Free Republic

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has called on the Israeli government to show "restraint" amid what has now been weeks of protests by Hamas terrorists who have swarmed the Israeli border and stoked violence. "I am deeply concerned about the deaths and injuries in Gaza," Warren was quoted as saying. "As additional protests are planned for the coming days, the Israel Defense Forces should exercise restraint and respect the rights of Palestinians to peacefully protest." The quote is likely to rankle the pro-Israel community, which has become increasingly strained with the Democratic Party as lawmakers such as Warren adopt a...

A man from Niger stabbed to death his German ex-wife and their one-year-old daughter in a brutal attack in a busy train station Thursday, police said. The bloody knife killings took place mid-morning in the busiest subway station of Hamburg, Germany’s second-biggest city. “The crime was very, very terrible in its execution, very targeted and very, very extreme,” said police spokesman Timo Zill. “We currently assume it was a crime of passion.”

The number of foreigners in Germany grew by around 5.8 percent in 2017. The new statistics show that while refugee arrivals have leveled off, immigration from eastern EU countries is climbing at an above-average rate. At the end of 2017 there were 10.6 million foreigners registered in Germany, according to figures released by the Federal Office of Statistics on Thursday. That’s an increase of about 585,000, or 5.8 percent, compared to the previous year. A statistics office spokesman said the current growth is on par with foreign population levels in 2013, before the 2015 refugee crisis that led to hundreds...

Syrians with a German residence permit are increasingly traveling to Turkey, often with the help of smugglers, an investigative report from German broadcaster NDR reveals. The main reason for many refugees is to reunite with their families. As the refugees don’t receive visas to travel to Turkey, they often take risky routes back into the country, the report from the program Panorama explained. Using social media outlets such as Facebook, the refugees post on several online groups to gain insights into the “reverse escape” into Turkey, in which they also share information about the prices of smugglers. A journey over...

More than one-fifth of millennials in the U.S. -- 22 percent -- haven't heard of, or aren't sure if they've heard of, the Holocaust, according to a study published Thursday, on Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day. The study, which was commissioned by The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and conducted by Schoen Consulting, also found that 11 percent of U.S. adults overall haven't heard of the Holocaust or aren't sure if they did. Additionally, 41 percent of millennials believe two million Jews or fewer were killed during the Holocaust, the study found. Six million Jews were killed in World...

The timing seems perfect — President Donald Trump tweeted about the “stupid trade” between China and U.S., in which American cars face a 25% tariff when sent to China while Chinese cars coming to the U.S. are subject to a 2.5% tariff. Within 24 hours, China’s President Xi Jinping told the world that China will “significantly lower the tariff on imported vehicles” this year during his speech at Boao Forum for Asia. While Trump applauded the move with a new tweet, it’s not a done deal as China just proposed retaliatory tariffs of 25% on U.S. cars if the U.S....

Enzymatic liquid membrane design and mechanism of carbon dioxide capture and separation. The Sandia/University of New Mexico membrane is fabricated by formation of 8-nanometer diameter mesopores. Using atomic layer deposition and oxygen plasma processing, the silica mesopores are engineered to be hydrophobic except for an 18-nm-deep region at the pore surface which is hydrophilic. Through capillary condensation, carbonic anhydrase enzymes and water spontaneously fill the hydrophilic mesopores to form an array of stabilized enzymes with an effective concentration greater than 10 times of that achievable in solution. These catalyze the capture and dissolution of carbon dioxide at the upstream surface...

US President Donald Trump has promised a "forceful" response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria, as Western leaders consider what action to take. "We have a lot of options militarily," he told reporters. He added that a response would be decided "shortly". Mr Trump said the US was getting some "good clarity" on who was responsible for the incident in Douma on Saturday. Medical sources say dozens were killed in the alleged attack but exact numbers are impossible to verify. Mr Trump also discussed the incident with French President Emmanuel Macron late on Monday, and both leaders expressed a...

The violent aspect of the worrisome radicalization of the Turkish diaspora with a heavy dose of nationalist and Islamist ideology has been personally driven by President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, who publicly rewards mischief and unashamedly glorifies vigilante behavior among expatriate communities. As a result, the Turkish president is setting up a very dangerous path for many to follow on the violent trajectory while unleashing beasts to wreak havoc in host countries.Just this week, ErdoÄŸan personally called Turkish national Yusuf Ãœnsal, who was detained by German police for his interference in a protest in Stuttgart against the Turkish governmentÂ’s military offensive...

