Hasta La Gadget!

A Muslim woman who was forced to remove her hijab by police in Michigan claims her religious rights were violated, and she’s hoping a civil rights lawsuit will ensure other women don’t have the same experience.

Malak Kazan, 27, is suing the police department and city of Dearborn Heights, a suburb of Detroit, after officers refused her request to keep her headscarf on while taking a booking photo. Her attorney Amir Makled filed the lawsuit in federal court Thursday.

“Malak has been very brave by going forward with this case,” Makled told The Huffington Post. “It’s something that’s going to be heightened exposure for her, and she’s kind of already suffered a little bit of backlash … The level of racism that’s out there, that she has witnessed on some of these websites [that covered her case], it’s been very upsetting to her. But she still carries on and is still proud to be a trailblazer for a just cause.”

Kazan was stopped for a traffic violation in Dearborn Heights on July 9, and was then arrested; Makled says her license had been suspended for outstanding traffic tickets. The lawsuit states that at the police station she was asked to remove her headscarf, which she wears in public and when she is in the presence of men who aren’t family members, for her booking photo. When she told the unnamed officer that to do so would violate her religious beliefs, he said there were no exceptions. She spoke with his supervisor, who also allegedly refused her request.

Kazan says she then requested that a female officer take the photograph, which was also denied. The lawsuit alleges the first officer then threatened her with further detention if she didn’t comply.

The suit claims Kazan experienced “extreme shame, humiliation, mental anguish, and emotional distress” when she was forced to remove her hijab.

“To Ms. Kazan, wearing a headscarf is a reminder of her faith, the importance of modesty in her religion, and her religious obligations, as well as a symbol of her own control over who may see the more intimate parts of her body,” the lawsuit states.

Kazan’s lawsuit calls on the police department to change its policy to allow headscarves worn for religious purposes and to provide training about the change.

“She doesn’t want to have other women [undergo similar experiences],” Makled said. “It’s a women’s rights issue as well as a Muslim rights issue.”

Dearborn Heights Police Chief Lee Gavin, who is named in Kazan’s lawsuit, did not return a request for comment but told FOX 2 that the department requires individuals to remove hats and other head coverings for safety reasons, as they can “contain concealable items that could pose a threat or chance of injury to the cops or to themselves.” He said procedure is to have women remove hijabs in the presence of a female officer, but there aren’t always enough female officers at the station.

“Our number one concern is security of our officers and the prisoners,” Gavin said.

Makled said from a legal standpoint, the police department would have to have a compelling reason in order to not make accommodations for a person’s religious practice, and he doesn’t believe that was the case in this incident.

The city had not been served with the lawsuit as of Friday afternoon, Dearborn Heights Corporation Counsel Gary Miotke told HuffPost. He said he couldn’t knowledgeably comment until he had seen the allegations.

The Detroit area has one of the highest concentrations of Arab-Americans in the country, with a particularly strong community in Dearborn, adjacent to Dearborn Heights. In the last several years, Dearborn Heights’ Arab-American population has grown significantly, according to the Arab American News.

In December, the Arab-American Civil Rights League filed a different lawsuit against the city on behalf of a family who allege the police department discriminated against them, making anti-Arab remarks and retaliating when they complained.

In nearby cities and around the country, other Muslim women have faced circumstances similar to Kazan’s, being forced to remove headscarves worn for religious reasons while detained. Safety appears to be the primary reason cited for those rules, but, in recent years some departments — including Washington, D.C. police — have changed policies to allow women to keep their headscarves on in custody.

Another agency that now allows headscarves is the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in California. In 2007, Anaheim resident Souhair Khatib sued after officers at a courthouse holding cell compelled her to remove her hijab for security reasons. The civil rights lawsuit was settled in 2013, and the OCSD changed their policy to allow religious headscarves, conducting trainings about the change.

(Recasts with joint news conference)

By Sanjeev Miglani and Douglas Busvine

NEW DELHI, Jan 25 (Reuters) – In a glow of bonhomie, U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a breakthrough on nuclear trade on Sunday, a step that both sides hope will help establish an enduring strategic partnership.

Obama said the two countries had made progress on two issues holding up commercial civil nuclear cooperation, one of the major irritants in bilateral ties.

“We are committed to moving towards full implementation,” Obama told a joint news conference with Modi in the Indian capital. “This is an important step that shows how we can work together to elevate our relationship.”

The agreement resolved differences over the liability of suppliers to India in the event of a nuclear accident and U.S. demands on tracking the whereabouts of material supplied to the country, U.S. ambassador to India Richard Verma told reporters.

“Ultimately it’s up to the companies to go forward, but the two governments came to an understanding,” he added.

Signaling his determination to take ties to a higher level, Modi broke with protocol to meet and bear-hug Obama as he landed in New Delhi earlier in the day. It was a remarkable spectacle given that, just a year ago, Modi was persona non grata in Washington and denied a visa to the United States.

