The Arab American News
Author's Posts
Syria government says Aleppo ceasefire started, promises ‘safe exit’
DAMASCUS — The Syrian military said on Thursday a unilateral ceasefire backed by Russia had come into force to allow people to leave besieged eastern Aleppo, a move rejected by rebels who say they are preparing a counter-offensive to break the blockade.State media earlier said the army had opened exit corridors in two...Iraqi PM: Mosul offensive going faster than planned
The offensive to seize back Mosul from ISIS is going faster than planned, Iraq's prime minister said on Thursday, as Iraqi and Kurdish forces launched a new military operation to clear villages on the city's outskirts.A cloud of black smoke wreathed some frontline villages, probably caused by oil fires, a tactic the militants use...U.S. civil rights groups to fan out on Nov. 8 to fight voter intimidation
Donald Trump supporters who plan to stake out polling sites on Election Day may find their own activities tracked closely by thousands of civil-rights activists who are mounting a nationwide effort to prevent problems at the polls.The Republican presidential candidate, who has repeatedly said that the election...Kansas trio pleads not guilty in plot to bomb apartment, mosque
Three men charged with plotting to bomb an apartment building in western Kansas where Muslim immigrants from Somalia lived and had a mosque pleaded not guilty on Monday but remained in jail, prosecutors said. Curtis Allen, 49, Gavin Wright, 49, and Patrick Eugene Stein, 47, were each charged on Friday with...Jury begins deliberations in conspiracy trial of Oregon militants
OREGON - A federal court jury began deliberations on Thursday in the trial of six men and a woman charged with conspiracy for their roles in the armed takeover of a U.S. Wildlife center in Oregon earlier this year.U.S. District Judge Anna Brown in Portland instructed members of the 12-member panel late on Wednesday on how to apply the...Final Presidential debate ends on a “nasty” note
LAS VEGAS - An estimated 71.6 million people watched the final debate between White House contenders Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on TV on Wednesday, below the audience for their first encounter but the third-largest total ever recorded. The data supplied by the Nielsen ratings agency on Thursday covered people who watched...
Local Yemenis protest Saudi-led strikes: “Saudi is ISIS”
October 21st, 20160 Women holding signs depicting slain children from Saudi Arabian air strikes.DEARBORN — The strife in Yemen has been brought to the forefront after a handful of prominent organizations and activists condemned the massacre, by Saudi Arabian forces, of at least 150 mourners and the injury of about 700 more from an airstrike during a...
‘Designated Survivor’ smeared Dearborn and no one cared
October 21st, 20160 DEARBORN — Many local residents fear that a day may soon come where in a Trump world, government officials will "round up all the Muslims" as a preventive measure to stop terrorism. But On ABC's new scripted series "Designated Survivor", that day is already here. During the second episode of the Kiefer Sutherland-led drama,...
Khodr Farhat aims to break barriers with School Board bid
October 21st, 20160 Khodr FarhatDEARBORN — When Khodr Farhat emigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon in 2009, he was blind and didn't know a word of English. But today, the 23-year-old Dearborn School Board candidate is using his disability to bring attention to a challenge often plaguing the community–lack of awareness of special needs. "The...Hussein Berry aims for a comeback on Dearborn School Board
Berry (left) with his dad Ali Berry.DEARBORN — Longtime resident Hussein Berry is looking forward to going back to his passion in public service – on the Dearborn School Board. Berry, 53, had been a trustee for one term, at one point serving as the president of the board. But in 2014, he left the board to launch an unsuccessful run...
Five questions for the Dearborn judge candidates
October 21st, 20160 Dabaja and Hunt.DEARBORN — The 19th District Court judge race has perhaps been the most heated one in the city's history. On November 8, Gene Hunt and Susan Dabaja will square off to replace Judge William C. Hultgren, who finishes his tenure at the end of the year. The AANews sent five questions to both candidates. Below are their...
