Free Republic

The American who tore up his own tourist visa on landing in North Korea and demanded to be arrested so that he could experience prison life in the communist nation has been sentenced to six years hard labor for entering the country illegally to commit espionage. Matthew Miller, 24, of Bakersfield, California, looked thin and pale at his trial in Pyongyang on Sunday, as he was handed out his sentence. Miller, who looked thin and pale at the trial and was dressed completely in black, is one of three Americans now being held in North Korea.

Special to Israel News Agency from Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jerusalem, Israel --- September 9, 2014 ... Instead of investigating Hamas’ deliberate attacks on Israeli civilians and the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields, the UN decided to “investigate” Israel, a democracy exercising its legitimate right of self-defense. Throughout the recent conflict Israel has done its utmost to comply with the strictest standards of international humanitarian law, despite significant operational costs. On July 23, while Hamas rocket fire on Israel continued daily, the United Nations Human Rights Council decided to appoint a “commission of inquiry” the purpose of...

Western intelligence agencies have been assisting the Syrian government of Bashar al Assad fight militants of Isis (now called the 'Islamic State'), by providing details on the location of militant leaders for targeted air strikes. The information was passed to Assad's government by German intelligence service Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), which acted as an intermediary, a source told the Independent... In recent weeks, Syrian forces have launched a series of airstrikes against Islamic State commanders and headquarters, as they battle to halt the advance of jihadist forces from their stronghold in the east of the country. The Assad regime has been accused...

Earlier this month, Senator John McCain indicated that it was time for the United States to consider selling lethal weapons to Vietnam after a 30-year embargo. The recent maritime standoff between Beijing and Hanoi over Chinese oil exploration off the central coast of Vietnam exposed Hanoi’s many strategic weaknesses. Providing Vietnam with coast guard and maritime systems as a first step - and eventually radar, fighter aircraft and spare parts for leftover American military equipment - would bolster Hanoi’s strategic capabilities vis-a-vis China and give substance to the "comprehensive partnership" announced last year between Hanoi and Washington. But more than...

“Potentially unethical.” That’s how one expert described an Italian scientist’s plan to perform a “head transplant” by severing two heads at the same time, then cooling and flushing out the ‘recipient’ head before attaching it to its new body with polymer glue.That is “POTENTIALLY unethical?” Making one person out of two, and throwing away the unused halves, is only “potentially” unethical?Shock and awe.* * * * *Neuroscientist Sergio Canavero is undeterred by criticism, however. Canavero now reports that it’s possible to merge bone marrow, surgically cut with an ultra-sharp knife, when fusing one person’s head onto another person’s spine. The...

Part Three: What the People of a Free Biafra Need from AmericaDo the Christian indigenous people of Kurdistan and Biafra deserve our support in their fight against Islamic extremists? While supplying weapons to some insurgents fighting for freedom in Syria, why has the Obama administration not supplied support and weapons to those in Kurdistan or Christian Nigeria fighting for their survival? Why has the administration refused to give support to the independence of these beleaguered peoples? As ISIS expands its grip on lands in Iraq and turns its attention to Kurdistan, Prime Minister Maliki has finally sent in air support...

President Barack Obama drew a diplomatic line at the first ever U.S-Africa summit at the White House this week by not inviting Zimbabwe’s brutal dictator Robert Mugabe. But the guest list still included several other African leaders with only slightly better human rights records. The White House promoted the summit as the largest-ever gathering of African leaders in the United States, with more than 50 countries represented. The red carpet was rolled out for Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who shot or jailed virtually all his political opponents, Gambia’s Yahya Jammeh, who threatened to ‘cut off the head’ of...

Remember back in April, 2007, when then-CIA director George Tenet appeared on 60 Minutes, angrily telling the program host, "we don't torture people"? Remember a few months later, in October, President George W. Bush saying, "this government does not torture people"? We knew then it was not true because we had already seen the photos of Iraqis tortured at Abu Ghraib prison four years earlier. Still the US administration denied that torture was torture, preferring to call it "enhanced interrogation" and claiming that it had disrupted so many terrorist plots. Of course, we later found out that the CIA...

For decades, the Corner House stood as a silent reminder of Russian oppression. Now, the former KGB headquarters are open and exposing the horrors committed against the people of Riga. It’s like the plot of one of those dystopian young adult novels. There’s a sudden rapping at the door in the middle of the night. A stoic man in a trim suit hands you a warrant. Before you can open the crisp envelope you’re escorted to an imposing structure in the center of town. You’re led inside, and you disappear—never to be heard from again. For years, this was the...

This is the first picture of the mother-of-two who has been sentenced to death in Sudan for being a Christian - from inside the prison where she is being held. In an exclusive photo, Meriam Ibrahim puts on a brave face as she holds her newborn baby girl Maya who was born in the jail where she has been locked up for eight months. But behind the smile there is a different story - Meriam's eyes have dark rings under them, her arms are alarmingly thin and her face looks gaunt. Gone is the radiant glow from the day she...

