This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (October 2009)

Us Weekly is a celebrity gossip magazine, founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986. The publication covers topics ranging from celebrity relationships to the latest trends in fashion, beauty, and entertainment. Along with Jann Wenner, the individuals currently in charge of Us Weekly are Editor in Chief Michael Steele and Publisher Victoria Lasdon Rose. As of 2007, its circulation averaged over 1.85 million.

The magazine currently features a sharply different style from its original 1977–2000 format. Originally a monthly industry news and review magazine along the lines of Premiere or Entertainment Weekly, it switched format in 2000 to its current themes of celebrity news and style.

The web site Usmagazine.com was launched in fall 2006 and gets approximately two million visitors per month. In addition to features from the magazine, the site has a breaking celebrity news blog, exclusive photos, red carpet galleries from premieres and events, plus games, videos, quizzes and polls.

Us Weekly has several signature issues each year including the Hot Hollywood special issues, in the spring and the fall celebrating young Hollywood; the Best Bodies issue and the Best Makeovers issue.

History[link]

This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (February 2010)

Launched as a bi-monthly publication in 1977, Us Magazine was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986 and is a part of Wenner Media LLC, which also publishes Rolling Stone and Men’s Journal.

In 1999, the company announced plans to shift the Us publication schedule from monthly to weekly. The shift coincided with a change in style from industry news and reviews to a celebrity- focused news magazine. The move was a response to several market forces, including the success of Time, Inc.’s Entertainment Weekly and People magazines. Wenner expressed his intention to keep Us "celebrity-friendly" in contrast with the more gossipy character of its competitors. He told the New York Times: "We will be nice to celebrities. A lot of my friends are in the entertainment business." The publication focuses on celebrity fashion as well as Hollywood gossip; Kelli Delaney, current New York designer for Members Only, formerly served as Fashion Director of the publication (1992–95).

The magazine changed from a monthly to a weekly format in March 2000. In February 2001, Wenner partnered with The Walt Disney Company. But, in August 2006, Wenner Media re-acquired Disney's 50 percent stake, making the publication once again fully owned and operated by Wenner Media. In July 2003, Janice Min took over as Editor in Chief with Victoria Lasdon Rose as Publisher, and Michael Steele as Executive Editor. Steele took over for Min in 2009. London-born Melanie Bromley became West Coast Bureau Chief in 2007 and is based in Los Angeles. Lara Cohen is the magazine's News Director.

Us Weekly Important Dates:

• 1977: Us founded by The New York Times Company
• 1980: Us acquired by Macfadden Media
• 1986: Us acquired by Wenner Media
• 1991: Us changes its bi-weekly frequency to become monthly
• March 2000: Us changes from a monthly format and goes weekly, changing its title
• February 2001: Us Weekly partners with The Walt Disney Company
• January 2006: Us Weekly increases rate base to 1.75 Million
• July 2006: Us Weekly launches Usmagazine.com
• August 2006: Wenner Media re-acquires Disney’s 50 percent stake in Us Weekly

Sections of the magazine[link]

• Just Like Us: photos of celebrities doing things everyday people do. Inspired by a regular Sesame Street feature about animals.
• Who Wore It Best? : reader polls of which celebrity wore an outfit better
• Hot Stuff: the latest gossip from inside Hollywood
• The Red Carpet: the looks and styles from Hollywood’s hottest parties and premieres
• Hot Pics: celebrity sightings of stars around the globe
• Fashion Police: famous comedians cite the fashion disasters of the stars, and the best “look of the week”
• The Record: a roster of changes in the lives of stars — births, marriages, divorces, etc.
• Loose Talk: quotes from the stars
• Us Musts: according to Us Weekly, the must-see films, TV shows and DVDs

[edit] Us Weekly in the news

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (September 2008)

In a July 2006 Variety article, Janice Min, Us Weekly editor-in-chief, cited People for the increase in cost to publishers of celebrity photos:

They are among the biggest spenders of celebrity photos in the industry. ... One of the first things they ever did, that led to the jacking up of photo prices, was to pay $75,000 to buy pictures of Jennifer Lopez reading Us magazine, so Us Weekly couldn't buy them. That was the watershed moment that kicked off high photo prices in my mind. I had never seen anything like it. But they saw a competitor come along, and responded. It was a business move, and probably a smart one.^[2]

In a June 2007 New York Magazine article, Tina Brown was asked, "Do you actually read the tabloids?"

