High rates of illiterate Palestinian refugee kids in Lebanon: UN

School dropout high in Palestinian refugees: UN

BEIRUT (AFP)

The school dropout rate among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is alarmingly high with 50 percent of 17-year-olds and 40 percent of 16-year-olds receiving no education, United Nations officials warned on Friday. "We are sounding the alarm that the dropout rate is too high among school-aged children...More

One third of Palestinian refugee children are illiterate, according to the UNICEF report (File)

One third of Palestinian refugee children are illiterate, according to the UNICEF report (File)

Doomsday should not be visualized in Islam: cleric

"2012" film against Islam: Indonesia clerics

Hollywood's latest doomsday offering "2012" has caused a storm in Indonesia, with conservative clerics condemning it Thursday as a "provocation against Islam". Screenings have been sold out across the capital Jakarta following the film's success in North America, where it beat Disney's...More

A pedestrian stands next to a giant poster of the movie 2012

Saudi steps up measures to monitor H1N1 among pilgrims

World Muslims to mark climax of hajj on Nov. 26

As Muslims prepare for the annual pilgrimage, or hajj, season, Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court announced late Tuesday that Arafat Day, when pilgrims stand in prayer on Mount Arafat marking the climax of Hajj, will fall this year on Nov. 26. The court ruled that a number of people had witnessed the Zul Hijjah crescent and “as a...More

Millions of Muslims flock to Mecca to perform the annual hajj (File)

Muslims have right to practice but no muezzin: president

Switzerland will not hear sound of Muslim prayer

Swiss government mulls referendum to ban the building of minarets (File)

Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz on Tuesday told voters that the call of the muezzin, or Muslim imam who calls people to prayer, would not sound in...More

Mosquito-borne virus can cause devastating epidemics

Mass vaccinations to fight yellow fever in Africa

Yellow Fever in the liver, zonal necrosis, caused by the Yellow Fever Virus, H & stain (File)

Nearly 12 million Africans deemed at highest risk from yellow fever will be vaccinated next week against the virus, which can cause explosive epidemics in...More

Egypt must act to avoid repeat rockslide disaster: report

Amnesty says Egypt's poor still live in peril

Some of the poorest districts of Cairo have a population density of 100,000 people per square mile (File)

Little has changed in Egypt to move the poor from unsafe places and prevent a repetition of a rockslide in a Cairo shantytown that killed more than 100 people...More

Libyan leader seeks "attractive" women to lecture on Islam

Gaddafi spends two hours with 200 Italian ladies

Italian girls leave Gaddafi's villa (L) a woman holds up a copy of the Quran (R) (Courtesy of ANSA)

Muammar Gaddafi disappointed some 200 Italian women after he invited them using an agency advertizing a "party" where the Libyan leader proceeded to...More

Found guilty of killing Muslim husband of female relative

Two Egyptian Copts get death over Muslim killing

Coptic men kill the Muslim husband of a female relative who converted to Islam against the wishes of her family

An Egyptian court sentenced two Christian men to death on Sunday for killing the Muslim husband of a female relative who converted to Islam against the wishes...More

Yemenis flock to traditional Turkish-style bathhouses

Visit a hamam, step back in time to old Yemen

Yemeni men enjoy a steam bath inside the 410-year-old Turkish hamam al-Abhar

A hint of incense in the dark and narrow alleys leading to the 410-year-old Hamam al-Abhar in the Yemeni capital's old city reminds the visitor that each...More

Groups includes pregnant women, elderly and children

Swine flu risk groups should avoid hajj: study

A Saudi man walks past Turkish and Iranian Muslim pilgrims at Jeddah airport (File)

People at risk of suffering severe consequences from swine flu should postpone going to the hajj in 2009, according to a study released on Saturday. Some...More