Biden and First Lady Jill Biden host Eid al-Fitr reception at the White House
May 5th, 20220 WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Monday, May 2, President Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden hosted a reception to celebrate Eid al-Fitr at the White House. The reception welcomed Muslim community members from across the country, including from Michigan, like U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) and Wayne County Commissioner Sam...
ISIS “Beatle” sentenced to life for murdering U.S. hostages
May 3rd, 20220 WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Friday, a U.S. judge imposed a lifetime prison sentence on a member of an ISIS militant group nicknamed "The Beatles" who beheaded American hostages, at a hearing where one victim's mother told the defendant, "I will not hate you." U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia, held an emotionally...
International medical graduates ease the U.S. doctor shortage
April 28th, 20220 By Dr. G Richard Olds Thousands of young doctors recently learned where they'll be spending the next few years of their lives in residency. A significant number of them will be U.S. citizens who completed medical school abroad. This corps of internationally educated doctors has become increasingly important to the U.S. healthcare...
Bill seeks to include Mid East and North African category in minority-serving health programs
April 27th, 20220 DEARBORN — U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) and Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) have joined colleagues to introduce a bill that includes people who identify as Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) as a racial and ethnic minority group in the U.S. Public Health Service Act. The MENA population is categorized as White or "other"...
Tracing Toledo’s Arab American roots for Arab American Heritage Month
April 23rd, 20220 By Zeinab Cheaib April is Arab American Heritage Month, which is particularly special in Toledo, where a vital Arab-American community has contributed to the city's rich history for more than a century. Samir Abu Absi, a professor emeritus at the University of Toledo, said some of the first Arab immigrants came to north...
Muslim American giving aimed at poor totaled $1.8 billion last year, study shows
April 23rd, 20220 By Dan Parks Muslim Americans gave $1.8 billion last year to meet their religious obligation to help the poor, according to a new study by the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. The study counted only giving related to the religious principle known as zakat, which...
BA.2 and its offshoot account for majority of U.S. cases, as travel mask mandate is lifted
April 20th, 20220 With the mutations of Omicron now making up more than 90 percent of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., travelers in the country were suddenly informed that a court order had blocked the Biden administration’s mask mandate on public transportation this week. That ruling from a federal judge on Monday came as COVID-19 infections are...
Six charged, including two from Dearborn, with tax conspiracy and wire fraud
April 15th, 20220 A federal grand jury in Flint returned an indictment on Wednesday, charging Michael Angelo (Angelo), Hassan Kamal Fayad, Mirna Kamal Fayad, Cory Justin Mann, Thomas Reed Quartz and Rosina Angelo with conspiring to defraud the IRS and other crimes. According to the indictment, from approximately 2011 to 2022, Angelo owned and operated...
Whitmer files lawsuit to stop state’s abortion law, in case U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe V. Wade
April 8th, 20220 LANSING — Governor Whitmer became the first governor to file a lawsuit to protect abortion rights, in anticipation of a possible overturning of an overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court. Whitmer filed the suit using her executive authority to ask the Michigan Supreme Court to immediately resolve whether Michigan’s...
Congress members urge Biden to ensure “free and fair” Lebanese election
April 8th, 20220 U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) is joining a group of two dozen U.S. House members to urge the Biden administration to work with Lebanese officials to ensure that the upcoming parliamentary elections on May 15 are carried out on time, transparently and free of corruption. The group sent out a letter to Secretary of State Antony...
President Biden issues letter celebrating Arab American Heritage Month
April 4th, 20220 WASHINGTON D.C. — President Biden sent out a message commemorating National Arab American Heritage Month over the weekend, reproduced here in full. On Friday, the president tweeted, "The history and story of the Arab American community is deeply woven into the diverse tapestry of America. This National Arab American Heritage...
