Trump’s ‘fantastic’ call to Pakistan’s ‘terrific’ prime minister receives mixed response
By Shahzeb Ahmed When it comes to foreign policy and diplomatic relations, most world leaders tend to stick to the script of mundane diplomatic-speak and inert compliments. President-elect Donald Trump’s call to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sounded anything but ordinary. “You are a terrific guy,” Trump told Sharif, per a transcript released by Sharif’s office […]
Photo Gallery: Election Day in Chicago
As polling stations opened for business on Tuesday morning, Medill reporters took to the streets of Chicago to capture the essence of what it meant for people across the city. From the South Side to the suburbs in the West, our reporters have been in the field chronicling one of the most watched elections in […]
The fight against Wisconsin’s Voter ID laws
By Shahzeb Ahmed To Sharon Luellen, being part of the electoral process is more than just a civic obligation. It is her right. “My vote counts,” she said succinctly as she sat on a canopy-shaded steel bench across from the homeless shelter where she lives. A new photo ID in hand after an unexpectedly swift […]
In good faith: Muslim businessman throws his weight behind Trump
By Shahzeb Ahmed He defends Donald Trump in English and Urdu, Pakistan’s national language. “At least the man says what he thinks; at least he’s not merely echoing those that pay him to do so,” says Talat Rashid, his hands gently resting on a small table in one of the trendier restaurants in Chicago’s Chinatown.
Fighting the Digital Caliphate: The war against the keyboard jihadis
By Shahzeb Ahmed The video starts with two hands raised in prayer. Soon, the hands are preparing a bomb. The man appears to don the prepared bomb inside a suicide vest. The next frame features scenes from New York City. This is an Islamic State message shared on multiple social media platforms and further transmitted […]
Chicago activists protest police militarization
By Shahzeb Ahmed A group of Chicago area Muslim and civil rights groups are protesting a police training session supported by a major arms manufacturer that includes a speaker criticized for his anti-Muslim rhetoric. The groups are protesting what they term as an attempt to advance a hyper-militarized mindset among law enforcers through the four-day […]