DHS extends TPS for current Syrian holders, but refuse to re-designate Syria
January 31st, 20180 WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) took a decision to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 7,000 Syrian beneficiaries residing in the U.S. Today’s decision only allows current TPS holders to renew their status and remain temporarily in the U.S. However, DHS refuse to...
Syrians with temporary U.S. protection brace for Trump decision
January 26th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Targeted by the Syrian government after providing humanitarian supplies to civilians fleeing air strikes, Mohammad Alala and his wife escaped in 2012, eventually obtaining student visas to enter the United States. They received a form of temporary protected status (TPS) extended to Syrians in the United States...
U.S. drops to eighth place on ‘best countries’ list
January 26th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. has dropped to eighth place in U.S. News and World Report's "Best Countries" ranking. This is the second straight year that the U.S. has dropped in the rankings. In 2017, the U.S. came in seventh place. Switzerland came in at the top spot for the second year in a row. U.S. News said the drop can be...
Coach tells ex-USA Gymnastics doctor Nassar in court to ‘go to hell’
January 19th, 20180 LANSING — A coach who sent dozens of young girls for treatment to USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, who pleaded guilty to molesting female athletes, told the disgraced physicians on Wednesday to "go to hell" for his crimes. Thomas Brennan, a youth gymnastics coach, confronted Nassar in a Michigan courtroom on the second day...
Growing pains for #MeToo as Ansari tale sparks backlash talk
January 19th, 20180 LOS ANGELES — Less than four months after the #MeToo movement inspired a national conversation about sexual misconduct and led to the downfall of dozens of powerful American men, a backlash seems to be underway. Women are divided among themselves, men are beginning to speak out, and words like "revenge porn" and "witch hunt" are...
Trump administration bars Haitians from U.S. visas for low-skilled work
January 19th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Haitians will no longer be eligible for U.S. visas given to low-skilled workers, the Trump administration said on Wednesday, bringing an end to a small-scale effort to employ Haitians in the United States after a catastrophic 2010 earthquake. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the change less than...
California parents who starved, tortured 13 children face life in prison
January 19th, 20180 RIVERSIDE, CA — The California parents accused of imprisoning their 13 children in the family's squalid home beat, starved and chained them to their beds for years, taunting them with apple pie, according to a prosecutor on Thursday who called it a case of "human depravity." The father, 57-year-old David Turpin, is also accused of...
Ex-CIA officer arrested for retaining classified information
January 19th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — A former Central Intelligence Agency officer was arrested at an airport on Monday night in connection with charges that he illegally retained highly classified information, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a U.S. citizen who now lives in Hong Kong, used to maintain a top secret clearance...
Trump administration to provide $60 million in Palestinian aid, withhold $65 million
January 16th, 20180 WASHINGTON - The United States will give a U.N. agency $60 million in aid for Palestinians but will withhold a further $65 million “for future consideration,” a U.S. official said on Tuesday. In keeping back some of the aid, Washington appeared to carry out a threat made by President Trump in a Twitter post on Jan. 2 in which he...
Ford urges 2,900 pickup owners to stop driving after new airbag death
January 12th, 20180 DEARBORN — The second largest U.S. automaker said it confirmed in late December that a July 2017 crash death in West Virginia in a 2006 Ford Ranger was caused by a defective Takata inflator. It previously reported a similar death in South Carolina that occurred in December 2015. Ford said both Takata deaths occurred with inflators...
House passes NSA spying bill after Trump tweets cause confusion
January 12th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to renew the National Security Agency's warrantless Internet surveillance program, overcoming objections from privacy advocates and confusion prompted by morning tweets from President Trump that initially questioned the spying tool. The legislation,...
Federal immigration operation targets 7-Eleven stores in 17 states
January 12th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. immigration agents fanned out to nearly 100 7-Eleven convenience stores nationwide on Wednesday, arresting 21 people suspected of being in the country illegally and giving owners a tight deadline to prove other employees are authorized to work. The operation was the largest worksite enforcement by U.S....
