Baha'i World News Service

NEW YORK, 3 October 2008 -- As the new academic year got under way, young Baha'is in Iran again found the door to higher education closed. Although in its public stance the Iranian government maintains that Baha'is are free to attend university, reports over the past few...

SAN DIEGO, 1 October 2008 -- The 32nd annual conference of the North American Association for Baha’i Studies drew some 1,400 people from 23 countries - the largest-ever representation from outside the United States and Canada. The gathering, held this year in San Diego, had...

SAN DIEGO, 1 October 2008 -- Proving scientifically that it helps to pray for a sick person is an elusive proposition, says Dr. Taeed Quddusi, one of the speakers at the 32nd annual conference of the North American Association for Baha’i Studies. The first problem, he said,...

MELBOURNE, 28 September 2008 -- Melbourne stands out as a multicultural metropolis – Malaysian restaurants, Japanese paper shops, music venues with bands from Senegal to Indonesia, all within strolling distance of one another. Not surprising, then, that Melburnians have adopted a...

PORTICI, 15 September 2008 -- Alberto Liccardi, 12, lives in the southern Italian city of Portici and says he has some advice for friends that hang out in the streets. “Instead of doing nothing in the middle of the road, come to the Baha’i Center. It is better for you,”...

RIED, 29 August 2008 -- Composer Russell Garcia is 92 years old and still making music. Not only that, he’s touring internationally. This week, in the town of Ried in northern Austria, in front of an audience of 200 people, he conducted a local orchestra and choir in a...

NEW YORK, 27 August 2008 -- Three Baha’is currently imprisoned in Yemen are facing the possibility of imminent deportation to Iran, where Baha’is are intensely persecuted and they would likely face imprisonment or torture. “We are gravely concerned about the fate of...

NEW YORK, 12 August 2008 -- Fraudulent claims in the Iranian news media about seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders and the efforts of Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and others to defend them represent an effort by the government to prevent Baha'is from having adequate legal...

BRUNSWICK, Georgia, 5 August 2008 -- Two U.S. jazz musicians combined their knowledge of Chinese music, Brazilian samba, and American jazz to write one of the songs being featured at the Beijing Olympic Games. “Beijing Olympics Hao Yuing (Good Luck),” composed by Phil Morrison...

NEW YORK, 3 August 2008 -- The Baha’i International Community categorically rejects statements by an Iranian prosecutor that seven Baha’is detained in Tehran have “confessed” to operating an “illegal” organization with ties to Israel and other countries. “We...

Ho Chi Minh City, 31 July 2008 -- The government of Vietnam has given full recognition to the Baha’i community as a religious organization. A certificate was presented to representatives of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Vietnam at a ceremony on 25...

BEITOSTOLEN, 29 July 2008 -- The Baha’i book known as the Kitab-i-Aqdas, the “Most Holy Book,” has been published in Norwegian for the first time, bringing to about 30 the number of different language editions of the work. The book, originally written in Arabic, was...

NEW YORK, 28 July 2008 -- Acts of arson targeting homes and vehicles are the latest violent tactics directed against the Baha’is of Iran. “In the early hours of the morning of 18 July, the house of the Shaaker family in Kerman went up in flames, only weeks after their...

QUEBEC CITY, 8 July 2008 -- A United Nations committee meeting here has determined that two Baha'i shrines in Israel possess "outstanding universal value" and should be considered as part of the cultural heritage of humanity. The decision today by the UNESCO World Heritage...

Acre, 8 July 2008 -- Muslims to Mecca, Jews to Jerusalem, Christians to Bethlehem, Buddhists to Lumbini - and Baha'is to Acre. The holiest spots on earth to Baha'is - the resting places of Baha'u'llah and the Bab, the founders of the Baha'i Faith and both considered...

HAIFA, 6 July 2008 -- This week Baha’is mark the 158th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Bab, one of the two central figures in the founding of their religion. On 9 July 1850, at noon, the Bab was put to death by firing squad in the public square of Tabriz,...

NEW YORK, 30 June 2008 -- Six Nobel Peace Prize laureates have issued a statement calling on the Iranian government to free immediately seven prominent Iranian Baha’is imprisoned in Tehran. The six Nobel winners, under the banner of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, called...

DASDOI, UTTAR PRADESH, 22 June 2008 -- At first glance nothing about these eight people would tell you that they are founders of schools. They come from the unlikeliest of backgrounds. One was a high-school dropout, another a TV mechanic, yet another a village “doctor.” Nor is...

NEW YORK, 19 June 2008 -- Seven prominent Baha’is imprisoned in Iran have each been allowed a brief phone call to their families, the Baha’i International Community has learned. The calls were the first contact with the jailed Baha’is since six of them were arrested...