LONDON: Non-Muslims will be welcomed with tea and biscuits at mosques across the UK this weekend during an annual open day that encourages integration and understanding among people of all faiths.
Visit My Mosque 2018 marks the fourth edition of the event which will see more than 200 mosques from London to Wales run tours and talks covering Islam, prayer practices and daily Muslim life.
Under this year’s theme “Open doors, open mosques, open communities,” participating mosques will also outline some of the benefits they bring to their communities, including projects for homelessness, hunger and refugee support.
Harun Khan, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, which is behind the event, emphasized the “positive difference” mosques make to their local communities.
Speaking at a launch on Thursday at the Al-Manaar Center in Kensington, which has been holding mosque open days for years, he said, “Mosques are part and parcel of the fabric of British society.”
The Al-Manaar Center was proactive in the response effort following the Grenfell Tower fire, which devastated the community in June 2017.
“We saw last June how they stepped up without hesitation when others didn’t,” said Kensington and Chelsea MP Emma Dent.
“This is a very important day to highlight the existence of local institutions like mosques that can be accessed by anyone,” said Abdulrahman Syed, Chief Executive Officer at Al-Manaar. “For us every day of the year...is an open day.”
“Mosques are more open than ever before,” Khan added, expressing his hope that Visit My Mosque would be, “A small step toward greater community cohesion in Britain today.”
Organizers anticipate a high turn-out building on last year’s event when around 10,000 people took part, with the highest number visiting Cumbernauld mosque in Glasgow, which welcomed up to 3,000 people and York Mosque, where around 1,000 showed up.
A YouGov poll commissioned by the Muslim Council of Britain, which is hosting the event, found that 90 percent of Britons haven’t been inside a mosque while almost 70 percent haven’t seen inside another faith’s place of worship. In addition, one in four Britons said they did not know a Muslim.
“Despite the multi-religious and multi-cultural society we live in, these poll results show that the majority of Britons have not seen what the place of worship of another faith looks like,” Khan said.
The event helps counter misconceptions around Islam and mosques in the UK. It’s a way of showing “There’s nothing sinister, there’s nothing strange” about mosques, Khan added. “Mosques are very welcoming places.”
The day comes during a time of increasing islamophobia in the UK, with hate crimes against Muslim places of worship more than doubling between 2016 and 2017.
Last week saw a life sentence handed down to Darren Osborne, who drove a rented van into a crowd of people outside Finsbury Park Mosque, killing Makram Ali and injuring others as they left Ramadan prayers.
Discussing the need to address islamophobia, Dent added, “We have to counter ignorance with knowledge and hate with love and this is what we’re doing here.”
Nadeem Ali, with the Muslim Cultural & Welfare Association of Sutton, which is taking part in the open day, said: “We see this as an opportunity to welcome our non-Muslim neighbours and for them to find out that we are normal, non-violent, law-abiding and hopefully nice people, contributing to British society.”
“We hope the event gives them the chance to dispel negative impressions of Muslims they may have from the media, and to see first-hand the kinder, warmer and more welcoming side of the Muslim community.”
The Reverend Anna Macham, priest at St Philip's church in Camberwell, London said the open day “brings greater understanding.”
“It’s so easy for people to get the wrong idea about what Islam or any religion is from the media, but the impression you get from actually meeting Muslims, sharing food with them and enjoying their hospitality is very different.”
A poster advertising the open day at Derby Jamia Mosque invites people to “Pop in, meet the Imams (spiritual leaders) and ask questions,” while an advertisment for Quwwat-ul-Islam in Newham, London reads: “Come and see beyond the walls.”
Others promise traditional British refreshments. “Sharing tea and cakes is really the best antidote,” Khan added.
Mufiti, Mohammed Amin Pandor of The Peace Institute in Leeds, said “The most important thing for us is the Q&A. We want people to ask us any questions… we will never be offended. We will answer the questions truthfully.”
This year Visit My Mosque merchandise was released for the first time, including branded pens and balloons available for participating mosques to order.
The Muslim Council of Britain has also recently launched “Better Mosques: A Community Consultation” inviting anyone to submit ideas on how mosques can become better in Britain today.
Non-Muslims welcomed to UK mosques for annual open day
Non-Muslims welcomed to UK mosques for annual open day
Kamala Harris announces $1.5 billion US aid for Ukraine at peace summit in Switzerland
- The $1.5 billion includes $500 million in new funding for energy assistance
- US vice president also announced more than $379 million in humanitarian assistance
The announcement was made as Harris attended a Ukraine peace summit in Lucerne, Switzerland, where she was to meet Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and address the summit’s plenary session.
