Free Republic

French officials have dispatched a military unit to the crash site of an Air Algerie jet that crashed in Mali carrying 116 people after vanishing from radar shortly after takeoff late Wednesday night. French president Francois Hollande announced Friday that there were no survivors in the crash of the aircraft which disappeared from radar less than an hour after it took off early Thursday from Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, for Algiers. Speaking after a crisis meeting, Hollande also announced that one of the aircraft's two black boxes has been found in the wreckage, in the Gossi region near the border...

An inventor from Stamford in Lincolnshire has embarked on a project to build the world's biggest fart machine - and then aim it straight at France. Colin Furze plans to place the machine on top of the white cliffs of Dover so that the French can hear it 21 miles away.

Nearly 70 years ago, on Aug. 1, 1944, Lieutenant General George S. Patton took command of the American Third Army in France. For the next 30 days they rolled straight toward the German border. Patton almost did not get a chance at his summer of glory. After brilliant service in North Africa and Sicily, fellow officers -- and his German enemies -- considered him the most gifted American field general of his generation. But near the conclusion of his illustrious Sicilian campaign, the volatile Patton slapped two sick GIs in field hospitals, raving that they were shirkers. In truth,...

The European Court of Justice has pointed the finger at unequal retirement plans between men and women in the French civil service. EurActiv France reports. According to a judgment by the ECJ (17 July), the French retirement system for civil servants is discriminating against men. “French rules on certain pension-related advantages granted to civil servants give rise to indirect discrimination on grounds of sex,” the court decided. […] French law states that if a civil servant has raised at least three children, he or she can benefit from early retirement. It also outlines “service credit advantages” to parents working in...

Navi Pillay said Tel Aviv's two-week onslaught on Gaza - which has cost more than 650 Palestinians lives - would be thoroughly investigated. Ms Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the attacks have destroyed houses and hospitals and killed civilians. "These are just a few examples where there seems to be a strong possibility that international humanitarian law has been violated, in a manner that could amount to war crimes. "Every one of these incidents must be properly and independently investigated." According to Gaza officials, 475 houses have been destroyed and 2,644 damaged, while 46 schools, 56 mosques...

GENEVA, July 23 (Reuters) - The United Nations on Wednesday launched an international inquiry into human rights violations and crimes that may have been committed by Israel during its military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The U.N. Human Rights Council condemned the Israeli assault which it said had involved "disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks", including aerial bombing of civilian areas, collective punishment, and the killing of more than 650 Palestinians. At the end of an emergency session, the 47-member forum adopted a resolution presented by Palestinians by a vote of 29 states in favor, 1 against (the United States) with 17...

The thoroughly cowed and compromised dhimmi BBC identifies the rioters only as “youths,” as if its readers will naturally understand that young people have a problem with Israel. No mention is made, of course, of Islamic antisemitism, or of the violent Muslim riots that we have seen all over the world in the last couple of weeks. Video from France here. Note that they’re shouting “death to Jews,” not even bothering with the figleaf “death to Israel.” Their antisemitism is naked and open, as they know French authorities can do or will do nothing to stop them. “Gaza conflict: France...

It takes courage to speak out against the threatening presence of Islam in todayÂ’s world. And it takes courage to defend those who have the courage to speak out.Eight years ago, after Benedict XVI gave his controversial Regensburg address, most European commentators were shamefully timid in their response. Most refused to raise their heads above the parapet, preferring the cowardÂ’s option of not making any response at all. In the light of this continuing cowardly silence, it is timely to remind ourselves of the ugly face of Islamic fundamentalism.At the darkened heart of radical Islam is what Bishop Nazir-Ali,...

MANHATTAN — American flags were removed from atop the Brooklyn Bridge's two towers Tuesday morning and replaced by white flags, sources said. Police, including the NYPD's counter terrorism and intelligence divisions, were checking surveillance footage from the bridge after images of the white flags hit social media about 7 a.m., sources said. "Why are there white flags on top of the Brooklyn Bridge?" City Council member Mark Weprin tweeted at 9:34 a.m. It was not immediately clear how the white flags, which are usually a military symbol for surrender, got there. Witnesses reported seeing NYPD counter terrorism officers heading up...

The French authorities have reportedly authorized a demonstration in support for Gaza on Wednesday (23 July) after two government-banned protests over the weekend turned violent. Wednesday’s gathering is to be allowed because the pro-Palestinian organizers are considered “serious and responsible” by the authorities, reports French daily Le Parisien.The Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) as well as a handful of left wing groups is behind the demonstration, set to kick off in the early evening from the city’s center. The move comes on the heels of a controversial French government ban on demonstrations in the capital after several protesters...

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has condemned "anti-Semitic" violence that broke out during a protest against Israel's action in Gaza. Jewish-owned businesses and a synagogue were targeted in the suburb of Sarcelles, just outside Paris. Shops were looted and 18 people were arrested as youths went on the rampage during Sunday's protest, which had been banned by authorities. The mayor of Sarcelles said the Jewish community was in fear. Such an outpouring of violence had never been seen in the suburb before, he said. Roger Cukierman, head of the umbrella group Crif that represents French Jewish organisations, said Jews were...

