Libyan human rights activist killed in Benghazi
Salwa Bugaighis holding a sign that reads, "No for chaotic thinking."BENGHAZI — Human rights activist Salwa Bugaighis was shot dead by unknown assailants at her home in the restive east Libyan city of Benghazi late Wednesday, June 25, hospital and security sources said."Unknown hooded men wearing military uniforms attacked Mrs...Syrian Al-Qaeda wing pledges loyalty to ISIS in border town
DAMASCUS — Syria's al-Qaeda wing has pledged loyalty to the rival Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) group in a Syrian border town, a monitoring group said, boosting ISIS's control on both sides of the frontier.Fighters from Nusra Front, the Syrian wing of al-Qaeda, took an oath of allegiance to ISIS in the town of Albu Kamal,...Militants attack Yemeni airport as bomber hits army base
ADEN — Six suspected al-Qaeda fighters, six soldiers and a civilian woman were killed in a series of militant attacks in the eastern Yemeni city of Seiyun on Thursday, June 26, local officials said.A suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden car into the entrance of an army base, killing four soldiers in the city in Hadramawt province...Saudi Arabia to expel foreigners who eat in public during Ramadan
RIYADH — Saudi authorities threatened Thursday, June 26, to expel non-Muslim foreigners who eat, drink or smoke in public during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins this weekend.The interior ministry urged non-Muslims to "respect the feelings of Muslims by refraining from eating, drinking or smoking in public places,...
Who is behind ISIS?
June 19th, 20140 With its multi-pronged assault across central and northern Iraq in the past one and a half weeks, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has taken over from the al-Qaeda organization founded by Osama bin Laden as the most powerful and effective extreme jihadi group in the world.ISIS now controls or can operate with impunity in a...U.N. watchdog: Chlorine gas-like chemicals likely used in Syrian conflict
DAMASCUS — Chemical weapons inspectors who came under attack while investigating claims of chlorine gas attacks in Syria last month found information suggesting that similar chemicals had indeed been used, the global chemical weapons watchdog said on Tuesday, June 17.The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is...Nasrallah: If we didn’t intervene in Syria, ISIS would be in Beirut
A Syrian refugee girl holds pictures of Syria's President Bashar Assad and Lebanon's Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah, southern Lebanon, on March 18.BEIRUT — Lebanon's Hizbullah militia chief said his fighters' intervention in Syria had kept an al-Qaeda splinter group that has seized territory in Iraq from spreading west into...Yemeni soldiers clash with Houthi rebels near capital
Army and police officers loyal to the Shi'ite al-Houthi group march during a demonstration in Yemen's capital Sanaa on June 4. REUTERS/Khaled AbdullahSANAA — Shi'a rebels fought Yemeni soldiers just 25 miles (40 km) northwest of the capital Sanaa on Wednesday, an official said, as they try to tighten their grip in the...Morocco advises against making pilgrimages to Saudi
RABAT — Morocco's health minister has advised the country's Muslim faithful against making pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia this year, with the deadly MERS virus having killed nearly 300 people there so far.Last week, the health ministry urged the sick and the frail to postpone any planned pilgrimages until 2015, and circulated among those...Tunisia eyes autumn elections to anchor democracy
Tunisia's election authority has proposed a parliamentary vote on Oct. 26 and the first round of presidential polls a month later, marking the final step toward full democracy in the cradle of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.Tunisia's often turbulent political transition began after the popular revolt that ousted autocrat Zine...Egypt court calls for death sentence for Brotherhood leader
Mohamed Badie.CAIRO — An Egyptian court signalled on Thursday, June 19, that it wanted death sentences for the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and 13 other defendants charged with murder and firearms possession, when it referred the case to the country's religious authorities.Judicial sources said a judge at a court session held at a...