Taking stock as we begin a new year
January 5th, 20180 By Lee H. Hamilton This may seem odd, but as I look ahead to a year we all know will be momentous, you want to know what I feel most strongly? Gratitude. I'll tell you in a moment how much work we have ahead of us to strengthen our country. But I'm mindful of just how strong we already are. A resilient economy has been performing...
Trump administration drops relaxed Obama-era marijuana policy
January 5th, 20180 WASHINGTON — On Thursday, the Justice Department rescinded an Obama administration policy that had eased enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states that legalized the drug, instead giving federal prosecutors wide latitude to pursue criminal charges. The action by Attorney General Jeff Sessions could have damaging consequences...
AT&T to launch 5G in U.S. this year
January 5th, 20180 AT&T, the second largest U.S. wireless carrier, said it would launch fifth-generation (5G) mobile network service in a dozen cities in the United States by late 2018, after international wireless standards for the network were finalized last month. The 5G technology is expected to provide higher speed and response times than 4G......
Year-in review: The top local, national and international stories of 2017
January 5th, 20180 Here's our 2017 year-in-review of the most important news and developments as reported by The Arab American News locally, nationally and internationally. Community and local 1. Former Dearborn City Clerk Kathy Buda was convicted on embezzlement charges, after clerk office employees reported suspicions she was stealing cash from fees...
Trump breaks with former aide Steve Bannon: He ‘lost his mind’
January 3rd, 20180 WASHINGTON - President Trump on Wednesday blasted former White House adviser Steve Bannon as having “lost his mind” in the fallout over damaging comments Bannon made about Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., in excerpts of a new book. Trump, who had continued to speak privately with Bannon in the months after firing him as the White......
Apple apologizes after outcry over slowed iPhones, promises to fix battery issues
December 28th, 20170 NEW YORK - Facing lawsuits and consumer outrage after it said it slowed older iPhones with flagging batteries, Apple Inc is slashing prices for battery replacements and will change its software to show users whether their phone battery is good. In a posting on its website Thursday, Apple apologized over its handling of the battery...
Education Department cancels student loan debts for 12,900 college fraud victims
December 22nd, 20171 WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, the Education Department canceled the student-loan debts of 12,900 people defrauded by defunct Corinthian Colleges, but its announcement that it will give varying amounts of debt relief in the future set off fierce criticism. For-profit higher education provider Corinthian collapsed in 2015 amid...Federal Trade Commission releases National Do Not Call Registry Data Book
WASHIGNTON D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released the latest edition of the Do Not Call Registry Data Book, which includes more information on robocall complaints, new information about the types of calls consumers reported to the FTC and a complete state-by-state analysis. More than 229 million phone numbers in the...
State Department tells refugee agencies to downsize U.S. operations
December 22nd, 20170 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The State Department has told refugee agencies it will sharply pare back the number of offices across the country authorized to resettle people in 2018 as President Trump cuts the number of refugees allowed into the United States. The announcement was made at a Dec. 1 meeting in Washington with State Department......
ISIS threatens attacks in U.S. over Trump’s Jerusalem decision
CAIRO — ISIS threatened attacks on U.S. soil in retaliation for the Trump administration's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, one of the group's social media accounts reported on Thursday without giving any details. In a message on one of its accounts on the Telegram instant messaging service titled "Wait for...
Minnesota lieutenant governor to replace Franken in Senate
December 15th, 20170 WASHINGTON — Minnesota's Democratic Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith was appointed as a senator on Wednesday to replace Al Franken, who resigned after being accused of sexual harassment. Smith, 59, will serve a one-year term concluding in January 2019, Governor Mark Dayton said at a news conference, and will run in a special election......
FCC strikes down net neutrality
December 15th, 20170 WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted along party lines on Thursday to repeal landmark 2015 rules aimed at ensuring a free and open Internet, setting up a court fight over a move that could recast the digital landscape. The approval of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal in a 3-2 vote marked a victory for...
Feds charge Times Square bomb suspect, Bangladesh questions wife
December 12th, 20170 NEW YORK — Prosecutors on Tuesday brought federal charges against a Bangladeshi man, accusing him of using a weapon of mass destruction in Monday’s bombing of a Manhattan commuter hub. Akayed Ullah, 27, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court with providing material support to a foreign terrorist......