Of course. I read everything. I adore Us Weekly. I think it's a genius magazine. I'm a big fan of magazines that fulfill the goal of what they're trying to be.^[3]

From a May 2007 New York Post article profiling New York's 50 Most Powerful Women,

Janice Min, 37, editor, Us magazine. With her mag's profits placed as high as $90 million a year and readership up 191 percent in the last five years, Janice is not just like us. Nonetheless, the success of Us is attributed partly to the mother of two's reputation as perky and well liked – as well as its addictive features like the new "Faux Biz", which makes fun of off-base gossip.^[4]

The magazine was criticized for allegedly biased coverage of the 2008 Republican National Convention. The September 5, 2008, issue featured Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on the cover with the headline "Babies, Lies & Scandal", while the June 19, 2008, issue featured U.S. Senator from Illinois Barack Obama and wife Michelle Obama with the headline "Why Barack Loves Her".^[5] Senior Editor Bradley Jacobs claimed that the "lies" on the cover referred to unspecified "liberal bloggers" who had speculated on the parentage of Governor Palin's child, not to the governor herself. However, nothing on the cover indicated "liberal bloggers" were the alleged liars. It was reported that the magazine had lost over 10,000 subscribers. Since then Michelle Malkin's blog reported that Us Weekly sent e-mails to each of those subscribers, apologizing for the cover, and promised to send them five free copies of the magazine.^[6]

Recognition[link]

Awards and Recognition by industry observers:

• Adweek's "The Hot List: Top 10 Magazines" 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
• Advertising Age's Magazine of the Year, 2004^[7]
• Adweek Magazine's Editor of the Year, Editor in Chief Janice Min^[8]
• Advertising Age A-List, #3 in 2005, #1 in 2004
• Capell's Circulation Report "Top 10 Best Performers in Circulation" in 2005

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• The Official Jann S. Wenner Website

Omar Suleiman
16th Vice President of Egypt
In office 29 January 2011 – 11 February 2011[1]
President	Hosni Mubarak
Preceded by	Hosni Mubarak*
Succeeded by	Sami Hafez Anan (Deputy Leader)
Director of the General Intelligence Directorate
In office 22 January 1993 – 31 January 2011
President	Hosni Mubarak
Preceded by	Nour El Dien Afeefy
Succeeded by	Murad Muwafi
Personal details
Born	(1936-07-02) 2 July 1936 (age 75) Qena, Egypt
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	Egyptian Military Academy Frunze Military Academy Ain Shams University Cairo University
Religion	Sunni Islam
Military service
Allegiance	Egypt
Service/branch	Army
Years of service	1954–present
Rank	Lieutenant General
Battles/wars	North Yemen Civil War[2] Six-Day War[3] October War[3]
*Office vacant from 14 October 1981 – 29 January 2011.

Omar Suleiman (Arabic: عمر سليمان‎, Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [ˈʕomɑɾˤ seleˈmæːn]; born 2 July 1936) is a former Egyptian army general, politician, diplomat, and intelligence officer. A leading figure in Egypt's intelligence system beginning in 1986, Suleiman was appointed to the long-vacant Vice Presidency by then-President Hosni Mubarak on 29 January 2011.^[4][5] On 11 February 2011, Suleiman announced Mubarak's resignation and ceased being Vice President;^[1] governing power was transferred to the Armed Forces Supreme Council,^[6] of which Suleiman is not a member.^[7] A new head of intelligence services was appointed by the ruling Supreme Council. Suleiman withdrew from the political scene and did not appear in public after announcing Mubarak's resignation.^[8]

Millions of Egyptian citizens^[9] involved in the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 opposed Suleiman or Mubarak remaining in power without elections taking place.^[10][11] Human rights groups tied Suleiman’s career to a regime marked by widespread human rights abuses,^[12][13][14] and asserted that many Egyptians "see Suleiman as Mubarak II."^[12] Torture victims and human rights groups charged that Suleiman oversaw the systematic use of torture on detainees and that in at least one instance he personally tortured a detainee during his career in intelligence.^[15][16][17] In response to the 2011 protests, Suleiman blamed foreign influence and appealed to protestors to go home.^[18]

