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German commandos storm KLM airliner arresting two suspected 'terrorists' - local media. More soon.

Macy's Inc. says it's investigating a complaint that Somali employees at its Southdale store in Edina received a letter prohibiting the speaking of Somali at work. The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says it was contacted by six Somali-speaking employees of the Southdale Macy's who say they were warned that speaking Somali at work could warrant losing their jobs. According to CAIR-MN, the Macy's East document reads: "It is Macy East's policy that a common language is spoken during work -- therefore, effective immediately all associates must speak English while working -- It is a job...

Five-hundred Muslim workers walked off the job Monday at a Grand Island meatpacking plant after they say they were denied time to pray during the Muslim observance of Ramadan. More than 100 workers at a Greeley Swift plant were fired last week because the company said they walked away from work before their shifts ended.

At least 130 Muslim workers at the north Greeley JBS Swift & Co. plant were fired Wednesday afternoon, apparently over a dispute involving breaks during Ramadan. At issue is a request by Muslim workers to be able to take their lunch breaks at sunset to end their fast during Ramadan... expressed their dissatisfaction with negotiations by saying, “No prayer, no work.”

In a landmark settlement that could change the way Muslims are treated in the workplace, St. Cloud-based Gold'n Plump Inc. has agreed to allow Somali workers short prayer breaks and the right to refuse handling pork at its poultry processing facilities. The federally mediated agreement is among the first in the nation that requires employers to accommodate the Islamic prayer schedule and the belief, held by many strict Muslims, that the Qur'an prohibits the touching and eating of pork products. "For this group of Americans at this time in our nation's history, this is a very important outcome," said Joe...

More than 150 Muslim workers didn't report to their meatpacking plant jobs Monday in the wake of what they called JBS Swift & Co.'s sudden reversal of religious accommodations for Ramadan. The workers, mostly Somalis but many also from several other East African nations, initially planned a two-mile march from downtown Greeley's Lincoln Park to the plant, but a gathering that formed mid-morning never left the park.

Awhile back I got an email from one of my readers who asked if I would write about the Somali Refugees of Lewiston Maine. In the late nineties the Somalis came to our state in search of services. Before that most of them had been relegated to Big cities such as New York and Boston. A larger concentration lived in Atlanta. They were unhappy with raising their families in neighborhoods with high crime rates and where hip hop culture turned other African Americans to immorality. In Somali culture, they would send scouts to find fertile land to raise cattle...

Here's where I guess we say, "BLACK HAWK DOWN ON POSTVILLE." Yup, after $10,000,000 spent on the absurd raid on a kosher meat plant in May, only about 300 illegal aliens supposely deported and given zero jailtime (even though many were multiple deportees), here's what's happening at Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa: Buh-bye, Hispanic illegal aliens. Hello, "semi-legal" Muslim Somalian extremists...

MINNEAPOLIS—A Hennepin County Medical Center volunteer and nurse were separately attacked by the same three suspects. Reiner Schonolling was attacked Tuesday morning by three Somali teenagers on bikes. The suspect who hit him said he does not like white Americans. Just one hour before the attack, the suspects punched Robin Cooper who is a nurse at HCMC. The attacks happened at Elliot Park in downtown Minneapolis along 8th Street. “I believe they picked on someone they thought they can get away with,” says Cooper.

Labor Day Still Recognized at Tyson Foods Union Contract Provision only at Shelbyville, TN Plant Springdale, Arkansas – August 4, 2008 – Contrary to recent reports, Labor Day is still a holiday at Tyson Foods. This issue concerns only the plant at Shelbyville, TN. The majority of employees at the Tyson plant in Shelbyville, TN, are represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Stores Union (RWDSU), an American union that asked for and received Eid al-Fitr, as one of their eight paid holidays, in place of Labor Day. This applies only to the Shelbyville plant and resulted as part of...

<p>SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. - Workers at the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day but will instead be given the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr as a holiday.</p> <p>According to a news release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a new 5-year contract at the plant included the change to accommodate the hundreds of Somali Muslims who work at the plant .</p>

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. -- Some workers at a local plant will no longer to be able to take their Labor Day holiday because of religious reasons. Workers at the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day but will instead be granted the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr. According to a news release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a new five-year contract at the plant included the change to accommodate Muslim workers at the plant. Tyson's director of media relations Gary Mickelson said the contract includes eight paid holidays...

A group of Muslim workers allege they were fired by a New Brighton tortilla factory for refusing to wear uniforms that they say were immodest by Islamic standards. Six Somali women claim they were ordered by a manager to wear pants and shirts to work instead of their traditional Islamic clothing of loose-fitting skirts and scarves, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil liberties group that is representing the women. The women have filed a religious discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "For these women, wearing tight-fitting pants is like being naked," said Valerie...

