Free Republic

Eight former British Army soldiers are preparing to travel to Syria to fight alongside Kurdish militias against Islamic State, according to the Evening Standard. The former soldiers, a number of whom are believed to have had Special Forces training, are said to be training to fight as a single unit on the front line in northern Syria. Images on social media, meanwhile, show members of the group wearing combat fatigues and holding assault rifles. The men told the Standard that their group is called IVFOR (International Volunteer Force), and that they have created a sword symbol to represent it.

French warplanes are flying three times as many sorties against IS as their RAF counterparts. Research conducted by Sky News found that since the arrival of France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the Gulf it has dramatically increased the number of missions being flown. With 36 carrier and land-based Rafale and Super Etendard jets involved in the fight against Islamic State, the French are flying being 12 and 15 sorties a day. The RAF's eight Tornados are flying just two sorties a day in pairs out of their base at RAF Akrotiri. The UK's Voyager refuelling aircraft however are...

RAF aircraft have hit more Islamic State targets in Iraq. A Reaper tracked IS vehicles moving at speed on the open road in Anbar Province and destroyed two with Hellfire missiles. It then designated targets and provided surveillance support for a further five strikes by other coalition aircraft on enemy positions in the area. RAF Tornados, along with Sentry surveillance and Voyager tanker aircraft, have also provided close air support to Kurdish peshmerga in Sinjar, using Paveway IV bombs to destroy IS machine gun positions.

Obama tells David Cameron the UK is lucky to have a political TV ad ban. Just another First Amendment-opposing America-lover.

There are passages in the Koran which ‘invite people to violence’, one of the Queen’s chaplains said last night. Reverend Canon Gavin Ashenden, the former chaplain of Sussex University and one of 35 who serve Her Majesty, expressed concern about more than 100 passages in the Muslim holy book. ..... But Rev Ashenden told LBC radio he was ‘attracted to Christianity because it invites people to the extremity of forgiveness and love’. He added: ‘Islam has, I think, over 100 verses inviting people to violence in the Koran which Christianity doesn’t have. 'If you’re going to invite people to be...

Unearthed, the prince of Stonehenge By Roger Highfield (Filed: 21/08/2002) A prehistoric prince with gold ear-rings has been found near Stonehenge a few yards away from the richest early Bronze Age burial in Britain. Earlier this year, archaeologists found an aristocratic warrior, also with gold ear-rings, on Salisbury Plain and speculated that he may have been an ancient king of Stonehenge. The body was laid to rest 4,300 years ago during the construction of the monument, along with stone arrow heads and slate wristguards that protected the arm from the recoil of the bow. Archaeologists named him the Amesbury Archer....

Tests reveal Amesbury Archer ‘King of Stonehenge’ was a settler from the Alps The man who may have helped organise the building of Stonehenge was a settler from continental Europe, archaeologists say. The latest tests on the Amesbury Archer, whose grave astonished archaeologists last year with the richness of its contents, show he was originally from the Alps region, probably Switzerland, Austria or Germany. The tests also show that the gold hair tresses found in the grave are the earliest gold objects found in Britain. The grave of the Archer, who lived around 2,300BC, contained about 100 items, more than...

Child sex abuse is 'woven, covertly, into the fabric' of British society, Home Secretary Theresa May has warned. The Conservative politician announced this week that a new judge-led inquiry into historic child abuse will investigate allegations from before the 1970s. But she said the public are yet to grasp the full scale of the scandal, with the allegations so far amounting to the 'tip of the iceberg'. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mrs May said: 'We already know the trail will lead into our schools and hospitals, our churches, our youth clubs and many other institutions that should have been...

The Obama presidency is fond of issuing apologies for America on the world stage, but very rarely makes them at home to Americans. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer has just issued one to Washington Post columnist and Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer, who last week wrote an op-ed berating the Obama administration for removing a bust of Sir Winston Churchill from the Oval Office when it came to power. Pfeiffer had issued a stinging attack on Krauthammer, alleging that his Churchill bust reference was “100 percent false.” Krauthammer was of course 100 percent correct, and the British Embassy in...

Brussels- European leaders agreed on Friday to extend Greece's bailout for four months after weeks of terse negotiations.

