Delta variant and vaccine hesitancy put COVID advances in jeopardy
July 22nd, 20210 The U.S. is now seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases, as the highly-contagious Delta variant driving infections among those unvaccinated across the country, especially in areas where vaccination rates remain relatively low. Johns Hopkins University tallies show the average number of daily COVID cases in the U.S. has gone up 66 percent...
Report: Anti-Muslim incidents increased in U.S. during Israel’s assault on Gaza, spiked in Canada this year
July 21st, 20210 The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has released a mid-year report documenting the state of anti-Muslim hate incidents in 2021. The national Muslim civil rights and advocacy group says that since the start of the year, it has received hundreds of complaints from chapters across the country, and more than 500 at its...
Ben & Jerry’s agrees to end operations in occupied Palestinian territory
July 20th, 20210 After years of efforts by anti-occupation activists, the popular American ice cream company Ben & Jerry's has halted sales of its products in the occupied Palestinian territories. Activists in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and other pro-Palestine and anti-Israeli apartheid activists praised the decision,...
Senate includes Child Tax Credit monthly payment extension in budget deal
July 14th, 20210 Local leaders are encouraging working families to watch for advance monthly payments of the Child Tax Credit of up to $300 per month per child beginning Thursday, July 15 through December. The credit has been lauded by the Biden administration and Democrats as one of the key provisions to aid working class families, as part of the...
Pfizer to ask FDA to authorize booster dose of vaccine as Delta variant spreads
July 8th, 20210 The drugmaker Pfizer said on Thursday it will ask the U.S. government for the approval of a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine within the next month, as fears among experts grow around the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. The request with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is based on evidence of greater risk...
Saudi minister says he held “great meeting” with Blinken
July 8th, 20210 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman said he held "a great meeting" on Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in which they explored strengthening U.S.-Saudi ties and reviewed regional developments. Prince Khalid, the brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto...
Biden administration extends Temporary Protected Status for Yemen
July 6th, 20210 The Biden Administration has extended and re-designated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Yemen into 2023. TPS allows individuals from nations experiencing war, natural disasters or extraordinary circumstances to live and work in the U.S. on a temporary basis. Yemen’s TPS status was set to expire on September 3. The extension...
Delta variant spells danger for unvaccinated people, continues to alarm experts
July 6th, 20210 With the more-infectious Delta variant emerging as the most common strain of the coronavirus, parts of the U.S. with the lowest vaccination rates are threatening to halt progress on the pandemic in the country. Southern states like Arkansas, Missouri and Alabama have some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, according to...
Yale student council approves statement on ethnic cleansing in Palestine
July 2nd, 20210 CONNECTICUT — The Yale College Council (YCC) voted to endorse a statement condemning “the injustice, genocide and ethnic cleansing occurring in Palestine” on Sunday, June 27. The statement was introduced in May by Yalies 4 Palestine, a student-led campaign to raise Palestinian voices and end the culture of silence around...
Farewell to Donald Rumsfeld, dreary war criminal
July 2nd, 20210 At 2:40 p.m. on September 11, 2001, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld issued orders to one of his underlings. Among Rumsfeld’s thoughts: Best info fast. Good enough judge whether good enough hit SH @ same time not only UBL And: Near term target needs – – go massive – sweep it all up – Things related &...
U.S. suspects 4,000 cases of fraud in Iraqi refugee program
June 25th, 20210 WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. authorities pursuing a sweeping fraud investigation suspect some 4,000 Iraqis of filing fraudulent applications for resettlement in the U.S. as refugees, and they are re-examining cases involving more than 104,000 others, according to State Department reports reviewed by Reuters. More than 500 Iraqis already...
New digital banking platform promises halal certified banking, no-interest loans
June 24th, 20210 A new banking system offers its customer the first halal banking experience in the U.S., by promising no-interest lending and ethical investments. Fair is a "neobank", or digital bank, that practices principles in line with Islamic law, which forbids usury, or collecting interest on loans. Fair's customers can conduct business through...
Bay Area Yemeni community wins recognition of its needs in the school district
June 23rd, 20210 CALIFORNIA — The Bay Area’s growing Yemeni community has made strong headways recently, by organizing an effort to secure much needed representation for Yemenis, Arabs and Muslims in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). Local Yemeni groups, parents and allied organizations and officials worked towards bringing more...