THE crew of a Spanish fishing boat seized by pirates off Somalia have been freed... The Playa de Bakio trawler has been taken to "safer waters", escorted by a Spanish warship, and the government is making plans to repatriate the 13 Spaniards and 13 Africans, she said. Speaking at a press conference, she did not indicate the circumstances in which the crew were released, or whether a ransom had been paid. Spanish news media said earlier a ransom of 1 million euros...had been demanded, and negotiations were taking place at a London hotel. The 76-metre trawler and its crew were...

Somali forces rescued a hijacked ship carrying food to this desperately poor African nation Tuesday, as a top security official accused U.S. troops stationed off the lawless coast of failing to combat growing piracy. Seven pirates were arrested and three were wounded in the raid on the Dubai-flagged al-Khaleej, said Abdullahi Said Samatar... "It is sad that the American forces off the coast of Somalia are here for fun and are not combatting the pirates," ... A spokesman for the transitional government, Abdi Hagi Gobdon, welcomed French and U.S. efforts to combat piracy and guard the country's coastline. The transitional...

Spain appealed to France, the United States and NATO on Monday for help in ending a crisis sparked when pirates seized 26 crew members of a Spanish fishing boat off the Somali coast. The defence ministry said a Spanish military frigate was heading to the area off east Africa, where the pirates have demanded money for the release of the crew, a day after storming the vessel armed with grenade launchers. The coastal waters off Somalia, which has not had an effective central government for more than 17 years and is plagued by insecurity, are considered to be among the...

The Bush administration has granted Somalis living in the United States under temporary protected status an extra 18 months in this country. It's the second such extension granted by the Department of Homeland Security in the last two years. The first one was granted in 2006 and expires later this month. The new extension will apply through September of next year. Generally, those eligible for temporary protected status are unable to safely return to their home countries because of armed conflict, environmental disasters or other extraordinary conditions. Senator Norm Coleman pushed for the latest extension. Minnesota is believed to have...

Emporia, Kansas has a Somali Muslim ‘problem’ that we have written about. The community’s Somali Muslim population, presently at somewhere between 750 to 1,000 could increase by upwards of 50 percent under a new federally funded ‘intake’ program to expand the local Tyson Foods meat packing plant in Emporia, a community of less than 30,000. Tyson-the worlds largest processor of beef, pork and poultry headquartered in Arkansas is listed on the NYSE has a current market capitalization of over $4.5 billion. Tyson got in trouble with both a Federal law suit and employee class action now being heard in an...

Two University of Minnesota students lost wallets, cash and cell phones, but otherwise were unhurt when they were robbed at gunpoint on campus Wednesday night, police said. The students were outside University Village at 2601 University Av. SE. when two men approached them at 11:45 p.m. The robbers fired one gun shot as they fled the scene in a light colored, possibly a silver or gold, sedan, said Lt. Chuck Miner. The victims described the suspects as East African or Somali men. One was a thin build, wearing a dark blue or black sweat shirt, dark jeans and a Minnesota...

A Somalian woman who entered the United States about 18 months ago as a refugee was charged yesterday in Quincy District Court with trying to stab her boyfriend to death as he drove a tractor-trailer along Route 128 south in Randolph Thursday night. The victim, Mustafa Warsame, 38, brought the truck to a stop in the breakdown lane, hitting the guardrail. He staggered out and told a witness, "My girlfriend stabbed me," before collapsing on the pavement. A prosecutor said the defendant, Deka Artan, 21, ran from the scene with her 2-year-old daughter, but stopped a short distance later.

The police chief in the northwestern Wisconsin community of Frederic says he's arrested a man wanted on felony charges that include funding terrorism. Chief R.J. Severude says one of his officers stopped a van this morning about 11:30 a.m., and when the man's Minnesota driver's license was checked there were felony warrants for him. According to the chief, the man has fugitive warrants for money laundering, drug trafficking and financing terrorist attacks inside and outside the U.S. Frederic is a Polk County village of about 1,250 people.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A security video from an apartment hallway shows at least 10 witnesses ignored a woman's cries for help for more than an hour as a man beat and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors in Minnesota said. The surveillance video clearly showed men and women looking out their apartment doors or starting to walk down the hallway before retreating as the woman was assaulted for nearly 90 minutes, police spokesman Tom Walsh said.

