The Arab American News
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Cheating taxpayers for political advantages
Politicians who limit the effectiveness of government agencies for short-term political advantages cheat taxpayers and short-change the government. I first met Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), a brash young Republican, at a gathering of EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center), which challenges invasions of privacy by big...
Arab American journalist Hassan Hamie dies at 81
June 30th, 20160 DEARBORN — Veteran journalist and diplomat Hassan Hamie died on Sunday, June 26 after a long struggle with illness. He was 81. Hamie was born in the Lebanese village of Taraya. He had a degree in political science and history from Brussles University in Belgium. He started his journalistic career as a reporter for Al-Nabaa...
Community mourns loss of State Rep. Plawecki, a dedicated public servant
June 29th, 20160 Plawecki was a regular volunteer with Project Dignity Outreach, a local non-profit organization that feeds the homeless in Detroit. DEARBORN HEIGHTS – The local community is grieving over the untimely death of State Representative Julie Plawecki, 54, who died on Saturday, June 25, from a presumed heart attack...
Iftar with an African American family
June 29th, 20160 The El-Amins having iftarDETROIT — "God, we thank you for the food that has been prepared for the nurturing, for the healing of our bodies," prayed Maurice El-Amin, hands folded together, in ritualistic gesture. "Amen," his family responded collectively at the Ramadan dinner table. "Bismillah (in the name of Allah)," said another, as...
CIA Chief concerned about ISIS attacks in U.S.
June 29th, 20160 WASHINGTON - An attack by Islamic State in the US would not be surprising, the CIA chief said. While the US is more difficult for terrorists to infiltrate than it was before 9/11, ISIS has shown ability to inspire people already in the US using the internet.“I would be surprised if ISIL isn’t considering carrying out...
Syrian refugee returns €150,000 he found in a cupboard
June 28th, 20160 Police in Minden, Germany, say a Syrian man who arrived last year as a refugee is their “hero of the day” after he found €150,000 ($166,000) and handed it to authorities.The 25-year-old discovered the money in a cupboard he had been given by a charitable organisation.Minden police said on Tuesday that the man had found...
Sorority girl sentenced to life in prison for killing newborn
June 28th, 20160 OHIO - A former Ohio college student who gave birth in April 2015 and then left her daughter in a trash bag outside her on-campus sorority house to die, was sentenced to life in prison without parole.Prosecutors said Emile Weaver, 21, then a student at Muskingum University, knew she was pregnant and still played sports and...
Suicide attack kills 28 at Istanbul airport
June 28th, 20160 Ataturk Airport following a blast, June 28ISTANBUL — Two suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up at the entrance to the main international airport in Istanbul on Tuesday, killing at least 28 people and wounding many more, Turkish officials and witnesses said.Police fired shots to try to stop the attackers just before...
Saudi-led air strike kills 10 Yemeni civilians
June 28th, 20160 A Saudi airstrike in Sanaa, March 2015SNAA — A Saudi-led coalition air strike killed 10 Yemeni civilians and wounded at least another 15 in the southern province of Lahj on Tuesday, residents said, a day after bombing attacks by ISIS that killed 45 others.Yemen is more than 15 months into a war in which the Saudi-led coalition has...
Bahraini activist to be tried for tweets
June 28th, 20160 Nabeel RajabMANAMA — Prominent Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab has been taken to hospital with heart problems after spending more than two weeks in solitary confinement, his family said. Rajab is a vocal critic of the Bahraini government and led protests during the Arab Spring.The activist has been placed in a...
Israel, Turkey restore ties
June 28th, 20160 Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoğanANKARA — Israel and Turkey announced on Monday they would normalize ties after a six-year rupture, a rare rapprochement in the divided Middle East driven by the prospect of lucrative Mediterranean gas deals as well as mutual fears over growing security risks.Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim...
Plane crashes in Detroit neighborhood
June 28th, 20160 DETROIT - A single-engine plane crashed Monday night near Coleman A. Young International Airport on Detroit’s east side. The plane had been trailing a banner over the crowds gathered Monday for the downtown fireworks and was returning to the airport when it went down. A 45-year-old woman who was on the ground near the crash...
