Arab League to hold meeting on Jerusalem next month
CAIRO — The Arab League will meet on Feb. 1 to discuss how to counter President Trump's move last month to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Egypt's state news agency MENA said on Wednesday. Six Arab foreign ministers who met in Amman last week said Arab states would embark on a diplomatic drive to persuade the United Nations...
Israel approves hundreds of new illegal settlement homes in the West Bank
January 12th, 20180 WEST BANK — The Israeli government has given its final approval for 352 homes in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, an anti-settlement movement said on Thursday — construction that Palestinians see as jeopardizing their prospects for an independent state. The Peace Now group said a meeting on Wednesday by a planning...
Saudi women-only auto show opens in Jeddah
January 12th, 20180 JEDDAH — Women flocked to Le Mall on Thursday to check out the kingdom's first car exhibition aimed at women, a few months after Saudi Arabia granted them the right to drive. Pink, orange and yellow balloons hung in the mall's showroom as women posed for photos and selfies in front of the cars. One woman in the driver's seat fixed...
Former Egyptian top general to run for president
January 12th, 20180 CAIRO — Former armed forces chief of staff General Sami Anan is to run in Egypt's presidential election in March, the party he leads said on Thursday. An election commission said on Monday Egypt would hold the vote on March 26-28, with a run-off on April 24-26. Candidates must register between Jan 20 and 29. "The party leaders...
Qatar: UAE aircraft violated our airspace
January 12th, 20180 DOHA — Qatar has filed a complaint to the United Nations about an alleged violation of its airspace in December by an Emirati military aircraft, state news agency QNA reported on Friday. The United Arab Emirates is one of four Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, that have imposed travel, diplomatic and trade...
Macron tells Trump of need to abide by Iran nuclear deal
January 12th, 20180 PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron stressed to President Trump in a telephone call on Thursday the importance of abiding by a nuclear deal with Iran ahead of a decision by the U.S. president that could reinstate sanctions on the country. "The president ... recalled France's determination in favor of a strict application of the...
Iran’s unrest: The government turns the tide
January 5th, 20180 Huge pro-government rallies sweep major Iranian cities where tens of thousands of supporters waved Iranian flags and pictures of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as placards saying "death to seditionists." TEHRAN — Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief announced the "end of the sedition" Wednesday as hundreds of thousands...
Trump threatens to withhold humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees
January 5th, 20180 UNITED NATIONS — President Trump said in tweets on Tuesday that the United States may withhold future aid payments to Palestinians, accusing them of being "no longer willing to talk peace" with Israel. Trump said that Washington gives Palestinians "HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and gets no appreciation or respect. They don't...
Israel offers African migrants money to leave or face imprisonment
January 5th, 20180 TEL AVIV — Israel said on Wednesday it would pay thousands of African migrants living illegally in the country to leave, threatening them with jail if they are caught after the end of March. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in public remarks at a cabinet meeting on the payment program, said a barrier Israel completed in 2013 along...
Russia denies report that seven planes were destroyed in Syria attack
January 5th, 20180 MOSCOW — Russia denied a report in daily newspaper Kommersant that seven Russian planes had been destroyed by rebel shelling at Syria's Hmeymim air base on Dec. 31, the TASS news agency quoted the defense ministry as saying on Thursday. At least four Su-24 bombers, two Su-35S fighters and an An-72 transport plane, as well as an...
WHO: Suspected diphtheria cases in Yemen near 500
January 5th, 20180 GENEVA — At least 471 people in Yemen are believed to have been infected with diphtheria, killing one in 10 of them since the outbreak began in mid-August, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. Yemen, one of the Arab world's poorest countries, is embroiled in a proxy war between the Houthi armed movement, allied with...
Everything wrong with the reaction to Ahed Tamimi’s prosecution
January 5th, 20181 Where were the international calls for compassion, the reminders that this was a potentially traumatized child? By Hiba Khan Everyone now knows that 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi slapped an Israeli soldier. How many of us know about the events that led up to this? Telling half of a story can be more of an injustice than fabricating the...
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...
Russia: U.S. call for U.N. emergency session on Iran is “destructive”
January 4th, 20180 MOSCOW - Russia considers a U.S. proposal for an extraordinary meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the turmoil in Iran “harmful and destructive”, RIA news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Thursday. “We see no role for the United Nations Security Council in this issue,” he said,...
Macron urges dialogue with Iran, rebukes U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia for warmongering comments
January 3rd, 20181 PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said it was important to maintain dialogue with Iran, warning that the tone of comments adopted by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia toward Tehran was virtually a path to war. “The official line pursued by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, who are our allies in......
Hezbollah leader sees “nothing to worry about” with Iran protests
January 3rd, 20180 BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group on Wednesday played down protests in Iran as economic discontent, saying they were not rooted in the political issues which spurred huge numbers to demonstrate in 2009 and were expected to end soon. “In Iran there is nothing to worry about and the issue is being taken...
Israeli parliament changes law to tighten grip on Jerusalem
January 2nd, 20180 JERUSALEM — Israel’s parliament passed an amendment on Tuesday that would make it harder for it to cede control over parts of Jerusalem in any peace deal with the Palestinians, who condemned the move as undermining any chance to revive talks on statehood. The legislation, sponsored by the far-right Jewish Home coalition party,...
Iran protests continue for fifth day, at least 10 killed
January 1st, 20180 DUBAI — Anti-government demonstrations continued for a fifth day in Iran on Monday, after 10 people were killed during the biggest protests since the pro-reform unrest of 2009. Video posted on social media showed crowds of people, some chanting “Death to the dictator!”, walking through the streets. The Fars news agency...
Palestinian teenager who slapped Israeli soldier to face charges
December 28th, 20170 OFER PRISON, West Bank — A 16-year-old Palestinian girl who slapped an Israeli officer two weeks ago will face assault charges in an Israeli military court, prosecutors said on Thursday. The Dec. 15 incident in the occupied West Bank was captured on video and posted on the Internet, drawing attention on both sides of the......
Lebanese foreign minister Gebran Bassil criticized over Israel comments, claims TV distorted his interview
December 28th, 20170 BEIRUT - Lebanese politicians on Thursday criticized Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil over a television interview in which he was shown saying that Lebanon did not have an ideological problem with Israel and was not against it having security. The comments, made to al-Mayadin satellite channel during a long interview on Tuesday, had...
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......
Egyptian parliament discusses plans to criminalize atheism
December 26th, 20170 CAIRO — Amro Hamroush, head of the Egyptian parliament’s committee on religion, said he was drafting a bill that plans to make atheism a crime in Egypt to fall under the category of ‘contempt of religion’. Hamroush said that the“phenomenon” -referring to atheism- is widely spreading among youth claiming that it falls under...
Hamas: Palestinian unity deal is collapsing
December 24th, 20170 GAZA —Hamas’ leader in Gaza said on Thursday a reconciliation deal with President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction was collapsing, just 10 weeks after the agreement was reached. The rivals signed a deal brokered by Cairo on Oct. 12 after Hamas agreed to hand over administrative control of the Gaza Strip, including its border......
