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Founded in 970 or 972 by the Fatimids as a centre of Islamic learning, its students studied the Qur’an and Islamic law in detail, along with logic, grammar, rhetoric, and how to calculate the lunar phases of the moon.[citation needed] It was one of the first universities in the world and the only one to survive as a modern university including secular subjects in the curriculum. It is today the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world Bon appetit! Al-Azhar textbook: Eating dead Jews, Christians and infidels ‘halal’ if necessary Wed, 01/04/2015 – 18:10 Al-Masry Al-Youm...

A Michigan woman's gym membership was revoked because she refused to stop complaining about a transgender patron. According to Michigan Live, the incident started when a Planet Fitness member named Yvette Cormier went to use the women's gym's locker room at the Midland location. "I was blocked, because a man was standing there," Cormier told Michigan Live. "It freaked me out because why is a man in here?" Cormier sought out a gym employee to complain, but was told that members are allowed to use whatever locker room they want to, based on the gender they identify themselves as, ABC...

Republicans are debating whether their path to the presidency in 2016 runs through the blue-collar Rust Belt states, or the demographically changing new South and Sunbelt states. For Democrats looking to retake the Senate, however, the formula is more clear-cut: Win back white working-class voters, or be consigned to a longer-term minority. Most of the Senate battlegrounds run through the Midwest—Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio—along with New Hampshire, which carries demographic similarities with those older, whiter Great Lakes states. To defeat the vulnerable Republican incumbents, Democrats have a challenging task ahead: Making inroads with blue-collar voters, who have been stubbornly resistant...

The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority has wrapped up an initial round of public meetings as part of a feasibility study of north-south commuter rail between Ann Arbor and Howell, a project often referred to as WALLY. But after meetings in Brighton and Ann Arbor, and another one Monday night in Howell, questions still remain about how the service would be funded. Michael Benham, strategic planner for the AAATA, acknowledged it's possible that communities along the line could be asked to pay for the service through taxes, as fares alone wouldn't be enough to cover the costs. He said that...

A few hours before Central Student Government is set to consider a divestment resolution during their weekly meeting, members of the campus group Students Allied for Freedom and Equality hung a banner from a window in Mason Hall, which read “The Deaths of These Children” and included a list of names. The list names children who have allegedly died amid the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. The banner says the deaths of these children were “sponsored by” companies such as the Boeing Company, Caterpillar Inc., G4S and United Technologies Corporation. SAFE, a Palestinian solidarity group, posted a photo of the...

Two big Clinton stories landed last week. The first is that Hillary Clinton destroyed the electronic copies of her State Department emails on her private server after the State Department subpoenaed her emails. The second is that Hillary Clinton had an aide running a "secret spy network" that was, among other things, feeding her information on Benghazi, according to a report by Pro Publica and Gawker. Earlier this month, I noted the myriad ways that Clinton running her own private email server breathes new life into the Benghazi investigation, but this last revelation takes things to a whole new level....

Washington (CNN)Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley took a major shot at Hillary Clinton on Sunday, saying the country needs a "new perspective" and "new leadership" in the 2016 election. "Let's be honest here," O'Malley said. "The presidency of the United States is not some crown to be passed between two families." The Democrat's comments, in an appearance on ABC's "This Week," are another signal that he's likely to challenge Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. He's focusing in recent weeks on issues like income inequality and wage stagnation -- which liberal darling Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has made her...

A former governor on ABC’s “This Week” made a not-so-veiled threat Sunday to former Democratic Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley that he could lose a cabinet position in Hillary Clinton’s administration by running against her. Former Democratic Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who also serves as a Senior Advisor to Ready for Hillary PAC said, “She is comfortable enough to be able to withstand a primary.” Granholm added, “And Martin O’Malley, he’s a very nice guy, and I was thinking he might make a nice member of a President Clinton administration, so he better watch it.” “I think he and anybody else,...

With the recent increases in minimum wage, the Central Michigan University Recreation Department has restricted expenses to remain within its budget. Minimum wage increased from $7.40 per hour in 2013 to $8.15 per hour in 2014-15. While minimum wage has increased, the department's budget hasn't increased to compensate the statewide change. In Michigan, minimum wage is scheduled to increase every January over the next four years. Although the increase in wages has left little room for expenditures, UREC has made no drastic changes to their budget. "There have been no massive cutbacks, just changes to the overall strategy and reprogram,"...

