Karen National Union

The 19-member KNU delegation held talks with Railways Minister, U Aung Min, and other representatives of the Burmese government on 12-1-2012, in Pa-an.

The KNU delegation reached an initial agreement with the Burmese government's representatives towards a ceasefire agreement. When the delegation returns to our headquarters, the KNU leadership will discuss about subsequent steps required in this dialogue with the Burmese government.

Franz Magnis-Suseno S.J.*

Jakarta - Violence against Christians in Indonesia frequently makes news headlines. However, acts of violence targeting Christians should not obscure the fact that the vast majority of Indonesia’s Christian communities live and worship free from fear and interference in a Muslim majority country, and that religious conversion has never been prohibited.

In the past few years, however, the level of religious freedom has declined. The government must have the courage to stop this trend and protect Indonesia’s religious minorities to continue to uphold religious freedom.

Joe Penney Last

When US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits the Philippines for the second time of her tenure at the head of the State Department on November 15 and 16, she will meet with President Benigno Aquino III, to belatedly celebrate the 60th anniversary of the US-Philippines Mutual Defence Treaty, and to discuss what press reports have called "bilateral and multilateral" matters.

Story tools
New America Media, News Feature, Shirin Sadeghi, Posted: Oct 05, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO -- Abdul Fattah Jandali, a young Syrian Muslim immigrant in Wisconsin, never met his son Steve Jobs. When a baby was born to the 23-year-old Jandali -- now known as John -- and his 23-year-old German-American girlfriend, Joanne Schieble, in 1955, there was no chance he'd be able to grow up with his biological parents.

Joanne, who belonged to a white, conservative Christian family could not convince her parents to marry an Arab, a Muslim, according to Jandali, who called her father "a tyrant" in a New York Post interview in August 2011. In fact, according to Jandali, she secreted off from Wisconsin to liberal San Francisco to sort out the birth and adoption without letting either him or her parents know.

Maha Akeel*

Jeddah - Social media was abuzz with excitement at Saudi King Abdullah’s recent decision to appoint women to the Shura (consultative) Council and to allow them to vote and run in the 2015 municipal elections. The right to vote and hold public office has been at the top of Saudi women’s demands for the past decade and has been widely discussed in social and traditional media.