The Arab American News
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Social media campaign urges Arabs to stop using derogatory terms when referring to African Americans
“Drop the A-Word” is a social media campaign launched by a new Muslim-American group, and co-founded by metro Detroiters, that urges Arabs to stop using Arabic racial terms when referring to blacks.The terms are Abed and Abeed. Abed is Arabic for slave or servant, and Abeed is the plural form of it. The campaign calls on people...Federal court awards Arab American $1.1 M over employment discrimination by Washtenaw County
DETROIT - On Thursday, Feb. 27, a jury at the Eastern District Federal Court awarded $1.1 million to a former Arab American Washtenaw County employee for being wrongly denied promotion and terminated by the county.Ali Aboubaker, a Tunisian American, was fired from his job at Washtenaw County in 2008, a few months after "expressing...Yemen stops printing leading southern opposition newspaper
ADEN - Yemeni authorities have prevented a local newspaper linked to southern separatists from being printed at a government-owned press in Aden, editors said on Sunday, in a move that led to a protest in the port city.The Aden al-Ghad newspaper said officials at the 14 October Printing and Publishing house refused to print its Sunday...Abbas, Israel, and the right of return
This week, the Palestinian right of return made a special news appearance. For some time, the issue has been a sticking point in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Refusal to budge on the right has been the cornerstone of any Palestinian position. Refusal to recognize it has been at the heart of any...Beirut for the rich only: Average apartment costs $1 million
BEIRUT — A recent study on property prices produced by the real estate advisory agency, RAMCO, shows the average price of apartments in Beirut has risen to $1.091 million."Trade in property and real estate speculation raised the prices artificially until it became almost impossible for people working in this country to live in it,"...Official in pro-Syrian government party assassinated in north Lebanon
BEIRUT — A senior official in a Lebanese party supportive of the Syrian regime was shot dead Thursday, Feb. 20, in the northern city of Tripoli, sparking clashes in which two people were killed."Masked gunmen opened fire at 7:00 a.m. on Abdelrahman Diab," a senior official in the Arab Democratic Party, as he drove through...Four die during Saudi police raid on house in eastern town
RIYADH- Two Saudi security officers and two people they were trying to detain were killed in a gunfight on Thursday, Feb. 20, in the eastern town of al-Awamiya, the government said, an area where minority Shi'a have staged regular anti-government protests. Shi'a in the region complain of discrimination, a charge denied by the kingdom,...Lawyer: Sudan sentences rape victim to jail
KHARTOUM — A pregnant Ethiopian teenager who was gang-raped in Sudan, according to activists, received a one-month jail term for "indecent activities" after a video of the alleged rape spread on social media, on Thursday, Feb. 20.Her sentence was suspended because she is pregnant, but she was also fined 5,000 pounds ($625).A...Five killed at blast in Syrian refugee camp near Turkey
DAMASCUS- An explosion believed to have been caused by a car bomb tore through a Syrian refugee camp at a border post on the frontier with Turkey on Thursday, Feb. 20, killing five people, a monitoring group said.Ambulances ferried the injured from the refugee camp to the southern Turkish city of Kilis, where a state hospital official...Turkey offers residency to Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria
ANKARA — The Turkish government has agreed to grant residency permits to Palestinians who have fled Syria for Turkey, the Palestinian ambassador to Turkey said in a statement.Nabil Maroof said that the agreement means that any Palestinian refugee coming from Syria will be able to live, work, and study legally in Turkey. The decision...Nine dead, 14 troops seized after south Yemen clash
SANAA — Nine people were killed and 14 soldiers kidnapped on Tuesday, Feb. 18, after a clash between gunmen and Yemeni troops in the southern city of Dalea, a separatist stronghold, local residents and the defense ministry said. The incident occurred when gunmen attacked a truck carrying food supplies, the defense ministry said on its...Deadly mortar attacks kill 17 in crowded area south of Baghdad
BAGHDAD — Five mortar rounds struck the Mussayib area south of Baghdad on Thursday, Feb. 20, killing 17 people, police and a doctor said.The shelling, which hit an area of shops and restaurants that draws crowds at night, also wounded 70 people, the sources said.A car bomb also killed one person in Mussayib on Tuesday, one of 10 such...Four bank robber suspects arraigned in Taylor
Jordan Robert Doolittle, 20; Robert Gage Markey, 18; Zaynab Chaquki Alaouieh., 23; and Alexander Allie Mallad, 23, were charged with bank robbery and conspiracy to commit bank robbery in connection with an incident at TCF Bank, in Taylor on Monday.The suspect's cities of residence were not made known, but a source...Elderly nun sentenced to nearly three years for Tennessee nuclear break-in
TENNESSEE — A U.S. judge sentenced an 84-year-old nun, Sister Megan Rice, on Tuesday to 35 months in prison for breaking into a Tennessee military facility used to store enriched uranium for nuclear bombs.Two others accused in the case, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed, were sentenced to 62 months in prison. The three were convicted...Washington state lawmakers pass measure giving immigrants college aid
Washington — Washington state lawmakers have voted to make students brought to the United States illegally by their parents eligible for need-based college financial aid.Passage of the measure, which supporters have labeled the Dream Act, after failed U.S. legislation of 2010, marks a victory for immigrant-rights advocates and a shift......