Parts of central London were brought to a standstill on Saturday as thousands of pro-Palestinians marched in protest against Israel’s offensive in Gaza, while in Paris a banned demonstration descended into violence. Organizers of the London rally claimed that “tens of thousands” of people joined the march from Prime Minister David Cameron’s office to the Israeli embassy, many of them chanting “Israel is a terror state”. Police refused to give an estimate for the number present but several roads through the centre of the capital were closed during the three-mile (4.8-kilometer) march, which passed off peacefully. …

Jews are SCARED. In the first three months of 2014 more Jews left France for Israel than at any other time since the Jewish state was created in 1948. The hundreds of rockets raining down on Israel are considered acceptable. Retaliation (with phone-call warnings , "knocking" to prevent civilian casualties,) is "massacre by the Jews." And the White House, of course, is silent. Europe is ablaze with Jew hatred, and North America is, too. The "Palestinians" own the streets, the schools, the colleges, the immigration process, the White House. If you want to help, you can do these things: LIGHT...

Jewish communities around the world are not letting terrorist attacks from Hamas deter them from relocating to Israel. This week, hundreds of French Jews arrived in Israel to settle in the towns of Ashdod and Ashkelon, while incidents of anti-Semitism continue to rise in France itself. On Thursday, as the Israeli government announced a ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza, 430 Jewish immigrants from France arrived in Israel with the intention of permanently relocating. Of these, many came as entire families, with 195 children and 18 infants on the flights in. The numbers from France are to be expected-- polls...

Paris police have banned pro-Palestinian activists from demonstrating this Saturday night, an official told AFP Wednesday, after violent protesters blockaded French Jews in a local synagogue and attacked them earlier this week. Saturday night’s protest was planned for the Barbas–Rochechouart metro station near the northern Gare du Nord train station, the official said. However, Paris police oppose the demonstration, citing “serious risks to public order” in “a context of elevated tension,” according to news broadcaster RTL. Protesters have already taken to Twitter, they said, with the intent to “smash the Jews” in Saturday’s protest. “We’ll smash the Jews Saturday,” wrote...

Either this will ignite a civil war (because everyone can see that coming) or criminals will go emigrate to green pastures — like London. Halal is the least of the French Islamic problem in the prisons: Muslim inmates regularly wear non-standard Islamic clothes such as djellabas, which they would not normally wear outside. This type of clothing is subject to prison regulations, but these are ignored by the inmates and not enforced by the authorities in order to avoid confrontation. Non-converts are subject to pressure, insults, threats and violence. They are marginalised in day-to-day prison life. They cannot participate in...

In recognition of Bastille Day, I, in this special Monday episode, discuss "the book that caused the French Revolution": Les Liaisons Dangereuses (The Dangerous Liaisons), written by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The book -- perhaps somewhat unintentionally -- set off pious sentiment against the Ancien Regime, and its influence carries on today. WATCH ON YOUTUBE(Alternative link, via Vimeo.) Summary:I start off the show with a brief primer on Bastille Day and immediately begin a summary of the characters and events in this novel, breaking down its story of lust and love. I then cite some of its distinctively Catholic elements....

In recognition of Bastille Day, I, in this special Monday episode, discuss "the book that caused the French Revolution": Les Liaisons Dangereuses (The Dangerous Liaisons), written by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The book -- perhaps somewhat unintentionally -- set off pious sentiment against the Ancien Regime, and its influence carries on today. WATCH ON YOUTUBE(Alternative link, via Vimeo.) Summary:I start off the show with a brief primer on Bastille Day and immediately begin a summary of the characters and events in this novel, breaking down its story of lust and love. I then cite some of its distinctively Catholic elements....

President Francois Hollande on Monday pleaded with the French to be proud of their country in an attempt to boost confidence at a time of enduring gloom over record unemployment and faltering growth. Speaking in a televised interview on France's national Bastille Day holiday after a military parade commemorating World War I, Hollande tried to persuade the country that his reforms were the right way forward despite opposition within his own ranks. "There is a sort of illness which is not serious but can be contagious, where we are always deploring and denigrating. You have to be proud!" he said,...

Clashes erupted in Paris on Sunday as thousands of people protested against Israel and in support of Hamas and residents in the Gaza Strip, reports The Times of Israel.Several thousand demonstrators marched through the streets of Paris behind a large banner that read "Total Support for the Struggle of the Palestinian People".(snip)Blogger Elder of Zion carries a report that the protests were far more menacing and anti-Semitic than the main news sites have reported. According to a first-person account, protesters also chanted "Death to the Jews," "Hitler was right," "Hamas Resistance," "Jihad! Jihad! Jihad!" and "Palestine must finish the job...