Suicide bombers kill five Lebanese village
June 27th, 20160 Suicide bomb attacks took place in the village of Qaa, June 27BEIRUT — Four suicide bombers killed at least five people and wounded 19 more in a series of attacks in a Lebanese Christian village at the border with Syria on Monday, the latest violent spillover of the five-year-old Syrian war into Lebanon.There was no immediate claim of...
Turkey “sorry” for shooting down Russian jet
June 27th, 20161 "I say: I'm sorry." -ErdoganMOSCOW — Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has apologized to Russian leader Vladimir Putin over last year's shooting down of a Russian air force jet by Turkey's military, the Kremlin said on Monday, opening the way for Russia to lift economic sanctions.The Russian jet was shot down, with the loss of the...
ISIS bombings kill 18 in southern Yemen
June 27th, 20160 ADEN — At least 18 people were killed in three coordinated ISIS bomb attacks on Yemeni government forces in the southern port city of Mukalla on Monday, medics and security sources said.They said dozens of other people were wounded in the bombings, which occurred just as soldiers were about to break their day-long fast during the......
Gun loving mother shoots two daughters to death
June 26th, 20160 Houston - A Texas woman was killed by police after she shot two of her daughters in the street in front of her home. Christy Sheats, 42, had already killed one of the daughters and had shot the second one as police arrived on the scene late Friday afternoon. She poised to shoot again when the police officer opened fire,...
State Rep Julie Plawecki dies
June 26th, 20160 DEARBORN HEIGHTS - State Representative Julie Plawecki, 54, has passed away. Her unexpected death occurred on Saturday, June 25 when she was hiking with her daughter in Oregon, where she suffered a heart attack, according to our sources. Plawecki was serving her first term in Michigan's 11th House District, which covers......
Florida woman charged for threatening to “blow up” praying Muslims
June 25th, 20160 SUNRISE, FLORIDA – A woman was arrested by Sunrise Police on Sunday after she allegedly made several verbal threats against a local mosque. Irina Bihary was taken into custody after someone inside the mosque called to report her. “She just had very abnormal behavior of asking very strange questions and texting,” said Rabia...
Maronite Patriarch Rai to start U.S. tour June 29
June 24th, 20160 Patriarch RaiDETROIT — Bechara Boutros al-Rai, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, will embark on a U.S. tour at the end of the month, where he will visit several churches throughout the country.Rai will start his trip in Detroit at the Church of St. Maron on June 29. He will also lead services at churches in Dayton,...
U.S.-backed forces enter strategic ISIS stronghold in Syria
June 24th, 20160 DAMASCUS — The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces pushed into the outskirts of the ISIS stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria on Thursday and were advancing slowly to the center of town, an adviser to the predominantly Kurdish force and a monitoring group said. The town lies along the only ISIS supply line between the Turkish...
How Israel uses water as a weapon of war
June 24th, 20160 Entire communities in the West Bank either have no access to water or have had their water supply reduced almost by half. This alarming development has been taking place for weeks, since Israel's national water company, Mekorot, decided to cut off or significantly reduce the supply to Jenin, Salfit and many villages around Nablus,......
We should face terror with unity and solidarity
June 24th, 20160 “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” -Martin Luther King, Jr. In the wake of the murderous Orlando shooting, Michiganders embodied the words of the civil rights icon by coming together in solidarity against terrorism and...
Beyond the selfies: Federal watch lists do not solve gun violence
June 24th, 20160 Democratic lawmakers in the House were hailed in liberal circles for their 25-hour sit-in to force a vote on gun regulation bills. Dramatic selfies of Congress members on the Capitol’s floor flooded social media. It was a successful media stunt that failed to adequately address the issue of gun violence. Democrats are pushing for......
Local Muslims raise $35,000 to feed hungry in Wayne County
June 24th, 20160 Muslims participate in the Hanini annual food drive.DEARBORN — The Ramadan spirit was in full swing Saturday, June 18, at the Hanini Outreach Center's annual food drive, where more than $35,000 was raised and a total of 500,000 pounds of food collected to feed needy families, seniors, veterans and refugees in Wayne County. Each year...
Henry Ford College President Stan Jensen: ‘Great things ahead’
June 24th, 20160 DEARBORN — Future Driven. There appears to be truth behind the slogan of Henry Ford College (HFC), as the campus has plenty to look forward to in the coming years. In an interview with The AANews, President Stan Jensen discussed the re-branded college's turn-around since he began his tenure three years ago and the optimistic......