The $1.5 billion includes $500 million in new funding for energy assistance and the redirecting of $324 million in previously announced funds toward emergency energy infrastructure repair and other needs in Ukraine, the vice president’s office said.
“These efforts will help Ukraine respond to Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine energy infrastructure by supporting repair and recovery, improving Ukraine’s resilience to energy supply disruptions, and laying the groundwork to repair and expand Ukraine’s energy system,” Harris’ office said.
She also announced more than $379 million in humanitarian assistance from the State Department and the US Agency for International Development to help refugees and other people impacted by the war.
The money is to cover food assistance, health services, shelter, and water, sanitation and hygiene services for millions of Ukrainians. Harris, who will spend less than 24 hours at the gathering in Lucerne, Switzerland, will be standing in for President Joe Biden at the event. The president will be just ending his participation at the G7 summit in Italy and returning to the United States to attend a fundraiser for his reelection campaign in Los Angeles.
Harris will meet with Zelensky and address the summit’s plenary session. Biden met with Zelensky both at the G7 summit, where they signed a US-Ukraine bilateral security agreement, and in France for events surrounding the 80th anniversary of the World War Two D-Day invasion.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan will represent the United States at the summit on Sunday and help establish working groups on returning Ukrainian children from Russia and on energy security.
Princess of Wales appears at first public event since cancer diagnosis
LONDON: Catherine, Princess of Wales, on Saturday made a tentative return to public life for the first time since being diagnosed with cancer, attending the Trooping the Colour military parade in London.
Kate, 42, who revealed in March she was receiving chemotherapy treatment, rode in a carriage alongside her three children at the annual celebration for King Charles III's official birthday, in her first public appearance since December.
Indian technology institute to start undergrad courses in UAE
- Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi globally ranks 45th in engineering and technology
- Its UAE branch was established in 2023 and is the IIT’s first campus set up abroad
NEW DELHI: The Abu Dhabi branch of the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi is set to start its first undergraduate courses in September — a milestone expected to kickstart the school’s further expansion in Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
The Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi is a public engineering institute in the Indian capital, one of 23 IITs operating across the country and offering undergraduate, postgraduate and doctorate-level programs.
Run by the Indian Ministry of Education, it is considered one of the best centers of excellence for training, research and science in India, and is globally ranked 45th in engineering and technology in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024.
The institute’s UAE branch is funded by the Abu Dhabi Department of Education based on an agreement with the Indian government signed in July 2023.
Currently hosted by Zayed University, the IIT-Delhi Abu Dhabi started its teaching program in January with a master’s course in energy transition and sustainability, which paved the way for full-fledged operations to be launched in the academic year 2024-25.
“The undergraduate program is a flagship program of the IITs and hence its launch is significant,” Prof. Shantanu Roy, director of the IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi, told Arab News this week.
“We would like to reach out to international students in the GCC countries. We will also be rolling out our research programs shortly and would like to engage with partners in Abu Dhabi, UAE and the region. IIT-Delhi Abu Dhabi will serve as a meeting point between IIT Delhi and its long 60-plus years legacy in teaching and research, and partners and collaborators in the UAE and neighboring countries.”
The two upcoming undergraduate programs will have a batch of 30 students each. Most of the students will enter based on the institute’s new examination, which the director said was customized for the UAE.
“A significant number of Emirati students have registered ... We see many students in our outreach programs,” Roy said.
“Eleven out of 18 students in our inaugural master’s program in energy transition and sustainability are UAE nationals. They are doing very well, and we are proud of them.”
The offshore campus is a part of the UAE-India comprehensive economic partnership agreement that came into force in May 2022.
The UAE branch is the IIT’s first campus set up abroad.
“The opening of the IIT campus in Abu Dhabi is indeed a significant milestone,” Sunjay Sudhir, Indian ambassador to the UAE told Arab News. “Now, in September, the first bachelor of technology courses in computer science and energy will commence.”
He said that IIT operations would not only strengthen the institute’s global brand, but also Abu Dhabi’s position as a hub for high-tech and innovation.
“The IIT-Delhi campus will be an important part of the innovation ecosystem of this country,” Sudhir said. “We expect a strong linkage between the IIT-Delhi campus and other research teaching establishments and also industries.”
