US envoy visits Western Sahara after Morocco-Israel deal

A top US envoy visited contested Western Sahara on Saturday, after Washington recognised Morocco’s sovereignty there in exchange for Rabat normalising ties with Israel. Western Sahara is a disputed and divided former Spanish colony, mostly under Morocco’s control, where tensions with the pro-independence Polisario Front have simmered since the 1970s. Last year Morocco joined the […]

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International, Middle East, USA

Trump permanently banned from Twitter

Twitter permanently banned President Donald Trump late Friday, saying that allowing him to keep posting will heighten the risk of “further incitement of violence.” The extraordinary action comes as Trump remains under intense fire for inciting the bloody assault on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday that killed five people, including a police officer. Twitter suspended

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USA

Torah for Children: Don’t Give Up!

This Parshah contains a very strong message:  Any child can grow up to become a hero. As a baby, Moses shouldn’t have survived. Through the courage of his mother and sister, he not only survives, he grows up in Pharaoh’s court. Then disaster strikes and he becomes an outcast, living in the desert. But God sees something strong in Moses and chooses him to lead the Jewish people to freedom. Even when Moses objects, God pushes him into accepting that role. As Moses faces Pharaoh, things grow worse instead of better and helping the Jewish people seems like a distant dream. [Marcia Berneger]

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Jewish Religion, Marcia Berneger

National Dialogue Mixes Anger and Optimism

Anger and optimism are mixed in the national dialogue over the events at the nation’s Capitol on January 6th.  The anger is expressed in response to the attack on the Capitol in which five people died, including a Capitol policeman whose head was bashed in by someone wielding a fire extinguisher, and a rioter from San Diego who was shot by a policeman inside the Capitol building.  The optimism stems from the hopes that positive steps toward healing the nation’s divisions will be taken during President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration aided by Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego County, USA

Morocco’s Islamist PM who signed Israel normalisation deal rejects accusations of betraying Palestinians

Morocco’s prime minister has pushed back against critics, who have accused him of betraying the Palestinian cause by signing a normalisation agreement with the US and Israel on 22 December. During a meeting with his Justice and Development Party, PM Saad Eddine El Othmani said that he understands the criticism but rejects anyone who questions

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Middle East

Biden says he considered nominating Sanders as labor secretary

Wilmington (United States) (AFP) – US President-elect Joe Biden said Friday that he had been considering nominating Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as his labor secretary but eventually decided not to do so because it could have put the fragile  Democratic Senate majority at risk. “I did give serious consideration of nominating my friend Bernie Sanders

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USA

Sen. Josh Hawley on defense in Missouri and elsewhere as election challenge fails

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Josh Hawley grabbed national headlines, cheers from supporters of President Donald Trump and effusive praise from the White House when he became the first member of the U.S. Senate to announce he would object to electoral votes of at least one state won by President-elect Joe Biden. A week later, the

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USA

US Justice Department indicts 15 over Capitol violence

Washington (AFP) – The US Justice Department announced  that it has indicted 15 people involved in Wednesday’s assault on Congress, including one man accused of possessing bombs made to act like “homemade napalm.” The department said it had arrested several suspects, including Richard Barnett, a supporter of US President Donald Trump who invaded the office

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USA

Biden vows to help US economy as virus spike drives job losses

Washington (AFP) – The US economy lost 140,000 jobs in December as the worsening coronavirus pandemic undermined its recovery, but President-elect Joe Biden pledged that help is on the way. The Labor Department on Friday reported the first drop in employment since April, and Biden said the data means a new economic relief package including

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USA

An Ancient Still-Relevant Play about War’s Ravages

The Trojan Women is a superb translation and adaptation of a splendid play by Euripides (about 480 to about 406 BCE) who wrote tragedies in ancient Athens. Scholars estimate that he wrote over 90 plays, most of which have been lost during the past 2,500 years. Only about a dozen and a half survived. The Trojan Women was first performed in 415 BCE. It is based in large part upon the classic Iliad by Homer which describes the war between the Greeks and Trojans. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Theatre, Film & Broadcast

BDS Activists Happy Even If They Lose, So Long as Israel is Vilified

BDS resolutions serve a dark purpose regardless of whether or not they are successfully voted on and acted on by the respective universities. By repeating the campaign’s calumnies, libels, and historical distortions against Israel, it is thought, a universal loathing of the state will gradually evolve, an objective clearly stated by the divestment effort’s proponents. Whether or not actual divestment takes place is of secondary concern; the repeated, unrelenting, often vitriolic condemnation of Israel and Zionism is the principal goal.  [Richard L. Cravatts, Ph.D]

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Middle East, Richard L. Cravatts, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Adam Schiff on the Attack on the Capitol

The storming of the Capitol was an act of insurrection, intended to disrupt the most fundamental act of our democracy – the peaceful transition of power. Both Houses of Congress and the Vice President gathered in a Joint Session in the Capitol to perform our duty under the 12th Amendment, to certify and count the electoral votes cast by the States. [Rep. Adam Schiff]

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USA