Islamic State militants advance in northern Iraq; U.S., France mull intervention
BAGHDAD — Islamist militants surged across northern Iraq towards the capital of the Kurdish region on Thursday, sending tens of thousands of Christians fleeing for their lives, in an offensive that sparked talk of Western military action.Photographs showed what appeared to be Islamic State fighters controlling a checkpoint at the...Lebanese army surrounds border town, evacuates refugees
LEBANON — Lebanon's army surrounded a border town occupied by Islamist militants on Wednesday as mediators reported progress in negotiations to end to the most serious spillover of Syria's civil war yet onto Lebanese soil.Soldiers arrested men and evacuated refugees from the hill town of Arsal on the border with Syria. One Syrian...Clashes rage in western Libya
TRIPOLI — Clashes in Libya spread from Tripoli to the western town of Zawiya near Tunisia's border, where a large oil port is located, killing four people over the last two days, local town council officials said on Thursday.Foreign governments have mostly closed their embassies and evacuated staff after three weeks of clashes turned...Saudi Arabia toughens restrictions on marrying foreigners
RIYADH — Saudi men have been banned from marrying women from three Asian and one African country as the Gulf state toughens the rules restricting marriage with foreigners, a local daily said.Marrying women from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and Chad is no longer permissible, Makkah newspaper reported.It said the total population of...Egypt’s Mufti rejects Brotherhood leader’s death sentence
Mohamed Badie During his Trial.CAIRO — Egypt's top religious authority has rejected a death sentence proposed for the leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and 13 associates for murder and violence, but was asked by a court on Thursday to reconsider.Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood's general guide, and the other defendants were...Bahrain accuses Qatar of luring citizens to switch nationality
MANAMA — Bahrain has accused wealthier neighbor Qatar of harming its national security by "luring" some nationals to take Qatari citizenship, state news agency BNA said, a charge that could widen a rift among Gulf Arab countries.Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates recalled their ambassadors from Doha in March, accusing...Yemeni troops kill seven suspected al Qaeda militants
ADEN — Yemeni security forces killed seven suspected al-Qaeda militants on Thursday when they tried to attack an army facility in the volatile eastern region of Wadi Hadramout, where the government is perceived to be weak.The Defense Ministry said on its website the militants' target was the headquarters of the first military district,...“The World’s Falcons Beauty Contest” to be held in Abu Dhabi
ABU DHABI – The International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition (Abu Dhabi 2014) announced a general invitation for falcon farms and their owners to participate in the contest for the best looking and largest falcons in the world. Emirates Falconers’ Club formed a judging committee consisting of UAE and international experts in...U.S. sanctions three Kuwaitis over funding Islamic militants
KUWAIT CITY — The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on three men it said funneled money from Kuwait to Islamic militant groups in Iraq and Syria.The U.S. Treasury Department said two of the men raised and delivered money for the Nusra Front, a Syrian rebel group linked to al Qaeda. A third man helped to transfer money from...
Debbie Dingell aims to establish her own legacy with bid for congress
August 1st, 20140 DEARBORN – "I have my own experiences and accomplishments that define who I am," congressional candidate Debbie Dingell said in an interview with The Arab American News. Dingell, the wife of former congressman John Dingell, the longest serving member of the House of Representatives, has long been a figure in Michigan's...Iraqi militia executes 15, hangs them in public square
BAGHDAD — Iraqi Shi'a militia forces executed 15 alleged Islamic State militants and then hung them from electricity poles in a public square in the town of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, on Wednesday, police said.With Iraq sliding ever closer to all-out sectarian civil war, a car bomb exploded near restaurants and shops in the...
Israel bombs school, market, as world watches
August 1st, 20140 A boy stands in the ruins of a UN school in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip.GAZA — Israel and Hamas have agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire in their conflict in the Gaza Strip starting on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday."The ceasefire will begin at 8:00 am local time on Friday,...Israel lobby galvanises support for Gaza war
WASHINGTON — Pro-Israel activists assembled a huge crowd and a long list of congressional leaders and diplomats to declare their unconditional support for Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip on Monday, largely downplaying tensions between Jerusalem and Washington.Key congressional figures from both the Republican...Three killed in car bomb in Cairo
CAIRO — Three people were killed in a car bomb blast on Wednesday in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt's state-run Nile Television said.Another state news outlet, Al-Ahram, quoted Brigadier Mahmoud Shawki, a police officer, as saying those killed had been inside the car and were likely to have been on their way to carry out a...Army breaks up protests as Yemen raises fuel prices
A demonstrator blocks a street with burning tyres during a protest against fuel price hikes in Sanaa July 30.SANAA — One woman was killed in protests that erupted in Sanaa on Wednesday after the Yemeni government announced a rise in fuel prices.Witnesses and a medical source told Reuters the protester was killed as the army fired into......
Libyan jihadists declare Benghazi ‘Islamic emirate’
Fighters from the Benghazi Shura Council, which includes former rebels and militants from al Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia, gesture on top of a tank next to the camp of the special forces in Benghazi.BENGHAZI — Libya’s Islamist militant group Ansar al-Sharia has said that it seized complete control of Benghazi late on Wednesday,...Islamic State militants open office for potential wives
DAMASCUS — Islamic State insurgents have opened an office in northern Syria where single women and widows can register to marry fighters from the radical al Qaeda offshoot, a monitoring group said on Monday.The office in al-Bab, a town northeast of Aleppo city, records the names and addresses of the women so that Islamic State...What the August 5 primary ballot proposals mean to you
Voters are being asked to go to the polls next week to not only cast their ballots for candidates in various primary races, but also to weigh in on important statewide and county-level proposals that will impact businesses, school districts and public transportation. It is crucial to vote on these proposals because of the...Recruiting to kill – Western ‘Israeli Jihadists‘
To some, Secretary of state John Kerry may have appeared to be a genuine peacemaker as he floated around ideas during a Cairo visit on July 25 about a ceasefire between Israel and resisting Palestinian fighters in Gaza. But behind his measured diplomatic language, there is a truth not even America’s top diplomat can easily hide. His......
U.S. Condemns Shelling of U.N. School in Gaza
WASHINGTON - The White House condemned on Wednesday the shelling of a U.N. school in the Gaza Strip that was sheltering Palestinians displaced by the fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.The U.S. didn't assign responsibility for the shelling, but Gaza officials say Israel struck the school, killing 15 and wounding 90....Qatar Emir visits Saudi king to discuss Gaza
RIYADH — Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Tuesday, July 22, met Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Jeddah for talks that focused on the situation in Gaza."Qatar is committed to the Palestinian people and wants to do everything to stop the killing," said a Doha-based source "The emir's visit to Saudi comes as part of......
ISIS deadline for Iraqi Christians passes with mass flight
A Chrisitan home marked with the Arabic equivilant of the letter "N" by ISIS.The last Christians in northern Iraq are fleeing from places where their communities have lived for almost 2,000 years, as a deadline passed for them to either convert to Islam, pay a special tax or be killed.It is the greatest mass flight of Christians in the...
Israel bombs UN shelter in Gaza as its army suffers heavy losses
July 25th, 20140 Israeli soldiers evacuate their wounded comrades at an army deployment area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, on July 20, 2014.GAZA — Gazan authorities said Israeli forces shelled a shelter at a U.N.-run school on Thursday, July 24, killing at least 15 people as the Palestinian death toll in the conflict climbed over 760 and......