Imam of the Grand Mosque Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais on Nov 11 urged leaders and people of Islamic countries to fulfil their duty of maintaining security and stability knowing fully well that the only option before them is to choose the path of unity, not a course of collision and chaos. “Time and events are passing us swiftly with reports of thrones lost, dissolution or formation of governments in quick succession or deaths of great men. So use your time to strive ha...

Iran will hit back against any attack or even threat of military action, the country’s supreme leader said on Nov 10 after Israel warned the world must act to prevent Tehran getting nuclear weapons. Iran “will respond with full force to any aggression or even threats in a way that will demolish the aggressors from within,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told students at a Tehran military college, according to his official website. Khamenei said the message was direc...

UNESCO has reprimanded Israel’s envoy over a newspaper cartoon showing the Israeli prime minister telling pilots to bomb the UN agency’s office after bombing Iran. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said on Nov 11 that UNESCO handed Ambassador Nimrod Barkan a protest note saying the cartoon “endangers the lives of unarmed diplomats.” The cartoon was published last week in the daily Haaretz. It depicts Prime Minister Benjamin Netan...

Egypt’s national airline says it will resume flights to the Libyan capital Tripoli next week, marking a step toward normalcy after Libya’s eight-month civil war. Egypt Air said in a statement on Nov 10 that it will run daily flights from Cairo to Tripoli starting Nov. 17. It began running four flights per week to the eastern city of Benghazi earlier this month. Commercial air traffic to Libya halted with the outbreak of the popular uprising against Muammar Qaddafi...

Attorney General of New York Eric T. Schneiderman on Nov 11 announced the launch of the Religious Rights Initiative, a project of the office’s Civil Rights Bureau that will address religious rights issues and enforce anti-discrimination laws. The Religious Rights Initiative will target faith-based discrimination and violations of religious rights through public education, outreach and law enforcement, including litigation.

The Attorney General announced the launch of the Religio...

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Nov 11 welcomed a U.S. Army decision to review a policy of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) that effectively bars participation by Muslim students who wear an Islamic head scarf, or hijab. Last month, CAIR wrote to Defence Secretary Leon Panetta after a 14-year-old Muslim student at Ravenwood High School in Brentwood, Tenn., was forced to transfer out of a JROTC class when her commanding off...

The Arab League on Nov 12 called on the Syrian army to stop the killing of civilians and said it was suspending Syria from the regional body in a surprise move that turns up the heat on President Bashar Assad. The League will impose economic and political sanctions on Assad’s government and has appealed to its member states to withdraw their ambassadors from Damascus, said Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim. He said the suspension would take effect on ...

The Palestinians on Nov 11 said their leaders will decide quickly whether to seek a vote in the Security Council on their bid for UN membership – even though they face certain defeat – or to pursue other UN options. Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN observer, said the Palestinians would be consulting Arab leaders and supporters on their next steps after the council’s admissions committee approved a report saying there is no consensus among the 15 council nat...