First off, by waiting to strike, the U.S. keeps Syrian air defense forces in a state of very high readiness and forces Assad to continue guessing whether the U.S. knows where his high-value assets have been relocated. At the tactical level (front line Syrian military units) and strategic level (Assad and his commanders), the U.S. approach here means significant stress and abundant fear. This matters because effective military force and strategy is largely determined by the ability of individuals to operate effectively. But if individuals are fearful and exhausted, their operability will suffer. Even if marginally, this mitigates the threat...

When the U.S. takes military action against Syrian President Bashar Assad for his chemical weapons attack last Saturday, Russia is unlikely to retaliate. Two factors underline why. First off, the Russians do not want to associate themselves with what Assad has done. Putin doesn't like the public relations aftermath he is now suffering. In turn, while Putin is employing his standard distraction-deception-threat strategy in an attempt to shield Assad from blame, his eye is on other agendas. Notably, avoiding new sanctions targeting Moscow and ensuring that the upcoming soccer World Cup — which Putin sees as critical to attract much-needed...

With all eyes on Israel’s southern front where Hamas is desperately trying to conceal the fact it has run out of military options in its never ending war against the Jewish State, Hezbollah and the pro-Assad axis seem to be gearing up for the long anticipated confrontation with the IDF. Iranian and Israeli media reported last week that the pro-Assad coalition is preparing for an offensive against Islamist rebel groups in the Kuneitra and Daraa provinces in southern Syria. The pro-Assad axis, which includes Hezbollah and other Shiite militias, has reportedly deployed tanks and heavy artillery on the Syrian Golan...

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed Russia over a deadly chemical attack on Syrian civilians, saying the country's hands are "covered in blood." "The Russian regime, whose hands are all covered in the blood of Syrian children, cannot be ashamed by pictures of its victims," Haley said during a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday. "We must not overlook Russia and Iran's roles in enabling the Assad regime's murderous destruction," she continued.

US President Donald Trump’s “major decision” on Syria is contingent on the rallying of sufficient air and naval strength and allied participation. Military sources report that the only US warship immediately available for the promised US military response to Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Douma is the guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook, which sailed from Larnaca Monday, April 9, on its way to the eastern Mediterranean. The USS Iwo Jima strike group, which visited Haifa last month, is now cruising in the Arabian Sea, days away from the scene, whereas the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group...

Pan-European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol on Tuesday warned airlines to exercise caution in the eastern Mediterranean due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria in next 72 hours. Eurocontrol said that air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles could be used within that period and there was a possibility of intermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment. Russia and the United States tangled on Tuesday at the United Nations over the use of chemical weapons in Syria as Washington and its allies considered whether to strike at President Bashar al-Assad's forces over a suspected poison gas attack last weekend. "Due consideration...

Six people were detained Sunday for allegedly plotting an attack on the Berlin Half Marathon. Local police said the men supposedly planned to brandish knives in crowds and slash spectators and participants around them, according to The Washington Post. “There were isolated indications that those arrested, aged between 18 and 21 years, were participating in the preparation of a crime in connection with this event,” prosecutors and police wrote in a joint statement.Police reportedly tracked the main suspect and his co-conspirators for weeks when they discovered a plot to attack civilians at the event. Once suspicions were confirmed, the residences...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban easily won a third consecutive term Sunday and his Fidesz party was poised to regain its super majority in parliament, according to preliminary results from the country's election. With 84.7 percent of the votes counted, Fidesz and its small ally, the Christian Democrat party, had secured 133 of the 199 seats in the legislature, the minimum needed for a two-thirds majority. The right-wing nationalist Jobbik party placed second with 26 seats, while a Socialist-led, left-wing coalition ran third with 20.

Saturday's events in Muenster, Germany point once again to why Americans should both put military on our border as well as arm ourselves to the individual level we each determine is right for us. It’s what sets us apart. We’ve seen it before. A terror attack, a person filled with hate attempting to kill innocent people. In Muenster it was a beautiful Saturday when a monster decided he didn’t agree with an establishment that sold alcohol and the types of people that frequent and imbibe there, so he pointed his van into the middle of the crowded area, hit the...

<p>Six people were detained in connection with what police and prosecutors allege was a plan to carry out an attack on Berlin’s half-marathon Sunday, German authorities said. A police spokesman later said that no athletes or spectators had been in danger.</p>

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called on Germany's Angela Merkel to do "everything possible" to reverse Brexit and keep Britain part of the European Union. "It would be a mistake of historic proportions if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union," Blair told Business Insider Deutschland. "Even Europe -- especially Germany -- has a lot to lose," he went on to say. "It is in all our interests to maintain barrier-free trade across the continent and to hold liberal democracies together in times when authoritarian structures are resurgent." And so, he argued, "Germany should do everything possible to...