Early life and education[link]

Suleiman was born in Qena in Upper Egypt. In 1954 at the age of 19, he moved to Cairo to enroll in Egypt's prestigious Military Academy. He received additional military training in the Soviet Union at Moscow's Frunze Military Academy. He participated in both the Six-Day and October wars.^[3] In the mid-1980s, Suleiman earned additional degrees, including a bachelor's degree from Ain Shams University and a master's degree from Cairo University, both in political science. A fluent English speaker,^[19] Suleiman was transferred to military intelligence, where he worked on Egypt-United States relations.

Intelligence career[link]

Torture victims and human rights groups assert Suleiman oversaw the systematic use of torture on detainees and personally tortured a detainee in controversial CIA renditions.^[15][16][17]

Suleiman became deputy head of military intelligence in 1986, and its director in 1991.^[20] In 1993, he became the chief of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service (EGIS). In 1995, he is said to have insisted that President Mubarak ride in an armored car during a visit to Ethiopia. A would-be assassin fired on the vehicle, but Mubarak escaped without injury due to the added precautions.^[21] His name only became known in later years, breaking the tradition of keeping the name of the Egyptian head of Intelligence a secret known only to senior government officials. It was released in the media around 2000.^{[citation needed]}

In his role as Director of EGID, the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph called him "one of the world's most powerful spy chiefs". In 2009, Foreign Policy magazine ranked him as the Middle East's most powerful intelligence chief, ahead of Mossad chief at the time Meir Dagan.^[20][22]

According to diplomatic cables leaked to Wikileaks, Suleiman pledged in 2007 to Yuval Diskin of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) to "cleanse" Sinai of Palestinian arms smugglers.^[23]

Commentary on disrupting Palestinian elections[link]

Suleiman promised Israel in 2005 that he would prevent Hamas from gaining control over Gaza in the 2006 Palestinian elections, according to a US diplomatic cable. Amos Gilad, head of the Israeli Defense Ministry's Diplomatic-Security Bureau, and Suleiman discussed their common fear of Hamas winning the Palestinian elections set for January 2006. Suleiman asserted to Gilad that there "will be no elections in January. We will take care of it." Suleiman did not elaborate as to how Egypt would stop the Palestinian elections from taking place.^[24] Suleiman was separately quoted as saying Gaza could "go hungry, but not starve."^[25]

The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv wrote that Suleiman feared Hamas rule in Gaza would bolster the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.^[26] Gilad requested that the U.S. closely hold this information and said he did not know how the Egyptians could prevent the elections from taking place but that the "only people the Palestinians can trust now are the Egyptians."^[27]

CIA "rendition" program[link]

Suleiman was directly implicated in the controversial CIA "rendition" program.^[19][28] Journalist Stephen Grey in his work, Ghost Plane, states that after taking over as intelligence director, Suleiman oversaw an agreement with the US in 1995 that allowed for suspected militants to be secretly transferred to Egypt for questioning.^[29] Although Suleiman's Egyptian Intelligence was required to provide "assurances" that prisoners handed over through this program would not be subjected to torture, at least one CIA officer testified that such assurances from them were unofficially regarded as being as worthless as "a bucket of warm spit".^[19]

Suleiman was accused of complicity in the torture of Al-Qaeda suspects in Egypt,^[30] particularly the case of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, who was captured and handed over to Suleiman. The information al-Libi gave under torture was cited by US officials in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as evidence of a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. Al-Libi later retracted his confession.^[29]

Political career[link]

Suleiman is seen as a very close and trusted ally of former President Hosni Mubarak, sharing many of his views on key issues such as Iran, Egypt–Israel relations and the United States, and treatment of the Muslim Brotherhood.^[21] Although he was a military man who by law is not a member of Mubarak's National Democratic Party, he preferred suits to military uniforms and is seen as a major link between Egyptian political and military elites.^[21] Due to his role in the regional political scene and the lack of an alternative candidate acceptable to Hosni Mubarak, some speculated that Suleiman would succeed Mubarak as President. In particular, he is seen as the choice of the Egyptian military establishment.^[21] Suleiman denied any intent to run for election to the office.^[31] On 29 January 2011, he was named Vice President of Egypt during the civil unrest,^[32] ending a vacancy in the position that lasted almost 30 years. He was sworn in two days later.^[33]