AAPAC begins endorsement process for August primaries
June 13th, 20140 AAPAC members interviewing David Knezek, a candidate in the race for Michigan's 5th District Senate seat. PHOTO:Hussein HachemDEARBORN — The Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) started its endorsement process for the Aug. 5 primary elections on Tuesday, June 10 at the offices of The Arab American News. There, its members...Why true Palestinian unity remains elusive
What has been agreed upon in the Shati’ (Beach) refugee camp in April, which lead to the formation of a transitional government in the West Bank in June, has little to do with Palestinian unity. The latter is a much more comprehensive and indispensable notion. Without it, the Palestinian people risk losing more than a unified...Israel elects right-wing legislator as president
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Reuven Rivlin., a right-wing legislator opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state, was elected Israel's president on Tuesday, June 10, succeeding Shimon Peres in the largely ceremonial post. Rivlin, 74, is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party. He has a reputation for political...
ISIS captures Mosul and Tikrit, eyes Baghdad; Kurdish militants seize Kirkuk
June 13th, 20140 Mourners grieve near the coffin of a victim killed by a suicide bomber who blew himself up inside a tent filled with mourners in Baghdad, during a funeral in Najaf, south of Baghdad, June 12. BAGHDAD — Iraqi Kurds took control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk on Thursday, June 12, after government forces abandoned their......
Syria’s Assad grants amnesty after re-election
DAMASCUS — Syrian announced a wide-ranging amnesty on Monday, June 9, less than a week after he was re-elected to another seven-year term in the midst of civil war.In a decree published by state media, Assad commuted some death sentences to life imprisonment, reduced jail terms for many offenses and canceled some others...Egypt’s Sisi tells interior minister to fight sexual harassment
CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has ordered the interior minister to fight sexual harassment following the arrest of seven men for attacking women near Cairo's Tahrir Square during his inauguration celebrations, his office said on Tuesday, June 10.Egypt issued a new law last week which punishes sexual harassment with at......
Yemenis protest over power cuts, fuel shortages
SANAA — Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Yemeni president's house in the capital Sanaa on Wednesday, June 11, to call for the fall of the government, angry at a city-wide power cut about to enter its third day and severe petrol shortages.President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has replaced five ministers in his cabinet amid...Jordan charges Iraqi journalists with terrorism
AMMAN — Jordanian military prosecutors accused a group of journalists of terrorism after closing an Amman-based television channel critical of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a judicial official said."State security court prosecutors charged the owner and 13 journalists of the Al-Abasiya satellite station with using the Internet...Leading anti-Mubarak activist sentenced to 15 years
CAIRO — An Egyptian court sentenced leading activist Alaa Abdel Fattah to 15 years in jail on Wednesday, June 11, for violating a protest law and on other charges, his lawyer said, a move that outraged human rights groups.Abdel Fattah, 33, became a symbol of the 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak through his leading role in...Suicide bomber attacks Benghazi police station
BENGHAZI — A car bomb exploded at a police station in Libya's second city Benghazi late Wednesday, June 11, leaving the suicide bomber dead and five police officers injured, security officials said."A suicide attack took place Wednesday evening at the Berses post and, according to preliminary information, there are a number of victims......
Bashar Assad wins Syria presidential election in landslide vote
June 6th, 20140 Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma (R) cast their votes in the country's presidential elections at a polling station in Damascus June 3, 2014, in this handout released by Syria's national news agency SANA.DAMASCUS — Bashar al-Assad has won a landslide victory in the Syrian presidential poll with 88.7 percent of the...
Why I am running for state representative
June 6th, 20140 Berry.I am a candidate for the office of state representative in Michigan’s 9th House District – which includes portions of Dearborn and Detroit – because one of the most important aspects of a community—quality public education under local control— is under attack from Lansing.As president of the Dearborn Public School Board......
UN: Nearly 800 killed in Iraq last month
BAGHDAD — Nearly 800 people were killed in violence across Iraq in May, the United Nations said on Sunday, making it the deadliest month so far this year.Of the 799 people killed, 196 were members of the Iraqi security forces, and the rest were civilians - often victims of attacks by insurgents who have been regaining ground and...Bahrain court jails 4 for life over 2012 bombing
MANAMA — On Thursday, June 5, a Bahraini court convicted and sentenced four activists to life imprisonment over the death of an Asian man in a 2012 bomb attack, according to an attorney for one of the defendants.The case centered on the death of an Asian man killed in a series of bombings that claimed two lives in the tiny Gulf......