DEARBORN, United States: Abdullah Hammoud’s election as the first Muslim mayor of Dearborn was a watershed moment for this city, an automaking hub home to the highest concentration of Arab-Americans in the United States.
But while his early focus was on upgrading sewer infrastructure and investing in parks, he has now been thrust into the national spotlight for his outspoken criticism of fellow Democrat Joe Biden, over the president’s support for Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
“I’ll be the first to say that we don’t want to see (Donald) Trump reelected to the White House,” Hammoud told AFP in an interview. “But people want to be inspired to come out.”
Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit famous as the birthplace of Henry Ford and home of the Ford Motor Company’s headquarters, has a population of around 110,000 residents, of whom 55 percent claim Middle Eastern or North African heritage.
In 2020, Dearborn voters overwhelmingly supported Biden and their ballots could tip the scales in Michigan — a crucial swing state that may ultimately decide the White House winner in November’s election.
Hammoud’s profile surged in January after he declined an invitation to meet with Biden campaign officials seeking to shore up the Muslim vote.
Since then, he helped galvanize a movement that saw over 100,000 voters mark “uncommitted” in Michigan’s Democratic primary in protest against Biden’s policy on Israel, and was asked by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein if he would be her running mate.
Hammoud, who won’t meet the Constitutional requirement of being 35 until next March, was too young to accept the role, though he said the offer was “very humbling.”
Besides, he remains unsure about how he’ll cast his ballot.
“I would say that no presidential candidate has earned my vote,” said the father-of-two, urging both parties to pay attention to increasing public disapproval of Israel’s actions.
“If you look at all the polling data that’s emerging across the country, from coast to coast, the issues that we have been advocating for, fighting for... are issues that have popular support.”
These demands include a permanent ceasefire as the pathway to provide safe harbor for all hostages and prisoners, unfettered access to humanitarian aid, and ending the supply of weapons to Israel.
The son of Lebanese immigrants, Hammoud grew up in a “working poor” blue collar family. His father drove a truck while his mother’s father worked on an auto factory assembly line.
He was drawn toward the Democratic Party for its support of the labor movement, and equally repelled by Republicans, whom he says have a history of “demonizing Arab Americans, Muslim Americans and other people of color.”
Hammoud’s first dream was to become a physician, but he wasn’t able to get the grades. He instead trained as an epidemiologist and began climbing the corporate ladder as a health care executive.
But the sudden death of his beloved elder brother — Hammoud was the second of five children — made him re-evaluate his priorities, and in 2016 he won election to the state legislature.
Then in 2022, he became the second in a trio of new Muslim mayors in the southeast Michigan cities of Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and Hamtramck.
Hammoud immediately set to work righting historical wrongs.
For decades, the city had been marred by a reputation for racism, exemplified by the openly segregationist policies of former mayor Orville Hubbard.
Hammoud appointed the city’s first Arab-American police chief, which led to a drastic drop in tickets issued to Black drivers within a year, according to his spokesman.
Until the war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s attacks and hostage taking on October 7, 2023, Hammoud considered Biden a “transformative” president, but now believes “the genocide outweighs the impact of that domestic policy.”
Hammoud sidesteps the question of whether he could ultimately endorse Biden under the right circumstances, emphasizing that whatever he might say, it’s too late for some of his constituents who have lost dozens of relatives to Israeli bombs.
He has no doubt that Trump, who imposed a Muslim travel ban during his tenure, would be an utter disaster — citing the Republican’s arming of Saudi Arabia against Yemen, backing of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and shifting the US embassy to Jerusalem.
But Hammoud recoils at suggestions that members of his community would be to blame for potentially paving the way for Trump’s return by withholding their support for Biden.
Asked how he would respond to this criticism, Hammoud said: “The question should be asked of President Joe Biden — what will he do to prevent Trump being reelected come this November? What will he do to help prevent the unraveling of American democracy and the fabric of our society?”
Arab-American mayor warns Biden has not ‘earned my vote’
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Arab-American mayor warns Biden has not ‘earned my vote’
- First Muslim mayor of Dearborn thrust into the national spotlight for his outspoken criticism of fellow Democrat Joe Biden, over the president’s support for Israel’s military offensive in Gaza
Son of founder of modern Singapore says he is now a political refugee
- Singapore’s government says the persecution claim was baseless and unfounded
- Lee Hsien Yang said he had sought asylum protection in 2022, citing government persecution
In a Facebook post, Lee, the estranged brother of former premier Lee Hsien Loong, said Britain has determined he faces “a well-founded risk of persecution, and cannot safely return to Singapore.”
