Free Republic

Archaeologists in Morocco have announced the discovery of North Africa’s oldest Stone Age hand-axe manufacturing site, dating back 1.3 million years, an international team reported on Wednesday. The find pushes back by hundreds of thousands of years the start date in North Africa of the Acheulian stone tool industry associated with a key human ancestor, Homo erectus, researchers on the team told journalists in Rabat Before the find, the presence in Morocco of the Acheulian stone tool industry was thought to date back 700,000 years. New finds at the Thomas Quarry I site, first made famous in 1969 when a...

The Dutch Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld far-right politician Geert Wilders’ conviction for collectively insulting Moroccans at a campaign rally in 2014. Wilders had been convicted in 2016, and demanded a retrial, arguing the case had been politically motivated and that the finding restricted his freedom of speech. The court ruled Tuesday that the rally speech was not covered by freedom of expression. […] At the 2014 campaign rally in question, Wilders asked supporters if they wanted “fewer” Moroccans in the Netherlands. “Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!” his supporters chanted back. “We’re going to take care of that,” Wilders told the crowd....

Residents of Wakefield and Reading - 15 miles from downtown Boston - are urged to lock their doors and stay inside Eight 'armed and dangerous' men wearing tactical-style clothing fled into woodland early Saturday morning Two of them have been arrested, but the other six remain at large Police have confirmed members of the group posted videos to a YouTube account named 'Rise of the Moors' The group were seen in one clip waving a Moroccan flag, but insisted that they are not anti-US government

Nine in ‘heavily armed’ fringe group arrested after standoff in Massachusetts Nine people in a “heavily armed” group which “does not recognize our laws” were arrested early Saturday after a standoff with state police in Massachusetts which shut down I-95, according to reports. “We have several armed persons accounted for at this scene on Rt 95. They are refusing to comply with orders to provide their information and put down their weapons,” the Massachusetts State Police said on Twitter.

Spain seeks help to relocate children from Ceuta migrant crisis Some 1,500 children and teenagers arrived from Morocco this week, as part of a surge of thousands of migrants swimming or climbing a fence into the enclave Hundreds more people tried to force their way into Ceuta on Wednesday despite tightened security from Spain

Since the Democrats took control of the White House and both Houses of Congress a hundred days ago, the Middle East has become a powder keg. But Israel's ruling class sees nothing. In Afghanistan and Iraq, violent attacks against US forces are rising steeply. From January through April, attacks on US forces increased 40%. President Joe Biden's announcement that the US will withdraw its forces from the country by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the jihadist attacks on the US worsened the situation by communicating a message of profound American weakness and defeatism. The Taliban, al-Qaida and Iran clearly...

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court postponed on Wednesday the verdict on a Moroccan accused of aiding the Sept. 11 attackers after prosecutors said they had found a new witness, casting doubt on his expected acquittal. The Hamburg court where Abdelghani Mzoudi is on trial said that the verdict would not now be issued Thursday as expected after a request from prosecutors to hear evidence from two police officials about a new witness. "Federal prosecutors sent to the court today a substantial transcript dated January 19 regarding the questioning of a witness whose reliability is guaranteed and who would incriminate...

Last week, Saudi Twitter pages began to promote the message that ‘the direction of Jewish prayers do not matter to me”. The campaign, designed to emphasize the importance of Mecca and Medina as the holy places of Islam, and to eliminate the importance of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, has caused considerable controversy online. Among the most prominent messages in the campaign were those who wrote that "the direction of the prayers of the Jews is not important to us, what is important to us is only our homeland," referring to Saudi Arabia. This tweet was written by a well-known...

Answering questions from his audience on Zoom at a Likud event on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of two reasons four Arab states normalized ties with Israel in the past year, and more want to join them: the economic advantages of cooperating, and shared security aims. Netanyahu referred to his 2015 speech before both houses of the US Congress against the Iran deal: “During the speech, during the live broadcast, senior people from the Arab world called my people – I was still speaking – and they said: ‘We cannot believe what we are seeing... the daring of the...

We may be witnessing a major realignment of the Middle East. I was Googling around the other day for a factoid: how many Israelis had visited the United Arab Emirates since the signing of their normalization agreement, known as the Abraham Accords. Answer: more than 130,000.Jumping Jehoshaphat, Batman! In the middle of a global pandemic, at least 130,000 Israeli tourists and investors have flown to Dubai and Abu Dhabi since commercial air travel was established in mid-October!I believed from the start that the openings between Israel and the U.A.E., Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan — forged by Jared Kushner and Donald...