Middle East and North Africa category expected on 2020 Census forms
October 21st, 20160 DEARBORN – Decades of efforts by organizations representing Arab American and North African communities are paying off, as the U.S. Census Bureau affirmed its support earlier this month for the possible addition of a category that counts residents of Arab and North African Origins (MENA) on the 2020 census.Now that the Office of...State graduation rate lower than U.S. average
LANSING — High school seniors in Michigan are graduating, yet the statewide rate is still lower than the national rate. The Great Lakes State's rate is 79.8 percent for the school year of 2014-2015, which increased 1.21 percentage points from the year before. On Monday, the federal Department of Education declared that it is 3.4...Michigan unemployment below national rate
LANSING — On Wednesday, Governor Snyder stated that Michigan's unemployment rate is still 4.6, which is below the national rate of 5 percent, after the announcement that an extra 11,000 residents were employed in September. "More Michiganders are joining the labor force again to look for jobs, demonstrating the strength of our...Man gets one year in prison for assisting in Army base bomb plot
KANSAS - A man has been sentenced to one year and four months in prison for helping in the assistance of an unsuccessful attempt to plant a bomb at an Army post in northeast Kansas. A federal judge sentenced 29-year-old Alexander Blair on Tuesday. The Topeka man was accused of loaning $100 to......
Naked Hillary Clinton statue removed from New York street
October 20th, 20160 A statue of a bare-breasted and goat-legged Hillary Clinton being groped caused a confrontation in downtown New York before police ordered it removed. The statue, which depicts the Democratic presidential nominee with her breasts bared while being assaulted by an unknown bald man — thought by some to represent a generic Wall Street...Turkey bombs Syrian Kurdish militia close to U.S.
Turkish air strikes pounded a group of Kurdish fighters allied to a U.S.-backed militia in northern Syria overnight, highlighting the conflicting agendas of NATO members Ankara and Washington in an increasingly complex battlefield.The jets targeted positions of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in three villages, northeast......
Yemen missile launch, Saudi-led air strike strain truce
SANAA — A 72-hour truce in Yemen came under pressure on Thursday when missiles fired from Yemen injured civilians in southern Saudi Arabia, according to an Arab coalition which launched air strikes that Houthi fighter militants said killed three people.Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies have been embroiled in a conflict...Hariri backs Aoun for president in Lebanon
BEIRUT — Lebanon's former prime minister Saad al-Hariri said on Thursday he would back Hezbollah ally Michel Aoun to become president, a step that may help resolve the country's political deadlock."This decision comes from the need to protect Lebanon and the state and the people ... but it is a decision that depends on...Iraq war veteran gets five years for mosque arson, Planned Parenthood plot
KANSAS CITY, Miss.,-- A Missouri man who set fire to a mosque and attempted to set fire to a Planned Parenthood facility twice was sentenced to 63 months in prison for the crimes on Tuesday in federal court. Jedediah Stout, an Iraqi veteran, pleaded guilty to causing damage at the Islamic Society of Joplin mosque and two...Hamtramck High School evacuated following bomb threat
HAMTRAMCK, MI (WXYZ)- Hamtramck High School is closed for the day due to bomb threats against the school. A heavy police presence could be seen at the school. Bomb-sniffing dogs and the bomb squad responded as a precaution. Hamtramck police, Detroit police and Highland Park police were also on scene. After the......
Man gets probation for ripping off woman’s hijab on Southwest flight
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A North Carolina man who acknowledged grabbing and pulling off a Muslim woman's hijab on a flight from Chicago to Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been sentenced to a year of probation that includes two months of home confinement. Federal prosecutors say 37-year-old Gill Parker Payne of Gastonia also was ordered...A Military college’s first Hijabi student
NORTHFIELD, Vt. (AP) — Despite being the first woman allowed to wear a Muslim headscarf beneath her military uniform at the nation's oldest private military college, Sana Hamze says she doesn't feel like a pioneer. Her focus is on learning details of life as a "rook" at Vermont's Norwich University, in the school's Corps of Cadets......
Woman convicted for smashing beer-mug in Muslim woman’s face
MINNEAPOLIS — A woman plead guilty Monday to attacking another woman in a restaurant because she was speaking Swahili. The assault happened at a Coon Rapids Applebees restaurant in October 2015. Forty-four-year-old Jodie Burchard-Risch got upset when she heard Asma Mohamed Jama and her relatives speaking in their native...
Two Wisconsin men arrested for trying to join ISIS
October 18th, 20160 WISCONSIN - Two Wisconsin men have been charged for attempting to join ISIS by traveling through Mexico to Syria, according to the New York Daiy News. Jason Ludke, 35, and Yosvany Padilla-Conde, 30, both of Milwaukee, outlined their plan to join the brutal Islamic State group in Facebook conversations and emails sent to an......