On 5 February 2011, a senior Egyptian security source denied reports of an assassination attempt on Omar Suleiman, saying there was no truth to them at all. Fox News reported that an unnamed official in the Obama Administration asserted there was an assassination attempt on Suleiman "soon after Suleiman was appointed", and claimed that it took the form of an attack on Suleiman's motorcade.^[34] Wolfgang Ischinger, host of the Munich Security Conference and originator of the incorrect allegations, later said he "was led to believe that we had a confirmed report but in fact we didn't" and also added that the information had come from an "unsubstantiated source."^[35] Later on 24 February 2011, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-gheit confirmed that Suleiman had survived an assassination attempt on 4 February, when a group of unidentified men opened fire on Suleiman's car from a stolen ambulance in Cairo.^[36]

According to an interview with the Egyptian ambassador to the United States on 10 February 2011, Omar Suleiman became the de facto President of Egypt after President Mubarak transferred his power to Suleiman.^[37] The following day Suleiman announced Mubarak's resignation and governing power was transferred to the Armed Forces Supreme Council.^[6] According to the Egypt State Information Service, Suleiman subsequently ceased holding the office of Vice President.^[1]

On 6 April 2012 Suleiman announced that he will be running for president, after some demonstration. Suleiman accused the Muslim brotherhood of planning the assassination attempt on 5 February. Moreover, he accused them of some threats of "SLAIN if he run for the president" that he had received before running for it. Furthermore, the Brotherhood and some Islamists arranged a huge protest against Suleiman whose popularity has grown dramatically.

Public image and perception[link]

Al Jazeera describes Omar Suleiman as the unelected Vice President of Egypt, éminence grise to President Hosni Mubarak, and point man for Egypt's secret relations with Israel.^[38] Jane Mayer of The New Yorker notes that Suleiman remains controversial because he "has headed the feared Egyptian general intelligence service" and also describes his role in allowing controversial torture methods under US rendition programs which may have generated bad intelligence.^[39]

In turn, Suleiman blamed journalists for the current uprising in Egypt. "I actually blame certain friendly nations who have television channels, they're not friendly at all, who have intensified the youth against the nation and the state," Suleiman said in a TV address. "They have filled in the minds of the youth with wrongdoings, with allegations and this is unacceptable. They should have never done that. They should have never sent this enemy spirit," he said.^[40] The Committee to Protect Journalists replied that "it is stupefying that the government continues to send out thugs and plainclothes police to attack journalists and to ransack media bureaus".^[41] State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said "we have traced it to elements close to the government, or the ruling party," and said "I don't know that we have a sense how far up the chain it went."^[42]

Domestic[link]

Millions of Egyptians called for the dissolution of the Mubarak regime and new elections

Bloomberg reported that Suleiman "lacks the support where he now needs it most: the streets of Cairo". “The Egyptians don’t want Mubarak and they don’t want Suleiman,” said Chayma Hassabo, a researcher on Arab political movements at Cedej, a Cairo-based research center.^[43] Al Jazeera wrote Suleiman "does not have a high opinion of Islam in politics, and is not shy about telling Western audiences the lengths he will go to allow his security services to keep the Muslim Brotherhood and their offshoots at bay."^[38]

The young guard in Egypt is opposed to Suleiman running the country without elections taking place. Students, union activists and opposition bloggers within Egypt all remain opposed to Suleiman.^[44] Veteran Egyptian journalist Nadia abou el-Magd said it comes down to the protesters. "They that made revolution and they are in the position to impose their conditions," said el-Magd, who works for the newspaper Al-Ahram and The Associated Press. "They don't see that ... anybody else is in a position to impose their conditions on them."^[45]

