Rashida Tlaib seeks Conyers’ seat, would be first Muslim woman in Congress
February 6th, 20180 DETROIT — Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat, has officially thrown her hat in the race for Michigan's 13th congressional district. The seat was left open by longstanding U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit), who retired in December amid sexual harassment allegations. "Serving in the U.S. Congress is about much more than voting on bills,"...
U.S. Rep. Sander Levin retiring from Congress when term ends next year
December 8th, 20170 ROYAL OAK — After 35 years in Congress, U.S. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Royal Oak) is retiring and pursing a different career. The 86-year-old Democrat will not run for reelection in 2018, but will instead join the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, where he will continue to work on issues that have engrossed...
Bannon: Republicans could lose U.S. House over immigration fight
September 15th, 20170 WASHINGTON ― Republican infighting over the fate of immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children could be so vitriolic that the party loses control of the U.S. House of Representatives next year, Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President Trump, said in an interview airing on Sunday. Bannon, whose far-right views...
New York’s first Arab candidate loses shot at City Council, but wins solidarity
September 14th, 20171 New York City— After a groundbreaking grassroots campaign, Yemeni activist Rabyaah Althaibani choked back tears as she mourned the defeat of the first Arab-American candidate for New York City Council on Tuesday night. “Yes we lost, but we won,” Althaibani said at a neighborhood bar, surrounded by dozens of supporters for Khader...
Trott’s retirement creates opportunity for Michigan Democrats
September 14th, 20171 WASHINGTON — As U.S. Rep. Dave Trott (R-Birmingham), known for his anti-immigrant stance, is set to retire from Congress at the end of his second term and return to the private sector, questions have been raised regarding the possibility for a Democrat to take his place. “Our country’s Founding Fathers envisioned a government...
Sam Jammal announces run for Congress in 39th District in California
July 21st, 20170 FULLERTON, CA — Republican Congressman Ed Royce is the 24-year incumbent who has been challenged by a former Obama Administration official, Sam Jammal, in the 39th district. Born and raised in Fullerton, Jammal said he aims to reestablish the American Dream; he believes it has been becoming out of reach for citizens. Jammal is the...
CNN won’t air Trump’s ‘100 days’ ad
May 4th, 20170 WASHINGTON, D.C.-AN ad by Trump's campaign that featured the President jeering at the mainstream media network CNN for being "fake news" will not be aired by the station, sources said Tuesday. In a statement addressing the ad, CNN said that they “requested that the advertiser remove the false graphic that says the mainstream media...
Iraqi militia threatens ISIS’ supply route to Syria
November 18th, 20160 BAGHDAD — Iraqi militias said on Wednesday they had driven ISIS fighters from an air base west of Mosul, a victory which would threaten the group's supply route from Syria to its last major stronghold in Iraq. "The airport of Tal Afar has been liberated," Yusif al-Kallabi, a spokesman for Popular Mobilisation, a coalition of mainly...
UN: Arab Spring cost more than $600 billion worth of growth
November 17th, 20160 NEW YORK — A new report from the United Nations suggests that the turmoil in the years since 2010 has left a heavy economic imprint in the Arab region — in particular, leading to a net loss of $613.8 billion in economic activity, or about 6 percent of gross domestic product from 2011 to 2015. The commission noted that it was not...
Turkey aims to fully secure borders early next year with Syria campaign
November 17th, 20160 ANKRA — Turkey aims to have fully secured its borders in the first half of next year, Defence Minister Fikri Isik said on Thursday, as Turkish-backed forces pursue a campaign to clear ISIS and Kurdish fighters from a strip of northern Syria. NATO member Turkey sent tanks, warplanes and artillery into Syria in August in support of...
Yemen’s Houthis say they want to end war, form unity government
November 17th, 20160 HODEIDAH — Yemen's Houthi group said on Wednesday it was ready to stop fighting and join a national unity government, raising hopes of a resolution to a conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people. The announcement appeared to confirm the details of a deal set out by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a day earlier that he said...
British woman faces jail time in Dubai for reporting gang rape
November 16th, 20160 DUBAI - A British woman who was allegedly gang-raped by two men in Dubai faces jail after police accused her of "extra marital sex". The 25 year old claims she was attacked by fellow British tourists in October while on holiday in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).After she went to the authorities, she was arrested and charged with having...
