Get back to healthy nutrition basics
(ARA) — Even the healthiest eaters have their weaknesses — those foods that make them "splurge," ignoring calorie counts and fat grams. It's an easy trap to fall into; we're surrounded every day by foods that taste good and inspire cravings. The problem is that when you splurge too much, it can start to affect your health....
Obama taps young Muslim leader to repair ties with Islamic group
February 20th, 20100 President Barack Obama on Feb. 13 appointed Rashad Hussain, currently working as a legal counsel at the White House, to be the U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). Rashad Hussain Making the announcement via video conference to the annual gathering of the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, the...AIPAC duplicated stolen classified policy documents before returning to U.S. government
WASHINGTON — Top officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee duplicated a stolen classified U.S. government policy document before returning it under order of the U.S. Trade Representative, according to a newly released FBI document. The document is available for download here. Testimony about AIPAC's executive director...
San Francisco community commemorates Gaza attacks, organizes activist efforts
February 13th, 20100 BURLINGAME, Calif.— Israel's first prime minister David Ben Gurion once said about displaced Palestinian refugees "the old will die and the young will forget." Mariam El Shafei, 16, lost an eye during the Dec. 2008-Jan. 2009 bombardment of Gaza. She was brought to the U.S. by the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund. El Shafei...Obama urges bipartisanship, can he deliver?
WASHINGTON — In a State of the Union address with a Clintonesque range of policy initiatives, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Congress found moments to cheer: U.S. President Barack Obama (below) makes a point as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi look on during his first State of...
Haiti: An unwelcome Katrina redux
February 1st, 20100 President Obama's response to the tragedy in Haiti has been robust in military deployment and puny in what the Haitians need most: food; first responders and their specialized equipment; doctors and medical facilities and equipment; and engineers, heavy equipment and heavy movers. Sadly, President Obama is dispatching Presidents Bush and...
American prejudice against Muslims, Islam higher than bias against other major faiths
January 23rd, 20100 NEW YORK (AP) – Americans are more than twice as likely to express prejudice against Muslims than they are against Christians, Jews or Buddhists, a new survey found. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they have little or no knowledge of Islam. Still, a majority dislike the faith. The analysis, for release Thursday, is from...
Republican victory a rebuke to Obama
January 23rd, 20100 WASHINGTON — Tuesday's loss by the Democrats of their 60th Senate seat has raised serious questions about the outlook for the White House's policy agenda and spurred a rash of finger-pointing among Democrats over who bears responsibility for the very public rebuke issued by Massachusetts voters. Scott Brown's victory Tuesday...Suicide rate among veterans surges
WASHINGTON (IPS) - Suicides among United States military veterans ballooned by 26 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to new statistics released by the Veterans Affairs (VA) department. U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion 4th Marines walk by their vehicle during sunset at base Delaram in Nimroz province, southern Afghanistan,...
New bill edges comprehensive immigration reform back on the legislative agenda
January 16th, 20100 After months of discussion and strategy meetings with immigrant advocates, labor unions, civil-rights groups, and others, a number of House Democrats have introduced the first immigration reform bill in the 111th Congress. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR-ASAP) bill,...
Countries, rights groups protest new TSA directives
January 9th, 20100 The Obama administration's decision to subject travelers to the U.S. from 14 listed nations to extra airport security screening has drawn sharp criticism both internationally and from domestic civil liberties groups. A security official (R) prepares to scan his colleague posing inside a RapiScan full-body scanner being trialled...
Nigerian-American Muslims condemn attempted Christmas Day attack
December 29th, 20090 The Texas-based National Council of Nigerian Muslim Organizations in the U.S.A released a statement condemning Friday's attempted bombing of a Northwest Airline flight into Detroit. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab On approach to Detroit International Airport, Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to ignite explosives sewn...
Minority businesses locked out of stimulus loans
December 24th, 20090 Loans handed out to struggling small businesses as part of President Barack Obama's stimulus package have largely shut out minority businesses — especially those owned by Blacks and Latinos — according to data provided by the federal government's Small Business Administration (SBA) to New America Media (NAM). On June 15, the...Arab American testifies before House subcommittee on terrorism risk
President of the Washington-based Arab American Institute, Jim Zogby, testified Tuesday before the U.S. House subcommittee on intelligence, information sharing and terrorism risk assessment. Jim Zogby Zogby spoke alongside a civil liberties leader and psychiatry and policy scholars, addressing the topic "Violent Extremism:...Travel agent accused of scamming customers
NEW YORK — A Brooklyn travel agent has been charged with cheating customers out of $14,000 after a New York Arab American organization notified authorities of complaints. Fatma Aly, 42, specialized in booking travel to the Middle East. She is accused of taking cash from customers without fully processing their ticket orders, at......
Muslims work with FBI on missing men
CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad speaks during a Wednesday press conference in Washington on the Muslim community’s role in notifying law enforcement of potential militant activity by five American men in Pakistan. American Muslim families and civil rights leaders played a major role in alerting law enforcement about...Student stabs professor to death in New York
Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani, a Saudi Arabian graduate student at Binghamton University, has been charged with second-degree murder after allegedly stabbing to death anthropology professor Richard Antoun, an Arab American, on Dec. 4. Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani mug shots No motive for the crime has yet been identified. Al-Zahrani's......
Store owner turns around life of would-be thief
December 12th, 20090 Mohammad Sohail, alongside New York Post clippings that told his story in May, shows the letter and $50 he got from the would-be robber he sent out of his deli with $40, bread and a blessing. PHOTO: NY Post A New York store owner who showed compassion to a would-be...Obama launches Freedom of Information initiative
NEW YORK (IPS) — Advocates for greater freedom of information are expressing approval of the Obama administration's new "Open Government Directive" — but some are sounding cautionary notes that executive agencies are still hiding behind "national security" to conceal government misconduct. Jameel Jaffer, Director of the...
Report shows jump in anti-Muslim bias incidents
December 5th, 20090 WASHINGTON — An annual report released this week by a prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization shows an increase in the total number of bias-related incidents, but a decrease in anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2008. The report by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), titled "Seeking...VIDEO: Comedy Central spotlights Palestinian rights activism
Rights activists Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian leader, and Anna Baltzer, an American Jew, appeared on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" last month, where host Jon Stewart immediately asked them to fight. "We're part of a pretty large group, actually, of Palestinians and Jews working together," Baltzer said about the nonviolent......
Fort Hood shootings: U.S. Muslims feel new heat
November 21st, 20090 SAN FRANCISCO — In the hours after officials identified Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a Virginian of Palestinian ancestry, as the shooter at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5, U.S. Muslim groups quickly condemned the attack. Religious and community leaders were eager to assure the nation that Muslims were appalled by the day's violence. "It's...FBI file reveals Israeli crimes in U.S.
WASHINGTON (BUSINESS WIRE) — An FBI file reveals the Israeli embassy passed stolen classified U.S. government information to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). In 1984 Israel and AIPAC jointly lobbied Congress to secure preferential Israeli access to the U.S. market against widespread American industry......
U.N. investigator probes U.S. housing crisis
November 19th, 20090 UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. body responsible for monitoring human rights violations is investigating why hundreds of thousands — and possibly millions — of people in the United States are condemned to live on the streets. Last month, the U.N. Geneva-based Human Rights Council sent one of its top experts on human rights to find...Feds seize four mosques, New York skyscraper
Federal authorities said Thursday's move to seize the assets of the New York-based Alavi Foundation over alleged Iranian ties should not effect the activities of the organization's many tenants, which include mosques in Maryland, New York, Texas, and California. The forfeiture action, however, is raising concerns about religious......