In response to the appointment of Omar Suleiman as the new Vice President of Egypt, ElBaradei stated that it was a "hopeless, desperate attempt by Mubarak to stay in power, I think it is loud and clear...that Mubarak has to leave today".^[46]

United States[link]

Diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks suggested Suleiman enjoyed a strong relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). “Our intelligence collaboration with Omar Soliman is now probably the most successful element of the relationship” with Egypt, said a 2006 U.S. diplomatic cable that used an alternative transliteration of his name, which also described Suleiman as Mubarak’s consigliere on foreign policy.^[43]

In an op-ed for AlJazeera, Lisa Hajjar opines that Egyptian-born Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib, "who was innocent of any ties to terror or militancy", was seized from a bus by Pakistani security forces and suspended from a hook and electrocuted repeatedly at American behest. "His fingers were broken and he was hung from metal hooks. At one point, his interrogator slapped him so hard that his blindfold was dislodged, revealing the identity of his tormentor: Suleiman," Haijar asserts. According to Haijar, Suleiman ordered a guard to murder a shackled prisoner in front of Habib, which he did with a vicious karate kick.^[47] After an article of the ordeal appeared in the Washington Post, the American government announced they would not charge Habib and that they would release him to Australia.^[48] Habib said he would sue the Egyptian government for his treatment.^[49] Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch asserts "the Americans knew what was going to happen to people who were rendered to Egypt".^[50]

On 12 April, Suleiman announced his intentions to run in the Presidential elections, because he fears Islamist forces would turn Egypt into a religious state and isolate Egypt from the international community.

Middle East[link]

Luis Moreno, a U.S. intelligence analyst, wrote that although he deferred to the Embassy in Cairo for Egyptian succession scenario analysis, "there is no question that Israel is most comfortable with the prospect of" Suleiman. David Hacham stated an Israeli delegation led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak was "shocked by Mubarak's aged appearance and slurred speech," when it met him in Egypt. "Hacham was full of praise for Soliman, however." Hacham added that he sometimes spoke to Suleiman's deputy several times a day via a "hotline."^[51][52] Maha Azzam, a fellow at Chatham House, a London-based international affairs research institute, said “the Israelis are happy with Omar Suleiman, he has been pivotal in the peace process, he’s someone they know and someone they can deal with.”^[43] Avigdor Lieberman, the Deputy Prime Minister of Israel, expressed “his respect and appreciation for Egypt's leading role in the region and his personal respect for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Minister Suleiman".^[53]

Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates each repeatedly pressed the United States not to cut loose the Mubarak regime; for example, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi, whom some believe to be the real strongman of the UAE, emphasized the need for “stability” in Egypt. The New York Times reported these countries "worry that a sudden, chaotic change in Egypt would destabilize the region or, in the Arab nations, even jeopardize their own leaders, many of whom are also autocrats facing restive populations."^[54]

PressTV, an Iranian state-owned news outlet, reported that Egyptians "associate Omar Suleiman, now the Vice President who was sworn in today, with a new puppet of the US government – someone to maintain hegemony here in this region because, as I mentioned, without Egypt you have no control over the Palestinian territory, especially Gaza; and, of course, the Israeli connection is something to note."^[55]

Non-governmental organizations[link]

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch assert Suleiman’s career moved in lockstep with a regime marked by widespread abuses. “Torture is an endemic problem in Egypt and ending police abuse has been a driving element behind the massive popular demonstrations that swept Egypt over the past week,” Human Rights Watch said in a January report.^[43]

Human Rights Watch further wrote that "Egyptians, particularly those of us calling for an end to Mubarak's three-decade rule, see Suleiman as Mubarak II, especially after the lengthy interview he gave to state television 3 Feb. in which he accused the demonstrators in Tahrir Square of implementing foreign agendas. He did not even bother to veil his threats of retaliation against protesters."^[12] The Committee to Protect Journalists and Freedom House also criticized the Mubarak regime for its violence against protesters and suppression of journalists.^[56][57][58]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Shpiro, Shlomo (2004). "Intelligence Services and Political Transformation in the Middle East". International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 17 (4): 575–600. DOI:10.1080/08850600490496407. 
• Sirrs, Owen L. (2010). A History of the Egyptian Intelligence Service: A History of the Mukhabarat, 1910–2009. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-56920-0. 
• Swint, Kerwin (2011). The King Whisperers: Power Behind the Throne from Rasputin to Rove. New York: Union Square Press. pp. 103–108. ISBN 978-1-4027-7201-6. 

