Free Republic

Mentioned in the sacred texts of all three Abrahamic faiths, the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon, in modern-day Iraq, is today undergoing a revival. One project mitigates groundwater damage to the north retaining wall of the Ishtar Gate. The second is a restoration of the Temple of Ninmakh, dedicated to the Sumerian mother goddess. Largely funded by the US embassy in Baghdad, the restoration of the temple and the north retaining wall are part of the Future of Babylon Project, initiated 15 years ago, which aims to document, waterproof and stabilise structures throughout the 2,500-acre site. The completion of these...

The Trump administration announced Wednesday it’s taking U.S. taxpayer dollars away from 66 globalist organizations, nearly half of them affiliated with the United Nations and all of which are identified as “contrary to the interests of the United States.” Most notable is the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parent treaty underpinning all major international climate agreements, AFP reports. The treaty adopted in 1992 is a global pact by nations to cooperate to drive down planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of so-called “climate change.” A despairing European Union climate chief Wopke Hoekstra said the...

The designation highlights Italy’s long-standing communal foodways, from regional harvest traditions to daily cooking practices passed down through generations.Key points: -UNESCO officially recognized Italian cuisine as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, marking the first time an entire national cuisine has received this distinction. -The designation highlights Italy’s culinary traditions as a communal, daily practice rooted in seasonality, regional identity, and shared rituals that extend far beyond individual dishes. -Italian officials and experts say the recognition strengthens efforts to protect authentic Italian products from imitation while acknowledging the global influence and widespread popularity of Italian food. -Rome’s Colosseum glowed with...

Koshary – a spicy dish of lentils, rice and pasta available at countless Egyptian food stalls – won recognition as a cultural treasure from the UN’s cultural agency on Wednesday, as Cairo makes a broad push to promote its cultural and historical identity abroad. Egypt’s nomination of koshary for UNESCO’s “Intangible Cultural Heritage” list comes a little over a month after its opening of a sprawling new antiquities museum – another move officials hope will highlight the country’s rich history and lure more tourists.

For myriad reasons, I’m not fond of traveling, not the least of which is that traveling in the 21st century is such a horrible shlep. Having said that, I am a very well-traveled person. That means that I’ve visited more than my share of places that UNESCO has tagged as “world heritage sites,” and every time I see that designation, my hackles go up. That’s why I was just thrilled to see that Trump has dumped UNESCO (again).The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was formed out of the wreckage of WWII to bind humankind together and prevent future...

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce announced on Tuesday that the United States will withdraw from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization or UNESCO. It's the third time the United States has made such a move. The first instance occurred in 2019 under the first Trump administration. The Biden administration rejoined it in 2023 and vowed to repay approximately $600 million in dues incurred since the U.S. stopped paying. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order stating that UNESCO, among other United Nations organizations, deserved renewed scrutiny, in large part, due to its anti-Israel and antisemitic...

President Trump is pulling the US out of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), citing its anti-America and anti-Israel leanings as well as its woke agenda, The Post has learned. Trump ordered a 90-day review of America’s presence in UNESCO back in February, with special emphasis on probing any “anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment within the organization.” Upon conducting the review, administration officials took issue with UNESCO’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies as well as its pro-Palestinian and pro-China bias, a White House official told The Post. “President Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from UNESCO...

Tyrants are walking away, and barely anyone has flinched.For the first time in years, we are witnessing multiple flashpoints, where the world would have looked to international organizations like the United Nations for clarity. However, what we see now are authoritarian leaders, testing the system’s limits. How far can they push? What consequences, if any, will they actually face?It starts with politically misaligned regimes eager to test the will of “The West.” They push buttons to see the reaction. One such case: Nicaragua’s recent and voluntary decision to withdraw from UNESCO. On the surface, it seems inconsequential, since UNESCO is...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey has long coveted the Greek Aegean islands in the disputed waters between the two countries, and now it has made its claim official. ... Turkey “has provoked Greece by submitting a map to UNESCO claiming parts of the Aegean Sea – which has been the primary point of contention and discussions between the countries ... Erdogan refuses to recognize the Treaty of Lausanne, which ceded the Aegean islands in question now to Greece, despite the fact that the Republic of Turkey duly ratified the treaty on Aug. 23, 1923, as well as the fact that Turkey...

