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Pope Benedict XVI at the April 18, 2012 general audience. CNA file photo. Vatican City, Oct 9, 2012 / 12:34 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Arab Christians are reacting positively to the decision to include Arabic as one of the official languages used at the Pope’s weekly general audience. “In this way, in the wake of his recent trip to Lebanon and the publication of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation ‘Ecclesia in Medio Oriente,’ the Holy Father intends to express his perpetual concern and support for Christians in the Middle East, and to remind everyone of their duty to pray and work...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.fbi.gov/boston/press-releases/2012/fbi-seeks-assistance-in-locating-wanted-fugitive-ahmad-abousamra FBI Seeks Assistance in Locating Wanted Fugitive Ahmad Abousamra $50,000 Reward is Being Offered for Information Leading to His Arrest FBI Boston October 03, 2012 BOSTON—FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers announced today that the FBI is seeking the public’s assistance to locate wanted terrorist Ahmad Abousamra, a U.S. citizen from Mansfield, Massachusetts who left the United States in 2006. He may be living in Aleppo, Syria, with his wife, at least one child (a daughter), and extended family. A reward of up to $50,000 is being offered for information...

Egyptian President Morsi and other Middle East Muslim leaders have been lecturing the U.S. about freedom, yet they demand a worldwide law prohibiting any criticism of Islam! Maybe Morsi really doesn’t know the meaning of freedom. I assure you that the largest Christian group in Egypt could teach him the definition. Coptic Christians make up 10% of Egypt’s population although they were the major religious group at one time. They can trace their history back 19 centuries. Following the Arab Spring, the Copts have been fleeing to the freedom of America, most being young professionals and businessmen. If they have...

By Eric Ferreri : The Herald-Sun Eferreri@heraldsun.com Nov 23, 2002 : 10:20 pm ET CHAPEL HILL -- Three months have passed since the cameras left, since the correspondents from CNN and MTV and the rest filed their stories about the triumph of academic freedom at Carolina, since the summer reading program controversy seemed to die down. Yet one matter remains unresolved, one last thorn in the university’s side. The lawsuit that sparked so much of this summer’s turmoil has been amended and still sits quietly in federal court in Greensboro, awaiting the attention of a judge. While many at UNC...

An upper Manhattan public elementary school will be the first in the city to require that students study Arabic, officials said last week. Beginning next semester, all 200 second-through fifth-graders at PS 368 in Hamilton Heights will be taught the language twice a week for 45 minutes, putting it on equal footing with science and music courses, The New York Post reported. Principal Nicky Kram Rosen said that she selected Arabic, as opposed to more common offerings, such as Spanish or French, is because it will help the school obtain a more prestigious degree standing. “She proposed this to the...

After a controversial six-year-long translation project, a Jordanian think tank based in Amman published an Arabic translation of the Babylonian Talmud. After gaining enthusiastic responses to the project from the Arab League, 96 scholars began work on the translation. The editors are happy with the project, stating that the lack of an Arabic Talmud "has always been an obstacle to understanding Judaism." Despite some polarized and politicized responses, most have adopted a positive impression of the massive scholarly work. Dr. Raquel Ukeles of the Israeli National Library states that the project stemmed from scientific curiosity, and the introduction discusses the...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here's Alan in Bayside, Queens, great to have you on the EIB Network, Alan. Hello. CALLER: Yes, good afternoon, Mr. Limbaugh. Had a question for you, sir. RUSH: Yes, sir, fire away. CALLER: Do you think a school has any place telling our kids what secondary language to learn? RUSH: I know what you're talking about. This is about Arabic being taught, right? CALLER: Yes, in New York, in the upper part of the city. RUSH: Yeah. Well, Arabic may be new, but aren't there plenty of school districts that require a second language to be taught?...

An upper Manhattan public elementary school will be the first in the city to require that students study Arabic, officials said yesterday. Beginning next semester, all 200 second- through fifth-graders at PS 368 in Hamilton Heights will be taught the language twice a week for 45 minutes — putting it on equal footing with science and music courses. One reason Principal Nicky Kram Rosen selected Arabic — as opposed to more common offerings, such as Spanish or French — is because it will help the school obtain a prestigious International Baccalaureate standing. “She proposed this to the parent association. They...

A plan to provide Arabic language workshops to employees of the Argonne National Laboratories was abruptly cancelled by the U.S. Dept. of Energy this week. It had planned to hire a contractor capable of conducting classes twice weekly for 50 weeks. According to a Statement of Work, the goal of the endeavor had been to: improve the ability of personnel supporting Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Programs and other National Nuclear Security Administration programs and activities to communicate with their foreign counterparts and to reduce their dependence on interpreters in non-technical discussions. It had sought instructors "experienced in teaching and testing Modern...

