AT&T to launch 5G in U.S. this year
January 5th, 20180 AT&T, the second largest U.S. wireless carrier, said it would launch fifth-generation (5G) mobile network service in a dozen cities in the United States by late 2018, after international wireless standards for the network were finalized last month. The 5G technology is expected to provide higher speed and response times than 4G...
Year-in review: The top local, national and international stories of 2017
January 5th, 20180 Here's our 2017 year-in-review of the most important news and developments as reported by The Arab American News locally, nationally and internationally. Community and local 1. Former Dearborn City Clerk Kathy Buda was convicted on embezzlement charges, after clerk office employees reported suspicions she was stealing cash from fees...
Trump breaks with former aide Steve Bannon: He ‘lost his mind’
January 3rd, 20180 WASHINGTON - President Trump on Wednesday blasted former White House adviser Steve Bannon as having “lost his mind” in the fallout over damaging comments Bannon made about Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., in excerpts of a new book. Trump, who had continued to speak privately with Bannon in the months after firing him as the White...
Apple apologizes after outcry over slowed iPhones, promises to fix battery issues
December 28th, 20170 NEW YORK - Facing lawsuits and consumer outrage after it said it slowed older iPhones with flagging batteries, Apple Inc is slashing prices for battery replacements and will change its software to show users whether their phone battery is good. In a posting on its website Thursday, Apple apologized over its handling of the battery...
Education Department cancels student loan debts for 12,900 college fraud victims
December 22nd, 20171 WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, the Education Department canceled the student-loan debts of 12,900 people defrauded by defunct Corinthian Colleges, but its announcement that it will give varying amounts of debt relief in the future set off fierce criticism. For-profit higher education provider Corinthian collapsed in 2015 amid...Federal Trade Commission releases National Do Not Call Registry Data Book
WASHIGNTON D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released the latest edition of the Do Not Call Registry Data Book, which includes more information on robocall complaints, new information about the types of calls consumers reported to the FTC and a complete state-by-state analysis. More than 229 million phone numbers in the...
State Department tells refugee agencies to downsize U.S. operations
December 22nd, 20170 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The State Department has told refugee agencies it will sharply pare back the number of offices across the country authorized to resettle people in 2018 as President Trump cuts the number of refugees allowed into the United States. The announcement was made at a Dec. 1 meeting in Washington with State Department...ISIS threatens attacks in U.S. over Trump’s Jerusalem decision
CAIRO — ISIS threatened attacks on U.S. soil in retaliation for the Trump administration's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, one of the group's social media accounts reported on Thursday without giving any details. In a message on one of its accounts on the Telegram instant messaging service titled "Wait for...
Minnesota lieutenant governor to replace Franken in Senate
December 15th, 20170 WASHINGTON — Minnesota's Democratic Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith was appointed as a senator on Wednesday to replace Al Franken, who resigned after being accused of sexual harassment. Smith, 59, will serve a one-year term concluding in January 2019, Governor Mark Dayton said at a news conference, and will run in a special election...
FCC strikes down net neutrality
December 15th, 20170 WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted along party lines on Thursday to repeal landmark 2015 rules aimed at ensuring a free and open Internet, setting up a court fight over a move that could recast the digital landscape. The approval of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal in a 3-2 vote marked a victory for...
Feds charge Times Square bomb suspect, Bangladesh questions wife
December 12th, 20170 NEW YORK — Prosecutors on Tuesday brought federal charges against a Bangladeshi man, accusing him of using a weapon of mass destruction in Monday’s bombing of a Manhattan commuter hub. Akayed Ullah, 27, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court with providing material support to a foreign terrorist...
Florida man sentenced to 15 years in prison for vandalizing mosque
December 8th, 20172 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A man who vandalized a Florida mosque in January 2016 and left a raw slab of bacon on its doorstep was sentenced to 15 years in prison on a hate crime conviction, a state attorney's spokesman said on Wednesday. Michael Wolfe, 37, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to criminal mischief to a place of worship in a case...
