Van rams Muslim worshipers in London
June 19th, 20170 LONDON ― A van plowed into worshipers near a London mosque in the early hours of Monday, injuring 10 people, two of them seriously, in what Prime Minister Theresa May said was a sickening, terrorist attack on Muslims. The vehicle swerved into a group of mainly North and West African people shortly after midnight as they left...
Iraqi forces to enclose on ISIS in Mosul’s Old City
June 19th, 20170 ERBIL, IRAQ — Iraqi forces said they were about to complete the encirclement of ISIS's stronghold in the Old City of Mosul, after taking control of a neighboring district on Thursday. Iraq's military said it had captured Bab Sinjar, north of the historic, densely-populated district where the militants launched their cross-border...
Syrian refugees head home on foot from Turkey for Eid holiday
June 19th, 20170 CILVEGOZU, TURKEY — Carrying suitcases, shopping bags and toddlers, thousands of refugees walked back home into Syria from Turkey on Thursday ahead of the Eid festival that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Turkey has taken in some 3 million Syrian migrants since the start of civil war in 2011, making it home to the...
FIFA: Qatar World Cup not under threat
June 19th, 20170 DOHA — FIFA president Gianni Infantino does not believe that the diplomatic crisis which has embroiled 2022 World Cup host nation Qatar will threaten its staging of the tournament, he said on Sunday. The global soccer body also confirmed that it had replaced a Qatari refereeing team who were due to officiate at a World Cup...
Lebanese cabinet approves electoral law for parliamentary election next May
June 19th, 20170 BEIRUT — Lebanon is likely to hold long-delayed elections in May 2018, ministers said on Wednesday, after the cabinet approved a new law for a legislative vote that has spared the country a major political crisis. Recent disputes over an election law that is at the heart of the nation's sectarian political system had pushed Lebanon...
Muslims observing Ramadan saved residents in London high-rise fire
June 19th, 20170 LONDON — Early Wednesday morning, a 24-story high-rise in London caught fire, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more. Most people were asleep when the fire broke out, but Muslims awake early for Ramadan helped usher people out of the building. Residents reported that fire alarms didn't go off when the fire broke out...
With eyes on Libya, France cements security ties with Egypt
June 12th, 20170 CAIRO — France's foreign minister said on Thursday he had firmed up security ties with Egypt, which was the "central element" to ensuring regional stability as the two countries seek to break the political impasse in neighboring Libya. Paris and Cairo have nurtured closer economic and military ties in recent years, and with the rise...
Qatar vows no surrender as Gulf crisis deepens
June 12th, 20170 DOHA —Qatar vowed on Thursday to ride out the isolation imposed on it by fellowArab states over its alleged support for terrorism and said it would not compromise its sovereignty over foreign policy to resolve the region's biggest diplomatic crisis in years. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed...
US-backed forces move cautiously into ISIS-held Raqqa
June 12th, 20170 RAQQA —At Raqqa's eastern edge, a handful of Syrian fighters cross a river by foot and car, all the while relaying their coordinates to the U.S.-led coalition so they don't fall victim to friendly fire. This is their only way into al-Mishlab, the first district the Kurdish and Arab militias have swept into, in what the coalition...
Iranian attackers fought for ISIS in Syria, Iraq
June 12th, 20170 ANKARA — Iran said on Thursday that gunmen and bombers who attacked Tehran were Iranian members of ISIS who had fought in the militants' strongholds in Syria and Iraq - deepening the regional ramifications of the assaults. The five attackers raided Iran's parliament and Ayatollah Khomeini's mausoleum on Wednesday morning, in a rare...
Israel advances plans for additional 1,500 settler homes
June 12th, 20170 JERUSALEM — Israel has advanced plans for a further 1,500 homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, Peace Now, an Israeli non-profit organization advocating for a two-state solution, said on Thursday, the second such announcement in a week. More than 3,000 units have been advanced this week, a spokeswoman for the group...
UN: Yemen cholera passes 100,000 cases
June 12th, 20171 GENEVA — The number of suspected cholera cases in war-torn Yemen has risen to more than 100,000 since an outbreak began on April 27, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. The rapid spread of the disease through 19 of Yemen's 23 governorates highlighted a humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen after two years of civil war that...
Muslim comedian shares six things not to say to those fasting
June 11th, 20171 In 2015, British Muslim stand-up comedian Bilal Zafar wrote an article for The Independent called “Six things you shouldn’t say to someone fasting for Ramadan.” “I have been fasting during the month of Ramadan every year since I was about 8-years-old and the experience has been changing for me in many ways, teaching me a lot...
