Republican victory a rebuke to Obama
January 23rd, 20100 WASHINGTON — Tuesday's loss by the Democrats of their 60th Senate seat has raised serious questions about the outlook for the White House's policy agenda and spurred a rash of finger-pointing among Democrats over who bears responsibility for the very public rebuke issued by Massachusetts voters. Scott Brown's victory Tuesday...Suicide rate among veterans surges
WASHINGTON (IPS) - Suicides among United States military veterans ballooned by 26 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to new statistics released by the Veterans Affairs (VA) department. U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion 4th Marines walk by their vehicle during sunset at base Delaram in Nimroz province, southern Afghanistan,...New bill edges comprehensive immigration reform back on the legislative agenda
January 16th, 20100 After months of discussion and strategy meetings with immigrant advocates, labor unions, civil-rights groups, and others, a number of House Democrats have introduced the first immigration reform bill in the 111th Congress. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR-ASAP) bill,...Countries, rights groups protest new TSA directives
January 9th, 20100 The Obama administration's decision to subject travelers to the U.S. from 14 listed nations to extra airport security screening has drawn sharp criticism both internationally and from domestic civil liberties groups. A security official (R) prepares to scan his colleague posing inside a RapiScan full-body scanner being trialled...Nigerian-American Muslims condemn attempted Christmas Day attack
December 29th, 20090 The Texas-based National Council of Nigerian Muslim Organizations in the U.S.A released a statement condemning Friday's attempted bombing of a Northwest Airline flight into Detroit. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab On approach to Detroit International Airport, Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to ignite explosives sewn...Minority businesses locked out of stimulus loans
December 24th, 20090 Loans handed out to struggling small businesses as part of President Barack Obama's stimulus package have largely shut out minority businesses — especially those owned by Blacks and Latinos — according to data provided by the federal government's Small Business Administration (SBA) to New America Media (NAM). On June 15, the...Arab American testifies before House subcommittee on terrorism risk
President of the Washington-based Arab American Institute, Jim Zogby, testified Tuesday before the U.S. House subcommittee on intelligence, information sharing and terrorism risk assessment. Jim Zogby Zogby spoke alongside a civil liberties leader and psychiatry and policy scholars, addressing the topic "Violent Extremism:...Travel agent accused of scamming customers
NEW YORK — A Brooklyn travel agent has been charged with cheating customers out of $14,000 after a New York Arab American organization notified authorities of complaints. Fatma Aly, 42, specialized in booking travel to the Middle East. She is accused of taking cash from customers without fully processing their ticket orders, at...Muslims work with FBI on missing men
CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad speaks during a Wednesday press conference in Washington on the Muslim community’s role in notifying law enforcement of potential militant activity by five American men in Pakistan. American Muslim families and civil rights leaders played a major role in alerting law enforcement about...Student stabs professor to death in New York
Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani, a Saudi Arabian graduate student at Binghamton University, has been charged with second-degree murder after allegedly stabbing to death anthropology professor Richard Antoun, an Arab American, on Dec. 4. Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani mug shots No motive for the crime has yet been identified. Al-Zahrani's...Store owner turns around life of would-be thief
December 12th, 20090 Mohammad Sohail, alongside New York Post clippings that told his story in May, shows the letter and $50 he got from the would-be robber he sent out of his deli with $40, bread and a blessing. PHOTO: NY Post A New York store owner who showed compassion to a would-be...Obama launches Freedom of Information initiative
NEW YORK (IPS) — Advocates for greater freedom of information are expressing approval of the Obama administration's new "Open Government Directive" — but some are sounding cautionary notes that executive agencies are still hiding behind "national security" to conceal government misconduct. Jameel Jaffer, Director of the...Report shows jump in anti-Muslim bias incidents
December 5th, 20090 WASHINGTON — An annual report released this week by a prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization shows an increase in the total number of bias-related incidents, but a decrease in anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2008. The report by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), titled "Seeking...VIDEO: Comedy Central spotlights Palestinian rights activism
Rights activists Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian leader, and Anna Baltzer, an American Jew, appeared on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" last month, where host Jon Stewart immediately asked them to fight. "We're part of a pretty large group, actually, of Palestinians and Jews working together," Baltzer said about the nonviolent...Fort Hood shootings: U.S. Muslims feel new heat
November 21st, 20090 SAN FRANCISCO — In the hours after officials identified Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a Virginian of Palestinian ancestry, as the shooter at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov. 5, U.S. Muslim groups quickly condemned the attack. Religious and community leaders were eager to assure the nation that Muslims were appalled by the day's violence. "It's......
FBI file reveals Israeli crimes in U.S.
WASHINGTON (BUSINESS WIRE) — An FBI file reveals the Israeli embassy passed stolen classified U.S. government information to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). In 1984 Israel and AIPAC jointly lobbied Congress to secure preferential Israeli access to the U.S. market against widespread American industry...U.N. investigator probes U.S. housing crisis
November 19th, 20090 UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. body responsible for monitoring human rights violations is investigating why hundreds of thousands — and possibly millions — of people in the United States are condemned to live on the streets. Last month, the U.N. Geneva-based Human Rights Council sent one of its top experts on human rights to find...Feds seize four mosques, New York skyscraper
Federal authorities said Thursday's move to seize the assets of the New York-based Alavi Foundation over alleged Iranian ties should not effect the activities of the organization's many tenants, which include mosques in Maryland, New York, Texas, and California. The forfeiture action, however, is raising concerns about religious...Right calls Ft. Hood killings “Islamic terror”
WASHINGTON (IPS) — Senior military and Barack Obama administration officials have been on a full-court press to preempt an anti-Muslim backlash since the shooting spree by a Muslim soldier at Fort Hood, Texas, but right-wing pundits have wasted no time in characterizing Major Nidal Malik Hasan's actions as an act of terrorism by a......
Innocent post 9/11 detainees get $1.26 million
-Press release from the Center for Constitutional Rights NEW YORK — The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has announced that five men who had been living in New York and were ultimately deported won a $1.26 million settlement from the United States government in a case challenging post-9/11 racial profiling, illegal...Obama’s outreach to Muslim World teetering
WASHINGTON (IPS) — U.S. President Barack Obama's extraordinary efforts since his first days in office to reassure Muslims in the Greater Middle East about U.S. intentions in the region have suffered a series of setbacks that threaten to reverse whatever gains he has made over the past 10 months in restoring Washington's badly......
Loosening of F.B.I. rules stir privacy concerns
WASHINGTON — After a Somali-American teenager from Minneapolis committed a suicide bombing in Africa in October 2008, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating whether a Somali Islamist group had recruited him on United States soil. Instead of collecting information only on people about whom they had a tip or links to...Arabs and Muslims condemn Fort Hood attack
November 7th, 20090 An Army officer identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire at a Texas military base Thursday, killing 13 and wounding 31, according to several news agencies. Major Nidal Hasan, the U.S. Army doctor identified as a suspect in the shooting at the U.S. Army post in Fort Hood, Texas, is seen in this undated handout photo from......