*News and analysis

Shia publisher and owner of a bookshop was arrested and detained for selling Nehjul Balaghah, a book of sermons and sayings of Imam Ali (A), in Lahore on Monday. Police arrested Syed Mohammad Raza Shah, owner of Matkaba tur Reza from his Urdu Bazaar sales point. Police of Lahore had …

Senior British army officers have blocked an investigation into the killing and mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners during the Iraq occupation, a public inquiry has found. Al-Sweady Inquiry into the incidents heard on Monday that senior British army officers have been making efforts to block a military police investigation into the …

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — MIKHLIF AL-SHAMMARI has been jailed repeatedly, declared an infidel, ruined financially and shot four times — by his own son — all for this: He believes his fellow Sunni Muslims should treat Shiites as equals. In a Middle East torn by deepening sectarian hatred, that is …

Shia Muslims expressed their mass strength and political power by holding a successful Labbaik Ya Rasoolullah (PBUH) Conference in Khairpur on Sunday. Shia and Sunni leaders called it a referendum against the Taliban terrorists. Shiite News Correspondent reported here that Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafari, head of Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen, Sahibzada Hamid …

Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry has banned 50 given names including “foreign” names, names related to royalty and those it considers to be blasphemous. Saudis will no longer be able to give their children names such as Amir (prince), Linda or Abdul Nabi (Slave of the Prophet) after the civil …

It was Turkey’s Shia (Jaafari) community’s turn to be offended by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as he criticized the Gulen faith movement, which he holds responsible for revealing the corruption files. Talking about Gulenists on a TV program, Erdogan said, “These people have three major characteristics. They practice taqiyya [religiously sanctioned dissimulation], they lie, they slander. As a result …

An alleged plot by Qatar to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has been the main reason behind Riyadh’s withdrawal of its ambassador from Doha, a political analyst says. Citing diplomatic sources, Egyptian newspaper al-Shorouk‘s Editor-in-Chief Emad El-Din Hussein said in a recent interview that Saudi Arabia is in possession of authentic …

The Syrian army has taken full control of the southwestern town of Yabroud, the last major stronghold of foreign-backed militants near the Lebanese border.  Syrian forces carried out mop-up operations pushing back the militants from the strategic town in the mountainous region of Qalamoun. In their latest drive to clear …

Syrian army troops were at the gates of the rebel bastion of Yabrud near the Lebanese border Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. State television confirmed the news, reporting: “Syrian army units have advanced in the Yabrud area and now control its eastern approaches and northeastern boundary.” The …

Thousands of Zaidi rebels marched through a provincial capital in northern Yemen on Friday to demand the resignation of the central government, which they accused of corruption, witnesses said. With many toting assault rifles and accompanied by vehicles mounted with rocket launchers, they chanted “down with the corrupt government,” as …