Free Republic

FULL TITLE: Marie Stopes doctor and nurses 'bungled woman's abortion then sent her home despite symptoms of internal bleeding that killed her just hours later' A doctor and two nurses appeared in court today charged with the manslaughter of a pregnant woman who died from massive blood loss following a bungled abortion. Aisha Chithira, 32, had travelled from Dublin to a west London branch of the Marie Stopes clinic for the procedure on January 21, 2012 and collapsed hours later in a taxi in Slough, Berkshire. The cause of her death was given as 'extensive internal bleeding' following the abortion,...

<p>Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his party Syriza have just screwed the pooch, and royally so. Tsipras has just done something so colossally idiotic and childish that perhaps Greece deserves its impending economic collapse for having elected someone so incredibly stupid. Greeks have suffered six years of chronic recession and endless rounds of debt negotiations, but this will all seem like a walk in the park compared to the poverty and civil chaos about the engulf their country.</p>

At Pride in London, gay Muslims, Catholics and Jews march together, following chorus bands and classical orchestras, along with boxers and rollergirls, bankers and politicians. But there is one group that has historically felt unwelcome. Pride has had an uneasy relationship with the trans community. In 2008, trans participants were denied access to toilets by security staff. Some trans groups that marched last year turned their backs at the Stonewall delegation in protest at the group’s then refusal to advocate for trans rights. This year, animosity is healing and trans groups say for the first time they are starting to...

The European Central Bank is expected to end emergency lending to Greece's banks on Sunday, the BBC understands.Well-placed sources told BBC economics editor Robert Peston a decision to end the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) would be made by the ECB's governing council later on Sunday.Greek banks depend on ELA.Cutting the lifeline could push Greece out of the euro. Some analysts have tweeted that the ECB is likely to cap, but not end, the ELA.

FULL TITLE - The Coming Muslim Conquest of Italy: Will We Have to Ransom the Treasures of the Vatican from ISIS-Type Vandals? The news about illegal immigration into Italy and Southern Europe is stunning. Here are some illustrative headlines from recent news accounts: “Welcome to Italy: this is what a real immigration crisis looks like,” declares the British Spectator magazine, which adds that Italy is being “invaded.” And here’s another scary story: “How the migration crisis is shaking Europe at its core.” After all, it’s only 100 miles or so from Tunisia, in Africa, to the Italian island of Sicily—an easy...

The Greek parliament is in session on Saturday evening as lawmakers debate the country's EMU fate and vote on the referendum called by PM Alexis Tsipras just after midnight this morning. TSIPRAS SAYS REFERENDUM WILL BE MOMENT OF TRUTH FOR CREDITORS TSIPRAS: GREEK PROPOSAL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEAL STILL ON TABLE TSIPRAS SAYS REFERENDUM NOT MEANT AS RUPTURE WITH EUROPE TSIPRAS SAYS GAME OF BAILOUT HAS COME TO AN END GREEK PARLIAMENT TO RESUME IN 10 MIN AHEAD OF REFERENDUM VOTE SAMARAS SAYS REFERENDUM DRAGS COUNTRY OUT OF EUROPE SAMARAS SAYS CREDITORS DISCUSSING PLAN B FOR GREECE STATE MINISTER PAPPAS SAYS...

NAPLES, Italy — The Marine Corps is preparing to deploy a company-size unit equipped with tanks, armored vehicles and artillery to Bulgaria, an expansion of its Black Sea footprint meant to reassure allies and add new crisis-response options. The first rotation of the Combined Arms Company will bring 150 Marines to the Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria, in September. Accompanying the unit will be four Abrams tanks, six Light Armored Vehicles and three howitzers, said Brig. Gen. Norm Cooling, deputy commander of Marine Forces Europe-Africa. Current plans call for three consecutive six-month rotations, Cooling said, though the presence could be...

MOSCOW, June 16 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday Russia's nuclear arsenal would be would increase by 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2015. Speaking at Army-2015 Expo, an international military trade show near Moscow, Putin said the new missiles could "overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defense systems," adding a new long-range early-warning radar "to monitor in the western direction" was also being prepared. It was a reference to plans by NATO to permanently place troops and heavy armaments in Poland, a Russian neighbor and former Warsaw Pact country. In reference to apparent plans to reinforce NATO's...

Her speech, weaving historical events with present crises, was replete with some subtle and other not so subtle hints that she believed Britain belonged in the European Union – her most public stance yet that she wished to avoid Britain voting to leave in a referendum.