The ghost of Kitty Genovese in St. Paul…and breaking the silence in Afghanistan By Michelle Malkin  •  August 24, 2007 12:39 AM      You remember Kitty Genovese. She was the young woman stabbed to death in Queens in the 1960s as 38 bystanders witnessed the attack but did nothing to help. Kitty Genovese Syndrome entered the national lexicon. The papers quoted one cowardly witness who explained the unwillingness to even pick up the phone to call the police: “I didn’t want to get involved.” For every Good Samaritan willing to intervene, there’s an ostrich who sticks his head in the hand while...

Although police say as many as 10 people witnessed a sexual assault in a St. Paul hallway, the suspect said he has no memory of what happened. Rage Ibrahim, 25, said he blacked out from drinking too much alcohol. But he said he wouldn't have committed rape. "I'm so upset because of the situation I'm in," Ibrahim said, crying as he headed to the Ramsey County jail on Thursday to turn himself in. "I've got a mom, I've got a sister. I wouldn't rape anyone." Surveillance video from a Highwood-area apartment hallway makes it clear that a sexual assault happened...

OMAHA, Neb. - Meatpacking plant officials accused of discriminating against dozens of Somali Muslim workers have offered to tweak break times to help accommodate the workers' prayer demands. If the dozens of Muslim workers and Swift & Co. can agree on details, a resolution could defuse the dispute that started earlier this year when 120 workers at the Grand Island plant abruptly quit because they weren't allowed to pray at sunset. Many say they were fired, quit or were verbally and physically harassed over the issue, and some have complained to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about the way...

(AP) -- St. Paul A 25-year-old man was charged Thursday for allegedly raping and beating a woman in an apartment hallway -- an incident apparently witnessed by as many as 10 people who did nothing. Rage Ibrahim was charged with several counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for the attack early Tuesday. According to the criminal complaint, police responded to a call of drunken behavior in an apartment hallway, where they found both Ibrahim and a woman lying unconscious. The woman's clothing had been pulled up, she had fresh scratches on her face and blood on her thigh. Ibrahim says...

CAIR Goes Back to School   By Patrick PooleFrontPageMagazine.com | 8/23/2007 As children all over the country prepare for the annual American rite of the beginning of school, hundreds of school children and their parents from the Columbus, Ohio Somali refugee community may be getting far less than they bargained for, as well as Ohio taxpayers. These children will be attending two publicly-funded K-8 charter schools, International Academy of Columbus and Westside Academy, schools are sponsored under an Ohio Department of Education contract with the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation and operated by a politically-connected group of Islamic extremists associated...

By now it's been so widely adopted by the media that it's easy to be numb to it, but Chicago Tribune's E.A. Torriero breathed new life into the Bush-caused-it meme in the I-35W bridge collapse story by adding a new twist. The bridge collapse, suggested Torriero, is insult added to injury for mostly Muslim Somali immigrants already angered by American foreign policy. In a story filed the evening of August 7, Torriero portrayed the collapse as insult added to injury for Somali immigrants, weaving in suggestions that America under President Bush is becoming akin to a third world country, unable...

Canada refused to extradite brother of accused BOSTON (AP) — A Somali arrested in a post-Sept. 11 crackdown on money transfer businesses was sentenced yesterday to 18 months in prison for operating without a state licence. Mohamed Hussein was convicted in April of two counts of illegally transmitting money abroad. Hussein, 33, and his brother, Liban Hussein, 31, were arrested during last fall's crackdown on al-Barakaat outlets across the United States. Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of at least four years, three months in prison — a recommendation that drew harsh criticism from U.S. District Judge Robert Keeton. "You're...

A suspected terrorist, arrested in Minneapolis and held in prison for nearly 3 and a half years without a trial, is asking to be released. Mohammed Warsame is charged with federal crimes of violence and supplying support to Al Qaida. Supporters in the Muslim community packed the federal courthouse in Minneapolis Tuesday to express their concern for Mohammed Warsame. "The length of this detention, without his day in court, is causing a serious problem," said Somali Justice Center Director Omar Jamal. Warsame's attorney said it's the longest time in U.S. history someone has been incarcerated pretrial. "He's been incredibly resilient,"...

A search warrant filed in Hennepin County connects a shooting investigation to a possible terror plot. According to court documents, four Somali teenage males were riding in a cab on June 24 the same night a man was shot in the chest around 9:00 p.m. Video surveillance at the Glendale Housing Projects captured the cab fleeing near the scene of the shooting. Police were able to identify the taxicab and located the vehicle at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport four days later. Inside the cab, police found a handwritten note describing acts of terrorism and bombings. Police questioned an 18-year-old relative...

