Free Republic

To kick this week off we thought we'd bring you these pictures showing that France has become the second nation in the world to (publicly) fly a stealth UAV. These images show Dassault's nEUROn (yes, it's really written that way) making its maiden flight in Istres on Dec. 1. nEUROn is a technology demonstrator; basically it's a plane used to prove that all the tech Dassault has designed for a stealth, unmanned strike jet will actually work. Here are some stats about nEUROn from Dassault: "With a length of 10 meters, a wingspan of 12.5 meters and an empty weight...

Valérie Trierweiler, the girlfriend of French President François Hollande, has given plans to legalise gay marriage her personal seal of approval by announcing she will be a witness at one of the first ceremonies. While her partner's commitment to proposed legislation allowing same-sex marriages has been questioned in recent weeks, Trierweiler revealed she had accepted an invitation to participate in the wedding of gay friends. "I'm delighted that I'm going to be a witness at one of the very first marriages for all," Trierweiler said. A law providing for same sex couples to wed and adopt children is expected to...

Everybody knew that Israel's move to build new settlements in the previously off-limits area outside Jerusalem known as E1 would anger friends and enemies alike. But few probably guessed that it would send European ambassadors fleeing the country. According to a new report from Haaretz, that's exactly what the diplomats from France and Britain are thinking. More specifically, the Haaretz report cites senior European diplomats who say that the two countries are considering "the unprecedented step of recalling their ambassadors." One told the paper, "This time it won't just be a condemnation, there will be real action taken against Israel."

Britain and France have summoned their Israeli ambassadors to protest Israel's decision to authorize housing construction in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. The ambassadors were summoned Monday amid reports that the two countries would recall their envoys in Israel for consultations. Sweden also has summoned its Israel ambassador, according to reports. "We deplore the recent Israeli government decision to build 3,000 new housing units and unfreeze development in the E1 block," the British Foreign Office said in a statement, threatening a "strong reaction" if construction goes ahead. "This threatens the viability of the two-state solution." The E1 corridor, which...

A MUM who sent her three-year-old son named "Jihad" to nursery school wearing a top bearing the words "I am a bomb" is to go on trial in France. Beneath the boy’s name on the back of the jumper were the words "Born on the 11 September" - the date of the 9/11 terror attacks on New York’s twin towers. The muslim mum was reported to police by the boy’s outraged teacher and has now been charged with supporting a terrorist act. Thierry Lagneau, the mayor of the southern French town of Sorgues, said: “We fully support charges being brought...

Bryan Denton for The New York Times Rebels in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, in August. The opposition to the Syrian government is developing a political structureWASHINGTON — The United States is moving toward recognizing the Syrian opposition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people as soon as it fully develops its political structure, American officials said Thursday. A decision to recognize the group could be announced at a so-called Friends of Syria meeting that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to attend in Morocco on Dec. 12. It is the most immediate decision facing the Obama administration...

Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the hotel housekeeper who accused him of sexually assaulting her last year have quietly reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit she brought against him stemming from the case, which made international headlines.  French media reported Friday that Strauss-Kahn, 63, former head of the International Monetary Fund, would pay $6 million to Nafissatou Diallo, who accused him of attacking her at a Manhattan hotel.   The parties are scheduled to appear next week before Justice Douglas E. McKeon in State Supreme Court in the Bronx. Mr. Strauss-Kahn, was arrested in May 2011 after Ms. Diallo, an immigrant from...

 After more than a week of wrangling over the outcome of its hotly contested party election, the leadership of France’s center-right opposition party on Monday confirmed Jean-François Copé, a right-leaning protégé of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, as the party’s new chief, staring down a last-minute legal challenge from his centrist rival, François Fillon.  The disputed election has sown confusion and embarrassment across France and in particular within the already bruised party, known as the U.M.P. The drawn-out battle, which has played out on live television and via social media networks, follows Mr. Sarkozy’s loss in the presidential race in May,...

France to U.N.: I'm shocked, shocked to find the nonsense going on in here! [ a member of Hamas hands France a pile of money] Abdul: Your winnings, sir.

Some of you may remember the picture above and the post that went with it. The picture was taken at the train station in Bologna, Italy on August 2, 1980. I missed being there by a couple of days. Italy thought it had a deal with the PLO not to carry out terror attacks on its soil. It was wrong. The European Union is about to repeat the mistake. The EU may declare Hezbullah a designated terror organization, but only if they reach the conclusion that Hezbullah was behind the terror attack at a Bulgarian airport a few months ago....

