOs
JERUSALEM (IPS) - One year after the devastating attack on Hamas in Gaza a new wave of reports castigating Israel for war crimes has emerged. Now, Israel is fighting back with a report on the reports, picking on international NGOs such as Amnesty, Christian Aid, Oxfam, Trocaire, Finn Church Aid, Diakonia and Cordaid. The...U.N. faces its own major tragedy in Haiti
UNITED NATIONS - The major earthquake that struck Haiti Tuesday, causing death and destruction in the capital of Port-au-Prince, may also turn out to be a veritable disaster for the United Nations, which has over 9,000 personnel, including peacekeepers, international staffers and local civilians, scattered throughout the...
Burj Khalifa is tallest building in the world
January 9th, 20100 DUBAI - The world's tallest building was unveiled this week to an estimated on-site crowd of over 400,000 and the rest of the world, in a crescendo of fireworks, lasers and fountain displays. A general view of the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest tower, in Dubai January 3, 2010. REUTERS/Mosab Omar The official height of the...Yemeni detainees caught in bomb backlash
NEW YORK (IPS) - In the wake of the failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas day, legal experts and human rights advocates are pushing back against calls from politicians to halt the planned release of prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to their home country, Yemen. Yemeni Saleh Al Zoba (C), 60, a former...Egypt cracks down on foreign protesters heading to Gaza Strip
CAIRO - Getting in to the Gaza Strip is no easy feat, but driving across Egypt should not be this hard. Palestinians take part in a protest near the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt December 28, 2009, against the construction of an underground barrier. Egyptian officials confirmed that Egypt is building an underground...Fifty thousand to march in Gaza, spotlight inhumanity
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) — More than 50,000 people are expected to take to the streets of Gaza on Dec. 31 for a mass march designed to send a message to the United States, a key supporter of Israel's army, that the situation in Gaza violates international human rights laws. A man walks near a truck carrying humanitarian aid to the......
Love for Jesus unites Muslims, Christians
December 25th, 20090 "'Behold!' The angels said: 'O Mary! God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him. His name will be Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and in (the company of) those nearest to God.'" Palestinian schoolchildren visit the Grotto, where Christians believe the Virgin Mary gave birth to...Doctor admits Israeli pathologists harvested organs without consent
Israel has admitted pathologists harvested organs from dead Palestinians, and others, without the consent of their families – a practice it said ended in the 1990s. Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported that the body of a Palestinian man named Bilal Ahmed Ghanem was abducted by Israeli soldiers and returned several days later......
Obama meets with Lebanese President
December 18th, 20090 WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama this week asked Lebanese President Michel Sleiman in White House talks to take action against arms smuggling into Lebanon which he said threatened Israeli security. U.S. President Barack Obama (R) meets with his Lebanese counterpart Michel Suleiman in the Oval Office at the White House...Egypt mediator to Jerusalem to consult on prisoner exchange
GAZA — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited a senior Egyptian mediator to Jerusalem on Sunday, raising speculation that Israel is about to make its latest response to the Islamist group Hamas for a major prisoner swap. Israeli police officers detain a Palestinian protester in front of the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's...House passes sanctions bill on Iran
WASHINGTON (IPS) — In advance of U.S. President Barack Obama's end of the year deadline for Iran to respond to negotiations aimed at bringing a halt to the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, the House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday to sanction companies that sell refined petroleum to Iran. A long-range, improved...Hizbullah fortifies frontier against Israel
NABATIYEH (IPS) — In the mountains towering above this southern city, Hizbullah (Party of God) is building a new line of defense on lands where a fierce war was once fought between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel. An asphalt road rising up from the sea seems to carve up the southern chain of mountains of Jabal......
Occupation eats away Israel’s heart and soul
December 18th, 20090 JERUSALEM — After Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank torched a mosque and desecrated copies of the Qur'an in the Palestinian village of Yasuf, last Friday morning, they ran into a wall of condemnation. Israeli police officers detain a Palestinian protester in front of the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City December...
Europe steps in to pressure Israel
December 12th, 20090 JERUSALEM (IPS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Palestinian counterpart Salam Fayyad have both been scrambling earnestly to win the backing of European leaders in advance of what could be a major EU policy shift that aims at creating new impetus for Palestinian-Israeli peace prospects. A view of the Dome of......
One step closer to unilateral sanctions against Iran
WASHINGTON (IPS) — Congress has given new momentum to a bill imposing unilateral sanctions on Iran — a move seen by many as an ineffective form of sanctions and potentially antagonistic against valuable U.S. allies on the U.N. Security Council. This comes ahead of the end of the year deadline set by U.S. President Barack Obama for...
Increased focus and growing pressure on Pakistan
December 12th, 20090 WASHINGTON (IPS) — While President Barack Obama's announcement last week that he will "surge" 30,000 more U.S. troops into Afghanistan has received all of the attention here over the past week, Pakistan appears to be looming larger than ever in Washington's strategic calculations and concerns. A mother wounded in a bomb......