Trump hits Iran with new sanctions in retaliation to downing of drone
June 24th, 20190 WASHINGTON — President Trump announced on Monday that he was imposing new sanctions on Iran, further squeezing the Iranian economy in retaliation for what the United States says are recent "aggressive" acts by Tehran, but the response to the penalties targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were "is that all you got?" This...
Palestinians reject Kushner ‘economy first’ approach to Middle East peace plan
June 22nd, 20190 GAZA - Palestinian officials on Saturday dismissed proposals unveiled by President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner for big money projects to form the first economic portion of the Trump administration’s long-awaited Middle East peace plan. Senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official Hanan Ashrawi said Kushner’s...
Canadian Arab businessman awarded $2.5M for suffering hate speech
June 22nd, 20190 ONTARIO, CANADA — An online media personality whose websites frequently air anti-Muslim content has been ordered to pay the owner of a prominent Middle Eastern restaurant chain millions of dollars after publicly accusing him of funding terrorism. Ontario Superior Court Justice Jane Ferguson ordered Kevin J. Johnston to pay a total...
Two men from Chicago convicted of providing support to ISIS
June 22nd, 20190 CHICAGO — Two Chicago-area men were found guilty on Thursday of supporting ISIS in a federal case in which one of them was accused of saying he hoped to see the terrorist group’s flag over the White House, local media reported. Edward Schimenti and Joseph Jones, both 37, were convicted for providing material support and resources...Iran says it shot down American ‘spy’ drone, Trump plays it down as unintentional
June 20th, 20190 DUBAI - Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have shot down a U.S. “spy” drone in the southern province of Hormozgan, the Guards’ news website Sepah News said on Thursday. State news agency IRNA carried the same report, identifying the drone as an “RQ-4 Global Hawk." “It was shot down when it entered Iran’s airspace near...
Mohamed Morsi died in court, in a soundproof cage under guards’ watch
June 18th, 20190 CAIRO - Egypt's former civilian president, Mohamed Morsi, ousted by the military in 2013 after one year in office, collapsed in a courtroom and died on Monday, June 17. A leader in the now-banned Islamist movement Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi had just spoken from a cage at a hearing on charges of espionage. State TV said the cause of...
Trump administration providing “false” information on Gulf of Oman attack, Japanese tanker owner says
June 15th, 20190 TOKYO, JAPAN — A Japanese tanker owner is disputing U.S. reports about an attack that occurred on Thursday in the Gulf of Oman that was blamed on Iranian naval forces. According to the ship operator as quoted in a report from The Independent, “flying objects” that may have been bullets were the cause of damage to the ship, and...
Netanyahu thanks Indian prime minister for vote against Palestinian group
June 14th, 20190 TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for voting in favor of a decision introduced by the Jewish state that objected to granting consultative status to a Palestinian group at the U.N.'s Economic and Social Council. In its first pro-Israel move, India voted on Tuesday...
Local Arab Americans claim they were victimized by alleged Ponzi scheme
June 14th, 20190 DEARBORN – Three people with ties to the Metro Detroit area are among those claiming they were defrauded by former Canton resident Syed Arbab, a recent graduate of the University of Georgia, who has attracted the interest of the Securities and Exchange Commission. On June 3, the SEC announced that it was taking emergency action,...
Egypt, Jordan and Morocco to attend U.S. sponsored “Bahrain workshop” despite Palestinians’ objection
June 14th, 20190 WASHINGTON — Egypt, Jordan and Morocco have told the Trump administration they will attend a U.S.-led conference in Bahrain this month on proposals for boosting the Palestinian economy as part of a coming U.S. peace plan, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Palestinians urged Egypt and Jordan on Wednesday to reconsider their...
Israel strikes Hamas in Gaza, calling attack a “response” to rocket fire
June 13th, 20190 SDEROT, Israel — Israeli aircraft attacked a Hamas target in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after a Palestinian rocket strike, the Israeli military said, in the first serious cross border conflict since last month's border-fight surge. A second rocket launched in the evening hit a house in the Israeli border town of Sderot but caused no...
U.S ranked low in human rights and safety, new survey shows
June 10th, 20190 WELLINGTON, New Zealand— A recent poll conducted by the Wellington-based Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) asked civil society groups, lawyers and journalists from 19 different countries to assess how each country treats its citizens. Annie-Marie Brook, co-founder of HRMI, told Reuters that the United States is performing...