Many of my children have stepped backword into a precipice of darkness "yeah" into a revelation not of Me for I desire for my children to walk in the fullness of my glory and goodness each day. I came to stand in the road to Damascus to deliver Paul out of just this thing for truly though he knew My word he had yet to meet me and it is these "Sauls" of disaster I am after in these last days . So "GO" My church and declare the wonders of my fullness for there is no one thing or...

In October, 70 members of the French youth group Génération Identitaire occupied the Poiters mosque to protest against the influence of Islam in France. The youths climbed to the roof and unfurled a banner with the name of their movement. Now the movement is back with a powerful video—

German soldiers and missiles seem likely to be posted to Turkey’s border with Syria soon. One report suggested the government was checking the legality of such a posting, ahead of a Turkish request expected on Monday. The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported on Saturday that government officials were discussing whether a parliamentary mandate would be needed to send the 170 soldiers which would be needed to staff two Patriot missile units as part of a NATO mission. The Turkish government said ten days ago it wanted the air defence missiles for its border with Syria, where rockets from the civil-war-wracked country...

Fewer than a dozen European leaders have so far accepted an invitation to attend next month's Oslo ceremony to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union, this year's controversial winner, the Nobel Institute said on Wednesday. "Between eight and 10 have said they would come and and somewhat fewer have responded in the negative," the director of the institute, Geir Lundestad, told AFP. After the unexpected awarding of the peace prize to a crisis-stricken EU on October 12th the bloc's President Herman Van Rompuy invited all the leaders of the 27 member states to attend the ceremony, which...

Moody's strips France of triple-A rating; a notch lower Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:05pm EST (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service downgraded France's sovereign rating by one notch to Aa1 from Aaa, the agency said on Monday, citing the country's uncertain fiscal outlook as a result of "deteriorating economic prospects." Moody's said it is maintaining a negative outlook on the country due to structural challenges and a "sustained loss of competitiveness" in the country. Standard & Poor's has a AA-plus rating and negative outlook on France, which it downgraded by one notch in January from AAA. Fitch Ratings has France at...

A bitter election battle to succeed Nicolas Sarkozy as new leader of France’s main centre-Right party, UMP, has gone down to the wire in a contest that could decide whether or not the group swings farther Right. Jean-Francois Cope, the party’s firebrand secretary-general, was more than 3,000 votes ahead of the moderate Francois Fillon, with some 155,000 ballots counted from the election among the party’s 300,000 members. With the outcome still unclear, the surprise of the night was the higher-than-expected score of Mr Copé, 48, who was expected to finish well behind Mr Fillon, 58. Last night members of the...

Both candidates have claimed victory in the race to become France's next opposition leader, in a contest marred by allegations of vote-rigging. Hundreds of votes are said to separate right-wing candidate Jean-Francois Cope and ex-PM Francois Fillon. As the neck-and-neck result emerged, supporters of both UMP candidates made accusations of vote fraud. The party has been without a leader since Nicolas Sarkozy was defeated in the May presidential election. Mr Cope has been secretary general of the conservative UMP since 2010 while his rival was prime minister for five years during Mr Sarkozy's presidency. More than 50% of the party's...

PARIS — Thousands of Catholics and other opponents of French government plans to legalise gay marriage and same-sex adoption marched in Paris on Sunday, a day after more than 100,000 turned out across France for the cause.The rally, organised by conservative Catholic group Civitas, was marred by accusations that protesters had roughed up journalists and topless counter-protesters partially dressed as nuns.Police said some 9,000 people had joined the protest, rallying behind slogans such as one large banner reading: "France needs children, not homosexuals."Civitas official Alain Escada said gay marriage was "a Pandora's box" that would let others demand extended marriage...

American conservatives must take a close look at themselves and consider the sad state of our traditional mores: The French are doing a better job making the case for traditional marriage than is the American right. This piece from Libération tells it all. With three simple letters - PME, or "père, mère, enfant" - the protestors stated the no-nonsense, no-beating-around-the-bush reason not to legalize same-sex marriage. "Father, mother, child." Here's a snippet with my admittedly amateurish translation (send complaints to my old high school teachers from Williamsville South High School, circa 1985): ************** A huge wave. Of Catholics? "No, citizens!"...

KINSHASA (Reuters) - United Nations attack helicopters hit rebel positions in eastern Congo on Saturday after insurgents gained ground in heavy fighting with government troops, the U.N. said. The clashes to the south of the town Kibumba mean the rebels have advanced to within 30 km (18 miles) of Goma, the closest they have been to North Kivu's provincial capital since a rebellion exploded in the eastern provinces eight months ago. North Kivu governor Julien Paluku said the army retreated to the southern outskirts of the town after M23 rebels - a group of soldiers who mutinied in April -...