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McDonald’s pays out $700k to U.S. Muslims for false halal food

McDonald’s has paid $700,000 to members of a U.S. Muslim community in Michigan after one of its franchise restaurants falsely advertised its food as prepared in accordance with Islamic law, or halal. A Muslim Detroit resident, Ahmed Ahmed, claimed he bought a chicken sandwich in September 2011 but found it was not halal, ... Read More

Omani travelers prepare to face Antarctica

A member of Oman’s environment ministry will join two of his country-men on the two-week International Antarctic Expedition starting Feb. 28, reported Gulf News on Sunday. Yahya al Salmani, director of awareness and information at the ministry, has travelled to 40 countries and has visited the Amazonian jungle as well as the ... Read More

Egypt's heartthrob stars in Sydney's Arab Music Festival

He's one of the best-selling Middle Eastern recording artists of all time, legendary Amr Diab will feature in Australia's biggest Arabic Music Festival in Sydney. With an extraordinary 20-year career, headline act Diab reigns as the contemporary face of Egyptian pop music with sell out performances around the ... Read More

Saudi innovator designs ‘smart’ school bag

Thirty-one-year-old Saudi Khalid al Jabal has come up with an innovative approach to education. He has designed a comprehensive and compact system contained in a “Smart Bag”, which he says will make students’, parents’ and teachers’ lives easier. “This Smart Bag is part of the system. The system contains special software ... Read More

The Beirut Music Hall opens a branch in Dubai

The Beirut Music Hall, which was established in 2003, is thought of as a large part of the nightlife of Lebanon’s capital. The venue which celebrates international music hope to expand it’s locations globally including Istanbul, Barcelona and Dubai, The National recently reported. Michel Elefteriades the owner of The Beirut ... Read More

Simba returns to the zoo after leaving his kingdom in Qatar

Simba, a 4-year-old male lion once owned by the royal family of Qatar, has made the Detroit Zoo his new home. The Detroit Zoo said on Thursday that the royal family received Simba as a gift, but decided later that the lion would be better off in a different environment, the Associated Press reported. “The owners ... Read More

Famed Mali artists compose song for peace

Some of Mali’s biggest artists have composed a song for peace in a country where the army, backed by French troops, is battling to drive out Islamist extremists occupying the vast desert north. The seven-minute song is titled “Mali Ko” (‘For Mali’ in the local Bambara language). It features about 40 artists, ... Read More

‘Jew’ is the new ‘cool’ for Dutch youths

“Cool,” “awesome,” and even “sick” are words that have been used by teenagers to define what is “cool.” But recently, a new word, “Jew,” has been added by young Dutch teenagers to mean “cool.” The word ‘Jew’ has long been used for anti-Semitic invective that implied a negative connotation or associated with avarice, ... Read More

Wishing upon a star: Syrians turn to astrology for hope

Tired of failed forecasts about their country’s bitter conflict that has left more than 60,000 people dead, some Syrians have turned to fortune tellers and astrology to try to predict what lies ahead. Nearly two years into the fighting, many have lost faith in political analysts and claims by parties on both ... Read More

Palestinians object to Israeli exhibition on historical King Herod

Israel’s national museum said Tuesday it will open what it calls the world’s first exhibition devoted to the architectural legacy of King Herod, the Jewish proxy monarch who ruled Jerusalem and the Holy Land during the life of Zachariah, father of John the Baptist, or Yahyah as he is known in the Quran. The period in ... Read More

Ramallah Theatre Company performs Shakespeare in Arabic

The Ashtar Theatre Company will perform a version of Shakespeare’s iconic Richard II as part of Dubai’s annual shopping festival, reported the National on Wednesday. The theatre group, established in 1991 as a youth theatre, branched out in the West Bank and Gaza and eventually built a base in Ramallah in 1995. Richard II ... Read More

Malaysia rated top Muslim-friendly holiday destination

Malaysia has been rated the world’s top Muslim-friendly holiday destination in a survey released Wednesday that listed Egypt, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Singapore as runners-up. The study by Singapore-based Muslim travel consultancy Crescentrating ranked countries on how well they cater to ... Read More

Egyptian bank grants loans to young farmers to marry more than one wife

In an attempt to fight “spinsterhood,” the Egyptian Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit decided to grant loans to new farmers to encourage polygamy. The Bank’s chairman, Mohsen Batran, announced in a press conference held with the Minister of Agriculture on Tuesday, that the bank will be granting loans to young ... Read More

America’s Got Talent finalist to perform in UAE

Season seven’s America’s Got Talent finalist, William Close will be performing for several nights at the Al Majaz Waterfront in the UAE’s city of Sharjah this week. He plans to play “the Earth Harp,” described on Al Majaz’s website as “a musical instrument unlike any other, it uses the surrounding architecture and landscape ... Read More

Quincy Jones launches Dubai Music Week in 2013

Music producer Quincy Jones, famous for producing Michael Jackson’s hugely-successful album Thriller, has teamed up with UAE based entrepreneur Badr Jafar to launch Dubai Music Week (DMW). The event will consist of an industry tradeshow followed by two music festivals. Jafar, also the president of Crescent Petroleum, set ... Read More

‘Stop the pigeon’: Egypt police sends bird to criminal investigation department

In an incident that brings back old mailing tools, a pigeon was found Sunday in Egypt’s northeastern city of Qalyubia with a written message tied to one of its feet and a microfilm attached to the other, a local newspaper reported. The Qalyubia Security Directorate said that a security guard called Saber Ibrahim filed a ... Read More

Lean and mean? Arab belly dancers ignore politics at Israeli festival

While Arab politicians might avoid visiting Israel at any cost given its hostile status and disputes over the still unresolved occupation of Palestinian land; Arab belly dancers are reportedly having a much leaner approach. Arab belly dancers and oriental dance teachers from Egypt, Jordan and Morocco will head to Israel to ... Read More

Court rejects Islamist lawsuit to shut down show ‘insulting’ Mursi

An Egyptian court Saturday dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Muslim Brotherhood lawyer against a comedian, nicknamed Egypt’s Jon Stewart, to shut down his show and CBC television channel that is broadcasting it. The comedian, Bassem Yousef, was accused of insulting Islamist President Mohammed Mursi in one of his Read More

Egypt suspends Islamic TV show over libel

An Egyptian court has ordered that a program hosted by a fiery preacher be suspended for libeling and defaming a well-known actress. The court on Saturday decided to suspend the program "In The Scale" for 30 days. A widely circulated video clip shows its host, Abdullah Badr, accusing well-known actress Elham ... Read More

“High-Flier”: Rolls-Royce honors for Arab inventor grabs media attention

Rolls-Royce names a special-edition model after Arab inventor Abbas Ibn Firnas. The Rolls-Royce Ghost is honoring Ibn Firnas, “who is most famous for being the first man in history to make scientific attempts at flying,” according to a report by Drive Arabia News & Read More

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