Islamic World

Jeddah, July 17: Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal Thursday evening opened the 30th Jeddah summer festival known as Jeddah Ghair (Jeddah Is Different) at the south Obhur corniche.

Speaking on the occasion Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed said the festival is a reflection of the spectacular development achieved by Jeddah, the Bride of Red Sea.

Prince Khaled also dedicated the logo for this year’s festival. The function was marked by folklore displays, in which 150 dancers participated, and fireworks that lit up the skies across 700 meters of the coastline.

Dubai, July 17: Gulf countries have taken a step toward easing a regional power crunch and supplying the flow of electricity needed by their increasingly affluent societies by linking up their grids.

Economic growth has strained the infrastructure of the world’s largest oil exporters, and left them struggling to supply enough power. The downturn has slowed growth, but power supplies remain tight.

Jeddah, July 17: The love for the Holy Book and a determination to memorize it enabled a Saudi to overcome age and other barriers to fulfill a life’s ambition. Though he was above 70, Abdullah Muhammad Musa was able to memorize the Holy Qur’an and graduate with honors from the Qur’an Memorization Group for Adults at King Abdul Aziz Mosque here. He scored an average of 91 percent.

Tehran, July 17: In apparent defiance of Iran’s supreme leader, a powerful cleric declared his country in crisis after a disputed poll, and tens of thousands of protesters used Friday prayers to stage the biggest show of dissent for weeks.

“We are all members of a family. I hope with this sermon we can pass through this period of hardships that can be called a crisis,” said former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, leading weekly prayers for the first time since the June 12 vote.

Tehran, July 17: Four weeks after the presidential election, Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani calls for a national unity among the nation.

Addressing worshippers in Friday prayers, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called on all Iranians to remain united to safeguard the Islamic Revolution.

“Today, we need unity more than ever. All must unite to stand against threats facing the country,” Ayatollah Rafsanjani said, adding that the nation should make every effort to protect the achievements of the country.

Tehran, July 17: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appointed Ali Akbar Salehi, Khatami-era envoy to the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA), as the new head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.

Salehi is replacing the seasoned Gholam Reza Aqazadeh, who stepped down last week after holding the key post for 12 years.

The announcement was made in a July 16 cabinet meeting, during which President Ahmadinejad revealed a number of changes to his cabinet.

Tehran, July 17: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appointed a new chief for the country’s nuclear program, following the abrupt resignation of its veteran head, the official IRNA news agency reported Friday.

Ali Akbar Salehi, a U.S.-educated physicist who was Iran’s former envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, is replacing Gholam Reza Aghazadeh as the new vice president and the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, IRNA said.

Kabul, July 17: A Taliban commander in southeastern Afghanistan said on Thursday a missing U.S. soldier is being held by insurgents and is unharmed but warned the military he will be killed if they try to find him.

The soldier has been missing in southeastern Paktika province since late June, just before thousands of U.S. Marines began a major new offensive in the Taliban heartland of Helmand in the south.

The U.S. military says the soldier is presumed captured and said it is doing all it can to get the soldier back.

Tehran, July 17: Opposition supporters and their hard-line rivals are chanting competing slogans at Iran’s main Islamic prayer service Friday, where the opposition seeks to make a show of strength.

Tens of thousands have massed for the prayers, led by the opposition’s top backer in the clerical leadership, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, for the first time since the disputed June 12 election. Pro-reform activists hope he will show support for the movement in his sermon.

Ankara, July 17: The Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas has arrived in Ankara to hold talks with Turkish officials about the Middle East peace effort.

Abbas arrived in the Turkish capital for a two-day official visit on Thursday.

He was greeted at Esenboga Airport by the Palestinian Ambassador to Ankara, Nabil Maarouf, Turkish foreign ministry officials as well as Ambassadors from some Arab states.

Abbas met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan late on Thursday and is expected to have talks with President Abdullah Gul and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Friday.

Khost, Afghanistan, July 17 : A Taliban commander in southeastern Afghanistan said on Thursday a missing U.S. soldier is being held by insurgents and is unharmed but warned the military he will be killed if they try to find him.

The soldier has been missing in southeastern Paktika province since late June, just before thousands of U.S. Marines began a major new offensive in the Taliban heartland of Helmand in the south.

The U.S. military says the soldier is presumed captured and said it is doing all it can to get the soldier back.

Kandahar, July 17: A roadside bomb planted by Taliban militants killed 11 civilians, including five children, travelling to a shrine in southern Afghanistan, police said.

The explosives ripped through a civilian pick-up vehicle, which was taking men, women and children to visit the shrine in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province, just a few kilometres (miles) from the Pakistani border.

“Three women, three men and five children were killed,” General Saifullah Hakim, a senior border police official, said.

