Summer festivals in full swing
An estimated 260,000 people attended the 14th Annual Arab International Festival on Warren Avenue in Dearborn last weekend to enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes of Arab culture. An elderly vendor sells worry beads during the Dearborn Arab International Festival on June 19. PHOTOS: Natasha Dado/TAAN The number was down from an...Internationally-known activist to speak at Palestine event
DETROIT — Regina Birchem, former president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), is expected to make an appearance at an event addressing Palestinian human rights July 1 at the International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit, 111 E. Kirby Street in Detroit at 7 p.m. Regina Birchem Birchem...Iraq ambassador addresses local aid fundraiser
FARMINGTON HILLS — About 300 people gathered in the Farmington Hills Manor last week as Iraq's ambassador to the U.S. Samir Sumaida'ie keynoted a first annual fundraising gala for local charity For Victims of War and Poverty, founded by pharmacist Nidhal Garmo. Iraqi ambassador to the U.S. Samir Sumaida’ie PHOTO: Jessica...Huge crowd turns out for ACC job fair
The Arab American and Chaldean Council’s first job fair in Hamtramck ran from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Wednesday, but that didn’t stop swarms of applicants from lining up as early as 8 a.m. for the chance to speak with employers. About 400 job seekers attended the ACC's first-ever job fair in Hamtramck on Wednesday. PHOTO: Tariq...Company urges perseverance in foreclosure fight
DEARBORN — With the potential for as many as ten million American people facing home foreclosure in the next 3-5 years, it's no wonder that tons of organizations are popping up in an attempt to help. LoanMod.com co-founder and CEO Moose Scheib started his company in Dearborn in 2006 to help save homeowners from the ravages...
Convention celebrates new era of hope and change
June 19th, 20090 Arab Americans from across the country descended on Washington, DC last weekend for what has become an annual tradition in the nation’s capital. Former U.S President Bill Clinton with ADC President Mary Rose Oakar during ADC's national convention in Washington on June 13. PHOTO: ADC The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination...Arab festival this weekend
DEARBORN — The Lebanese American Heritage Club, the American Arab Chamber of Commerce, ACCESS and the city of Dearborn will host the 14th annual Dearborn Arab International Festival this weekend, June 19-21. The event is the largest Arab festival in the nation. The festival will occupy more then half a mile of Warren Avenue and...ACLU report blasts terror financing laws and investigations
WASHINGTON (IPS) — Muslim charities in the United States are subject to unfair treatment by the government under terrorism financing laws, according to a new report that says the effect has been a chill on charitable giving that violates Muslims' right to freely practice an important requirement of their religion. The...
The people fight back in Detroit
June 19th, 20090 DETROIT — As voices of anger and frustration echoed through the air at Grand Circus Park in Detroit on Tuesday, many onlookers couldn't help but stop by to see what all the noise was about. Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, center, and Reverend Edwin Rowe, L, of Central United Methodist Church in Detroit. PHOTO: NIck...Anger, arrogance cause quandary in Iran
Defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi (C waving) speaks to supporters at a rally in Tehran June 18, 2009. REUTERS Friday, June 12, 2009 was a dynamic day in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Thirty years after its establishment under the leadership of Imam Khomeini, the Iranian democracy should...
Iranian election riots not homegrown
June 19th, 20090 As this is being written, official announcements in Iran today of a landslide victory by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are being met with cries of "fraud" by supporters of his principal challenger, former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi. The New York Times is reporting that "at least one person had been shot dead in...Netanyahu’s speech draws sharp criticism
DEARBORN — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech on Sunday, June 14 that some have described as a groundbreaking acceptance of the creation of a Palestinian state, while others call it a debilitating step backwards in the peace process. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on June 17,...Future wide open for ethnic media
Ethnic media voices are critical to the national discourse, according to University of Michigan administrators at a university press conference. The June 12 convening was part of University of Michigan-Dearborn's series on media diversity and social change, and the first ever to include a panel of ethnic media. Journalists of a...Book review: Must-read about the nuclear mess
Stephanie Cooke's "In Mortal Hands"In an era when corporate media, corporate politicians and corporate military men gang up together and denounce and threaten other countries because of their nuclear related activities, they should spend much of that rhetorical energy cross-examining themselves in a mirror. North Korea's latest...CAIR holds civil rights townhall amid concerns
CAIR holds civil rights townhall amid concerns DETROIT — The Council on American Islamic Relations held a meeting on Friday, June 12 to discuss several issues in the Muslim community. These included airport profiling, FBI informants and citizenship processing delays. CAIR-Michigan Director Dawud Walid, L, and CAIR......
Long way from ‘Settlerland’ to ‘Palestineland’
JERUSALEM — Has Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got the Obama message? To judge by his minimalist response to President Barack Obama's landmark Cairo University address and his continuing reluctance to meet Obama's demand for a total freeze on Israeli settlements, the answer would seem to be, 'No'. It's a mighty...
Goodbye, GM
June 12th, 20090 I write this on the morning of the end of the once-mighty General Motors. By high noon, the President of the United States will have made it official: General Motors, as we know it, has been totaled. As I sit here in GM's birthplace, Flint, Michigan, I am surrounded by friends and family who are filled with anxiety about what will......
Good place to start learning about Iran
Robert Baer's "The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower" Iran is obviously a key player in the Middle East. The many references within other texts dealing with other aspects of the Middle East and the several texts dealing specifically with Iran highlight its significance. Part of that significance is that Iran...Mixed local reactions to Lebanon election
A Lebanese family show their ink-stained fingers at a polling station in Beirut's suburbs June 7, 2009. Lebanese voters cast ballots in a tightly contested general election on Sunday pitting March 14th coalition against the March 8th coalition. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi Lebanese Americans from throughout Metro Detroit are expressing...
Clinton to address ADC convention
June 12th, 20090 WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton is to accept the ADC Global Leadership Award and deliver keynote remarks on Saturday, June 13 during the 2009 American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee National Convention in Washington D.C. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton The three-day convention is also to feature...Twin sisters excel at Crestwood
DEARBORN HEIGHTS — For most high school students, the mid-afternoon hours are reserved for hanging out with friends, eating, or perhaps taking a long, refreshing nap. Layal, L, and Zeinab Khocheiche But for Layal and Zeinab Khocheiche of Dearborn Heights Crestwood High School, after school time took on a whole different......
Shora appointed to DHS council
WASHINGTON — The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) announced on June 5 that at a ceremony held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano swore-in ADC National Executive Director Kareem Shora as a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC). American-Arab...
Arabs praise Obama speech, await actions
June 10th, 20090 Local media flocked to the Lebanese American Heritage Club to hear reaction to President Obama's speech from local Arab American community leaders Osama Siblani, L, Imad Hamad, Hasan Newash and others. PHOTO: Nick Meyer/TAAN DEARBORN — A press conference was held Thursday morning at the Lebanese American Heritage Club in......
Report ties dubious Iran nuclear documents to Israel
WASHINGTON (IPS) — A report on Iran's nuclear program issued by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month generated news stories publicizing an incendiary charge that U.S. intelligence is underestimating Iran's progress in designing a "nuclear warhead" before the halt in nuclear weapons-related research in 2003. That false...Obama ties Palestinian cause with Israel’s security and Arab reform
On June 4, in Cairo, President Obama started a promising dialogue with Islam: President Barack Obama waves to the audience as he leaves the Grand Hall of Cairo University after delivering a speech in Cairo June 4, 2009. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic "So let there be no doubt: Islam is a part of America. And I believe that America......