Author archives: Faith Matters

Drones keep watch as pilgrims ascend Mount Arafat for Haj climax
September 11, 2016 By Faith Matters

Drones keep watch as pilgrims ascend Mount Arafat for Haj climax

Saudi authorities deployed drones to watch over nearly 2 million pilgrims as they ascended Mount Arafat at the climax of the haj pilgrimage on Sunday, part of stepped up efforts to avoid a repeat of last year’s crush. In one of the deadliest disasters to befall the annual Muslim rite in decades, the crush killed […]

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Bell rings for 9/11 attack victims
September 11, 2016 By Faith Matters

Bell rings for 9/11 attack victims

The Bell of Hope rings at New York City’s St. Paul’s Chapel at 8:46 a.m., the time American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower 15 years ago. Rough Cut (no reporter narration). The Bell of Hope rang at St. Paul’s Chapel in New York City on Sunday (September 11) to remember the lives […]

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Netanyahu ‘ethnic cleansing’ comment against Palestinians draws U.S. rebuke
September 10, 2016 By Faith Matters

Netanyahu ‘ethnic cleansing’ comment against Palestinians draws U.S. rebuke

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said the Palestinians wanted to form a state devoid of a Jewish population and termed it “ethnic cleansing”, drawing sharp criticism from the United States. In a video message, Netanyahu said in reference to the removal of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, “The Palestinian leadership actually demands […]

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Gare de Lyon Attack Was on Cards, Say French Police
September 9, 2016 By Faith Matters

Gare de Lyon Attack Was on Cards, Say French Police

Three women arrested in connection with a car loaded with gas cylinders found in a side road near Notre Dame cathedral had been planning an attack on a Paris railway station, the French interior ministry said. “An alert has been issued to all stations but they had planned to attack the Gare de Lyon on […]

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Top Saudi cleric says Iran leaders not Muslims as haj row mounts
September 7, 2016 By Faith Matters

Top Saudi cleric says Iran leaders not Muslims as haj row mounts

Saudi Arabia’s top religious authority said Iran’s leaders were not Muslims, drawing a rebuke from Tehran in an unusually harsh exchange between the regional rivals over the running of the annual haj pilgrimage. The war of words on the eve of the mass pilgrimage will deepen a long-running rift between the Sunni kingdom and the […]

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Police hold two after car with gas cylinders found in Paris
September 7, 2016 By Faith Matters

Police hold two after car with gas cylinders found in Paris

A car, whose owner is on an intelligence services watchlist of people suspected of religious radicalisation, was discovered near Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris on Saturday night with seven gas cylinders inside, police and judicial officials said on Wednesday. The car owner was taken into custody but later released, one judicial official said. A couple, aged […]

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UK Islamist preacher Choudary jailed for five and a half years
September 6, 2016 By Faith Matters

UK Islamist preacher Choudary jailed for five and a half years

Anjem Choudary, Britain’s best-known Islamist preacher whose followers have been linked to numerous plots around the world, was sentenced to five years and six months in prison on Tuesday for inviting support for Islamic State, Sky News reported. Choudary had been convicted previously by a jury at London’s Old Bailey court of using online lectures […]

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Politics and religion disrupt Israeli train services
September 5, 2016 By Faith Matters

Politics and religion disrupt Israeli train services

Politics and religion combined on Sunday to halt much of Israel’s train service at the start of its working week. Bowing to demands by ultra-Orthodox partners in the governing coalition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered rail maintenance suspended on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath – when work is ritually forbidden – and found himself widely blamed […]

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Tensions rise in Germany’s Turkish diaspora, mirroring splits in Turkey
September 3, 2016 By Faith Matters

Tensions rise in Germany’s Turkish diaspora, mirroring splits in Turkey

Ercan Karakoyun has long played a prominent role in Berlin’s Turkish community, promoting education and dialogue among Muslims and Germans of other faiths. Now, however, whenever he can, Karakoyun avoids the bustling streets where many Turks live in the German capital. He says he has received six death threats via email and Facebook that are being […]

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Bangladesh hangs Islamist party figure for 1971 war crimes
September 3, 2016 By Faith Matters

Bangladesh hangs Islamist party figure for 1971 war crimes

Bangladesh has hanged a top Islamist party figure for atrocities committed during the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan, the law minister said on Saturday. Mir Quasem Ali, 63, a key financier of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was executed at Kashimpur Central Jail on the outskirts of the capital, for murder, confinement, torture and incitement to […]

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