External links[link]

• Omar Suleiman collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English
• Omar Suleiman collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Pharaohs-in-Waiting, Mary Anne Weaver, The Atlantic, October 2003
• The ongoing Omar vs. Gamal Debate, Josh Stacher, The Arabist, 10 February 2005
• Israel pinning hopes for Hamas deal in Gaza on Egypt intel chief, Yossi Melman, Ha'aretz, 20 January 2009
• Egyptian intelligence chief's Washington agenda, Laura Rozen, Foreign Policy, 21 March 2009
• The list: The Middle East's Most Powerful Spooks, Patrick Devenny, Foreign Policy, 20 July 2009
• Egypt's Next Strongman, Issandr Amrani, 17 August 2009
• Egypt's Succession Crisis: Omar Suleiman and El Baredei Hold Keys to the Presidency, Ikhwanweb.com, 2 April 2010
• 'Who is Omar Suleiman?, Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, 29 January 2011
• Profile: Omar Suleiman, BBC News, 10 February 2011
• "Omar Suleiman, the CIA’s Man in Cairo and Egypt’s Torturer-in-Chief" – video report by Democracy Now!

v t e Egyptian presidential election, 2012 Qualified candidates Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh Khaled Ali Mohammad Salim Al-Awa Hisham Bastawisy Mohamed Morsi Amr Moussa Hamdeen Sabahi Abdulla Alashaal Mahmoud Houssam Houssam Khairallah Ahmed Shafiq Disqualified candidates Hazem Salah Abu Ismail Ayman Nour Khairat El-Shater Omar Suleiman Events Presidential debate

v t e Arab Spring "Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam" Events by country Tunisia Algeria Bahrain Egypt (revolution · transition) Iranian Khuzestan Iraq Israeli borders Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya (civil war · transition) Mali Mauritania Morocco Oman Palestinian Authority Saudi Arabia Sudan Syria Yemen Groups Bahrain: Al Wefaq February 14 Youth Coalition Egypt: April 6 Youth Movement Kefaya Muslim Brotherhood National Association for Change National Democratic Party Revolutionary Socialists Libya: National Liberation Army National Transitional Council Saudi Arabia: Women to drive movement CDHRAP Society for Development and Change Syria: Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (Regional Command · National Command) Free Syrian Army Syrian Revolution General Commission National Council of Syria National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change Tunisia: Constitutional Democratic Rally Yemen: Alliance of Yemeni Tribes Al-Islah Hashid Notable people Algeria: Abdelaziz Bouteflika Bahrain: Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa Hasan Mushaima Ali Salman Ali Jawad al-Sheikh Egypt: Hosni Mubarak Omar Suleiman Wael Ghonim Khaled Mohamed Saeed Gigi Ibrahim Essam Sharaf Mohamed ElBaradei Jordan: King Abdullah II Marouf al-Bakhit Samir Rifai Libya: Muammar Gaddafi Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Mustafa Abdul Jalil Mahmoud Jibril Mohammed Nabbous Morocco: Mohammed VI Abbas El Fassi Saudi Arabia: Khaled al-Johani Manal al-Sharif Sudan: Hassan al-Turabi Syria: Bashar al-Assad Burhan Ghalioun Hamza Ali Al-Khateeb Tunisia: Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Mohamed Bouazizi United Arab Emirates: UAE Five Yemen: Ali Abdullah Saleh Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi Tawakel Karman Abdul Majeed al-Zindani Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar Sadiq al-Ahmar Impact Occupy movement Albania Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Burkina Faso Croatia Cyprus Djibouti Georgia Greece India Iran Iraqi Kurdistan Maldives Mexico People's Republic of China Portugal Russia Spain Turkey United Kingdom United States (2011 Wisconsin protests Occupy Wall Street) International reactions United Nations General Assembly Resolution 65/265 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 United Nations Security Council Resolution 2009 United Nations Security Council Resolution 2014 United Nations Security Council Resolution 2016 United Nations Security Council Resolution 2042 Timeline Timeline of the 2011 Egyptian revolution Timeline of the 2011–2012 Bahraini uprising Timeline of the 2011–2012 Syrian uprising Timeline of the 2011–2012 Yemeni revolution Timeline of the Libyan civil war Timeline of the 2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests Category  Commons  Wikiquotes

