Free Republic

One of the incidents most widely disseminated as “proof” of Israeli war crimes during its defensive Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last year was the deaths of four Arab youths on a Gaza beachfront used exclusively by Hamas terrorists. Foreign journalists reported as fact that Israeli war planes had bombed a beachfront, killing four youths—and the incident was highlighted in the recent UN Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry. […] However, it now appears that Israel need not take any approach to defend its actions—as the children on the beach were apparently killed not by its forces, but by Hamas...

The U.S. Navy is tripling the amount of paid maternity leave that female sailors and Marines can take after the birth of a child, and will now provide a total of 18 weeks off. The change, directed by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, makes the Navy the first of the military services to provide more than the current six weeks of leave. According to the Navy, about 5,000 women would be eligible for the benefit each year, including 500 officers. The actual order extends convalescent leave for maternity cases only, and is effective immediately. Service secretaries have the authority to make...

Reuters is reporting about the Obama administration taking the Iranian side regarding a long list of violations to the interim Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) agreed to at the beginning of April as well as the United Nations Security Council resolutions by seeking to procure illicit nuclear infrastructure and refusing to cooperate with the IAEA. Despite evidence to the contrary, the Obama administration is denying they ever happened, or labeling them as inconsequential. [F]or a month now the U.S. State Department has been defending Iran from suggestions that it was on the verge of violating a requirement to reduce its...

Oil prices fell sharply in early trading on Monday after Greece rejected austerity measures demanded in return for bailout money and as China rolled out an unprecedented series of steps over the weekend to prevent a full-blown stock market crash. In a referendum on Sunday, Greeks overwhelmingly rejected austerity measures demanded in return for bailout money, putting in doubt its continued place in the single currency and pulling down the euro EUR= in early trading on Monday. In China, stock markets face a make-or-break week after officials rolled out a series of measures to prevent a full-blown stock market crash...

Real-estate magnate and presidential candidate Donald Trump blasted another one of his critics early Sunday morning. Trump said the reigning Miss Universe pageant winner, Colombia's Paulina Vega, was a "hypocrite" for criticizing him without giving up her award. "Miss Universe, Paulina Vega, criticized me for telling the truth about illegal immigration, but then said she would keep the crown-Hypocrite," Trump, who helps run the pageant, tweeted at roughly 5 a.m. According to the Associated Press, Vega said last Thursday that Trump's controversial comments about Mexico were "hurtful and unfair" but she had no intention of giving up her crown "because...

The speaker of the US House of Representatives, John Boehner, has told a Dublin audience of his determination to overcome Republican resistance to immigration reform. Mr. Boehner also told how Taoiseach Enda Kenny has harangued him on the matter, telling him how the lack of reform has left some Irish immigrants listening to a parent’s funeral by phone. His remarks indicate he may yet move to confront opponents of reform within his own Republican party, which is in the vanguard of resistance to it and has a majority in the House. […] Imitating Mr. Kenny, Mr. Boehner said he was...

Panama announced Saturday it is boycotting the Miss Universe pageant — the latest Latin American nation to drop out in protest to Donald Trump's incendiary remarks about Mexican migrants. The Miss Panama Organization and the Telemetro TV station said they wouldn't be a part of the Miss Universe contest, or broadcast it, "in a message of solidarity for our Mexican brothers and sisters." The contest is partially owned by Trump. Trump, a 2016 presidential candidate, has faced searing criticism and lost numerous business deals since his comments about Mexicans during his campaign announcement earlier this month.

Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that the United States and Iran may fail to reach a final nuclear agreement despite the talks being extended past their June 30 deadline so that the sides could hash out remaining differences over the scope and scale of the Islamic Republic’s contested nuclear program. Western observers suggested the statement from Kerry was designed to provide cover for the administration if a deal with wide-ranging concessions to Iran is struck. Kerry told reporters in a brief press conference Sunday afternoon that he is prepared to leave town without a deal that has...