SNIPPET: "MADRID – Spanish police on Tuesday arrested a suspected member of Al Qaeda who was key to the terror group's Internet propaganda and recruiting operations, officials said. The suspect arrested in the eastern city of Valencia "administered one of the world's most important jihadist forums", dedicated to recruiting and indoctrinating Islamic terrorists, Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said. The name of that forum and the suspect's name were not given, only his initials, M.H.A. He is Jordanian-born with Saudi citizenship." SNIPPET: "The suspect worked at home "8 to 15 hours a day" for al-Qaida and for two offshoots, Al...

In typical sleazebag fashion the English side of the flyer makes no mention of Israel. Via Big Peace: Ron Paul, who has consistently engaged in anti-Semitic nonsense over the course of the past few decades, has largely attempted to hide his anti-Semitism throughout his campaign. No longer. Ron Paul has issued this Arabic-language flyer outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Michigan [seen above].

On Monday, U.S. stocks racked up their best month in 20 years in October. Greek Premier George Papandreou said he will put Greece's bailout deal through a referendum, potentially undoing a long-awaited agreement struck just last week and sending European stocks down 4.4 percent. The region's bank shares fell 7.9 percent to $16.25. Greek opposition parties said the referendum was putting Greece's European Union membership at risk and instead called for a snap election. U.S. bank shares were expected to follow European lenders lower. The Financial Select Sector SPDR fell 4 percent with Bank of America down 5.9 percent and...

South Sudan is to phase out Arabic as the language of instruction in schools within the next three years, an official said today. The minister for General Education, Joseph Ukel, said Arabic will be gradually replaced with English as the official medium of communication in schools and public offices as enshrined in the new country’s constitution. Arabic language has been used in North Sudan in close association with the Islamic religion and got fully entrenched in the South during the imposition of Sharia law in the early 1990s. “Within the next three years, we will have replaced Arabic with English...

From now on, parents who plan to send their children abroad to study in a foreign nation should sit them down in front of the TV set and watch replays of the Amanda Knox saga. It has all the elements of a true-to-life lesson in the dangers of turning young men and women barely out of their teens into innocents abroad. Youngsters -- and many parents -- are clueless when it comes to the customs and laws in other countries that lack many of the safeguards which we Americans take for granted. They should study the Amanda Knox case. It...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Federal agencies were working with Southwest Airlines on Thursday to determine who has been vandalizing their aircraft with mysterious markings. KNX 1070 investigative reporter Charles Feldman has learned that since February, several Southwest jets have been vandalized with mysterious writings that show up on the underbelly of their 737 passenger aircraft. The writings — which some have interpreted as being either Arabic or Arabic-type symbols — appeared to have been done with a chemical process that reveals the text once an auxiliary power unit is turned on and heats up the outside skin of the aircraft,...

Sunday afternoon there were many Ottawans who may have spoken their first words of Arabic. At the 9/11 memorial service in Washington Square, while "Praying for the World" was read by Rev. Nancy Rethford, pastor of the Epworth Untied Methodist church, and Wendy Asphahani of the First Congregational United Church of Christ, those present were asked to give the congregational response both in the traditional English of "hear our prayer" and the Arabic phonetic response of "Iss m'a naa, yaa rab-banaa" — which translates to the same meaning.

• Food Assistance Date Change Letter -- English PDF • Food Assistance Date Change Letter -- Arabic PDF • Food Assistance Date Change Letter -- Spanish PDF

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) July 31, 2011 AmeriSpan Study Abroad, a company specializing in international education, notes that many more people have decided to learn Arabic in Jordan, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries because they recognize its importance. The economic, political and cultural influence of the Middle East and the Muslim World has grown in the past decade. Participating in an Arabic Immersion program offers the student the chance to learn the culture and the language. Recent world events have begun a domino effect of reform to the Arabic-speaking Middle East. Countries like Libya, Egypt and Syria are at the...

This is a letter posted via a link on the Michigan Department of Human Services Website. The link is to a pdf file which I have converted to a jpg image in order that it can be displayed here:

The Muslim Brotherhood, a dominant political force in Egypt and around the Arab world, is notorious for saying one thing to Western media and something else to local media. That was the case today, when leading member Essam al-Erian gave Reuters a strong but measured statement on the killing of Osama bin Laden — but left out key details from the group’s reaction on its Arabic-language website. “With Bin Laden’s death, one of the reasons for which violence has been practised in the world has been removed,” Essam al-Erian, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s governing body, told Reuters. “It...