Philippines seeks UN confirmation of its vast continental seabed in the disputed South China Sea
- The Philippine government submits information to UN body on the extent of its undersea shelf in the South China Sea
MANILA: The Philippines has asked a United Nations body to formally recognize the extent of its undersea continental seabed in the South China Sea, where it would have the exclusive right to exploit resources, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Saturday, in a move that rejects China’s vast territorial claims to the region.
The Philippine government submitted information to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on the extent of its undersea shelf in the South China Sea, off western Palawan province, after more than a decade and a half of scientific research, the department said.
China did not immediately comment but it will likely contest the Philippine move.
The undersea region where the Philippines seeks to formally establish its sovereign rights under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, covers the Spratlys, a chain of islands, islets, reefs and atolls that has been fiercely contested over the years by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. Indonesia has also confronted Chinese coast guard and fishing fleets in the gas-rich Natuna sea in the fringes of the South China Sea.
“Incidents in the waters tend to overshadow the importance of what lies beneath,” Philippine Foreign Assistant Secretary Marshall Louis Alferez said. “The seabed and the subsoil extending from our archipelago up to the maximum extent allowed by UNCLOS hold significant potential resources that will benefit our nation and our people for generations to come.”
“Today, we secure our future by making a manifestation of our exclusive right to explore and exploit natural resources in our extended continental shelf entitlement,” Alferez said.
Under the 1982 UN convention, a coastal state could have exclusive rights to exploit resources in its continental shelf, a vast stretch of seabed that can extend up to 350 nautical miles (648 kilometers), including the right to authorize and regulate any kind of drilling.
The Philippines’ undersea continental shelf could potentially overlap with those of other coastal states in the South China Sea, including that of Vietnam. Philippine officials expressed readiness to hold talks to resolve such issues based on UNCLOS.
Philippine permanent representative to the UN Antonio Lagdameo said the move “can reinvigorate efforts of states to demonstrate their readiness to pursue UNCLOS processes in the determination of maritime entitlements and promote a rules-based international order.”
Hostilities and tensions in the disputed waters have alarmingly escalated particularly between China and the Philippines over two disputed shoals since last year. Chinese coast guard ships and suspected militia vessels have used powerful water cannons and dangerous blocking maneuvers against Philippine coast guard patrol ships and navy boats that have injured Filipino navy personnel, damaged their supply boats and strained diplomatic relations between the two countries.
After a tense standoff between Philippine and Chinese ships near a shoal in 2012, the Philippines brought its disputes with China the following year to international arbitration. The arbitration panel invalidated China’s claim to virtually the entire South China Sea in a 2016 ruling but Beijing refused to participate in the arbitration, rejected the decision and continues to defy it.
North Korea building roads, walls inside Demilitarized Zone: Yonhap
- Construction activities are taking place north of the Military Demarcation Line that runs through the middle of the DMZ
- North Korea strictly controls the flow of information inside its borders, and is extremely sensitive about its people gaining access to South Korean content
SEOUL: North Korea’s military has been building roads and walls inside the Demilitarized Zone that separates it from the South, the Yonhap news agency reported Saturday.
The construction activities are taking place north of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) that runs through the middle of the DMZ, the South Korean agency said, citing an unnamed military source.
The report follows an incident last week when South Korean forces fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the MDL.
South Korean authorities said it was likely accidental, and Yonhap quoted a military spokesman as saying some of the North Koreans were carrying work tools.
“Recently, the North Korean military has been erecting walls, digging the ground and constructing roads in some areas between the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) and the Northern Limit Line in the DMZ,” the military source said, according to Yonhap on Saturday.
It was not clear what they were building, the source told Yonhap.
When asked about the report, the South Korean military said in a statement that it was “closely tracking and monitoring the activities of the North Korean military,” and that “further analysis is required.”
It said it could not share the South Korean response to these actions “to ensure the safety of the personnel proceeding with an operation,” without offering further details.
South Korea’s spy agency said this week that it had detected signs that North Korea was demolishing sections of a railway line connecting the two countries.
That followed an escalation in the propaganda war between the two Koreas.
North Korea sent more than a thousand balloons carrying trash into the South, describing them as retaliation for the propaganda balloons sent the other way by anti-Pyongyang activists.
Then, South Korea resumed blasting K-pop songs and news broadcasts at the North, using loudspeakers installed at the border.
The resumption of the loudspeaker campaign prompted Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, to threaten an unspecified “new countermeasure.”
North Korea strictly controls the flow of information inside its borders, and is extremely sensitive about its people gaining access to South Korean content, especially pop culture.
It has previously threatened artillery strikes against the South Korean loudspeakers — a psychological warfare tactic that dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War.