After a working lunch that included kebabs made with lotus stem, figs and spices, the two leaders got down to talks to finalize agreements on climate change, renewable energy, taxation and defense cooperation.

But Modi cautioned that work was still needed to create a solid partnership between the world’s two largest democracies.

“We have to convert a good start into lasting progress. This requires translating our vision into sustained action and concrete achievements,” he said, standing next to Obama.

Earlier, the two leaders walked and talked together in an elegant garden and sat outside over tea. Modi, who sold tea on a railway platform as a child, poured a cup for Obama.

Obama will be the first U.S. president to attend India’s Republic Day parade, an annual show of military might long associated with the anti-Americanism of the Cold War, and will host a radio show with Modi.

His presence at Monday’s parade at Modi’s personal invitation is the latest revival in a roller-coaster relationship between the two largest democracies that just a year ago was in tatters.

Armed police and soldiers lined the roads of New Delhi, where Obama was met with a guard of honor and a 21-gun salute in a formal ceremony at the presidential palace. Briefly, a stray dog ran around the forecourt of the palace in an otherwise highly choreographed event.

Up to 40,000 security personnel have been deployed for the visit and 15,000 new closed-circuit surveillance cameras have been installed in the capital, according to media reports.

NEW VITALITY

The United States views India as a vast market and potential counterweight to China’s assertiveness in Asia, but frequently grows frustrated with the slow pace of economic reforms and unwillingness to side with Washington in international affairs.

Elected last May, Modi has injected a new vitality into the economy and foreign relations and, to Washington’s delight, begun pushing back against China’s growing presence in South Asia.

Annual bilateral trade of $100 billion is seen as vastly below potential and Washington wants it to grow fivefold.

Obama will depart slightly early from India to travel to Saudi Arabia following the death of King Abdullah, instead of a planned visit to the Taj Mahal.

Like Obama, Modi rose from a modest home to break into a political elite dominated by powerful families. Aides say the two men bonded in Washington in September when Obama took Modi to the memorial of Martin Luther King, whose rights struggle was inspired by India’s Mahatma Gandhi.

The “chemistry” aides describe is striking because Modi’s politics is considerably to the right of Obama’s, and because he was banned from visiting the United States for nearly a decade after deadly Hindu-Muslim riots in a state he governed.

Obama, the first sitting U.S. president to visit India twice, also enjoyed a close friendship with Modi’s predecessor Manmohan Singh, who in 2008 staked his premiership on a controversial deal that made India the sixth “legitimate” atomic power and marked a high point in Indo-U.S. relations.

The nuclear deal has so far failed to deliver on a promise of billions of dollars of business for U.S. companies because of India’s reluctance to pass legislation shielding suppliers from liability, a deviation from international norms.

In a reminder that personal chemistry is not always enough, ties between Washington and India descended into bickering over protectionism that culminated in a fiery diplomatic spat in 2013 and the abrupt departure of the U.S. ambassador from New Delhi, who has only just been replaced.

(Additional reporting by Douglas Busvine and Frank Jack Daniel in NEW DELHI; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire woman got a surprise at a Burger King drive-thru: a bag full of cash instead of food.

Janelle Jones says she discovered on the way home that the bag did not contain the sweet tea and junior spicy chicken sandwich that she had ordered Friday at the Rochester fast-food restaurant.

Foster’s Daily Democrat ( http://bit.ly/1EEYFl9 ) reports that Jones called her husband and they decided to return the $2,631, which was a Burger King bank deposit.

Matthew Jones says the couple briefly considered keeping the money, which they certainly could have used. But he says he and his wife are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and that “Jehovah sees everything.”

The newspaper reports that the restaurant confirmed the couple’s account but had no comment on it.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — In fierce fighting Sunday, Nigerian troops clashed with Islamic extremists who attacked Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeast Nigeria. Dozens of combatants have been killed and wounded, soldiers and hospital workers said.

“Coordinated air and land operations are being conducted now,” Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade said in a message posted on Twitter. Troops blocked roads leading into the city, which also is preventing civilians from escaping.

“We believe hundreds of thousands of civilians are now at grave risk,” Amnesty International said.

The attacks come the day U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital nearly 1,000 miles (more than 1,500 kilometers) southwest of Maiduguri.

Aides said Kerry is concerned about possible violence around Nigeria’s Feb. 14 elections and will meet with the main contenders, President Goodluck Jonathan and former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari.

Jonathan made a surprise visit to Maiduguri 10 days ago and pledged to crush the insurgents. But his repeated promises are ringing hollow as Boko Haram since August has seized and kept control of large swaths of the northeast, including key border crossings into Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Boko Haram has denounced democracy and is fighting to impose its strict version of Shariah law across Nigeria, whose population of about 170 million is divided almost equally between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south.

The extremists attacked on three fronts around Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, soon after midnight and troops battled to hold them at bay, according to an officer involved in the fighting.

He said he saw dozens of combatants killed. A hospital worker said they are treating dozens of wounded soldiers. Both men spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.

