Free Republic

A survey from the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP) has found that at least one in three Muslims living in France believe that the Sharia law should be instituted globally. In a follow up to its annual survey of Muslim opinion in France, IFOP released another poll of 1,005 Muslims over the age of 15 to specifically examine “the influence of political Islamism” in the country, notably through the Muslim Brotherhood, which the French government has accused of engaging in a decades-long campaign to undermine Western civilization. According to the survey, 32 percent of Muslims in France consider Islam...

The ammunition boxes stacked on the stage opened up to reveal figurines of angels and an infant Jesus lying in his manger. Six actors sang plaintive carols, accompanied by readings of the brooding poetry of Kharkiv writer Serhiy Zhadan. The audience sat, transfixed by the almost unbearable intensity of the spectacle. The nativity play, performed on a recent evening at Kharkiv’s puppet theatre, was a reminder that conflict has seeped into the fabric of almost everything in Ukrainian life over the past four years. “We can’t just put on comedies and escape from reality,” said Oksana Dmitrieva, the nativity play’s...

The last day for national letter delivery in Denmark is fast approaching as state-run postal service PostNord switches strategy to concentrate on parcel delivery following two decades of sharply decline in letter volumes. The postal operator announced earlier this year that it will deliver its final letter on Dec. 31 after 400 years, saying physical mail is no longer economical because the country has mostly shifted to digital correspondence and that the massive growth in online shopping requires fast, reliable parcel service.

As the Euro-Globalist failing leaders try to whip their countries into an anti-Russia Frenzy, Germany is trying to come out of this process as the country with the largest military and – it appears – the meanest intelligence services. (snip) “Spies will also be allowed to install spyware on computers belonging to enemy suspects and secretly enter their homes. When operating overseas, spies will be allowed to install tracking devices on enemy technology or weaponry – or destroy it altogether.”

European Union leaders have struck a late-night deal to lend Ukraine €90bn (£79bn; $105bn) over the next two years, after failing to agree on using frozen Russian assets. Ukraine was set to run out of cash by next spring, and European Council chief António Costa said the loan would be paid back only when Russia paid reparations for its full-scale war. "We committed, we delivered," said Costa, while Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya Svyrydenko praised the deal as "a decisive step for economic resilience". A bid to use €210bn in Russian cash frozen in the EU, mainly in Belgium, ultimately failed...

Police, who held a line at the very gate of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday were pelted with potatoes by angry farmers worried a new free trade deal will see their livelihoods and industry destroyed. A government-authorized protest for 50 tractors in Brussels turned into a demonstration with “around 1,000” tractors present and over 7,000 farmers on Thursday. While the protest largely passed off without incident, there were clashes at the European Parliament building, where farmers threw potatoes and eggs and received tear gas and water cannon in return. […] The farmers are protesting the forthcoming EU-Mercosur...

A new report from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) says that although energy related emissions in Ireland have fallen by 16% since 2018, the country has not broken the link between economic growth and fossil fuel use in a meaningful way. The SEAI says Ireland needs to double down on decarbonization, especially in transport, which is still 93% powered by fossil fuels. Ireland is legally obliged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030. SEAI Energy in Ireland 2025 report notes total energy-related emissions have fallen to the lowest level in over 30 years. This has been...

Downing Street insists the $40bn Tech Prosperity Deal between the US and UK that is on hold is not permanently stalled. The BBC reported on Tuesday evening that the prime minister’s office claimed that the UK remains in “active conversations with US counterparts at all levels of government” about the wide-ranging deal for the technology industries in both countries to cooperate. The agreement, previously billed as historic, was paused after the US accused the UK of failing to lower trade barriers, including a digital services tax on US tech companies and food safety rules that limit the export of some...

The EU looks set to scrap a landmark 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel cars on Tuesday, as part of a package of reforms aimed at supporting Europe's embattled auto industry. Carmakers and their backers have lobbied hard for Brussels to relax the ban over the past year – in the face of fierce competition from China and a slower-than-expected shift to electric vehicles (EVs). Set in 2023, the ban was a cornerstone of the EU's environmental Green Deal, which has come under increased pressure from businesses and right-wing politicians as the EU seeks to bolster its industry.

Hungarian Justice Minister Bence Tuzson said Budapest “will not allow Brussels to force it to accept migrants.” Hungary has filed a lawsuit against the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over migration-related fines requested by Brussels, Justice Minister Bence Tuzson announced on Monday, December 15th, describing the move as an “unprecedented step in EU history.” According to the minister, Hungary had already amended its rules following a 2020 ECJ ruling on transit zones. Despite these changes, he said, the European Commission continued to push for sanctions in order to force a change in Hungary’s migration policy and took the case back...