50 years later, the 1967 Naksa continues to shape policies and inflict misery
June 10th, 20171 DEARBORN — The 1967 Six Day War was one of the most salient events of the Arab-Israeli conflict, its effect evident through its shaping of Israeli and Arab political discourse. While its byproducts continue to resonate, the events of the Six Day War are solidified largely through oration and narrative. "There's historical...
At least 12 killed in ISIS attack in Iran, Guards blame Saudi Arabia
June 7th, 20170 TEHRAN- Suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the Iranian parliament and the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran on Wednesday, killing at least 12 people in a twin assault which Iran's Revolutionary Guards blamed on regional rival Saudi Arabia. ISIS claimed responsibility and released a video purporting to show gunmen inside the......
UK police rush to three attacks in central London, at least one dead
June 3rd, 20171 LONDON- British armed police rushed to three incidents in central London on Saturday after a van plowed into pedestrians on London Bridge and reports of multiple stabbings in the nearby Borough Market area. Police sent out security advice to Londoners on Twitter saying "run, hide, tell" if they were caught in an attack. The BBC cited...
Suicide bomber kills 13, injures 24 at Baghdad ice cream shop
May 29th, 20170 BAGHDAD - On Tuesday, a suicide bomber detonated a rigged vehicle outside of a popular ice cream shop in the Karrada district of Baghdad, killing 13 people and wounding at least 30 others, officials said. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) claimed responsibility, stating its intent in attacking a "gathering of......
Car bomb explodes, kills four in Syria’s Homs
May 24th, 20170 SYRIA- A car bomb exploded in Homs on Tuesday morning, Syrian state television said, two days after the city went back under full government control for the first time since 2011. Authorities destroyed another vehicle rigged with explosives near a Shi'ite Muslim shrine south of Damascus, the broadcaster and other state media...
British police name suicide bomber, May condemns ‘sickening’ attack
May 23rd, 20170 MANCHESTER- British police on Tuesday identified the suicide bomber who killed 22 people, including children, in an attack on a crowded concert hall in Manchester, and said they were trying to establish whether he had acted alone or with help from others. The man suspected of carrying out Britain's deadliest bombing in nearly 12 years...
At least 19 dead in blast at Ariana Grande concert in British arena
May 22nd, 20170 MANCHESTER- A blast on Monday night at a concert in the English city of Manchester where U.S. singer Ariana Grande had been performing left at least 19 people dead and about 50 injured in what British police said was being treated as a terrorist incident. Police said they were responding to reports of an explosion and that there were a...
Trump reaps Saudi arms deal, stronger ties
May 20th, 20170 RIYADH- Under political fire at home, U.S. President Donald Trump sealed a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia on Saturday on his maiden foreign trip as he struggled to shift attention from the aftermath of his firing of the director of the FBI. The arms deal, plus other investments that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said......
US: Syrians built crematorium at prison to dispose of bodies, Syria denies accusations
May 16th, 20170 WASHINGTON, D.C.-The United States has evidence Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government has built a crematorium at a large military prison outside the capital Damascus, a State Department official said on Monday. Stuart Jones, acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, said U.S. officials believe the...
North Korea fires missile that lands in sea near Russia
May 14th, 20170 SEOUL- North Korea, defying calls to rein in its weapons program, fired a ballistic missile that landed in the sea near Russia on Sunday, days after a new leader came to power in South Korea pledging to engage Pyongyang in dialogue. The U.S. military's Pacific Command said it was assessing the type of missile that was fired but it was......
Macron wins French presidency, to sighs of relief in Europe
May 7th, 20171 PARIS- Emmanuel Macron was elected French president on Sunday with a business-friendly vision of European integration, defeating Marine Le Pen, a far-right nationalist who threatened to take France out of the European Union. The centrist's emphatic victory, which also smashed the dominance of France’s mainstream parties, will bring...
China bans ‘Muhammad’ and ‘Jihad’ as baby names in Muslim populated region
April 30th, 20172 BEIJING — The Chinese government has prohibited parents from choosing certain Islamic names for their children, like "Muhammad", "Arafat" and "Jihad." Officials described the ban as part of an effort to "curb religious fervor" in the western region of Xinjiang, home to more than 10 million Uighurs, a mostly Muslim minority......