Boko Haram on Jan. 3 seized a key military base and town on the border with Cameroon, killing hundreds of civilians and leaving the main road open to Maiduguri. The military said they were counter-attacking a week ago. But escaping civilians said there was no fighting and the insurgents retain control of the town of Baga.

Olukolade said the militants on Sunday simultaneously attacked Maiduguri and Monguno town, 180 kilometers (112 miles) away.

While soldiers were succeeding in holding off the attack on Maiduguri, it appeared they might lose Monguno, according to Abbas Gava, a spokesman for the civilian self-defense groups fighting Boko Haram.

Maiduguri is the birthplace of Boko Haram and has been attacked many times in the five-year Islamic insurgency that killed 10,000 people last year.

At the turn of the century our average life expectancy was around 45 – today Americans can expect to live to be at least 75 years old – that’s 30-plus additional years filled with lots of choices and decisions. Navigating this virtually uncharted territory can be daunting.  Just remember – you’re in control of aging successfully through your 30 Bonus Years – especially when it comes to retirement!

Retirement is a transition that’s generally filled with mixed emotions. You may feel like you’ve finally reached your professional stride and still have many productive years left, but the human resources department is suggesting you take a “less-demanding” position based on the results of your annual physical and length of time with the company. And then there’s the obvious route – leaving the active job market altogether by choice!  There’s so much to consider before making a permanent change in your employment status, including setting some new goals for your future and making sure you have the funds to achieve them. Much like plotting an exciting roadway adventure – retirement requires planning, especially during transition stages when you’re scrambling for answers.

There’s no doubt that being physically and mentally healthy (and engaged) means nothing if you don’t have enough money to support yourself through your 30 bonus years. Clearly if you haven’t figured out your finances completing this task first is a HUGE part of the equation.  One downside of early retirement is that a lot of people don’t take the time to do the money math before they take the leap. “A good rule of thumb is: If you can’t pay off your mortgage, you can’t afford to retire,” according to Tom Sightings, a former publishing executive who was eased into early retirement in his mid-50s.  Tom frequently posts blogs on the Sightings at 60 website where he covers health, finance, retirement and other concerns of Baby Boomers who realize that “somehow they have grown up.”  When financially planning for the future it’s especially important to be prepared for unexpected big ticket items like healthcare expenses, accidents and illness.  Did you know that according to Fidelity Investments a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2014 was estimated to need $220,000 (out of pocket) just to cover medical expenses throughout retirement – SCARY!?

Never stop working may just be the mantra that keeps you alive longer, and not just due to the extra money in the bank.  In their book The Longevity Project psychology professors Howard S. Friedman and Leslie R. Martin present end-of-life findings with surprising conclusions about the factors that sustain a long, rewarding life.  Friedman says “fun can be overrated and stress can be unfairly blamed” which is an especially important point for those who contemplate retirement as decades filled with leisure and relaxation.  

The encouraging link between continuing to work and longevity is exemplified in the Chianti region of Italy, located in Tuscany between the cities of Florence and Siena. In this wine region, the family-owned vineyards are often passed on from generation to generation. While the elders may leave the more taxing jobs to the youngsters, they never fully retire. The older members of the family continue to walk the rows of vines to make sure the grapes are in good condition and participate in tastings to ensure the quality of the wine, and they remain involved in important business decisions. Many locals claim it’s their ongoing daily involvement that is responsible for their exceptionally long and healthy lives.

Perhaps a smart way to approach your potential retirement is to transition into a softer job that provides a more meaningful reason to get out of bed in the morning. Seek to parlay your expertise into an advisory position or pursue a freelance job that keeps you in control of the time clock. For those of you who are ready to retire (or at least adjust your path) Zenployment, a concept from Canada that is catching on in the states, might be the perfect option. This idea refers to any kind of work, including self-employment, that you choose to do after you retire from your regular career, with the goal aimed at making a difference.  Not only will Zenployment keep you active, but according to a report published in Psychology and Aging those who volunteer, or work in jobs where they feel they are giving back, are said to reduce their mortality risk by about 25%.

While you’re weighing your options, why not consider doing something for the sheer joy it brings? Consider offbeat choices, such as posing for portraits with kids as the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus, or perhaps conducting guided tours for a museum or historical attraction that you enjoy visiting. The rules and criteria that once defined your professional career may no longer exist, thereby clearing the way for something else that is completely different and perhaps outside your comfort zone. For instance, imagine the kick that a 62 year old model gets out of knowing she still has what it takes to generate consumer interest in lingerie – as she says “sexy has no expiration date” – LOVE IT!  Expect to see more senior spokespersons in the media, as the shift to target the incoming sixty-something age group increases.

So unless you’re prepared to give up your claim in the game of life, stay engaged in either a fun job or challenging and meaningful pursuit to stay sharp and ready for the adventures that await in the 2nd act of your retirement, whatever you decide it should be!

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