The former head of the US central bank, Alan Greenspan, has predicted that Greece will have to leave the eurozone. He told the BBC he could not see who would be willing to put up more loans to bolster Greece's struggling economy. Greece wants to re-negotiate its bailout, but Mr Greenspan said "I don't think it will be resolved without Greece leaving the eurozone". Earlier, UK Chancellor George Osborne said a Greek exit would cause "deep ructions" for Britain. Mr Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, said: "I believe (Greece) will eventually leave. I don't think...

Ed Miliband and David Cameron launched attacks on each other's character in angry Commons exchanges over televised election debates. The Labour leader accused the PM of "chickening out" of a debate with him, saying: "Like all bullies, when the heat is really on he runs for cover." Mr Cameron attacked Mr Miliband as "despicable and weak" for not ruling out a post-election deal with the SNP. It came amid a fresh effort to break the TV debate deadlock.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of your second kitchen. Ed Miliband today sought to cool the row over his unusual domestic arrangements, insisting he prefers the 'functional kitchenette' where he was seen posing for TV cameras. The Labour leader, who has repeatedly insisted he is not interested in photo opportunities,was filmed sipping tea at home with his wife Justine in a modest kitchen at his £2million North London home. Now it has emerged that the image of the Labour leader as a man of the people with a run-of-the-mill home was not all it appeared. For Mr...

Law Firm Renamed ‘Christmas Party’ To Avoid Christian Connotations Schoolchildren allegedly “mocked” for their beliefs by teachers, according to equalities watchdog study By John Bingham 12 Mar 2015 Staff at a law firm were told not to hold an office “Christmas party” because it could be seen as promoting Christianity, the Government’s equalities watchdog has disclosed. Organisers of the event at an unnamed firm were advised to advertise the event with the decidedly less festive title of “End of Year Party/Christmas Party according to your beliefs” in an effort to avoid causing offence to non-Christians. In another case a girl...

Sir Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld comic fantasy series of novels, has died aged 66. Publishers Transworld announced the news “with immeasurable sadness”. Managing director Larry Finlay, said: “The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds.” The author of more than 70 books died at his home “with his cat sleeping on his bed, surrounded by his family” earlier on Thursday. Pratchett, who had early onset Alzheimer’s disease, leaves his wife, Lyn, and their daughter, Rhianna. He had, said Finlay “enriched the planet like few before him”.

'Get to know Stuart Archer who, at 100, is the longest holder of the George Cross. The acting lieutenant was given the decoration for his courageous work as a bomb disposal expert during WWII’s Blitz. Stuart Archer was quite a courageous officer in his heydays as he had to deal with a great deal of unexploded bombs throughout the war. As a matter of fact, the George Cross holder had to do several bombs almost every day and that included a number fitted with a very dangerous new form of delayed-action fuse. But Archie, as he was known among his...

The euro slipped to a fresh 12-year low against the US dollar on Thursday as the common currency continued to buckle under pressure felt since the European Central Bank launched its massive quantitative easing scheme at the start of the week.

Christians are frightened to reveal their religious beliefs to colleagues at work, equality chiefs admit. When they do declare their Christianity, whether in the office or on the shop floor, they are often mocked or treated like bigots—and their children are even ridiculed at school. Christians also think their faith is being pushed out of its role as a cornerstone of life in Britain, according to a major study by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. And ironically, many feel they are being persecuted by the same anti-discrimination and equality laws supported by the equality watchdog. …

Parents of the second Oklahoma University student filmed conducting his Sigma Alpha Epsilon brothers along to a racist chant on a bus have outed their 'disgusting' son - but insist he isn't a racist. Brody and Susan Pettit, from Dallas, issued an apology on behalf of 20-year-old Levi on Tuesday night - three days after he was filmed singing 'There will never be a N**** in SAE' in a sickening video that has shocked the nation. He, along with Parker Rice, a 19-year-old privately-educated former Catholic schoolboy, were immediately expelled by the university president who also booted the disgraced chapter...

Foreign Secretary interested in proposals to broadcast information on secret wealth of Putin's circle, as he warns Russia could be "single greatest threat" to Britain Philip Hammond said he was interested by the idea of publicising the wealth of the Russian president’s inner circle in order to embarrass them in front of their people, as part of the response to the ongoing incursion into eastern Ukraine. The Foreign Secretary warned that Putin is rapidly modernising his armed forces, and warned Russia’s bid to destabilise eastern Europe poses “the greatest single threat” to British national security. Mr Hammond said that Britain...