Yaser Birjas (also known as 'Shaykh Yaser Birjas') is a Muslim lecturer and teacher who is based in the United States. He has authored many articles on various aspects of Islam,^[1] especially Muslim marriage in the West and Islamic jurisprudence. His seminars on the topic of love and marriage in Islam are extremely popular in North America. This includes one of his famous lectures called "The Fiqh of love", which can be found in CD format.

Background[link]

Birjas was born to Palestinian parents in Kuwait in 1970. He emigrated to the USA in 2000, where he presently resides in Irving, Texas with his wife and four children. His mother tongue is Arabic, and he used to be fluent in Serbo-Croatian (he is still good at speaking it) which he learned in Bosnia, as well as English which he learned in the USA, using a digital dictionary.

Education[link]

Birjas completed high school in 1988, after which he moved to Ajman in the United Arab Emirates, where he enrolled in studies in Electronic Engineering at the Ajman University of Science and Technology.

His desire to be part of a better and more challenging educational system, took him back to Kuwait in 1990, where he intended to apply for a visa, which would enable him to continue with his studies in the USA. Whilst in Kuwait he began taking a class in management and business administration.

However, his studies and aspirations to go to the USA came to a halt when Iraq invaded Kuwait in the same year, forcing him to move to Jordan where he studied various branches of Islamic sciences under some of the well known Islamic scholars of that region.

Whilst in Jordan he was faced with making a choice between continuing his studies in Electronic Engineering at a German university and embarking on a career in Islamic Studies by enrolling at the International Islamic University of Madinah, and he chose the latter.

He excelled in his studies at this famous institute, and graduated as Class Valedictorian with the highest honors from its College of Sharee’ah (Islamic Jurisprudence) in 1996. He was also awarded the 'Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah Award' for excellent and distinct academic achievement.

During his time in Saudi Arabia, he also studied under well-known contemporary Muslim scholars like Shaykh Ash-Shanqitee in Madinah, and the late Shaykh Al-Uthaimeen in Unaizah.

Past Activities[link]

As a teenager Shaykh Yaser Birjas led several youth activities and was involved in various other community-related programs. After completing his studies in Madinah he travelled to a post-war Bosnia (1997), where he spent four years serving as a young counselor and relief program aide for ICVA. As a young teenager, Shaykh Yaser Birjas made an impact on his friends and on the youth of his age. the international umbrella of relief agencies and organizations working in the region. He emigrated to the USA in the year 2000, joining his family who had lived there since the mid 1980’s. He held the position of Imam at The Islamic Center in El Paso, Texas until late 2007, playing a significant role in building and nurturing the town’s growing Muslim community, particularly in the post-9/11 era, when he led and became involved in many initiatives, aimed at building bridges with other communities. He also led his community during the period which saw the completion of a 1.3 million dollar new facility for the Islamic Center of El Paso.

Present Activities[link]

Shaykh Yaser Birjas is regularly invited to speak at various Islamic conferences and conventions in the USA. He is also an instructor for AlMaghrib Institute, an Islamic organization which provides double-weekend seminars leading its students towards a bachelor's degree in Islamic Studies.^[2] He presently serves as the VP for EmanRush Press, which is the publishing wing of AlMaghrib Institute.^[2] He regularly writes articles for Muslim Matters and The Marriage Revolution, and also works as a counselor, counseling people on a wide range of issues, especially marriage. He is a founding member and supervisor of Practimate, a program aimed at providing pre-marital training and matching for Muslim singles living in the West. He is currently the Imam at the Valley Ranch Masjid and you can view him live http://www.valleyranchmasjid.org/site/VRMLive.html after Isha'.

