Free Republic

A powerful earthquake struck Morocco’s High Atlas mountains late on Friday, killing at least 296 people, destroying buildings and sending residents of major cities rushing from their homes. The Interior Ministry said the number constituted a preliminary death toll and that 153 people had been injured. A local official said most deaths were in mountain areas that were hard to reach. Residents of Marrakech, the nearest big city to the epicenter, said some buildings had collapsed in the old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and local television showed pictures of a fallen mosque minaret with rubble lying on smashed...

Slovakia will not have a representative at the December 10 UN meeting in Marrakesh where the Migration Compact will be signed. Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini stated this as a final decision, given that the cabinet approved the parliamentary resolution about the Marrakesh Pact on December 5. At the same time, the prime minister indicated he will send a letter with Slovakia's comments on the document. The Migration Compact has been at the centre of the conflict between the ruling coalition Smer and Slovak National Party (SNS) and the Smer-nominated Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajãák. The minister defended the compact and insisted...

The removal of the Jews from the Arab world has been all but ignored, says Tom Gross It is not surprising, given the sheer scale of the Holocaust and its sadism, that it has dominated contemporary discourse among Jews and others. But, while the extermination of European Jews has rightfully (though belatedly) generated a great deal of study and research, the removal of the Jews from the Arab world has been all but ignored. This ignorance extends to policy-makers at the highest level. Some journalists and politicians I have spoken to have expressed surprise when I even mentioned that Jews...

Actress Meryl Streep and First Lady Michelle Obama joined Princess Lalla Salma in Morocco on Tuesday night for a traditional dinner to break the fast of Ramadan, after the three spent the afternoon speaking with local high school girls about the importance of female education and empowerment. Streep, Princess Salma and members of the Moroccan royal family gathered at the King’s Palace in Marrakesh Tuesday night for a traditional Moroccan iftar, the dinner eaten to break the fast after sundown during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to the Daily Mail. Streep, Obama and Princess Salma were joined by...

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.

A Moroccan court found on Friday the chief suspect guilty in the April 28 bombing of a Marrakesh café and sentenced him to death, The Associated Press reported. 17 people were killed in that terror attack, including Israeli citizen Michal Weitzmann Zikri and her husband Masoud Zikri, a native of Morocco. The two were in the country to celebrate Passover with Masoud’s family. They were survived by their two-year-old son, who was with his grandparents at the time of the attack. Michal was six months pregnant when she was killed. Prosecutors had accused Adel al-Othmani of dressing like a tourist...

HAMBURG, Germany, Aug. 10 — A German court today began a retrial of Mounir el-Motassadeq, the only person convicted of involvement in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, with the disclosure that the United States will for the first time share evidence about the plot. Mr. Motassadeq's conviction was thrown out in March by an appeals court, which said that critical evidence had been withheld by American authorities. After having been sentenced to 15 years in prison, Mr. Motassadeq was freed in April. The decision by the United States to offer limited cooperation to the Germans introduces a combustible element to...