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article first appeared on JNS. Israel recently signed agreements establishing relations with four Muslim nations: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. Both good and bad news surround this development. The bad news is bland and predictable: a permanent peace between Israel and its Muslim neighbors is, according to Islamic law, or sharia, impossible: any land that was once part of Dar al-Islam—that is, any land that was ever conquered by Muslims for any length of time—is always part of Islam and must be recovered by...

Last month, I was thrilled to see Morocco become the fourth Arab nation in the past several months to announce that it would establish full diplomatic relations with Israel. It’s yet another step towards peace in the string of groundbreaking developments that began last summer with the historic Abraham Accords. Even today, Morocco and Israel have just signed an agreement allowing for direct flights to operate between the two nations. Before these recent developments, Morocco had already begun to blaze a trail for harmony among Muslims and Jews. They hold a reputation for tolerance and diversity that can serve as...

Post by Franciscan Media Saint Berard and Companions Saint of the Day for January 16 (d. January 16, 1220) Audio Player Saint Berard and Companions’ Story Preaching the gospel is often dangerous work. Leaving one’s homeland and adjusting to new cultures, governments and languages is difficult enough; but martyrdom caps all the other sacrifices. In 1219, with the blessing of Saint Francis, Berard left Italy with Peter, Adjute, Accurs, Odo and Vitalis to preach in Morocco. En route in Spain, Vitalis became sick and commanded the other friars to continue their mission without him. They tried preaching in Seville, then...

Former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and former National Security Adviser John Bolton have slammed the Trump administration’s decision to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara in return for a normalization deal with Israel. They have called on President-elect Joe Biden to reverse the move.

A full weekend of protest in Bainbridge Island, Washington. A round the clock demonstration at the home of Democrat Governor Jay Inslee who's imposed coronavirus restrictions and controls... Four people stabbed two police officers hurt following ANITFA attacks on supporters of President Trump Saturday evening in Washington... One person shot and four police officers hurt as ANTIFA attacked pro-Trump demonstrators in Olympia, Washington yesterday... The Proud Boys supporter of President Trump arrested and accused of shooting an ANTIFA member yesterday in Olympia, Washington identified as Forest Machala, a federal government employee... "Achtung" Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel pushing for a new...

The Supreme Court rejects the Texas election lawsuit but first... The Christmas Coronavirus Crackdown picking up steam with indoor dining banned in New York City... A 10 pm curfew for restaurants and bars in Delaware... Here in Pennsylvania restaurants and gyms in the Harrisburg area vowing to stay open in defiance... In Boise, Idaho Central District Health is set to vote on a Christmas Coronavirus Crackdown... You will still have to wear a muzzle (mask) after you get the coronavirus vaccine. That is what an immunologist at Stanford University is saying... US Attorney General William Barr was aware of federal...

Senior Trump adviser Jared Kushner on Thursday announced Morocco and Israel will establish diplomatic ties, the fourth Middle East deal brokered by the Trump White House in the last four months. As part of this deal Morocco will establish full diplomatic relations and resume official contacts with Israel, and Morocco will grant overflights and direct flights to and from Israel for all Israelis, Kushner told reporters Thursday. Morocco will also reopen the liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv immediately with the intention to open the embassies in the near future, Kushner said, and they will also be promoting economic...

President Donald Trump and his administration facilitated another historic breakthrough for peace in the Middle East on Thursday between Morocco and Israel who have agreed to normalize relations. Trump announced the deal on Twitter, noting the major victory in foreign policy for all countries involved. According to Trump, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI agreed that his country would “resume diplomatic relations between Morocco and Israel and expand economic and cultural cooperation to advance regional stability.”

Spain’s Civil Guard arrested a Moroccan man earlier this week for his alleged involvement in terror activities linked to ISIS in Alicante, south Valencia. Sputnik News cited a statement from the Spanish Civil Guard on Friday saying that the Moroccan man was engaged in recruiting youth for ISIS through the internet. “Agents of the Information Service of the Civil Guard, with the support of various units of the body and Europol, carried out last Wednesday, October 20, the arrest in Aleria of a Moroccan citizen for his alleged terrorist activities,” the statement said. Cooperation between Europol and the Spanish Civil...

Greek Forces Find 680 Metric Tons of Explosives on Ship 48 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo! ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece said on Sunday its special forces found 680 tonnes of explosives on board a Comoros flagged ship owned by a Marshall Islands registered company named Alpha Shipping. Greece's Merchant Marine Ministry said it had transferred the vessel, which it identified as the Baltic Sky, to a western Greek commercial port for further checks after special forces boarded the ship and found the explosives. "After acting on confirmed information, special forces checked the ship carrying 680...