After video of a worker using a hammer, chisel, and other tools on the stones of the Great Pyramid of Giza went viral on social media last November, outrage about the incident has grown to include a statement in Egyptian Parliament and one Egyptologist claiming “mismanagement.” The viral video of construction workers at the 4,600-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was taken by tourists. Officials from the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities told local media outlets that the ancient monument had suffered no damage. Related Articles Allegations of 'Mismanagement at Giza Great Pyramid After Viral...

Even though the Communist Party of China is officially atheist, and the central government was once wary of religion, subtle signs and increasing activities show there is a changing attitude towards religion in order to unite China and its neighbors. In March last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping stood in the offices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, and extolled the profound impact Buddhism has had on China. "Buddhism originated in ancient India," said Xi, the leader of the officially atheist Communist Party of China. "After it was introduced into China, the religion went...

A piece of fossilised vomit dating back to the time of the dinosaurs has been discovered in Denmark. Local fossil hunter Peter Bennicke found the fossil at Stevns Klint - a Unesco-listed coastal cliff in the east of the country. The self-declared "fossil geek" said he came across some unusual-looking fragments which turned out to be pieces of sea lily - an underwater species related to starfish and sea urchins - in a piece of chalk. Mr Bennicke took the fragments to be examined at the Museum of East Zealand, which confirmed the vomit could be dated to the end...

Explanation: What are these bubbles frozen into Lake Baikal? Methane. Lake Baikal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Russia, is the world's largest (by volume), oldest, and deepest lake, containing over 20% of the world's fresh water. The lake is also a vast storehouse of methane, a greenhouse gas that, if released, could potentially increase the amount of infrared light absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, and so increase the average temperature of the entire planet. Fortunately, the amount of methane currently bubbling out is not climatologically important. It is not clear what would happen, though, were temperatures to significantly increase in...

“It's also been an imperative for us to try to make sure that this conflict doesn't spread." US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israel not to escalate its conflict with Tehran and the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah as it continues to respond militarily to attacks from both entities. “It's also been an imperative for us to try to make sure that this conflict doesn't spread. We are resolute in our defense of Israel when it comes to attacks it's receiving from Iran, from Iran's proxies,” Blinken told reporters on Wednesday morning before departing Tel Aviv for Saudi Arabia. “We...

King Ghezo ruled Dahomey from 1818 to 1858, a period marked by military conquests and the transformation of the region's economy, heavily reliant on the slave trade. The kingdom of Dahomey, with its capital at Abomey, was a dominant power in West Africa, known for its aggressive raids on neighboring regions to capture slaves. These captives were either traded for European goods, forced to work on royal plantations, or sacrificed in elaborate voodoo ceremonies.Local legends claim that several structures within the palace complex in Abomey, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, were constructed using a mortar that included the blood...

Congress must demand the US widthrawal from UNESCO: "Israel’s Foreign Ministry blasts UN’s cultural agency over resolution on the Gaza war which was critical of Israel but failed to condemn Hamas." https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/380137?utm_source=email&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

On the night of January 31, 2018, the spies, the analysts, the technicians, and the operations chiefs of the Mossad, the State of Israel’s fabled intelligence arm, were gathered inside the agency’s state-of-the-art situation room on the outskirts of Tel Aviv to oversee an operation that they all knew could turn out to be momentous for their country—or, if things went awry, disastrous. Yossi Cohen, the dapper chief of the agency, dressed in his usual crisply ironed white shirt, sat at a desk, keeping his eye on the time, while the whole room was in a state of tense expectation,...

UNESCO has rewritten history in the Land of Israel before. It has declared the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism — which it refers to only by its Arabic name, Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) — as an exclusively Muslim holy site. And now Jericho is about to be given similar treatment by UNESCO, its significance in the history of the Jews ignored, while the fact that the city is now populated entirely by Palestinians will lead UNESCO to ignore thousands of years of its Jewish history and to describe it as an exclusively “Palestinian heritage site.” “Is UNESCO...

The Heritage Committee of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced on Sunday that one of the newest entries on the organization's list of global heritage sites is Tel a-Sultan in Jericho. The UNESCO member states decided that the tel will be considered a "Palestinian world heritage site." The decision was made in a vote that took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The UN clarified that there are Jewish and Christian sites near the site that are not included in the list - but there is a value to protect them. Tel a-Sultan, also known as Tel Jericho,...

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...