Tehran, July 17: Iranians are bracing for a tense political encounter today as the opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi makes his first official public appearance in weeks at Friday prayers at Tehran University.

Tehran, July 17: The Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has appointed his close confidante Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei as his new First Deputy.

Mashaei served as the head of the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization before receiving the elevation.

Prior to the tourism portfolio, Mashaei was the head of Tehran Municipality’s Cultural and Art Organization during Ahmadinejad’s mayorship. Mashaei also served for a while as a deputy interior minister.

Tehran, July 17: Iran braced for tense Friday prayers due to be led by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a powerful cleric and backer of the country’s defiant opposition which is planning a united show of strength at the weekly sermon.

Rafsanjani, who was the main target of intense mud-slinging by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the June presidential election campaign, will be leading the weekly Muslim prayers for the first time in more than two months.

Jerusalem, July 17: The Israeli Foreign Ministry has slammed Switzerland for holding diplomatic talks with representatives of the Hamas movement.

“We are angry, since Hamas is still considered as a terrorist organization by the European Union, even if Switzerland is not an EU member,” said Israel’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.

“By officially receiving a Hamas delegation, Switzerland is not placing itself among those who support moderation,” he added.

Baghdad, July 17: Three soldiers were killed in an attack on a coalition forces base in the former Shiite militia stronghold of Basra, the U.S. military said Friday.

The soldiers were killed about 9:15 p.m. Thursday when their base near Basra’s airport was hit by “indirect fire,” the military said, referring to an attack by mortars or rockets.

U.S. troops recently took over for departing British forces and are housed outside of Iraq’s second-largest city.

The identity of the soldiers killed have not yet been released. An investigation into their deaths is under way.

Dubai, July 17: In a move that will benefit thousands of overseas Indians here, the UAE government has allowed female expatriates, who are under the sponsorship of their mothers, brothers, uncles or other family members, to work in the country.

Earlier only female expatriates under the sponsorship of their father or husband were allowed to work in the UAE.

Under the labour law, no expatriate are allowed to work in the country unless they obtain a work permit and labour card.

Tehran, July 17: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appointed his aide Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie as the country’s new first vice president, the official reported on Friday.

“Ahmadinejad has announced that Mashaie will serve as the new first vice president in the next government,” IRNA said.

Mashaie a year ago was severely criticised by the country’s hardliners and even rapped by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for saying Iran was a “friend of the Israeli people.”

He returned to the theme again in August, saying he had “no hostility against the Israeli people.”

Cairo, July 17: A Norwegian Muslim woman has filed a complaint with her embassy in the Egyptian capital of Cairo after a beach resort banned her from swimming in the pool because she was wearing an Islamic bathing suit.

Caroline Boston vowed to never return to Egypt after she went to spend her summer vacation in the Muslim country, where she says she was insulted and disrespected.

” When I was heading to the swimming pool with the headscarf, the hotel security stopped me ”
Caroline Boston

Tehran, July 17: Technical problems were the likely cause of the crash of an Iranian airliner that ploughed into a field in northwestern Iran killing all 168 on board, a transport official said on Thursday.

“The pilot could probably not be blamed for this crash and we think it was likely due to a technical problem,” Ahmad Majidi, head of the transport ministry’s crisis unit, was quoted as saying by a news agency.

Riyadh, July 17: A Saudi official has suggested that foreign workers who have been living in Gulf countries for more than 25 years should be granted free iqamas (work/residence permits) or permanent resident status outside the sponsorship system.

In an interview, Abdullah Sadiq Dahlan, Saudi Arabia’s representative to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), said the kingdom should reform the citizenship system to open the way for long-term legal residents to acquire naturalisation.

Tehran, July 17: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed on Thursday that the Islamic Republic will “slap” any aggressors so hard they will lose their way home, according to a television news report.

State-controlled PressTV quoted Ahmadinejad as renewing his allegations against Western countries of having sought to influence the June 12 election in which he was re-elected.

Ramallah, July 17: The Palestinian government’s closure of the Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera on Wednesday proves the West Bank government is trying to silence the media and “cover up what is going on in the West Bank” – a reference to Abbas’ crackdown on Hamas – according to Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents international media operating in Israel and the Palestinian territories, said it was “deeply concerned” about the closure. It urged the Palestinian Authority to resolve the issue and uphold freedom of the press.

Tehran, July 17: A journey from east to west Tehran in the morning rush-hour traps you in a long line of cars reduced to a tortuous crawl. Yesterday, a middle-aged beggar woman roamed the traffic trying in vain to sell dish-cloths.

We moved for a few seconds but then ground to a halt again, just like Iran’s political paralysis. The driver of our shared taxi, in between grumbling about the traffic, lit up a cigarette and turned on the CD player. The words of the song could hardly have been more appropriate: “Once again I feel crying tonight”.