The Arab American News
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Gas station owner gets $50 million jury verdict in epic battle against Shell Oil
April 4th, 20100 It's not too often an attorney from a tiny firm battles a company like Shell Oil on behalf of a single plaintiff and walks away with a $50 million jury verdict. This looks like a gas station, but note no pumps. Atallah had to rent his defunct station to Smog Busters, which tests to ensure cars meet California emission control...Israel recognizing Obama means business
JERUSALEM (IPS) - Against all expectations, it's becoming the forerunner of a peace plan. Indeed, it might in the end even surprise the world as Israelis and Palestinians are forced into a peace. Even if, for now, it's shaping up as anything but peaceful. It's a battle royale. A Palestinian youth carries a box filled with...U.S. poll reveals sharp partisan divide
WASHINGTON - Eighty-one percent of U.S. citizens say the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has hurt their country's interests, according to a new poll, although a sharp partisan divide increasingly frames the issues. An Israeli border police officer removes a Palestinian flag placed by a demonstrator at the controversial Israeli...Uphill coalition-building for Iraq election winners unfolds
WASHINGTON (IPS) - Iraq's major political forces are beginning what is likely to be a lengthy and uncertain process of talks to form a government. A key question is whether Iraq's politically diverse groups will join forces based on ideological, ethnic, sectarian or merely pragmatic considerations. Iraq's President Jalal...Obama pushes speedy Iran sanctions
The U.S. president has pressed for tougher U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program to be passed in a matter of weeks. Barack Obama, in a joint press conference with Nicolas Sarkozy, his visiting French counterpart, said it was time to get moving on the sanctions after prolonged negotiations with China, Russia, Germany...Roumieh Prison breeds criminality not reform
BEIRUT (IPS) - Lebanon's notorious Roumieh prison, the scene of a stand-off between inmates and security personnel this month, is no stranger to rioting, escapes, corruption and abuse. An army helicopter flies over Roumieh Prison, Lebanon's biggest jail, in the hilly eastern suburb overlooking the capital Beirut, Lebanon,...Arab summit is political theatre
Arab leaders met last week in Libya in a ritual summit held almost annually since the end of the Second World War. Although the League of Arab States (also commonly referred to as the Arab League) was established in 1945, it was not until 1964 that member states met for the first time at the Cairo headquarters to discuss the Israeli...Time to stand up to Israel
As I listened to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address an animated crowd of supporters on March 22, I felt physically sick. The man has already displayed time and again a complete lack of moral sense or ethical framework in his words and actions. A protester puts a Palestinian flag on an uprooted tree during a...
DPS leader wants more Arab American students
April 4th, 20100 DETROIT - Detroit Public Schools' Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb met with The Arab American News Publisher and spokesman of the Congress of Arab American Organizations (CAAO) Osama Siblani on Tuesday, March 30 at the Fisher Building in Detroit to discuss plans to attract more Arab American children to Detroit...Arab American named one of Crain’s “Top 20 in their 20s”
Former Dearborn City Council candidate Ali Sayed was named one of Crain's Detroit Business' "Top 20 in their 20s," the fifth annual list of the most promising young professionals in Michigan. Sayed Sayed, who founded the popular Hype Athletics Program in Dearborn in 2001, beat out more than 300 other applicants for the...Nine Christian militia members indicted for allegedly planning to attack law enforcement officials in Michigan
A total of nine people were indicted by a federal grand jury in Detroit on March 29 on charges of seditious conspiracy and other related offenses stemming from an alleged planned attack on law enforcement officials in Michigan. The five-count indictment charges that between August 2008 and the present, the defendants, David Brian...
Rise of right wing extremist groups cause for alarm
April 4th, 20100 The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) recently documented 34 militia groups in Michigan - a staggering number when one considers that a year earlier the SPLC found only 42 militias in the entire country. As citizen militias formed across the country during the 1990s, few states were closer to the heart of the antigovernment...Mihtar wows fans with championship victory
DETROIT - Dearborn boxer Brian "The Lion" Mihtar stepped into the ring March 27 to face the man touted as his toughest opponent to date, former World Boxing Intercontinental Champion Robert Kamya at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Mihtar holds his North American Boxing Championship belt. But speaking in reflection...Arab American painter opens online gallery
J. F. Dagher, Lebanese born painter, has opened an online gallery selling original art and giclee reproductions. "Laundry Day" by J.F. Dagher. The paintings of Dagher reflect life and living in the Arab culture. "I really wanted to portray the Arab culture, to help preserve aspects of it, and to give others insight into...Jackson urges action at CAIR-MI banquet
DEARBORN - The Council on American-Islamic Relations-Michigan (CAIR-MI) celebrated its 10th anniversary at its annual banquet on Sunday, March 28, attracting about 1,000 people to the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dearborn, including renowned civil and human rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson as keynote speaker. Civil and human......
Tariq Ramadan to visit Detroit MuslimFest
DEARBORN - Tariq Ramadan will be the keynote speaker on April 11 in Detroit. He will address a Sound Vision benefit speaking on the topic of "Jihad within young hearts: Toward positive engagement." The event organizer, Sound Vision, says that young Muslims today face tremendous pressures. These pressures arise from a variety of sources:...Wayne Law to break ground on Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights
DETROIT - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will speak at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University Law School, 1:30 p.m. on Monday, May 17. Judge Damon Keith The ceremony comes on the heels of two generous gifts made to the Law School, including a combined gift...Students look to represent diversity at UM-Ann Arbor
With so much already on his plate at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, freshman and Dearborn Fordson graduate Jaber Saad could be excused for using his down time to relax. Jaber Saad But Saad, who came to Michigan with both a full tuition scholarship and his expected medical school tuition paid for, thanks to1947...Debate rages on over proposed alcohol ban in Bahrain
MANAMA (IPS) - Legislators say it would encourage more Islamic behavior and cure social ills, but critics say a complete ban by Bahrain on selling alcohol would mean big losses in tax revenues and lead to a black market in liquor. A campaign launched on the social networking site Facebook by Bahraini youth, though the creation......
Rights groups condemn harassment of ex-prisoners in Tunisia
WASHINGTON (IPS) - The Tunisian government should stop the harassment of political prisoners after their release from jail, say rights groups in two new reports. Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali According to both Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International, the government of Tunisia often subjects...Barakat wears Palestine on his sleeves
At most every local gathering of advocates for Palestinian rights, one figure always stands out - a 74-year-old, Haifa-born firebrand always wearing colorful skull caps, wristbands and knee-high boots over baggy pants. Yusif Barakat with a group of young Gazans "I've been unique my whole life. I've always dressed different,......
Cut off the cash and Israel might behave
Israelis are not renowned for their good manners, but their treatment of Vice-President Joe Biden during his recent visit to their country went beyond chutzpah. Biden is one of Israel's staunchest supporters in Washington, and the purpose of his visit was to prepare the ground for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the...Cal-Berkeley students pass divestment, fight veto
While progress in bringing freedom and peace to Palestine has been painfully slow, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement continues to gain supporters both in the U.S. and abroad. Economic pressure from campuses and other organizations helped bring about the end of the former apartheid state in South Africa and many......