If there is going to be peace, why are we witnessing the largest military buildup in Europe since the end of the Cold War? When it comes to the major players on the geopolitical stage, it is far more important to watch what they do than it is to listen to what they say. And right now the actions that the major European powers are taking are telling us that they are preparing for a huge war with Russia. Ukraine was supposed to be the final piece of the puzzle for the European Union. It is an enormous chunk of...

FOR THE respectable men running western Europe’s three biggest countries, misery is heaped upon misery. All are presiding over stagnant living standards and declining global influence. In Britain and France their rivals from the populist right are itching to take power (even the Alternative for Germany, or the AfD, may win a couple of state elections next year). And America, their key ally, has just accused them of hastening Europe towards what it calls “civilisational erasure”. Those three leaders also warn of a catastrophe—if the parties of the populist right should triumph. Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor, describes his government as...

In Donald Trump’s telling, London is governed by a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”, Sadiq Khan. European leaders are “weak”, their nations “decaying” and the EU was established to “screw” the US. Trump reserves much of his sharpest criticism for America’s allies in Europe. The US president’s frustration with Nato members over their failure to meet the alliance’s defence spending targets was well known. The level of antipathy was not. “It came kind of out of nowhere,” said Jeremy Shapiro, research director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, who has studied recent foreign policy debates within the Republican party. “This...

What is now unfolding in France may soon drag the entire Eurozone into deep turmoil. The country is staggering through a fiscal crisis while locked in a political stalemate that seems impossible to break. In the bond market, the clock is ticking loudly as France’s public debt spirals out of control. This week, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu celebrated a textbook Pyrrhic victory. On Tuesday, the National Assembly narrowly approved his draft for next year’s social budget. But the win came at a steep price: sweeping concessions that will only worsen an already explosive fiscal situation. Strange coalitionsWith 247 votes in...

A Swiss wind instrument repairman is serving a ten-day jail sentence after refusing to pay a fine imposed for a comment he made on Facebook about biological sex. Emanuel Brünisholz, from Burgdorf in the canton of Bern, responded to a December 2022 post by Swiss National Councillor Andreas Glarner, writing: “If you excavate LGBTQI people after 200 years, you will only find men and women among the skeletons; everything else is a mental illness that was fostered by the curriculum!” As we reported, the comment, which stressed the immutability of biological sex, triggered complaints from activists who accused him of...

Ursula von der Leyen also said she has always had "a very good working relationship" with US presidentsBRUSSELS, December 12. /TASS/. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the US president should not interfere into democratic processes in the EU member countries. "It is not on us, when it comes to elections, to decide who the leader of the country will be, but on the people of this country <…> That’s the sovereignty of the voters, and this must be protected," the European Commission president told Politico in an interview. "Nobody else is supposed to interfere, without any question."...

The European Union on Thursday handed Ukraine a long list of reforms needed to join the bloc, determined to push the process forward despite the ongoing war and objections from EU member Hungary. Top EU officials and diplomats meeting in Lviv, in western Ukraine, said a list of demands covering roughly half of the required reforms would allow progress while formal negotiations remain blocked by Budapest. EU membership has become the central goal for Ukraine’s effort to anchor itself to the West as NATO prospects stall. Here’s a look at the main challenges on Ukraine’s road to the European Union....

U.S. President Donald Trump’s new national security strategy appears to blow up some of the key principles behind 80 years of European collective defence, challenging the foundation of the continent’s relationship with the country. But on whether the White House will — or even can — follow through on many of its more radical or transformative demands, many European capitals will likely need more convincing. In a blistering attack, Trump’s new policy portrays Europe’s governments as weak and ineffective. Migration has destroyed the continent’s self-confidence, it claims, accusing the European Union of contributing to a loss of national sovereignty, weakened...

This is what the newspaper Berlingske writes the day before Denmark's military intelligence service releases its annual threat image report. According to Thomas Ahrenkiel, head of the intelligence service, smaller countries are now facing a world where there is more "law of the jungle than rules-based world order." We now see that the three major military powers, the US, Russia and China, in their different ways do not support that world order, he tells the newspaper. The report states that the US is now using "its economic and technological strength as a tool of power, even against allies and partners."...

Spain’s Ministry of Health has issued a warning over rising flu cases as winter approaches, preparing to require masks in hospitals, health centres, and elderly-care facilities, particularly in high-risk areas. The move comes amid an early and intense influenza season, which experts say could put additional pressure on hospitals already managing COVID-19 cases and other respiratory infections. Health authorities stress that the measure is preventative and aims to protect the most vulnerable, including the elderly and those with chronic illnesses. Several regions have already adopted measures ahead of a national agreement. Aragón and Andalucía, for instance, have recommended or mandated...