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greece lurched into uncharted territory and an uncertain future in Europe's common currency Sunday after voters overwhelmingly rejected demands by international creditors for more austerity measures in exchange for a bailout of its bankrupt economy. Results showed 61 percent voted "no," compared with 38 percent for "yes," with 93 percent of the vote counted. The referendum - Greece's first in more than four decades - came amid severe restrictions on financial transactions in the country, imposed last week to stem a bank run that accelerated after the vote was called.

The EU's unity, solidarity and international standing are at risk from Greece's debt, Russia's role in Ukraine, Britain's attempt to change its relationship with the bloc, and Mediterranean migration.

In fact, captured terrorists went out of style a long time ago, so that’s not the actual change. Until recently — like, say, two weeks ago — the Department of Defense used the term unlawful combatant as the label for terrorists captured by American military and intelligence forces as a way to distinguish them from uniformed soldiers of a recognized state authority in a straight-up fight. Their new manual dispenses with that term, the Federation of American Scientists noticed today (via Steven Aftergood and Olivier Knox): When it comes to Department of Defense doctrine on military treatment of detained persons,...

Nine days into marathon nuclear talks, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday said the diplomatic efforts "could go either way," cutting off all potential pathways for an Iranian atomic bomb or ending without an agreement that American officials have sometimes described as the only alternative to war. The EU's top foreign policy official, Federica Mogherini, said agreement was "very close." But Kerry said there was still a ways to go. "We are not yet where we need to be on several of the most critical issues," Kerry told reporters outside the 19th-century Viennese palace that has hosted the...

Greeks cannot withdraw cash left in safe deposit boxes at Greek banks as long as capital restrictions remain in place, a deputy finance minister told Greek television on Sunday. ...

Over the past three years, the Obama administration has delineated the criteria that any final nuclear agreement between the P5+1 and Iran must meet. In speeches, congressional testimony, press conferences, and media interviews, administration officials have also articulated their expectations from Tehran with repeated declarations: “No deal is better than a bad deal.” This FPI Analysis, which updates an earlier publication from January 2015, compiles many of the administration’s own statements on nuclear negotiations with Iran over the past three years, and compares them with current U.S. positions. It also examines U.S. statements on a range of other issues related...

Following is an excerpt from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting: "It seems that the nuclear talks in Iran have yielded a collapse, not a breakthrough. The major powers' concessions are increasing. The deal being formulated will pave Iran's path to the production of very many atomic bombs and it will also channel to Iran hundreds of billions of dollars that will serve its aggression and terrorism campaigns in our region and around the world. This is a bad deal. It is not less bad – in my opinion it is worse –...

“There’s a sense that these populist movements are led by people who didn’t go to university with [the leaders] and that if you ignore them they will go away. They’ve been ignored and patronised,” said a senior EU policymaker in Brussels. “The underlying causes are economic. We want a Europe that is delivering tangible benefits to citizens. That’s not what it feels like at the moment.”

Can't wait 4 more hours until the first official results from the Greek referendum trickle in? The "Intelligence Unit" of the Economist Group, part-owned by the Rothschild banking family, has already called it and the "Oxis" have it by a wide margin.

US Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has accused China of stealing commercial secrets and government information. She accused China of "trying to hack into everything that doesn't move in America", and urged vigilance. US officials had named China as the chief suspect in the massive hack of the records of a US government agency earlier this year. China had denied any involvement, and called US claims "irresponsible".

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton unleashed some of the strongest words to date about China's hacking of U.S. computers. "They're also trying to hack into everything that doesn't move in America," Clinton said at a campaign event in Glen, New Hampshire. "Stealing commercial secrets, blueprints from defense contractors, stealing huge amounts of government information. All looking for an advantage."

If July 4, 1776, is our Independence Day, March 11, 1941, is our Interdependence Day. A revolutionary thing happened on the way to World War II. It was called "Lend Lease." This was the legislation, approved on March 11, 1941, by which the neutral USA began to supply aid to countries at war with Hitler. It was spun by President Roosevelt and Democrats in Congress as a means of keeping America out of World War II, although it was recognized by many Republicans at the time as a war bill. But that's not all. Lend Lease granted extraordinary powers to...