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) delivered a pitch-perfect trolling lesson to the Senate on Wednesday, filing an amendment calling to defund "the purchase of stationary [sic] or electronic devices for the purpose of members of Congress or congressional staff communicating with foreign governments and undermining the role of the President as Head of State in international nuclear negotiations on behalf of the United States." In other words, Stabenow wants to defund Tom Cotton letters.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/25/gov-snyder-dc-talk-military-issues/70438024/ Link only due to copyright rules

Kristen Moore of the Michigan Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America wanted to continue the conversation by exploring the role that firearms play in violence against women. According to Moore, the presence of a gun in domestic violence situations increase the risk of homicide of women by 500%.

SOUTHFIELD (WWJ) – There was some concern in Southfield Sunday morning after an ISIS flag was seen hanging from the side of a truck near the United States Army Reserve Center. Officials there tell us the flag was being used a part of an anti-terrorism training exercise, and the truck had briefly left the property. Such a vehicle wouldn’t normally leave the base, and officials understand why there would be confusion and apologized. They say using foreign flags and symbols make their exercises authentic.

Video has emerged showing a Newaygo County Sheriff deputy admitting his department breaks federal and state laws. Each Newaygo County Board of Commissioners meeting is recorded as a matter of record. The videos of the commissioners’ meetings are public domain. In the video, recorded in January, the Newaygo deputy knowingly admits to breaking federal and state laws that prohibit quota policies in police departments. Not only does he admit to breaking the law, but after he does so, the entire board of commissioners votes to enact his measure of breaking the law. According to the Michigan Vehicle Code, it is...

Last week, Jeb Bush was in New Hampshire, pressing on with his sordid campaign to delude conservatives into swallowing Common Core and massive, unfettered immigration policies. He has fashioned himself a champion of the American worker, even as he pompously pushes Gang of Eight amnesty as the “adult” plan in the room. And he has fashioned himself a champion of “school choice,” even as he zealously crusades for failed Fed Ed rackets and data-mining schemes masquerading as “higher standards.” The condescending Bush attitude is familiar to grass-roots activists and parents in Florida and across the country who have fought Club...

<p>FLINT, MI -- A Flint man and Marine veteran imprisoned in Iran more than three years has renounced his Iranian citizenship and is requesting deportation from the country.</p> <p>A statement from Hekmati's family details what they call torture, abuse and a forced confession that he has been through. Those claims detail poor nutrition, foot whippings and long stretches of solitary confinement.</p>

The conservative Club For Growth released its annual scorecard for 2013 on Monday, bestowing two Republican U.S. senators — Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah — and four GOP congressmen with 100 percent ratings for their voting records “based on issues relating to limited government and economic growth.”The four congressmen with perfect ratings for 2013 are Republican Reps. Matt Salmon, Trent Franks and David Schweikert of Arizona and Tom McClintock of California. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan got a 99 percent rating in 2013 “but because of rounding has a 100 percent LifeScore,” the group said.“2013 saw...

ATLANTA — Before a military helicopter disappeared into a thick bank of fog off the Florida coast, killing all 11 servicemen aboard, military officials had conducted an “operational risk assessment” and determined that the weather was safe enough to fly in, Maj. Gen. Joseph L. Osterman, commander of the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, said Friday. But once the two helicopters participating in the Tuesday evening exercise were aloft, a decision was made to turn back, General Osterman said. And only one helicopter made it back. The details of the Black Hawk helicopter’s final flight were disclosed at a...

An exotic dance club on Detroit’s west side has gone up in flames. The fire took off early Wednesday morning at the Watts Mozambique Lounge on Fenkell Avenue and Northlawn Street, just east of Wyoming Avenue. “This nightclub has been here for many, many years and we do understand it’s an exotic dancing, male-type of club here. The roof is about 30 percent engulfed in flames right now,” said WWJ’s Bill Szumanski from about the scene in Chopper 950. “Next door to it, adjacent, is a hair and nail salon and crews are now trying to keep the flames from...

A Midland County woman's gym membership was canceled after she refused to stop telling fellow gym members "a man" was using the woman's locker room. Yvette Cormier said the incident occurred Saturday, Feb. 28, when she entered the women's locker room at the Planet Fitness location at 701 Joe Mann Boulevard in Midland. "I was blocked, because a man was standing there," Cormier said. "It freaked me out because, why is a man in here?" Cormier said an employee at the front desk told her that the individual identifies as a woman. After taking her complaints to Planet Fitness' corporate...