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Moroccan police arrested a Koran teacher on charges of raping seven boys studying at his centre in the north African Arab country. Medical tests on his latest victim showed the 11-year-old boy was raped by the 36-year-old teacher at the centre in the northern town of Tetouan. Newspapers said the teacher confessed during interrogation that he had molested and raped six other boys.

A group of over 50 European Parliament members has nominated a controversial Egyptian activist for the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, despite his having advocated the assassination of Israelis and political leaders in Egypt and called for an end to the State of Israel. Alaa Abdel Fattah, 32, an Egyptian blogger and political activist, has been arrested numerous times by Egyptian authorities since the eruption of a popular revolution in the country in early 2011. Abdel Fattah, who boasts 626,000 followers on Twitter and 156,000 on Facebook, was released on bail September 15 after being charged with organizing...

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet foreign ministers from around the world in Paris on Monday to discuss how to defeat Islamic State (IS) militants. French President Francois Hollande said the beheading of a British aid worker showed the world must act against IS. About 40 countries, including 10 Arab states, have signed up to a coalition to help fight IS in Iraq and Syria. Several Arab countries have offered to take part in air strikes on IS fighters in Iraq, US officials say. Mr Kerry says he is "extremely encouraged" by promises of military assistance to tackle...

Obama's Cairo Speach: A self-deluded fool gave it, a man determined to avoid confronting the enemies of mankind until an Islamic-inspired genocide required it “A greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum” The speaker had what one might imagine, given his background, a better insight into Islam, Muslims, and the Middle East than others who had preceded him. He said he was seeking “a new beginning” that was “based on mutual interests and mutual respect” because his nation and those in the Middle East shared “common principles—principles of justice and progress, tolerance and dignity of all...

Would-be husband must also have clean police recordMarried Saudi men need to have prior approval from their wives to marry Moroccan women in line with new rules enforced by the North African Arab country. Morocco has told Saudi authorities that citizens from the oil-rich Gulf Kingdom can have a Moroccan wife even if they are married, provided their wives agree to the new marriage. The new rules also stipulate that any Saudi seeking to have a Moroccan wife must present have police clearance in Saudi Arabia. “The new rules are intended to ensure Saudi men seeking to marry Moroccan women...

Italy said Tuesday it is expelling a Moroccan imam caught on video inciting violence against Jews during Israel's offensive against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, as reported by Arutz Sheva Monday. The cleric was filmed during a Friday sermon in a mosque near Venice last month calling for Jews to be killed "one by one", according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which published the video on its website. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said he had ordered the expulsion of Raoudi Aldelbar "for seriously disturbing public order, being a danger to national security and for religious discrimination," after experts...

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Morris Dukuly, has disclosed that a Liberian has died of the deadly Ebola virus in Morocco. [....] As a means of containing further spread of the disease, President Johnson-Sirleaf set up a taskforce to help in the fight of the disease and ordered the closure of the country's three land borders. The Liberian leader also ordered that public gatherings be restricted and communities heavily affected by the Ebola outbreak be quarantined. Making the disclosure at a news conference held at the Ministry on Wednesday, July 30, 2014, Minister Dukuly, who is also the Vice...

A Spanish paedophile was stoned by a furious mob after being caught abusing a child in Marrakesh. Moroccan police patrolling the Chetoui district in the city reportedly found people hurling stones at the man, before stepping in to save him from the crowd. Under questioning, the tourist initially denied raping the child, but subsequently confessed to sexual assault. Recently, there has been a surge in child abuse cases in Morocco. Critics say that sentences handed down to paedophiles are too light, and fail to act as a deterrence.

Navi Pillay said Tel Aviv's two-week onslaught on Gaza - which has cost more than 650 Palestinians lives - would be thoroughly investigated. Ms Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the attacks have destroyed houses and hospitals and killed civilians. "These are just a few examples where there seems to be a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes. "Every one of these incidents must be properly and independently investigated." According to Gaza officials, 475 houses have been destroyed and 2,644 damaged, while 46 schools, 56 mosques...

GENEVA, July 23 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Wednesday launched an international inquiry into human rights violations and crimes that may have been committed by Israel during its military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The U.N. Human Rights Council condemned the Israeli assault which it said had involved "disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks", including aerial bombing of civilian areas, collective punishment, and the killing of more than 650 Palestinians. At the end of an emergency session, the 47-member forum adopted a resolution presented by Palestinians by a vote of 29 states in favor, 1 against (the United States) with 17...

With the rise of Islamist organizations, repressive regimes, and civil conflicts which threaten regional stability, the promise of the Arab Spring of 2011 quickly devolved into an Arab winter. In an expansive article in The Economist, the threat to the Middle East is discussed in appropriately grave terms; Syria and Iraq are in flames while Jordan looms as the next domino to potentially fall. Libya and Yemen, where Islamic terror networks operate with impunity, are labeled “failed states.” Those Middle Eastern nations that are not in danger of imminent collapse are either absolute monarchies or counties which merely maintain...

