April, 2013

• 5 April

  Gazan heads to Oxford University on unusual scholarship By Jon Donnison

  

  The scholarship offers Rawan Yaghi a life-changing opportunity Rawan Yaghi is a bookish 19 year old who, appropriately for a student of literature, arrives to meet me in Gaza with a text tucked under her arm. It is a well-thumbed copy of Catch 22, Joseph Heller's classic satirical novel on the absurdities of war; not an inappropriate choice for somebody …

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• 3 April

  Quran now in Sinhala

  

  Islam has spread throughout the world and the Quran has been translated into several languages. Sri Lankans now have facilities to read the Quran in Sinhala, Prime Minister and Buddhasasana and Religious Affairs Minister D M Jayaratne said. Translator Moulavi A L M Ibrahim hands over the first copy of a Sinhala translation of the Quran to Prime Minister D …

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• 3 April

  Magistrate reminds suspects in yellow robes Lord Buddha’s teaching

  

    Buddhist priests should follow the teaching of Lord Buddha and act accordingly; they should not create disunity among communities but unite them and teach the lay people what is good and bad said Nugegoda Magistrate Ajith M. Marasinghe when the hearing regarding the attack on Fashionbug at Papiliyana was heard today (2nd). The Magistrate made these observations addressing the …

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• 2 April

  Veto Returns to Haunt Big Powers in Arms Trade Treaty By Thalif Deen

  

    When the United Nations set out to draft a politically-sensitive Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), ever since negotiations began in 2006, member states agreed to take the final decision by “consensus”. That meant a decision approved by all 193 countries, perhaps with “reservations” by some, if they had any lingering doubts about the text of the treaty. Given the 75-plus …

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• 1 April

  It Can Happen Here: The Confiscation Scheme Planned for US and UK Depositors By Ellen Brown

  

    Confiscating the customer deposits in Cyprus banks, it seems, was not a one-off, desperate idea of a few Eurozone “troika” officials scrambling to salvage their balance sheets. A joint paper by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Bank of England dated December 10, 2012, shows that these plans have been long in the making; that they originated …

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• 1 April

  UN finds ‘state involvement’ in Myanmar disturbances – AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

  

  GENEVA: The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Myanmar human rights said Thursday he had received reports of “state involvement” in some of the recent violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the former army-ruled nation. At least 40 people have been killed and mosques burned in several towns in central Myanmar since fresh sectarian strife erupted on March 20, prompting the …

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• 1 April

  Being Muslim in Las Vegas – Jonathan Margolis

  

  Just a short hop from the undisputed world capital of gambling, fornication, drunkenness and gluttony is a 10,000-strong Muslim community. Jonathan Margolis heads down to the mosque   ‘Other Muslims think it’s crazy that we’re here’: Ahmadullah Rokai Yusufzai, aka Rocky (right), with, from left, his cousin Farid Jalal, son Naweed Belal Yusufzai, 18, and daughter Medinah, 11. Photograph: Jonathan …

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