Chef says he was beaten by Muslim men because he ‘looks like Trump’
November 15th, 20160 SWEDEN - While Muslims are facing a wave of attacks and insults as a result of Trump's election in the U.S., one man in Sweden claims the reverse effect happened to him. A Swedish chef was reportedly assaulted by three Muslim men who punched and kicked him in the face and head, sending him to the emergency room. Writing...
Iraqi forces preparing advance on south Mosul
November 11th, 20160 BAGHDAD — Iraqi security forces are preparing to advance toward Mosul airport on the city's southern edge to increase pressure on ISIS militants fighting troops who breached their eastern defenses, officers said on Thursday. The rapid response forces, part of a coalition seeking to crush the terrorists in the largest city under...
Israeli minister: Trump’s victory ends prospects of Palestinian state
November 11th, 20160 Donald Trump's election victory means the Palestinian people will never have a state of their own, right-wing Israeli government education minister Naftali Bennett has said. He hailed the demise of a "two-state solution" in the Middle East. Bennett is an advocate of expanding Jewish illegal settlements in the West Bank, which......
U.N. says rations run out in east Aleppo, hopes for aid deal
November 11th, 20160 UNITED NATIONS — Aid workers in eastern Aleppo were distributing the last available food rations on Thursday as the quarter of a million people besieged in the Syrian city entered what is expected to be a cruel winter, U.N. humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said. Speaking in Geneva, Egeland said he was hopeful of a deal on a...
Sandstorm hindering Raqqa offensive
November 11th, 20160 DAMASCUS — A U.S.-backed advance on Raqqa, ISIS de facto capital in Raqqa, was being hampered by a sandstorm on Thursday, a commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said. "The situation is dangerous today because there is no visibility due to a desert sandstorm," the commander said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We...
Anxious world leaders seek clarity on Trump policies
November 11th, 20160 WASHINGTON — World leaders offered to work with Donald Trump when he takes over as U.S. president, but expressed anxiety over how he will handle problems from the Middle East to an assertive Russia and whether he will carry out a number of campaign threats. Several authoritarian and right-wing leaders hailed the billionaire...
Royal Jordanian offering last minute cheap flights to U.S. “in case Trump wins”
November 8th, 20160 JORDAN - Just in case Donald Trump wins Tuesday's US presidential election, a tongue-in-cheek Royal Jordanian airlines advertisement is offering last minute flights to Muslims in case they are subject to a ban from entering the US. In a Twitter ad, Jordan's flag carrier airline wrote, "Just in case he wins...Travel to the US while......
Saudi Arabia shows signs of accepting U.N. plan for Yemen
November 3rd, 20160 SANAA — Diplomats promoting a U.N. plan to end Yemen's war detect cautious support for its ideas from Saudi Arabia, raising hopes the proposals might unlock stalled efforts to end the 19-month-old conflict and a worsening humanitarian disaster. The kingdom leads a mostly Gulf Arab military alliance which has launched thousands of...
Rebels step up Aleppo offensive, clash with each other
November 3rd, 20160 DAMASCUS — Syrian insurgents stepped up a week-long offensive on government-held areas in the city of Aleppo on Thursday, detonating three car bombs and firing shells which killed at least a dozen civilians, state media and a monitor said. Rebel groups detonated three large car bombs near pro-government forces on the western edge of......
ISIS leader says ‘no retreat’ from Mosul, as Iraqi troops close in
Iraq's flag is seen during a sand storm in Bartilla, east of Mosul, Iraq Nov. 1MOSUL — ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi told his followers on Thursday there could be no retreat in a "total war" against the forces arrayed against them, as advancing soldiers battled the terrorists inside their northern Iraqi stronghold. Expressing...Protests at fishmonger’s death shake Moroccan monarchy
RABAT — Grainy video images and the screams of a young fishmonger who was crushed to death in a garbage truck while trying to stop police destroying his stock have shocked Moroccans and brought thousands on to the streets to protest. Five years after pro-democracy protests shook Morocco, this week's unrest is a reminder of pent-up......