External links and resources[link]

• Almadinah
• Al Maghrib
• Practimate
• Facebook profile
• Ilmquest
• Halal tube
• Valley Ranch Masjid Homepage

References[link]

1. ^ http://muslimmatters.org/author/yaser-birjas/
2. ^ ^{a b} http://www.almaghrib.org/instructor_YB.php

Ted Cruz
Texas Solicitor General
In office 2003 – May 2008
Preceded by	Julie Parsley
Succeeded by	James C. Ho
Personal details
Born	(1970-12-22) December 22, 1970 (age 41) Calgary, Alberta, Canada[1]
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Heidi Suzanne Cruz
Children	Caroline Camille Catherine Christiane
Residence	Houston, Texas
Alma mater	Princeton University Harvard Law School
Profession	Attorney
Religion	Southern Baptist[2]
Website	tedcruz.org

Rafael Edward Cruz, known as Ted Cruz (born December 22, 1970), is the former Solicitor General of the U.S. state of Texas, a position which he held from 2003 to May 2008. Cruz was appointed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. He was the first Hispanic Solicitor General in Texas, the youngest Solicitor General in the United States, and had the longest tenure in the post thus far in Texas history. He is currently a partner at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, where he leads the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national appellate litigation practice.^[3]

Cruz is a candidate for the 2012 Republican nomination for the United States Senate seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison.^[4]

Cruz previously served as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, and as Domestic Policy Advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign. In addition, from 2004-2009 Cruz was an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation.

Early life and education[link]

Cruz was born to a Cuban-American father and an American mother in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where his parents were working in the petroleum business.^[1] His father was imprisoned and tortured in Cuba until he escaped to freedom in Texas in 1957.^[5]

Cruz attended high school at Faith West Academy in Katy, Texas,^[6] and then graduated from Second Baptist High School in Houston.

Cruz earned his Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University and his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While at Princeton, he competed for the American Whig-Cliosophic Society's Debate Panel as one of North America's top-ranked parliamentary debaters, winning the top speaker award at both the 1992 U.S. National Debating Championship and the 1992 North American Debating Championship.^[7] In 1992, he was named Speaker of the Year and Team of the Year (with his debate partner, David Panton) by the American Parliamentary Debate Association.^[7] Cruz was also a semi-finalist at the 1995 World Universities Debating Championship.^[8]

Cruz graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. He was a primary editor of the Harvard Law Review, an executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and a founding editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review.^[9]

Legal career[link]

Cruz also served as a law clerk to William Rehnquist, then-Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.^[10] Cruz was the first Hispanic ever to clerk for a Chief Justice of the United States.^[11]

Cruz has authored more than eighty briefs before the United States Supreme Court and presented forty-three oral arguments, including nine before the United States Supreme Court.

In the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller, Cruz assembled a coalition of thirty-one states in defense of the principle that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms.^[12] Cruz also presented oral argument for the amici states in the companion case to Heller before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

In addition to his victory in Heller, Cruz has successfully defended the Ten Commandments monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds, the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools and the 2003 Texas redistricting plan.^[13]

Cruz also successfully defended, in Medellin v. Texas, the State of Texas against an attempt by the International Court of Justice to re-open the criminal convictions of 51 murderers on death row throughout the United States.^[14]

2012 U.S. Senate election[link]

Cruz speaking to values voters in October 2011.

On January 19, 2011, following an announcement that U.S. Senator Hutchison would not seek reelection, Cruz announced via blogger conference call his candidacy for the position.^[4]

Cruz has been endorsed by David Barton, founder and president of WallBuilders,^[15] the Club for Growth, a conservative political action committee,^[16] Erick Erickson, editor of prominent conservative blog RedState,^[17] the FreedomWorks for America super PAC,^[18] Princeton University professor Robert P. George,^[19] nationally syndicated radio host Mark Levin,^[20] Former Attorney General Edwin Meese,^[21] Tea Party Express,^[22] Young Conservatives of Texas,^[23] U.S. Senators Jim DeMint,^[24] Mike Lee,^[25] Rand Paul,^[26] and Pat Toomey.^[27] He has also been endorsed by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Texas Congressman Ron Paul,^[28] as well as former United States Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum.^[29] Cruz faces opposition from sitting Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst in the Republican senatorial primary.