The European Union’s president is warning Britain that he’s open to suggestions on how the bloc must change, but that “the fundamental values of the European Union are not for sale and so are non-negotiable.” […] British Prime Minister David Cameron said he’ll use the two-day event to explain to other heads of state and government that the 28-nation EU must reform or risk losing the backing of a majority of British voters. …

The European Union’s president called Thursday for a crackdown on migrants who are only looking for jobs as opposed to those fleeing war or persecution, as migrants keep arriving on Europe’s shores in ever-greater numbers. […] “We need to contain illegal migration and this should be our priority,” EU President Donald Tusk told reporters at a summit of the bloc’s leaders in Brussels. “All those who are not legitimate asylum-seekers will have no guarantee that they will stay in Europe.” …

For almost six years Greece has been on the cusp of financial disaster. Its Northern European and international creditors have extended loans, suspended interest payments and forgiven some debt. But European lenders have also stubbornly kept to the old-fashioned principle that debtors freely borrowed their money from lenders, and therefore most borrowed money must be paid back, regardless of the current financial status of the debtors. Greece counters that after all sorts of austerity budgets, it simply can no longer inflict the necessary pain on its relatively tiny population to squeeze out enough cash to pay its well-off creditors. In...

The Russian Security Council made a statement, according to which the elements of the missile defense systems that will be deployed in Poland and Romania pose potential threat to Russia, and therefore will become the targets for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The Russian Security Council made a statement, according to which the elements of the missile defense systems that will be deployed in Poland and Romania pose potential threat to Russia, and therefore will become targets for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It was stated by the Deputy Security Council Secretary Yevgeny Lukyanov on Wednesday,...

The EU will indeed merit the "Jew-hater" tag - should its ill-considered and misconceived labelling action proceed. The European Union (EU) runs the risk of being labelled “Jew-hater” - should it proceed with its plans requiring supermarkets and other retailers to label products made by Jews in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) differently from those made by Jews in Israel. No matter what spin the EU uses to justify any such discriminatory labelling—the EU will be seen to be actively supporting the 2005 Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel—whose manifesto states:

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday told visiting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius that any new Palestinian unity government should not include Hamas, AFP reports. The remarks came on the eve of a key meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to discuss forming a new cabinet. The unity government between Hamas and Fatah collapsed last week as Abbas decided to dissolve it amid a deepening rift between the sides. "(Abbas) told me this government of national unity could only include women and men who recognize Israel, renounce violence and who are in agreement...

"U.S. Poised to Put Heavy Weaponry in East Europe: A Message to Russia," ran the headline in The New York Times. "In a significant move to deter possible Russian aggression in Europe, the Pentagon is poised to store battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for as many as 5,000 American troops in several Baltic and Eastern European countries," said the Times. The sources cited were "American and allied officials." The Pentagon's message received a reply June 16. Russian Gen. Yuri Yakubov called the U.S. move "the most aggressive step by the Pentagon and NATO since the Cold...

The Middle East and North Africa region is in turmoil from Iraq to Yemen and from Syria to Libya, but French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned Sunday of an “explosion” unless the deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is broken. Speaking in Ramallah, he said both Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah had expressed that view to him during talks with them over the weekend. Fabius was speaking after meeting with Palestinian Authority (P.A.) chairman Mahmoud Abbas during an intensive regional trip designed to push a French initiative to secure a U.N. Security Council resolution laying out the basis...

Around 1,400 passengers of the Polish airline LOT were grounded at Warsaw's Chopin airport on Sunday after hackers attacked the airline ground computer systems used to issue flight plans, the company said. The computer system was hacked in the afternoon and fixed after around five hours, during which 10 of the state-owned carrier's national and international flights were canceled and about a dozen more delayed, spokesman Adrian Kubicki said.

<p>With some lawmakers chanting "Death to the America," Iran's parliament voted to ban access to military sites, documents and scientists as part of a future deal with world powers over its contested nuclear program.</p> <p>The bill, if ratified, could complicate the ongoing talks in Vienna between Iran and the six-nation group — the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany — as they face a self-imposed June 30 deadline. The talks are focused on reaching a final accord that curbs Iran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of economic sanctions.</p>

What has a Papal Encyclical calling on the world to end its use of fossil fuels and to pray to God for the success of the global “climate summit” in December got in common with the Greek euro crisis, the ominous rift between the West and Russia, and the shambles Europe is making over the desperation of African and Syrian refugees to find safety this side of the Mediterranean? They are all different aspects of the two greatest acts of political make-believe of our time, so all-pervasive that it is hard for us to grasp just how much effect they...