Egyptian authorities detained 16 Muslim Brotherhood (MB) movement members in Beni Swait province and 12 others in Giza for being members of a banned group and possessing documents and leaflets against the regime. The 28 detainees were supporters of the MB’s candidates for the upcoming mid-term election of Shoora Council, the upper house of parliament, according to the MB. More than 120 MB members have been detained nationwide during the past few days. However, the group succeeded in fie...

The World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) in the holy Makkah region has launched a large-scale youth empowerment programme with the support of seven public and private agencies in order to develop the skills and capabilities of young Saudi men and women with an aim of making them useful citizens. Dr Muhammad Badahdah, assistant secretary-general of WAMY, said the project would help tap the capabilities of Saudi youth for constructive activities. "The programme is aimed at building a new ...

Council for National Security (CNS) chairman Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin will visit Pattani, the current focal point of Thailand’s southern unrest, to try to defuse tensions, as attacks against local residents, government officials and security forces intensify, and local Muslim students and people of all ages are rallying at a Pattani mosque, amid rising tension and confusion.

Army Chief Gen. Sonthi decided to revisit the troubled region himself after a 90-minute meeting with th...

The first commercial bank operating entirely under Islamic Sharia principles has been licensed. Finance minister, Mr Amos Kimunya, has granted approval to First Community Bank Limited to conduct banking business according to Sharia, which prohibits the lending of money on interest. According to its lawyers, the bank is a joint venture between Kenyan and Kuwaiti nationals and has a paid-up share capital of Sh1 billion.
Barclays Bank of Kenya and Kenya Commercial Bank have both introduc...

Malaysia has reassured the biggest Muslim group in southern Philippines that it would continue to back the latter’s peace talks with the Philippine government. Malaysian Ambassador to the Philippines Ahmad Rasidi bin Hazizi told leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) of his country’s full support to the group’s ongoing peace overture with Manila, when he visited Cotabato City in Mindanao of southern Philippines. Rasidi also met with members of the Malaysian-led ...

Mohamed ElBaradei, the United Nations nuclear watchdog chief, warned against the "new crazies" advocating military action to halt Iran’s nuclear programme and said he did not want to see another war like that in Iraq. The scathing attack by Mohamed ElBaradei were swiftly dismissed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who accused the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief of "muddying the message."
Mohamed ElBaradei said in a documentary, excerp...

Prime Minister of Britain Tony Blair unveiled plans to launch a reported £ 1 million fund to change the mode of teaching of Islam at British universities. His announcement was to provide significant funding for implementing many recommendations presented in a government-commissioned report by director of the Markfield Institute of Higher Education, Ataullah Siddiqui, which includes training Muslim imams and reducing mosques’ reliance on some overseas clerics, who are criticised fo...