The Arab Spring, which started with the self-immolation of a Tunisian vegetable vendor at 11.30 am on 16th December, 2010, has resulted in two failed states in the region so far.  Libya has become “Scumbag Woodstock” because of the number of terrorist organisations headquartered there.  The French and English attempt at regime change created a terrorist haven with consequences as far afield as Mali and the 300 Christian girls kidnapped in Nigeria.  Fortunately, Syria has become a meatgrinder for Islamic terrorists and for the moment has ceased being a net exporter of terrorism.  In that conflict, the Obama Administration has...

Spanish authorities say around 700 African migrants have charged its barbed-wire border fences in the country’s North African enclave of Melilla, but all were repulsed by Spanish and Moroccan border guards. An official statement says about 500 rushed the border in the first wave Saturday. About 20 stayed atop the 20-foot (6-meter) high fences for 30 minutes, then were escorted away by Moroccan forces. …

The Moroccan man facing criminal charges for allegedly planning to use remote-control planes to bomb a university building and federal building was able to remain in the United States by lying to immigration officials.El Mehdi Semlali Fathi was able to avoid a final order of removal last year — after remaining in the country for seven years after his visa expired — by claiming a fear of persecution based on his political beliefs, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit.“There is probable cause to believe, and I do believe that FATHI’s application for withholding of removal status was obtained...

The Hague (AFP) - An unrepentant Geert Wilders fought back Saturday against a storm of protest and an exodus from within his own anti-Muslim party after he vowed "fewer Moroccans" in the Netherlands. The platinum-haired populist was forced to deny parallels with Nazi leaders after he was widely perceived as having gone too far in his attack on a specific ethnic group on Wednesday. "I spoke the truth, I'm not sorry and will not apologise for the truth and expressing my political ideals," Wilders told an impromptu press conference on Saturday evening.

"9/11 plotter released in Syria prisoner exchange" SNIPPET: "The al-Qaeda recruiter reputed to have assembled the so-called Hamburg Cell, which planned and largely carried out the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, has been set free in a prisoner exchange between rebel and regime forces in Syria. Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham has secured the release of 9/11 plotter and alleged al-Qaeda core member Mohammed Haydar Zammar, adding to concerns about the composition of the Islamic Front. A naturalized German citizen of Syrian origin, Mohammed Haydar Zammar left Germany shortly after the attacks and traveled to Morocco, where he was reportedly...

In its annual survey of American Jewry published last October, the American Jewish Committee found that 75 percent of American Jews agree with the statement, “The goal of the Arabs is not a peaceful two-state agreement with Israel, but rather the destruction of Israel.” And yet, American Jews supported the establishment of a Palestinian state 50% to 47%. Next week over 10,000 predominantly Jewish American supporters of Israel will gather in Washington at AIPAC’s annual policy conference. Given their high commitment to Israel, probably most of those gathered belong to the 47% of American Jews who opposed Palestinian statehood. Yet...

Compensation for Jews pushed out of Arab lands may become yet another issue MUCH as Palestinian refugees and their offspring remember the orange groves and cinemas they lost in Jaffa when Israel was born in 1948, Jews who once lived in Iraq recite the qasidas—lyrical Arabic poetry—and recall the time when most of Iraq’s banks and transport companies were run by Jews. “Iraq has gone downhill since they forced us out,” sighs a professor at a gathering of academics of Iraqi origin at Or Yehuda, a Tel Aviv suburb, slipping into Arabic. “Mubki, lamentable.” American officials are unclear on the...

The Royal Moroccan Navy will take possession of its FREMM frigate on 30 January. (DCNS) The Royal Moroccan Navy is scheduled to commission its FREMM multimission frigate Mohammad VI (D 601) on 30 January 2014 in a ceremony to be held in Brest, France. The ceremony will be attended by Morocco's Prince Moulay Rachid, Inspector General of the Royal Moroccan Navy Vice Admiral Mohamed Laghmari, French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, and French Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Bernard Rogel. The ship will sail to Morocco about four weeks after it is commissioned. The ceremony was initially scheduled for 25...

But video of American Arab’s Got Talent singer converting is not realThough Jennifer Grout, the 23-year-old American singer, doesn’t speak a word of Arabic, she has a rare talent: singing Arabic songs, including Arabic traditional ones, so fluently, so softly and so beautifully. When Grout participated in Arabs Got Talent last year, she was among the top three finalists, with thousands viewing her spine-tingling performances of songs by Umm Kulthoum on YouTube. More recently, a video of a different kind has been drawing attention to Grout — one showing her announcing her conversion to Islam, which was posted online last...