The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on July 18 denounced an Israeli claim that Al-Aqsa Mosque is part of Israeli territory. OIC Secretary-General Professor Ekmeledin Ihsanoglu said: “The Islamic nation will not accept any move by Israel to encroach on Al-Aqsa, the third holiest mosque for Muslims.” He called on ambassadors of Muslim countries, who are members of UNESCO, to act immediately to stop Israeli aggression on religious and heritage sites in occupied Jerusalem. H...

The 284^th meeting of the Board of Executive Directors of the Islamic Development Bank, which convened at IDB headquarters on July 16, under the chairmanship of Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, President, IDB Group, approved more than US$ 1,158 million towards development projects financing for IDB member countries and Muslim communities in non-member countries. This is the largest amount of approvals by a single IDB Board meeting since the Bank’s inception in 1975.  

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The United Arab Emirates will be the first Gulf Arab state to start constructing a nuclear power plant in the region, where top oil exporters seek alternative energy resources to meet the soaring electricity demand that threatens to absorb their precious oil and gas reserves. UAE’s nuclear regulator on July 18 said that it granted a licence to Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp (ENEC) for the construction of the OPEC member country’s first two nuclear reactors, which will be built by a ...

Amid an outrage over Russia and China’s double veto of a UN resolution on Syria, Syrian opposition leaders declared that regime of Bashar Assad is in its last days as rebel forces seized control of the nation’s borders on July 19. As Sayda spoke, rebels seized control of sections of Syria’s international borders and torched the main police headquarters in the heart of old Damascus, advancing relentlessly after the assassination of Bashar Assad’s closest lieutenants. Re...

Hedayat Abdel-Nabi, President of the Geneva-based Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) for the protection of journalists, praised the efforts of Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi which led to the release of the Egyptian journalist Shaimaa Adel from a Sudanese prison. In a press statement from Geneva on July 16, she affirmed that the Egyptian President’s decision to return Shaimaa Adel to the homeland with him on the president’s plane emphasises his appreciation for the press and its ro...

Marking the beginning of the holy month of Ramadhan on July 20, Egypt’s newly elected President Mohamed Morsi on July 19 issued a pardon of 572 civilians sentenced in military tribunals, tackling a major demand of pro-democracy activists. But the pardon only affects a fraction of the thousands of civilians who have been tried and sentenced by military tribunals since a council of generals took over following Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in February 2011. Activists say over 11,000 were t...

>The Hamas group ruling the Gaza Strip is to begin deducting “Zakat” from businesses and individuals during Ramadhan, it said on July 17. The Zakat Foundation created by Hamas will begin deducting the Zakat money during the holy month that began on Friday (July 20) “from the taxes on firms,” its chief Rami Al-Khatib reportedly said. “This will begin as an optional measure before becoming obligatory,” he said, adding that the authorities would strive “...