The English website of the Islamic magazine - Al-Mujtama. A leading source of global Islamic and Arabic news, views and information for more than 50 years.
February 12, 2025
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European bank to channel €600M for Turkish women-led firms
November 09, 2021Reinforcing its commitment to women’s empowerment and participation in the labor force, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing €600 million ($695 million) in new financing for Turkish women entrepreneurs.
The funds will be channeled through local banks and lent to eligible women-run businesses under the bank’s expanded Women in Business program, the EBRD said in a statement on Monday.
EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso said the bank is determined to narrow the funding gap for female entrepreneurs and to "help Turkey unleash the power of its women".
Under the program, women-led businesses will benefit from risk-sharing through the Turkish Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF) and the Ministry of Treasury and Finance.
In addition, the European Union is supporting the initiative with grant funding.
The Women in Business program was launched in 2014 to promote women’s entrepreneurship in Turkey. Since then, 20,000 women entrepreneurs benefitted across the country.
To date, the EBRD has invested €14 billion in the country through 351 projects, with 95% of those in the private sector.
The bank’s portfolio of €7 billion in Turkey is the largest of the 38 economies in which the EBRD invests./aa
Algeria says to host Arab summit in March
November 09, 2021Algeria will host the next Arab summit in March, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Monday.
The summit had been scheduled to be held in 2020 but was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
"Algeria will host the next Arab summit in March," Tebboune said during a meeting with heads of diplomatic missions in the North African nation.
He said a main issue on the summit’s agenda will be “renewing the collective Arab commitment to the Palestinian cause and reiterating commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative."
The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative calls for establishing diplomatic relations with Israel in exchange for withdrawal from all Arab territories occupied by Tel Aviv.
Tebboune said the summit will also discuss the reform of the Arab League, without giving any further details about the proposed reform./aa
Good climate action intentions in COP26 need to be backed by results
November 09, 2021Good intentions on climate action need to be backed by results in negotiations and short-term actions, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said on Monday.
At the start of the second week of negotiations at the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the WWF expressed optimism for an agreement on key issues, following a week of serious progress in negotiations and critical announcements.
The organization declared that political leadership is the essential ingredient to ensure COP delivers on demands.
Commenting on the summit's week one results, WWF Global Lead Climate and Energy and COP20 President, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, stated the need for specificity on key commitments to boost the credibility of the COP discussions in light of the demand from protestors for climate action during a 10,000-strong protest on Saturday.
"This past Saturday, a record number of people marched through Glasgow demanding action, not words from leaders. Unless they hook promises into short-term action and make real progress in the negotiations, they will face a credibility crisis," he warned.
He urged ministers to show the world their leaders are taking the problem seriously by making decisions on key issues, including climate finance.
"The ambition gap must be closed as soon as possible. Science requires it, and the world is watching," he said.
Mark Lutes, WWF Climate and Energy Senior Climate Policy Advisor, reiterated that ministers have a lot of work to do this week across several issues.
"They will need to provide strong political leadership to steer the COP to complete the Paris Agreement rulebook and ramp up ambition and implementation," he said./aa
European markets close mixed, France posts new record
November 09, 2021European stock markets closed mixed on Monday, retreating from their gains last week, but France's CAC 40 posted a new record.
The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, gained 0.17 points, or 0.04%, to close at 483.61. The index rose 1.6% last week.
London's FTSE 100 was down 3.56 points, or 0.05%, closing at 7,300. Last week, it had a gain of 0.9%.
Germany's DAX 30 fell 7.84 points, or 0.05%, to 16,046. Last week it rose 2.3%.
Italy's FTSE MIB 30 fell 84 points, or 0.31%, to end the day at 27,711. Borsa Italiana was the best performer last week, gaining 3.4%.
Spain's IBEX 35 declined 59 points, or 0.65%, to close at 9,070. The index last week was up 0.8%.
France's CAC 40, on the other hand, rose 6.69 points, or 0.1%, to close at 7,047 after it hit a fresh all-time high of 7,067.10 points during the day. It had a gain of 3.1% last week./aa
Crypto market value hits $3T, Bitcoin near all-time high
November 09, 2021The total value of the cryptocurrency market hit a record $3 trillion on Monday, while Bitcoin was trading close to an all-time high.
The market capitalization of cryptocurrencies stood at almost $3.03 trillion at 12.05 p.m. EDT, according to data by digital asset price-tracking website CoinGecko.
The market size has nearly quadrupled this year, as demand for digital coins rises with their functionality and higher interest for decentralized finance, nonfungible tokens, and gaming.
The price of Bitcoin, the world's largest crypto by market size, stood around $66,250 at the time, just short of its all-time high of $67,000 recorded on Oct. 20.
Bitcoin's market cap was almost $1.3 trillion, surpassing the market value of many US tech giants such as Tesla and Meta, formerly known as Facebook.
Ethereum was second on the crypto market with $566 billion in value, above the market size of investment banking firm JPMorgan Chase, while it posted a record high of $4,796 earlier Monday.
Bitcoin and Ethereum's shares of the total crypto market, known as dominance, stood at 41.3% and 18.7%, respectively, according to CoinGecko./aa
Belarus says large group of refugees approaching its border from Poland
November 09, 2021A large group of refugees is approaching the Belarusian border from the side of Poland, the Belarusian State Border Committee reported on Monday.