Iraqi citizens choked by worsening pollution problem, government negligence
June 10th, 20190 BAGHDAD —Iraq is suffering from a pollution crisis as citizens struggle with life in the slums where burning trash dumped by city officials is making life miserable. “The dirt, our children are sick, our families are sick,” said 48-year-old Adnan Kadhim, according to a report from Reuters. "My daughter has asthma and I had to...
Legislation introduced to block billions in arms sales to Saudi Arabia
June 10th, 20190 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Republican and Democratic senators said on Wednesday they would introduce legislation to block President Trump's plan for $8 billion in military sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates without congressional review, a report from Reuters said. The legislation includes 22 “resolutions of...
African Union suspends Sudan after death toll rises
June 10th, 20190 KHARTOUM – The official death toll in Sudan from violence that erupted on Monday, June 3, has risen to 61, the director general of the Health Ministry said on Thursday, up from a previous toll of 46, leading to Sudan's suspension from the African Union. The African Union’s Peace and Security Council voted on Thursday, June 6, to......
Khamenei says Iran will not abandon its missile program
June 7th, 20190 Tehran — Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that Tehran has no plans to give up its missile program and be deceived by President Trump's offer of negotiations. Trump has condemned the nuclear deal between Iran and global powers signed by his predecessor, Barack Obama. Washington pulled out of this deal...
Militant kills two police, two soldiers in Lebanon’s Tripoli
June 4th, 20190 BEIRUT - A militant attacked a security patrol in Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli on Monday night, killing two police officers and two soldiers before blowing himself up, officials said. Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan described it as a “lone wolf attack”, though authorities canceled Eid al-Fitr celebrations in the coastal......
Muslims celebrate Eid, ending Ramadan holy month
June 4th, 20190 KABUL - Muslims around the world celebrated the Eid-al-Fitr religious holiday on Tuesday, marking the end of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan. Like the start of Ramadan, during which believers abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours, Eid-al-Fitr depends on the sighting of the moon and its celebration varies in different...
Yemen death toll could hit 233,000 by 2020
May 31st, 20190 The death toll in Yemen could reach 233,000 by the year 2020 as part of what the United Nations calls “humanity's greatest preventable disaster”, a 60-page report has said. Sixty percent of the projected death toll could be children under the age of 5, according to the report, titled "Assessing the impact of war on development in...
Kushner in Middle East seeking support for “peace plan” that Palestinians reject
May 31st, 20190 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner is leading a U.S. delegation to the Middle East this week, seeking support for a late June workshop aimed at "helping the Palestinians", a White House official said on Tuesday. But, Palestinians have been vocally critical of this effort. Kushner, Middle East envoy Jason...
Israel dissolves Knesset after Netanyahu fails to form government, heads for new election
May 31st, 20190 TEL AVIV — Israeli lawmakers voted to dissolve the Knesset on Thursday, paving the way for a new election after Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a government before a midnight deadline. Netanyahu preferred a new ballot, set for Sept. 17, to the alternative, under which President Reuven Rivlin could have asked another politician to......
Saudi Arabia fails to gather a firm Arab stand against Iran
May 31st, 20190 MECCA — Saudi Arabia’s king told an emergency Arab summit on Thursday that decisive action was needed to stop Iranian “escalations” in the region following attacks on Gulf oil assets, as American officials said a U.S. military deployment had deterred Tehran. King Salman had opened an earlier meeting of Arab Gulf leaders with a...
Iran says it will not surrender in “clash of wills” with U.S., warns against “adventurism”
May 24th, 20190 LONDON — Iran will not surrender to U.S. pressure and will not abandon its goals even if it is bombed, President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday, stepping up the war of words between the Islamic Republic and the United States. Earlier in the day, Iran’s top military chief said the standoff between Tehran and Washington was a......
DOJ charges WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with espionage
May 24th, 20190 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Justice Department unveiled 17 new criminal charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Thursday, saying he unlawfully published the names of classified sources and conspired with and assisted ex-Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in obtaining access to classified information. The...
Yemen’s Houthis say they launched drone attack on Saudi’s Najran airport
May 24th, 20190 DUBAI — On Thursday, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement launched a drone attack on a Patriot missile battery in the airport of the Saudi city of Najran near the Yemeni border, the group’s Al-Masirah TV said on Thursday. The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said the drone was intercepted and destroyed by the......