“I sought asylum protection as a last resort. I remain a Singapore citizen and hope that some day it will become safe to return home,” he said.
Singapore’s government said the persecution claim was baseless and unfounded, ChannelNewsAsia reported, citing a response it said was provided to the Guardian newspaper.
Britain’s high commission in Singapore did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lee Hsien Yang and his sister Lee Wei Ling, who died on Oct. 9, have been at odds with their brother Lee Hsieng Loong, who was premier from 2004 until May this year, over what to do with their father’s home after his death in 2015, in a public spat that saw the siblings estranged.
Lee Hsien Yang said he had sought asylum protection in 2022, citing government persecution against him and his family, and that he was unable to return for his sister’s funeral as a result.
He had said last week that he would apply to demolish Lee Kuan Yew’s home in line with his father’s wishes.
The government said in response it would consider issues related to the property in due course.
Taiwan again rejects South African demand to move its representative office from Pretoria
- Demand to move or shut the office entirely violates a 1997 agreement between the sides
- South Africa maintains a liaison office in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, and the sides have a strong commercial relationship
TAIPEI: Taiwan has again rejected South Africa’s demand that it move its representative office in the country from the capital, Pretoria, to the commercial center of Johannesburg.
Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jeff Liu said at a news conference on Tuesday that the demand to move or shut the office entirely violated a 1997 agreement between the sides on the location of their mutual representative offices following the severing of formal diplomatic relations.
“Facing this kind of unreasonable demand, our side cannot grant our acceptance,” Liu said.
South Africa maintains a liaison office in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, and the sides have a strong commercial relationship. Liu repeated Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung’s avowal at the legislature on Monday that Taiwan “was prepared for all eventualities” over the issue. The office is Taiwanese property and Taipei retains the right to determine its location and status, Lin and Liu said.
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory that must be annexed by force if necessary, relentlessly seeks to minimize Taiwan’s international representation, although the self-governing island republic maintains robust unofficial relations with the US and other major nations.
South Africa confirmed last week that it had asked Taiwan to move its liaison office, in a demand seen purely as a concession to China, which has used its influence to keep Taiwan out of the United Nations and affiliated branches such as the World Health Organization, and limit its formal diplomatic partners to just 11 countries and the Vatican.
In addition to diplomatic and economic pressure, China has stepped up its military threats against Taiwan, most recently holding large-scale live-fire drills just off the Chinese coastal province of Fujian, which faces Taiwan.
South Africa’s demand that Taiwan move its office has also drawn attention in the US Congress, with Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn posting on the social platform X that “the United States should not tolerate this behavior from South Africa.”
“I am calling on ... the Biden administration to make it clear that there will be consequences if South Africa works with the (Chinese Communist Party) to bully Taiwan,” including removing South Africa from a key trade program, Blackburn said.
“The United States must not provide trade benefits to countries that prioritize China’s influence over democratic partnerships,” she added.
Indian troops kill five Maoist rebels
- More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by the Naxalite movement
- The Naxalites inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong
NEW DELHI: Indian commandos shot dead five Maoist rebels in the dense jungles of central India, police said Tuesday, as security forces intensify a government bid to crush the long-running armed conflict.
More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by the Naxalite movement, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized indigenous people of India’s remote and resource-rich central regions.
The insurgency has drastically shrunk in recent years and a crackdown by security forces has killed nearly 200 rebels this year, according to government data.
The clash took place Monday in Maharashtra, which holds state elections next month.
“Five Naxalites were killed after they opened fire on security forces,” police superintendent Neelotpal was quoted as saying by local media.
The Times of India newspaper reported that three of those killed were women, and that a commando wounded in the firefight had to be pulled out by helicopter while under fire.
In September, Indian interior minister Amit Shah warned the Maoist rebels to surrender or face an “all-out” assault, saying the government anticipated eradicating the Naxalite movement by early 2026.