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Maine's second-largest city has earned some new bragging rights. Lewiston was one of 10 municipalities designated this year as an All-America City. The selections were made Friday night during an award ceremony in Anaheim, Calif., in the competition sponsored by the National Civic League. "My head is just spinning right now," Dottie Perham-Whittier, Lewiston's community relations coordinator, told the (Lewiston) Sun Journal. "I think we pretty much just leaped up on that stage." During its presentation the day before, the delegation from Lewiston talked about various city initiatives, including the Lewiston Youth Advisory Council, the Lots to...

By GREGG AAMOT, Associated Press Writer Mon Apr 16, 6:51 PM ET MINNEAPOLIS - Taxi drivers who refuse service to travelers carrying alcohol at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport face tougher penalties despite protests from Muslim cabbies who sought a compromise for religious reasons, officials said Monday. The Metropolitan Airports Commission said new penalties were needed to ensure customers get safe and reliable taxi service, and voted to suspend a driver's airport taxi license for 30 days for the first offense and revoke it for two years for a second offense. The new penalties take effect May 11. Airport officials...

All you frequent (and not so frequent) flyers into Minneapolis-St Paul Airport no longer have to worry about getting a cab if you're carrying a closed package of liquor or guided by a seeing eye dog. But why should they have had problems? Because Moslem taxi drivers, claiming these items violated their religion, refused to transport them. After a loud, public protest campaign the Minneapolis Airport Commission established guidelines, fining drivers who refused potential customers. Now they're seeking public -- that's you! -- input for stricter penalties. A public hearing will begin at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, February 27, 2007,...

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somalia's interior minister said Thursday that thousands of Islamic fighters still pose a threat in the capital, while a Somali government spokesman said government troops, backed by Ethiopian soldiers, are fighting about 600 Islamic militiamen in the south. Government forces have surrounded the Islamic militiamen "from every direction" in the southwestern district of Badade, near the Kenyan border, Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told The Associated Press. "The fighting is going on," Dinari said. "We hope they will either surrender or be killed by our troops." In the past 10 days, Ethiopian-backed government forces have driven out...

Somalis 'at war' with Ethiopia The government is getting military help from Ethiopia The leader of the Union of Islamic Courts, which controls the capital and much of southern Somalia, says they are in a state of war with Ethiopia. "All Somalis should take part in this struggle against Ethiopia," Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said from Mogadishu. Fresh heavy fighting is reported near the weak Somali government's Baidoa base, amid fears conflict could plunge the entire Horn of Africa into crisis. Local residents say Ethiopian troops are clashing with Islamist militias. Ethiopia denies its forces are battling the advancing Islamist...

The landscape has changed at the state high school cross country meet at Saint Olaf College in Northfield. A brand new wind turbine spins 350 feet above the course. Yet, it's still not the biggest turnaround in Minnesota high school running. Three years ago, the Willmar boys cross country team didn't dream of making it to state. The team didn't win a meet all year, finishing ninth out of nine schools in the Central Lakes Conference. "Our goal was not to get last every meet," says one former runner. A farming community of 18,000 people, the best Willmar could hope...

A HARDLINE cleric linked to Somalia's powerful Islamist movement has called for Muslims to "hunt down" and kill Pope Benedict XVI for his controversial comments about Islam. Sheikh Abubukar Hassan Malin urged Muslims to find the pontiff and punish him for insulting the Prophet Mohammed and Allah in a speech that he said was as offensive as author Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. "We urge you Muslims wherever you are to hunt down the Pope for his barbaric statements as you have pursued Salman Rushdie, the enemy of Allah who offended our religion," he said in Friday evening prayers....

A U.N. employee used U.N. diplomatic pouches to smuggle illegal drugs as part of a ring that brought 25 tons of contraband into New York in the past year and a half, federal prosecutors and the FBI said yesterday.

Fedderal drug enforcement agents announced the indictment today of 44 people across the country, including more than a dozen from Minnesota, on charges of smuggling more than 25 tons of khat, a plant that causes a high when chewed or smoked. The group, mostly East African immigrants, is accused of smuggling bundles of the plant from the Horn of Africa

Somalis wary of 'Bin Laden' tape Bin Laden was giving an opinion, the Somali leader said The powerful Islamist movement in Somalia has distanced itself from comments about Somalia attributed to al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. An internet audio recording warned the West not to send troops to Somalia. But a leader of the Union of Islamic Courts, which has taken control of the capital, Mogadishu, said they did not rely on any outside group. The US has accused one Islamic leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, of links to al-Qaeda and involvement with terror. Mr Aweys denies the US allegations,...

