Free Republic

Tech giants are cracking down on hate speech. Facebook, Twitter, Google and Microsoft have all agreed to the European Commission's new "code of conduct," which aims to combat illegal hate speech and terrorist propaganda. These new regulations, which were announced Tuesday, will require the tech companies to review the majority of hateful online content within 24 hours of being notified—and remove the post if it's truly offensive and malicious. Tech companies will also have to promote independent counter-narratives to hate speech published online.

But his address took a turn toward the propaganda style when, minutes into his remarks, he said, “Migrants are not a danger – they are in danger,” and then called on the children to repeat after and with him: “They are not a danger – they are in danger,” Breitbart reported. During his remarks, the pope also invited the children to recite a Hail Mary prayer out loud with him, to honor those who’ve died at sea during their refugee flights. He also carried what he said was the life jacket of a drowned Syrian girl, age 6, who lost...

A Christian brother and sister from Syria felt blessed to have been among the dozen refugees selected to start a new life in Italy — but now say their savior, Pope Francis, abandoned them on a Greek island, according to a report. Roula and Malek Abo, who had been housed in a refugee camp on Lesbos, said they thanked their lucky stars when they found out the Vatican had selected them during the pontiff’s visit to the island last week, the Daily Mail reported. Their dreams were shattered, though, when they were informed the following day that they would not...

A Christian brother and sister from Syria felt blessed to have been among the dozen refugees selected to start a new life in Italy — but now say their savior, Pope Francis, abandoned them on a Greek island, according to a report.

An engineer stands next to a Hellenic Air Force C-130 HAUP aircraft at the 133rd Hellenic Air Force Base in Kasteli on the island of Crete, Greece, May 20, 2016. The plane is participating in a search operation for the missing EgyptAir flight 804 Airbus A320. Credit: Stefanos Rapanis/REUTERS

Egyptian political commentator Nabih Al-Wahsh accused Israel of downing EgyptAir Flight 804, and called for Egyptians and Arabs to kill any Israeli they come across and to mutilate his body. Al-Wahsh, a lawyer, filed a lawsuit with Egyptian courts four years ago in an attempt to abolish the Camp David Accords. Al-Asseema TV presenter tried to stop Al-Wahsh from inciting to violence, but to no avail, as Al-Wahsh called for the establishment of “death squads” that would hunt down Israelis all over the world. The show aired on May 20. Nabih Al-Wahsh: "All the evidence indicates that the filthy Zionist...

An oil strike has forced around a fourth of the country’s stations to close because of lack of gasoline. ___ Some 3,000 gasoline stations in France—around a fourth of the country’s stations—have had to close because an oil strike has shut off their fuel supply, Telesur reports. For the first time in more than five years, France is dipping into its strategic oil reserves, while unions block refineries. Those stations lucky enough to have fuel are under government orders to restrict the sale of diesel or gasoline to around $30 per customer. Unions are picketing French refineries in protest against...

A Greek archaeologist believes he has discovered the tomb of Aristotle. Konstantinos Sismanidis, who has been painstakingly excavating the ruins of Stagira since 1990, told CNN his team has very strong evidence the 2,400-year-old tomb belongs to the great philosopher. Sismanidis said the structure, about 40 miles east of Thessaloniki, was built to honor Aristotle's death in 322 B.C.

Greece has reportedly sent the last audio recordings of the doomed EgyptAir flight 804 on Thursday to the investigating teams in Cairo. The investigating team has also received radar imagery and audio recordings from Greece what would purportedly detail the flight’s final trajectory. This has come a day after Egypt reported contracted two foreign companies to help locate the flight data recorders of the carrier's plane that crashed last week in the Mediterranean, killing all 66 passengers and crew on board.

Ten riot police squads left Athens this morning and are expected to take position at the refugees camp of Idomeni that will be evacuated from the 8.500 men, women and children living there since last February. Other police forces from Northern Greece will be deployed in the area for “as long as it takes.” According to Greek media, the evacuation of the camp is scheduled to be launched at 6 a.m. on Tuesday and conclude after a week to ten days. Spokesman of Migration Coordination Body, Giorgos Kyritsis said Monday morning that operation may start “Tuesday or Wednesday.” Buses will...