Iran accuses U.S. of meddling for criticising election
June 22nd, 20210 TEHRAN — Iran accused the U.S. on Tuesday of interference for saying its election was neither free nor fair as political factions traded blame for the record low turnout and high number of invalid ballots. Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline judge who is under U.S. sanctions, secured victory as expected on Saturday in an election marked by...
Palestinian American from Ohio imprisoned by Israeli court for activism
June 18th, 20210 YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A 75-year-old Palestinian American from Ohio has been imprisoned by Israeli authorities for activism. Jamal Nisser, a retired Palestinian American businessman from Youngstown, Ohio, has been sentenced to four months in prison by an Israeli court on charges of political activism, The Palestine Chronicle......
Supreme Court shoots down Republican challenge to Obamacare
June 17th, 20210 WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Republican challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, failed in the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday. This was the third such a challenge to the law shot down by the highest court in the country since the law's enactment in 2010. The latest decision by the Supreme Court will keep intact the law,...
ADC: Workplace discrimination against pro-Palestinian voices on the rise
June 16th, 20210 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is looking for a federal hearing and investigation into rising incidents of workplace discrimination against employees who have expressed solidarity with Palestine and against Israeli apartheid and occupation. The ADC says it is responding to a surge of......
First patient set to receive controversial Biogen Alzheimer’s drug
June 16th, 20210 On Wednesday, a U.S. hospital will give the first infusion of an expensive, controversial new Alzheimer’s drug from Biogen Inc. before Medicare had even said what it will pay for — and with some doctors upset by its approval last week. The first administration of the drug, Aduhelm, outside of a clinical trial is scheduled to take...
U.S. Supreme Court to hear case involving FBI’s spying on California mosques
June 11th, 20210 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to look at a decade-long class-action case involving the FBI’s use of an informant to spy on several LA and Orange County mosques, the Courthouse News reported Tuesday. For more than a year, the FBI planted an informant in the mosques and instructed him to coerce and gather...
Omar clarifies remarks on Israel, U.S. war crimes, after Dem, GOP pushback
June 11th, 20210 WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) clarified earlier remarks regarding open investigations by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into war crimes committed by Israel, the U.S., Hamas and the Taliban, after backlash from both Democrats and Republicans. On Monday, Omar questioned U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken...
Senate confirms first Muslim federal judge in U.S. history
June 10th, 20210 On Thursday, the U.S. Senate approved President Biden’s nomination of Zahid Quraishi, a magistrate judge in New Jersey, to the federal bench, making him the first Muslim federal judge in U.S. history. Quraishi will serve as U.S. district judge for the District of New Jersey. The Democrat-controlled Senate voted 81-16 to confirm......
Pharmacist jailed for three years for tampering with COVID-19 vaccines
June 9th, 20211 Steven R. Brandenburg, 46, a Wisconsin pharmacist who pleaded guilty to trying to spoil hundreds of doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine because he was skeptical about them, has been jailed for three years, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday. Brandenburg was also ordered to pay about $83,800 in compensation to the hospital...
New study shows number of U.S. mosques continues to grow
June 6th, 20210 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and Center on Muslim Philanthropy have jointly published an extensive study on the characteristic of the U.S. mosque. Entitled The American Mosque 2020: Growing and Evolving: Report 1 of the U.S. Mosque Survey 2020:......
Pro-IDF restaurant owner Jeremy Sasson says critics of his pro-Israel post are “anti-Semitic”
June 5th, 20213 DETROIT — During the beginning days of Israel’s 11-day assault on Gaza, the owner of two popular restaurants took to Instagram to say he stood with Israel. Jeremy Sasson is the CEO of Heirloom Hospitality Group, LLC, which operates Prime + Proper in Detroit and Townhouse in Birmingham and Detroit, establishments regularly...
American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee announces new project to track xenophobia
June 3rd, 20210 The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) announced a new project that will research, track and document anti-Arab and Islamophobic bias in the media, public discourse and from public officials. The ADC-Research Institute's (ADC-RI) Media Research Project, led by veteran journalist Ali Younes, hopes to expose xenophobia......
