Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem
By Ray Hanania I used to watch beauty pageants purely for entertainment. But in recent years, they’ve become the focus of a cultural debate between the Arab world, and the rest. The Miss Universe Pageant was held Sunday in Doral, Florida in the United States. It featured 88 female contestants competing in categories involving their…
By Abdennour Toumi On Monday, according to local sources of Kurdish media, fighters of the YPG entered the city of Kobani, united with the forces of the Kurdish Alliance, and now together they control 90% of the town and its environs. The city of Kobani has been seen as a major testing-ground for the Kurdish…
Read More “Kurds celebrate Kobani victory with musicfest in Seruç, Turkey” »
The Western Union Company (NYSE:WU), a leader in global payment services, today announced its association with one of the Arab world’s most popular pop stars – Amr Diab, as a Brand Ambassador. As an Arab star with a strong international following, Amr Diab will now represent Western Union and its quick, convenient and reliable money transfer services, offered across…
Read More “Western Union Signs Amr Diab as Brand Ambassador” »
By Ray Hanania Well, one Arab-Israeli war won’t be fought this year, but there will be much debate over the messages in the controversial film American Sniper, the story of an American soldier during the illegal war in Iraq. Unlike in several past broadcasts of the Academy Awards, no Oscars have been nominated this year…
By Ray Hanania Last year during the Academy Awards, Oscar hostess Ellen DeGeneres ordered Big Mama’s & Papa’s Pizzeria (BMPP) pizza delivered to the show and then walked through the audience with the delivery driver, sharing slices with stars such as Harrison Ford, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The humor drew big laughs at the Oscars…
Read More “Pizza franchise featured at 2014 Oscars makes Middle East debut” »
By Ray Hanania The Arab Community Center of Houston, one of the most active and energetic organizations in the American Arab community, announced the election of its new board members this week. “The ACC accomplished many things in 2014 and we anticipate that 2015 will be even better,” newly elected ACC President Kamal Khalil announced. “To start…
Read More “Houston Arab Community Center elects new leaders” »
By Ray Hanania UPDATE 2, Friday: Bridgeview Police released the following statement: Bridgeview Police today interviewed two individuals believed to be involved in an exchange of comments on Facebook that involved allegations of threats made against the Bridgeview Mosque. Both suspects were interviewed at the Bridgeview Police Headquarters. The names of the persons of interest…
Read More “Threats against Bridgeview Mosque investigated (Updated)” »
By Ray Hanania Saudi Arabia’s moderate leader and monarch, King Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz al-Saud, 90, who has ruled the powerful Arabian kingdom for nearly a decade since 2005 when he succeeded his brother King Fahd, died Friday. His Majesty King Abdullah was succeeded by his brother, Crown Prince Salman who was named the kingdom’s new…
Read More “Moderate Arab World mourns loss of Saudi King Abdullah” »
By Ray Hanania Wars are fought with many armaments. Some of them blow up. Others cause things to blow up. And still more can undermine entire nations simply with a few words. In the Arab-Israeli war, the Arabs are losing. They have been losing for a long time, but they are losing even more, now….
Read More “The war is in English and the Arabs are losing” »
By Ali Younes A secret audio tape was released yesterday that showed a link between former president of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh discussing events and steps to be taken by the Shia rebels the “ Houthis” in order to complete their takeover of the republic of Yemen. The tape which was first uncovered by Al…
Read More “Secret Audio tape Reveals Coup Plot by ex-Yemen President and Shia rebels” »
By Ali Rizk In August 2013 Israeli defense minister Moshe Yaalon said the following to visiting US joint chief of staff Martin Dempsey: “We must also be prepared for a long conflict and instability in Syria. We cannot let the Tehran-Damascus-Beirut axis of evil to win this fight”. Over a year has passed since then,…
Read More “Watch for growing Israeli-Iranian & hezbollah tension in Syria” »
By Jafar M. Ramini The late John F. Kennedy, the only President of the United States of America since WW2 with any integrity, once said about justice, “We cannot negotiate with people who say what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable.” (The White House, July 25, 1961) Let’s try to equate this with…
Read More “The Death of Reason: American bias when it comes to Justice” »
By Ray Hanania President Barack Obama delivered his 6th State of the Union Address before a joint session of the U.S. Congress and vowed to use his power of veto to block any partisan effort to undermine the economic gains, social changes, healthcare advances and even foreign policy strategies. Obama specifically called on Americans to…
By Ray Hanania U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivered opening remarks to attendees at the Journalists’ Security Conference held this week in Washington D.C. Kerry, who has been far more principled than his Bush administration predecessors, reminded the group that a free press ensures that flow of accurate information, but the price has been high in…
By Mohammed Asad Palestine Strawberries from the Gaza Strip are ranked as being among the world’s best. Every year, the Palestine Strawberry industry employs hundreds of farmers to harvest the strawberry crops to pick, package and ship the popular fruit to locations around the world. Despite exporting restrictions imposed by Israel’s military occupation, which controls the flow of…
Read More “Strawberry harvest continues in Gaza Strip, Palestine” »
By Ali Younes Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal finally spoke the truth and showed his true colors during his recent interview with CNN when he decried and insulted Muslims and Islam. The truth Jindal revealed was not about Islam or Muslim as he thinks he did, rather, it was about his racist and twisted views of…
Read More “Bobby Jindal Shows his Racism,Ignorance ,Should Apologize to Muslims” »
By Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D. It was simply a most glorious celebration of the Epiphany on the Jordan River today according to the Old Julian calendar. There were hundreds of priests, nuns and thousands of people from all walks of life coming to the precious site where over 2,000 years ago “…the heavens were…
Read More “Celebrating the Baptism of Christ on the Jordan River” »
By Amer Sabaileh When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attended the march against terrorism in Paris last week in the wake of terrorist attack against French satirist newspaper Charlie Hebdo, he was in reality marching for his own agendas, not against terrorism. His Paris appearance was critically designed to position himself as a direct partner…
Read More “Netanyahu exploits Charlie Hebdo for his own motives” »