Houston METRO police need your help apprehending a man who is punching people on a rail platform. According to surveillance video, a man walked up to a passenger who had just exited a train onto the platform at Main Street near Preston downtown and punched him in the face. The video then shows the same man punching another man as he gets onto the train from the same platform. METRO Police Chief Victor Rodriguez says he doesn’t think the attacks are related to the so-called “knockout game.” “A review of the tape does not indicate that anybody else is involved,”...

With persecution against Christians increasing in African nations and other places worldwide where Islam is advancing, an American pastor is calling black churches and others to join together to raise voices of opposition. Stephen Broden of the Fair Park Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas is organizing a rally in his city next month under the banner of Americans Against the Persecution of Christians in Muslim Countries. The coalition says it’s “committed to stopping the genocide of Christians in many Muslim countries.” Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/04/black-pastors-lead-rally-against-persecution-by-muslims/#rXMFfRzHogfZUmxZ.99

In February, the United Nations released a remarkably comprehensive report on North Korea's human rights abuses. The report interviewed 320 people, including a number of survivors from the notorious secret political system, and concluded that the country was committing human rights violations “without any parallel in the contemporary world.” So how did North Korea respond?

Norway's human rights record came in for sharp criticism during a UN hearing on Monday, with Saudi Arabia and Russia weighing in to highlight the country's shortcomings. Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries accused Norway of doing too little to protect its Muslim minority, with Saudi Arabia calling for all criticism of religions or their prophets to be made illegal. Meanwhile, Russia accused the country of allowing extremist groups to "operate freely" and of moving too quickly to separate children from their parents. Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende was in Geneva on Monday to respond to criticisms from no fewer...

At a joint press conference in Malaysia today, Major Garrett asked President Obama about human rights concerns in Malaysia, saying the issues were “up for grabs” in the country. He asked the President why he hadn’t discussed human rights while in Malaysia, and why he hadn’t met with jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. (video here) President Obama said that not meeting with Mr. Anwar was “not indicative of a lack of concern,” and said that “there are a lot of people I don’t meet with.” “I think the Prime Minister is the first to acknowledge that Malaysia’s still got some...

The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan confirmed Thursday that three American doctors were killed by an Afghan security guard who opened fire at a Kabul hospital. The shooting at Cure International Hospital in the western part of the Afghan capital was the latest attack on foreign civilians in the city this year. Two others, including an American nurse, were wounded, according to Afghanistan's Health Ministry. "With great sadness we confirm that three Americans were killed in the attack at CURE Hospital," said a statement posted on the Embassy's Twitter page. "No other information will be released at this time." Afghanistan Minister...

Rand Paul is a pro-life Senator from Kentucky who appears poised to become one of the candidates for the Republican nomination for president in 2016. Although he has a strong pro-life voting record, Paul is making comments about abortion that are concerning pro-lifers. randpaul3As LifeNews reported earlier this year, Paul said in an interview that Republicans should agree to disagree on social issues. Now, in a new interview, Paul says he doesn’t anticipate changing the laws on abortion and added that his belief that life begins at conception is a personal and religious one, not a scientific viewpoint.

Dogs and cats, historically, have been people's property like a couch or a toaster. But as they've moved into our houses and our hearts, courts of law have begun to treat them as something more. They can inherit your estate, get an appointed lawyer if your relatives challenge that inheritance and are protected from cruel acts. Your toaster can't do any of that. As these animals inch closer to citizen's rights, the trend is being watched with worried eyes by biomedical researchers who fear judges could extend these rights to lab animals like monkeys and rats, thereby curbing experimentation.

Oliver Stone's recent visit to Venezuela to premiere his Castro/Chavez infomercial "My Friend Hugo" has brought him under fire in social media. Exasperated beyond endurance by the onslaught Stone recently lashed back with (apparently) the most hateful insult his inflamed mind could conjure. You people are: "Similar to the right-wing Florida Cuban exiles who’ve helped keep the US in a dungeon of ignorance!" he raved. For leftists its “right-wing lunatics spreading a dungeon if ignorance!” For normal folks it’s: “people who have actually experienced communism trying to circumvent communist propaganda as disseminated by a media-Hollywood axis—and one not always completely...

EX-MUSLIM ARAB-IRANIAN WOMEN DEMONSTRATE NUDE IN PARIS OVER ISLAMIC OPPRESSION ... We need protests, too bad some of them are headed by the likes of Maryam Namazie. I met her, Maryam Namazia (wearing the Iranian flag), in Stockholm back in 2008, who was a panel guest at Lars Vilks’ screening of his photos and videos at A Day For Freedom of Speech. She’s a full blown commie. I’m glad we weren’t exposed to her ”full monty” at the time, and I could have done without her anti-Israel statements as well.