Pope announces Holy Land visit amid new push for peace

Pope Francis has announced that he will make a pilgrimage to Israel, The West Bank and Jordan in May, underscoring a fresh U.S. push for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

“As of now I ask you to pray for this pilgrimage,” he told worshipers in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, according to Vatican Radio.

Pope Francis said he would be visiting Amman, Bethlehem and Jerusalem May 24-26. While there, he planned to meet with the representatives of the Christian Churches of Jerusalem, together with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

They will celebrate Mass together at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where the faithful believe Jesus was crucified and buried.

The announcement was made just as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up three days of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a new bid for peace.

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Few years after father’s murder, Ahmedi lawyer shot in Nawabshah

KARACHI: Tragedy struck an Ahmedi family in Nawabshah once again when the son was shot at by an unidentified man only a few years after his father was killed. The victim A*, who is a lawyer, was at his brother’s shop – taking a break from his morning work at the district courts – when a man walked up to him, opened fire and disappeared into the crowd. The incident took place at Liaquat Market Road on April 2, according to the victim’s cousin, K. “I heard a gunshot and when I reached on the spot a few people were trying to take him to the hospital in a rickshaw,” the cousin recalled. “He might have been targeted because of his religious beliefs as he had no personal enmity.” Initially, A was rushed to Civil Hospital, Nawabshah, but was later moved to Karachi. “The bullet pierced his liver and the doctors have removed the affected part in a surgery,” said MA Khan, a spokesperson for Ahmediya community, “The bleeding hasn’t stopped until now.” The doctors feel, however, ...

5 Muslim Inventions That Changed The World

Roasted coffee beans Coffee About 1,600,000,000 cups of coffee are consumed every day around the world. Billions of people rely on it as part of their daily routines. And yet, very few people are aware of the Muslim origins of this ubiquitous drink. According to the historical record, in the 1400s coffee became a very popular drink among Muslims in Yemen, in the southern Arabian Peninsula. Legend goes that a shepherd (some say in Yemen, some say in Ethiopia) noticed that his goats became very energetic and jumpy when they ate beans from a particular tree. He had the courage to try them himself, noticing they gave him an energy boost. Over time, the tradition of roasting the beans and immersing them in water to create a sour yet powerful drink developed, and thus, coffee was born. Regardless of whether or not the story of the shepherd ever really happened, coffee found its way from the highlands of Yemen to the rest of the Ottoman Empire, the premier Muslim empire of the 1...

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