Indian community members across the emirates have geared up to celebrate the 43rd UAE National Day, showing solidarity to a country that is hosting more than two million Indians, the largest expatriate community here.

Erdogan has always enjoyed challenging common narratives. In doing so, he appeals to Muslim public opinion both domestically and internationally.  Despite recent setbacks, he still believes that he represents the Muslim world.

Young Australians travelling overseas to take up arms with the militant group Islamic State have naively bought into a fictional fantasy fuelled by social media, a human rights activist says.

“[ISIS] is not only decapitating individuals, they’re trying to decapitate civilizations,” says Richard Stengel, the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. “They are purposely destroying monuments and relics, and trying to destroy some of the important symbolism of Islamic unity going all the way back to the 7th and 8th century.”

These are tough times for Russia’s tourism industry with the numbers of visitors – especially from the West – nosediving in recent months.  That has sent hotels scrambling to attract guests from other parts of the globe – including Muslim nations in the Mideast and Asia that have placed no sanctions on Moscow over its intervention in Ukraine.

Pope Francis is picking up where Pope Benedict left off, drawing the Holy See into the global search for solutions to religiously inspired terrorism