Forensic expert: EgyptAir human remains suggest explosion CAIRO (AP) — Human remains retrieved from the crash site of EgyptAir Flight 804 have burn marks and are very small in size, suggesting an explosion on board may have downed the aircraft in the east Mediterranean, a senior Egyptian forensics official said Tuesday. "The logical explanation is that an explosion brought it down," the official told The Associated Press. The official, who is part of the Egyptian team investigating the crash that killed all 66 people on board the flight from Paris to Cairo early last Thursday, has personally examined the...

Egypt rejects report that crash evidence points to explosionThe chief of Egypt's forensics authority denied reports Tuesday that an initial examination of human remains from doomed EgyptAir Flight 804 pointed to an explosion, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported. “Everything published about this matter is completely false and mere assumptions that did not come from the forensics authority,” MENA quoted Hesham Abdelhamid as saying in a statement.

A senior Egyptian forensics official says human remains retrieved from the crash site of EgyptAir flight 804 suggest there was an explosion on board that may have brought down the aircraft. The official is part of the Egyptian investigative team and has personally examined the remains at a Cairo morgue. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he isn't authorised to release the information. He says all 80 pieces brought to Cairo so far are small and that 'there isn't even a whole body part, like an arm or a head'.

--The International Monetary Fund is pressing the eurozone to let Greece skip paying interest or principal on bailout loans until 2040, say officials familiar with the talks. The IMF wants the loans to Greece to fall due gradually in the following decades, and as late as 2080, according to the IMF's proposal. The IMF's proposal, presented to eurozone governments late last week, would keep Greece's annual debt-service needs below 15% of its gross domestic product, under the IMF's relatively pessimistic forecast for Greece's long-term economic trajectory. The IMF's demands go far beyond what Greece's eurozone creditors have said they are...

Ropoto in Greece In the last week a few media outlets (such as Atlas Obscura) have carried reports about the town of Ropoto in Greece, which in 2010 was abandoned due to a landslide, inspired by an article on the Greek Explorer website. The latter has made a short documentary about the town, and its landslide. The short description that goes with the film is as follows: Ropoto was once a thriving village and home to 300 families, but a landslide in 2012 turned the village into a ghost town. Today, forgotten by people and authorities, Ropoto’s terrain is still...

Less than a year after the country's third international bailout, Greek lawmakers on Sunday approved another round of painful tax hikes and spending cuts in hopes of securing more cash from its skeptical European neighbors. The infusion is needed to help Greece make good on bond payments due in July. The measures approved over the weekend include tax hikes on consumer goods like fuel, alcohol and tobacco -- to 24 percent -- and a provision that will force further spending cuts if the government fails to meet budget targets... Less than a year implementing after a package of reforms and...

We are entering a new era – one in which terrorists place bombs in the sky and detonate them whenever they see fit. EgyptAir MS804 is just the latest example of their ability to transform an airliner into an IED. Authorities almost immediately agreed that MS804 was likely the victim of a terrorist attack. However, they aren't able to discern how that took place, given the extensive passenger screening the flight underwent on each leg of its journey. Ascertaining the method requires a look at the history of this particular flight and an honest appraisal of who stood to gain...

More evidence is arising to show that the pilot of Flight 804 went suicide. People ask: if indeed the pilot went suicide ‘Muslim Kamikaze style’, why plunge the aircraft loaded with mostly Muslim passengers into the sea and how does that make any sense from an Islamic perspective on Jihadi martyrdom? Answer: everything. Shakeer’s [Flight 804's pilot] link to Amr Khaled, just like Shah’s link with Anwar Ibrahim should raise some serious alarm bells. Both Ibrahim and Khaled are linked to their love to the Muslim spiritual leader, Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi. Anyone can click to see the man is a...

More evidence is arising to show that the pilot of Flight 804 went suicide. He did some bizarre things. He converted the plane into a makeshift mosque, used the equipment to tell passengers the direction of Mecca. Had a last supper and said “farewell” as if ‘we who are about to die salute you’. He called his brother before take-off telling him to ‘pray for him’ as he was going for martyrdom. He had connections with one of the most radical preachers and terror supporters in Egypt. (link)

Investigators are holding back from drawing any definitive conclusions as to the cause of the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804 last Thursday during a flight from Paris to Cairo, pending retrieval of flight recorders and further examination of the wreckage. However, terrorism is suspected as the most likely cause.