Omar Abdi Mohamed, a Somali community leader who successfully battled allegations that he was a conduit for terrorist funds but ultimately was convicted of immigration crimes, is back in Somalia. Mohamed was escorted by three armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on a commercial flight from San Diego to Mogadishu, with stops in several countries, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego. He arrived yesterday and was immediately released, she said. Mohamed came to San Diego 11 years ago as a tortured refugee from war-torn Somalia. He was arrested during crackdowns on possible...

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Somali militiamen who skirmished with U.S. Navy vessels claimed Sunday they did not fire the first shot and that they had been patrolling Somali waters to stop illegal fishing vessels. On Saturday, two U.S. Navy ships exchanged gunfire with suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia, killing one suspect and wounding five others. (Full story) It said that the incident took place on international waters and the Navy had taken 12 suspects, including the wounded, into custody after the gunbattle. Saleban Aadan Barqad, a spokesman for the militias, confirmed the casualties Sunday to The Associated Press....

Five Somali men plead guilty to robberies in plea deals All of them will face the risk of deportation after serving sentences Saturday, February 18, 2006 Kevin Mayhood THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH SHARI LEWIS | DISPATCH Muhadin Munye, 21, reacts in court after accepting a plea deal and a nine-year prison sentence for robberies he committed with four others. Five young men suspected in more than 25 armed robberies in August have pleaded guilty to a handful and agreed to testify against other defendants. The men, all from the West Side, were a one-car crime wave on the West Side and...

People in southern Somalia are starting to die from thirst in the worst drought in over 40 years in some parts of the country, says aid agency Oxfam. Oxfam says assessment teams found seven people who died of dehydration, and that tens of thousands are now at risk. People are surviving on the equivalent of three glasses of water a day, in temperatures of over 40C (100F). Oxfam reports an almost unprecedented situation, where people beg for water along the sides of the road. All surface water has gone, boreholes are running dry, and people are walking up to 70km...

Maine Now Has Biggest Medicaid Population in Nation By IPR Nov 9, 2005, 20:42 PORTLAND -- The Maine Heritage Policy Center today cited updated 2004 data from the Kaiser Family Foundation that shows Maine now has the largest Medicaid program in the country, covering 21 percent of all non-elderly individuals, those under 65 years old, within the state. Almost all Mainers over 65 have Medicare coverage. "Maine once again is an example for the nation of an unsustainable level of Medicaid spending," said Tarren Bragdon, director of health reform initiatives for The Maine Heritage Policy Center. "Maine is number one...

(AP) — Some highlights from an FBI affidavit filed in federal court in New Jersey, outlining the alleged plot to smuggle a shoulder-launched missile into the United States: _Investigation began in December 2001, when a "cooperating witness" or informant under federal law enforcement control began talking with the alleged arms dealer, Hemant Lakhani, about obtaining anti-aircraft guns and missiles. The witness told Lakhani he was representing a Somali group that wanted to buy one missile initially "with a purchase of a greater number of missiles to follow." _Between Dec. 2001 and Aug. 13, 2003, more than 150 conversations between Lakhani...

Frustrated Somalis flee Holland for the freedom of Britain By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Tilburg (Filed: 21/12/2004) An estimated 20,000 Dutch Somalis have left Holland for Britain over the past five years, escaping a multicultural model once touted as the most enlightened in the world. They say they are frustrated by a system that keeps them trapped in welfare dependency and fosters ethnic tension. Somali Muslim families are moving en masse to Leicester and Birmingham from the industrial cities of Tilburg and Rotterdam. The exodus is linked to the anti-Muslim feeling that burst into the open with the advent of Pim...

The new model racists THE ghost of Christmas Past haunts Mahmoud Mustafa. An Iraqi Kurd asylum-seeker who has lived in Cambridgeshire for the past three years, the 49-year-old was with friends last Boxing Day when they were set upon by a gang of young racist thugs. He and his friends were strolling through the city centre when a car carrying a group of youths sped up, forcing them off the pavement and into a pool of water. “When my friend shouted at them, the boys got out and started beating us,” said Mustafa. “One friend was badly hurt [and] has...

2003 Sun Journal file mug of Abdiaziz Ali LEWISTON - A caseworker assigned to the city general assistance office has been charged with using the power of his office to solicit sex from a local woman. Abdiaziz Ali, 34, of 27 Flanders St., Auburn, was summoned on misdemeanor charges of engaging a prostitute and official oppression. Police say Ali, who also serves as a liaison for the Somali community, pressured a local woman to have sex with him by promising her reduced rent. He has been placed on paid administrative leave while the city investigates the charges against him....