Facebook to buy WhatsApp for $19 billion
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook Inc will buy fast-growing mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp for $19 billion in cash and stock, as the world's largest social network looks for ways to boost its popularity, especially among a younger crowd.The acquisition of the hot messaging service with more than 450 million users around the world...U.S. moves to revive stalled Afghan peace talks
Washington — The Obama administration is taking steps it hopes could lead to a resumption of peace talks to end the Afghan conflict, including reviving a proposed swap of Taliban detainees held at Guantanamo Bay in return for a U.S. prisoner of war.According to Western officials familiar with the matter, President Barack Obama's senior......
U.S. soldier convicted of Iraq rape, murders found hanged in prison
February 21st, 20140 Tucson, Arizona — A former U.S. Army soldier sentenced to life in prison for the 2006 rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killing of her parents and sister, was found hanged in his cell, The Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday, citing prison officials.The death on Saturday of Steven Dale Green, 28, at the United States...
Free and affordable services make it easier to become a U.S. citizen
February 21st, 20140 Wojciech Zolmowski, Executive Director of the International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit informing guests about the new citizenship application that will be 21 pages long beginning May 5, as opposed to the current 10 page application. Both applications are being held up to compare the difference in length. PHOTO: Anthony...Final reading for garage ordinance set, Mayor prepares State of the City address
DEARBORN — The Arab American News published an error in the last issue, stating that the City of Dearborn had finally passed its much debated garage ordinance. However, the ordinance is still up for one more reading at the next city council meeting on Tuesday, March 4. Per city rules, an ordinance must be read twice in the same...
Pressure on Arab American women to get married young can be frustrating
February 21st, 20140 DEARBORN — Discussing the pressure that many Arab American women experience to get married by a young age, Angela, a 22-year-old student at the University of Michigan - Dearborn who didn’t want to be identified, said, “There shouldn’t be an age limit. It shouldn’t be like once you are 25 that is it, you are too old, and you......
Arab parents often hesitant in acknowledging children with autism
DEARBORN — One in 88 children have Autism Spectrum Disorder, making it one of the most common disabilities amongst children in the U.S. At Dearborn Public Schools, however, just 91 children have been diagnosed with autism, a low figure for a district with over 18,000 students. According to some local Arab American parents with...
State Rep. Rashida Tlaib blames opponent for scrutiny over Dearborn property tax issue
February 21st, 20140 DEARBORN — State Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), who is running for the Michigan Senate, has come under media scrutiny after the discovery that she wrongly received a tax break on a house she owns in Dearborn.Tlaib and her husband improperly claimed a homestead tax exemption on a rental property in Dearborn while residing in Detroit. A......
Arab American girl demands ban for man who racially insulted her at Dearborn library
February 21st, 20140 DEARBORN — A young Arab American woman and her family are demanding that Dearborn's Henry Ford Centennial Library temporarily ban a middle-aged man who directed racial insults toward the girl at the library last month. Alia Sareini, 17, said an older white man told her, "Your heritage is all about terrorism" while she was heading...
Henry Ford Hospital of West Bloomfield donates $11,000 to Detroit based HUDA Clinic
February 21st, 20140 Local residents at HUDA Clinic listen to a representative discuss the Clinic’s many services. DETROIT — Henry Ford Hospital of West Bloomfield showed its support recently to a Detroit clinic that provides free medical care to the needy. Representatives of the hospital presented a check for $11,000 to......