The Naxalites, named for the district where their armed campaign began in 1967, were inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
They demanded land, jobs and a share of the region’s immense natural resources for local residents, and made inroads in a number of remote communities across India’s east and south.
The movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s when New Delhi deployed tens of thousands of security personnel against the rebels in a stretch of territory known as the “Red Corridor.”
Authorities have pumped in millions of dollars for investments in local infrastructure projects and social spending.
Ukraine drones target Russian alcohol plants, Russian officials says
- A blast shook the Biokhim biochemical plant in Russia’s Tambov region, sparking a short-lived fire
- Biokhim is one of Russia’s oldest manufacturers of ‘products of strategic importance for the state’
Ukraine overnight drone attacks caused an explosion and a fire at an ethanol manufacturing plant and damaged two other alcohol producing enterprises in Russia, Russian officials said on Tuesday.
A blast shook the Biokhim biochemical plant in Russia’s Tambov region, sparking a short-lived fire, Tambov governor Maxim Yegorov said on the Telegram messaging app.
“According to preliminary information, there are no casualties, Yegorov said.
Russia’s defense ministry said that its air defense units destroyed a total of 18 Ukrainian drones, but it did not mention Tambov in its tally.
Biokhim in the Tambov region, some 450km southeast of Moscow, is one of Russia’s oldest manufacturers of “products of strategic importance for the state,” chiefly ethanol, according to the company’s website.
The governor of the Tula region, which borders Moscow to its north, said on Tuesday that a Ukraine drone attack damaged two distilleries, in the town of Yefremov and the village of Luzhkovskyi.
There were no injuries, Tula governor Dmitry Miliayev said Telegram, adding the situation was “under control.” It was not immediately clear how big the attacks were and Miliayev did not give any further details.
Another Ukraine drone attack damaged a boiler house and a non-residential building in Russia’s western region of Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, its governor said.
There were no injuries as a result of the attack, Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz said Telegram.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv has often said that its air attacks inside Russia target infrastructure key to Russia’s war efforts and are a response to Moscow’s relentless bombing of Ukrainian territory.
North Korea UN representative denies Pyongyang sent troops to Russia
UNITED NATIONS, United States: North Korea has not sent troops to Russia to help Moscow fight Ukraine, one of its United Nations representatives said Monday, dismissing Seoul’s claims as “groundless rumor.”
Seoul’s spy agency said Friday that Pyongyang sent a “large-scale” troop deployment to help its ally, claiming that 1,500 special forces were already training in Russia’s Far East and ready to head soon for the frontlines of the Ukraine war.
“As for the so-called military cooperation with Russia, my delegation does not feel any need for comment on such groundless stereotyped rumors,” a North Korean representative said at a committee meeting during the UN General Assembly.
Seoul’s claims were “aimed at smearing the image of the DPRK and undermining the legitimate, friendly and cooperative relations between two sovereign states,” the representative told the meeting, held late Monday in New York.
Pyongyang and Moscow have been allies since North Korea’s founding after World War II, and have drawn even closer since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with Seoul and Washington long claiming that Kim Jong Un has been sending weapons for use in Ukraine.
North Korean state media have not commented on the purported troop deployment.
Russia has also not confirmed the troop deployment, but defended its military cooperation with the North.
After Seoul summoned Moscow’s ambassador in South Korea to complain, the envoy “stressed that cooperation between Russia and North Korea ... is not directed against the interests of South Korea’s security.”
Neither NATO nor the United States have confirmed the deployment, but both have cast it as a potentially dangerous escalation in the long-running Ukraine conflict.
“We have seen reports the DPRK has sent forces and is preparing to send additional soldiers to Ukraine to fight alongside Russia,” Robert Wood, US ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council.
“If true, this marks a dangerous and highly concerning development and an obvious deepening of the DPRK-Russia military relationship,” Wood said.
The United States and its allies have already voiced concern about North Korea providing weapons to Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
On Tuesday, the Yonhap agency reported that the South Korean government is considering sending a team of personnel to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops being deployed, citing a government source.
According to the source, if deployed the team will likely consist of military personnel from intelligence divisions to analyze North Korean battlefield strategies and participate in interrogating any captured prisoners of war.
Yonhap also reported that a pro-Russia Telegram account posted a photo showing the Russian and North Korean flags side by side on a Ukrainian battlefield.