Study: Americans’ favorable opinions toward Arabs and Muslims improving
December 8th, 20170 WASHINGTON — A growing number of Americans hold favorable opinions of Arabs and Muslims, a new survey by the Arab American Institute (AAI) shows. The survey released Tuesday found attitudes toward Arabs, Muslims, Arab Americans and Muslim Americans have risen to the highest levels in a decade. Conducted two months after the White...
U.S. Supreme Court allows Trump’s latest Muslim ban go into full effect
December 4th, 20170 WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to President Donald Trump by allowing his latest travel ban targeting people from six Muslim-majority countries to go into full effect even as legal challenges continue in lower courts. The court, with two of the nine justices dissenting, granted his administration’s...
Trump retweets misleading anti-Muslim videos from UK racist group
December 2nd, 20171 WASHINGTON — on Wednesday President Trump retweeted three anti-Muslim videos posted by the deputy head of a British far-right group who has been convicted of a hate crime and previously posted a number of misleading videos. But the three Trump shared were provocatively titled "Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!"; "Muslim......
Tom Friedman’s paean to a Saudi tyrant ignites NYT comments-storm
December 2nd, 20170 By Mike Whitney "I've never thought much of Friedman's work, but this is the work of a complete toady." Jim, New York Times comments section "What a nauseating exercise in a…-kissing!" Karim Pakravan, NYT comments section NEW YORK — Why did Tom Friedman write such a gushing tribute to the Saudi tyrant, Mohammed bin Salman?...
AAA: 51 million Americans traveling this holiday
November 21st, 20170 More Americans will travel this Thanksgiving than the past 12 years, according to AAA's annual holiday travel forecast it released last Thursday. It predicts nearly 51 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles to celebrate the holiday. That's a 3 percent increase from last year, and the highest number since 2005. Travelers...
U.S. Rep. John Conyers denies sexual harassment allegation
November 21st, 20170 WASHINGTON — House of Representatives Democrats called for an investigation on Tuesday into allegations of sexual harassment against U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-Detroit), who said his office had resolved a harassment case with a payment but no admission of guilt. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, in a statement on fellow Democrat...
UCLA basketball players apologize for shoplifting in China, thank Trump
November 18th, 20170 LOS ANGELES - Three UCLA basketball players who had been detained in China on suspicion of shoplifting admitted on Wednesday that they stole items from three stores, and they thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for his help in winning their release. The three players - LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill - remain suspended from the......
Billionaire founder of Insys pleads not guilty to opioid bribe scheme
November 18th, 20170 BOSTON — The billionaire founder of drugmaker Insys Therapeutics Inc pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges that he participated in a scheme to bribe doctors to prescribe a fentanyl-based spray to treat pain in cancer patients. John Kapoor, who stepped down as Insys' chief executive officer and chairman in January but remains its...
Nearly 1.5 million people signed up for Obamacare plans so far
November 15th, 20170 WASHINGTON — More than 800,000 people signed up for Obamacare individual health insurance plans in the second week of open enrollment, U.S. government health officials said on Wednesday, bringing the total number of sign-ups to nearly 1.5 million so far. There is particular scrutiny of how Affordable Care Act programs are faring......
Trump nominates Arab American Alex Azar as U.S health secretary
November 13th, 20170 WASHINGTON, D.C.—On November 13, Alex Azar was nominated to be the next United States Health and Human Services secretary. If the nomination goes through, Azar will be the second Arab American to serve in this position. Previously, Donna Shalala served eight years in the position during former president Bill Clinton’s...
Anti-Muslimblog post costs State Rep. TimKelly Education Department position
November 10th, 20170 WASHINGTON — The Department of Education is no longer considering State Rep. Tim Kelly (R-Saginaw) for a leadership post over personal blog posts deemed offensive to Muslims, reported Education Week, a national newspaper covering K–12 education. The posts were made between 2009 and 2012 on Kelly's "Citizen Leader" blog, when he......
