Asylum cases hinge more on luck than law
NEW YORK (IPS) - In January 2006, on the heels of reports of widespread incompetence, injustice, and political cronyism among the judges who decide the fate of thousands of immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced a sweeping review of the entire asylum process. Six months later,...BBC Arabic television news channel launches next week
LONDON — BBC Arabic television — the BBC's news and information channel in the Arabic language — launches on Tuesday 11 March 2008 at 10.00 GMT, it was announced this week. Initially broadcast for 12 hours a day, the television channel is part of the BBC's integrated multimedia news service for the Arab world. It will move to 24/7 in...
Michigan votes may count after all
March 7th, 20080 WASHINGTON — Bringing an abrupt end to Sen. Barack Obama's winning streak in the primary battles for the Democratic U.S. presidential nomination, rival Sen. Hillary Clinton reinvigorated her campaign this week by taking three of four primaries on Tuesday — including key delegate-rich states Ohio and Texas, as well as Rhode...Islamic charities draw more scrutiny
Counterterrorism officials in the U.S. and the Middle East, who in recent years have shut down several Islamic charities accused of financing terrorist organizations, now are pursuing what they describe as a second constellation of such groups. Key figures who avoided the initial legal dragnet in 2001 and 2002 have continued to...Why Obama is good for Israel
Barack Obama has pledged that, if elected President of the United States, he will travel to a "major Islamic forum" in the first 100 days of his administration to deliver the clear message that "we are not at war with Islam." This is a strong signal that Obama believes George W. Bush's lethal confrontation with the world of Islam...Nader is in and Obama can handle it
Ralph Nader is running again for president. After four previous bids, mounted in varying forums and with varying goals, Nader is used to the slings and arrows that will be tossed his way. He is conscious and committed. He will not back off. He knows how to campaign in the face of a firestorm of criticism. Above all, he knows how...Obama for a new beginning in America
Very possibly the most important presidential elections of our lifetime will take place this November. America is in peril, and voters from all walks of life and all political orientations across all 50 states will go to the polls to show their preference for the next leader of the free world. What is of concern to me and a lot...Iraq is still important in 2008 race
WASHINGTON — Despite polls showing that the economy has eclipsed the Iraq war as the number one issue for U.S. voters, the war itself, and as Barack Obama rightly terms it, "the mindset that got us into this war," will remain critical issues in the 2008 presidential contest. Here's why: While Iraq has largely fallen off the front...
Obama pulls ahead in national polling; defeats Clinton, McCain
February 23rd, 20080 NEW YORK — Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has opened up a gaping 14-point lead over Democratic rival Senator Hillary Clinton in a national presidential preference telephone survey conducted by Zogby International for Reuters news service. Obama And while Obama leads Republican Senator John McCain in a national general election...FISA program allowed to expire by House Dems
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. The program allowed the National Security Agency to monitor suspect telephone calls and e-mails between the United States and overseas...
Holding McCain to his own standard
February 23rd, 20080 John McCain treads dangerous ground as he defends himself against charges that he may have maintained an inappropriate relationship with a special-interest lobbyist, and that he may have done so with an individual who influenced his actions as a key player on the Senate Commerce Committee on matters involving communications policy....The war against tolerance
Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani are the three stooges of the Christian right. These self-described former Muslim terrorists are regularly trotted out at Christian colleges — a few days ago they were at the Air Force Academy — to spew racist filth about Islam on behalf of groups such as Focus on the Family. It is a clever...A pause in troop withdrawal?
WASHINGTON (IPS) — As the man responsible for the health and strength of the U.S. military, Pentagon chief Robert Gates is increasingly finding himself between the devil and the deep blue sea. On the one hand, there's the devil in his Iraq-obsessed boss, President George W. Bush, who clearly opposes any move that could risk what gains...
Hezbollah may be threat in the U.S., FBI warns
February 16th, 20080 WASHINGTON -- The FBI and Department of Homeland Security sent a bulletin Friday to state and local law enforcement authorities advising them to watch for potential retaliatory strikes by Hezbollah, one day after the Lebanese militia group vowed to avenge the death of a top commander by attacking Israeli and Jewish targets around the...
Obama’s Virginia win sweeter than McCain’s
February 16th, 20080 It was hard to know where the good news ended for Barack Obama as results piled in from the Potomac. There was no question that Obama would dominate in DC and Maryland. But his overwhelming romp in Virginia — one of a handful of formerly "red" states that are toss-ups for 2008 — made the best case yet that the Illinois senator just might......
Arab Americans getting close to Obama?
February 9th, 20080 United States' politics have become intimately tied to Arab politics since 9/11 and the start of the ongoing war in Iraq. In a 2007 Zogby poll, sixty one percent of Arab American voters cited Iraq as the top issue in the election. Sixty six percent of Arab American voters also ranked Palestine very high on the list of issues of...
Arab Americans and Obama’s false hope
February 9th, 20080 At what point does an individual stop supporting the lesser of two evils? The question has become particularly important in the Democratic primary race, as one man has ascended to political stardom, ostensibly breaking free from the evils of mainstream politics and creating a platform based on hope and change. This transcendent figure is...Arab bloggers and the Obama phenomenon
With Super Tuesday leaving no clear Democratic nominee, Arab Americans are yet to be sold on either candidate. Arab American views towards Barack Obama, in particular, are a mixed bag. While support for him among chattering classes in the Arab world runs high, according to ABC News, Arab American writers are often ambivalent....U.S. Methodist Church renews drive for divestment from Israel
Tensions are re-emerging between Jewish organizations and some mainline Protestant churches in the wake of a renewed drive for churches to divest from companies doing business with Israel. The United Methodist Church opened discussions last Friday on a resolution calling for divestment from Caterpillar, the tractor manufacturer,......
Playing politics with the race card
An interesting article appeared recently in the liberal-lefty news website, Alternet, on the dirty tricks of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, designed by her to undermine her main rival, Barack Obama on racial and gender grounds during the Nevada primary. In it, Steven Rosenfeld wrote about how the Nevada State Education...Fed cuts rates twice in one week
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve delivered powerful new relief to people and businesses squeezed by the ailing economy Wednesday, cutting interest rates ever deeper in an effort to avert or at least soften the blow of a recession. The bold, half-point reduction approved by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and all but one of his......
Obama nixes Palestinian right of return
February 5th, 20080 Rudy Giuliani, the Republican former mayor of New York, and John Edwards, the Democratic former North Carolina senator, both dropped out of the U.S. presidential race this week. Giuliani, who finished third in Florida's Republican primary, endorsed John McCain, Arizona's senator, in his battle for the nomination. "John McCain...
American Muslim voters left out in the cold
January 28th, 20080 The seven million strong constituency could make a significant difference NEW YORK (IPS) — In an electoral campaign system tactically dominated by "niche politics," major candidates for their party's presidential nominations are running as fast as they can from one potentially influential constituency. The constituency is the......