The border guards have taken measures to ensure the smooth functioning of international communication channels and the safety of the moving people, the committee said in a statement.
"The Polish Border Guard has repeatedly reported on how thousands of migrants are being driven to the border with Belarus. The indifference and inhumane attitude of the Polish authorities prompted the refugees to take such a step of despair," the statement said.
Protests broke out in Belarus after Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner of the Aug. 9, 2020 polls, which the opposition accused of being rigged.
The EU did not recognize the elections won by Lukashenko and began to impose sanctions on a large number of individuals and government organizations, including Lukashenko.
In response, Lukashenko suspended Belarus' Readmission Agreement with the EU, saying Minsk will no longer stop refugees from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Tunisia, heading to the EU.
"We will never keep anyone. They are not coming to us. They are going to 'an enlightened, warm, cozy Europe.' Europe, particularly Germany -- not having enough workers -- invited these people, on the one hand. And on the other hand, they (the West) destroyed these countries (from where the refugees are fleeing)," Lukashenko said.
The EU accuses the Belarusian administration of "using irregular migration as a tool" and "trying to destabilize the EU" by sending migrants to the borders of EU countries -- Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia./aa
Kuwaiti government resigns amid row with opposition lawmakers
November 09, 2021The Kuwaiti government on Monday submitted its resignation to Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, according to local media.
Al-Qabas newspaper, citing a government source, said the government headed by Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah decided to resign following a cabinet meeting.
The daily, however, did not provide details about the reasons behind the resignation.
There was no comment from the Kuwaiti authorities on the report.
The resignation came as several opposition lawmakers sought to question the prime minister and other ministers on various issues, including corruption and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government was formed in March after the previous cabinet of Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah resigned in January./aa
Floods in China kill 560, affect 59M this year
November 09, 2021The devastating floods in China this year have killed at least 560 people, affecting nearly 59 million others in various regions of the country, officials said on Monday.
Zhou Xuewen, the vice minister of China’s emergency management, told a news conference that floods, between January and October, affected a total of 58.9 million people, while 590 others were killed or are still missing.
The devastating floods, he said, caused the relocation of around 3.51 million people, while 203,000 houses collapsed.
“The economic losses caused by the floods rose to 240.6 billion yuan ($37.6 billion),” the vice minister noted, according to Chinese daily The Paper.
Chinese authorities this year recorded abnormally higher rainfall in many regions.
Heavy downpour caused a heavy deluge in Shanxi, Henan, and Hubei provinces since July in China, causing rivers to overflow, break barriers, and damage the electricity-producing dams.
Zhou said the flood disaster was “more serious than in previous years.”
The Emergency Management Ministry initiated at least 11 national disaster relief emergency responses to floods in various regions, he added./agencies
Kuwait's cabinet backs draft decrees on planned amnesty for dissidents
November 08, 2021Kuwait's cabinet approved on Sunday draft decrees for a planned amnesty for political dissidents, the government said, in a step likely to bring an end to a standoff with opposition lawmakers that has blocked legislative work for months.
The amnesty has been a key condition of the opposition for ending its standoff with the administration that has paralysed legislation and hindered efforts to boost the state finances and enact measures including a debt law that will make it possible to tap global markets.
"The cabinet approved the necessary draft decrees in preparation for submission to His Highness the Emir," the government said.
Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah tasked the parliament speaker, the prime minister and the head of the supreme judicial council with recommending the conditions and terms of the amnesty ahead of it being issued by decree.
The three had presented a "preliminary report" last week, spelling out the standards of the planned amnesty./ Reuters
AIMDC starts initiative to protect mosques against Islamophobia
November 08, 2021Hyderabad: The All India Muslim Development Council on Saturday launched the “Masjid One ” initiative, aimed at the protection of mosques against communal violence.
The first session of the program was held at the Red Rose function hall located in Nampally. The Imams and presidents of various mosques across the city were invited to the session wherein the presidents of various mosques put forth their ideas with regards to taking the initiative forward.
The mosques have pledged to provide educational, health, and employment opportunities to the people. Speaking about the program, Aijaz Ahmed a member of the All India Muslim Development Council, said “The program was organised by the AIMDC Hyderabad chapter, and was attended by the representatives of 150 mosques, Maulana Mufti Umar- ul -Abideen, the national secretary of the AIMDC addressed the gathering along with Mohammed Imtiaz, the general secretary of the organisation.”
The program aimed at bringing the mosques on the same page, which could help them to work for community development, actionable plans are being charted to take the program forward, and the upcoming sessions will be held at the mosque, where the emphasis will be laid on how mosques can effectively contribute towards community development apart from the regular prayers and other religious activities.
Apart from the aforementioned activities, the Masjid One movement also focuses on the economic development of the community, for which each of the participating mosques will have to come up with actionable ideas. There were breakout sessions conducted during the program, each cluster consisted of 10 mosques that would focus on one mega project , such as constructing a hospital, there were 200 attendees at the function hall.
The All India Muslim Development council is a national organisation, which has its branches in different states, Mysuru emerged as an example to reflect the dedicated work done by the organisation, which was evident during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, when they were clinics being operated in the mosques. Presently a 400-bed hospital is being set up through contribution from 10 Mosques, the hospital is set to be named Masjid Association Hospital./agencies
