Muslim schoolboy held in US for homemade clock

CHICAGO: A Muslim schoolboy arrested in Texas after a teacher mistook his homemade clock for a bomb won invitations to visit the White House, Google and Facebook on Wednesday amid a surge of public support. President Barack Obama congratulated Ahmed Mohammad, 14, on his skills in a pointed rebuke to school and police officials who defended his arrest amid accusations of Islamophobia.
“Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great,” Obama tweeted. A photo of Mohammad standing in handcuffs while wearing a t-shirt with the US space agency NASA’s logo was retweeted thousands of times in a matter of hours and “#IStandWithAhmed” became the top trending hashtag on Twitter. The son of Sudanese immigrants from Irving outside Dallas, Mohammad told the Dallas Morning News he hoped to impress teachers by bringing the clock to school on Monday.