Organizations call for Ramadan boycott of Israeli dates grown and packaged in illegal settlements
April 1st, 20220 A rights organization is relaunching a Ramadan boycott of Israeli dates grown on illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands, and harvested through abusive treatment of Palestinian workers. American Muslims for Palestine’s (AMP) National Israeli Date Boycott Campaign 2022 is a nationwide boycott of dates produced in Israeli...
The billion dollar deal that made Google and Amazon partners in the Israeli occupation of Palestine
March 26th, 20220 “We are anonymous because we fear retaliation.” This sentence was part of a letter signed by 500 Google employees last October, in which they decried their company’s direct support for the Israeli government and military. In their letter, the signatories protested a $1.2 billion contract between Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS)...
What time is it? U.S. Senate vote sets off debate on daylight saving time
March 18th, 20220 WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a bitterly divided Washington, Republicans and Democrats apparently agree on one thing: The twice-yearly ritual of changing clocks needs to end. Even with that rare show of bipartisan consensus, it is less clear whether the county will be able to agree on a common time standard. On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate...
Californian Chaldean community’s lawsuit provides interesting example in redistricting disputes
March 12th, 20220 SAN DIEGO — San Diego County’s deep rooted Chaldean community says it is being disenfranchised by the County’s redistricting of the area in which most of this ethnic and religious minority group resides. A group representing the concentrated Chaldean community in the East County has said the county's redistricting efforts have......
Biden administration misses big chance to reduce prescription drug costs
March 12th, 20220 By Carl Schmid President Biden has repeatedly promised to make health care more affordable. And his administration has taken some important steps. But sadly, officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services just passed up an opportunity to save patients millions at the pharmacy. In December, the CMS released a draft of...
U.S. accused of hypocrisy for supporting sanctions against Russia, but not Israel
March 11th, 20220 By Chris McGreal The U.S. and some of its European allies are facing accusations of double standards for supporting sanctions and international war crimes investigations against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine while blocking them over Israeli military actions in the occupied Palestinian territories. But pro-Israel groups in the...
Gas prices hit record highs in the U.S.
March 9th, 20220 Americans are now experiencing soaring gas prices, surging more than 30 percent since Russia invaded Ukraine and the U.S. and other countries imposed a raft of sanctions. The Biden administration has already begun looking at scenarios in which oil tops $200 a barrel, with gas stations already topping $4 a gallon in many...
U.S. to resume Iraqi refugee program after fraud investigation
March 6th, 20220 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. said on Tuesday it has reopened a refugee program for Iraqis that was placed on hold for more than a year during an investigation into fraud. Officials will resume processing applications that were suspended during the probe and accepting new petitions for resettlement as part of the Iraqi "Direct Access"......
Russia invades Ukraine in biggest attack on another state in Europe since WW2; U.S. imposes sanctions on Moscow
February 25th, 20220 News of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday shored up global anxieties over a conflict that has the potential to drag in regional powers and the U.S., marking the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two. The invasion began Thursday morning with attacks by land, sea and air, with missiles...
Arab, female-founded “relationship” app sees growing global success
February 22nd, 20220 DETROIT — A U.S.-based, Arab female-owned dating app has seen a massive increase in users around the world and growing popularity in international app markets. Baklava, an "Arab relationship app for dating, marriage and friendships", announced last week that it is now at 160,000 plus downloads and growing. The app is now seeing......
Key U.S.-Canada bridge reopens as Ottawa protest persists
February 14th, 20220 WINDSOR — The busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing was open Monday after protesters demonstrating against COVID-19 measures blocked it for nearly a week, but a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa, persisted as city residents seethed over authorities’ inability to reclaim the streets. Demonstrations against virus restrictions and...
Report shows millennials, desperate for home ownership, take risks, face remorse amid inflation
February 8th, 20220 A new real estate report reveals the desperation and anxieties behind millennial home ownership in the pandemic-era home market. The report, published by Clever, a real estate data company, says it surveyed millennials to get insight into the economic reality of their home buying habits and preferences. In popular understanding, a......
