Free Republic

Ambassadors from five major European Union (EU) member states met with the Foreign Ministry's senior diplomat Alon Ushpiz in Jerusalem on Thursday, where they voiced opposition to the demolition of the homes of Arab terrorists. Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain were the five countries whose consul generals argued that such demolitions, which are meant as a deterrent for future terrorists and a punishment for heinous crimes, are "counterproductive." The ambassadors also denounced the attack on a Jerusalem synagogue this Tuesday in which four Jews and a Druze police officer were murdered by two Arab terrorists, reports Haaretz citing Israeli...

Under the punned headline “No wonder Vladimir Putin was Russian to leave the G20 summit,” the Daily Mail told of how he had eaten lunch alone, and of how commentators had joked that Mr Putin had been ‘relegated to Siberia’ in the ‘family photo’ of world leaders. It concluded that Mr Putin had fled the summit after a “stern” discussion with British Prime Minister David Cameron, in which Cameron told Putin that he was “at a crossroads”. Sounding wearily schoolmaster-ish, Cameron later commented “There's a real choice here, there's a different and better way for Russia to behave that could...

My jihadi son should be executed: Father of UK Islamic State fanatic 'who was part of ISIS death squad' that beheaded 17 Syrian soldiers disowns him after video British ISIS jihadist Nasser Muthana should face death, his father said Muthana is thought to be one of the killers in a sick ISIS beheading video Medical student from Cardiff 'must face up to what he has done' says father David Cameron claimed 'sick terrorists' could face charges of treason The British medical student suspected of involvement in an Islamic State death squad should face execution himself, his father said yesterday. Nasser...

Northern Ireland’s most prominent anti-abortion activist was convicted Wednesday of harassing the director of Belfast’s only abortion clinic in the latest chapter of a bitter two-year confrontation. Bernadette Smyth, leader of the Precious Life group, was convicted on two counts of threatening Dawn Purvis, who runs British family planning service Marie Stopes’ Belfast branch. It is the only such clinic on the island of Ireland, where abortion is legal only in extreme cases where a woman’s life is deemed at risk from her pregnancy. …

On the eve of the Rochester by-election we take you through the Ukip policies and positions which have caught the imagination of voters. Deport migrants Mark Reckless, the Ukip candidate in the Rochester and Strood by-election, has raised the prospect of European migrants being forced to leave Britain if Ukip wins power. Mr Reckless said workers from the continent would only be allowed to stay in Britain for a fixed “transitional period” under Ukip plans to end unrestricted migration from the rest of Europe. He said the party would be willing to “look sympathetically” at people who have “integrated”. The...

BRUSSELS - Europe’s new foreign relations chief has denied the EU is in talks on Israel sanctions, despite a leaked paper on the issue. Federica Mogherini, who chaired her first foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Monday (17 November), told press the leaked paper is a “technical working hypothesis” which “member states requested” when her predecessor was in office. She added: “It is not at the heart of today’s discussions on how to start a positive process with the Israelis and Palestinians. There’s currently no question of sanctioning anybody. The question is rather how to motivate people to … restart...

One week to ‘finish the job’ in Iran nuclear talks ‘Failure would be a dangerous scenario for the entire world’ AFP Published: 14:30 November 16, 2014 Gulf News Vienna: Iran and six world powers begin a final round of talks in Vienna on Tuesday aiming to overcome significant remaining differences and agree a historic nuclear deal by a November 24 deadline. “There’s still a big gap. We may not be able to get there,” US President Barack Obama warned last Sunday. After 12 years of rising tensions, threats of war and failed diplomacy this accord would silence for good fears...

The figures are astonishing. There are more than 195,289 registered charities in the UK that raise and spend close to £80 billion a year. Together, they employ more than a million staff – more than our car, aerospace and chemical sectors – and make 13 billion ‘asks’ for money every year, the equivalent of 200 for each of us in the UK. But many charities have become hungry monsters, needing ever more of our money to feed their own ambitions. And while registered charities claim that almost 90p in every pound donated is spent on ‘charitable activities’, many spend at...

G20 leaders reveal global growth plan to boost GDP by $2 trillion The Associated Press Published Saturday, November 15, 2014 9:00PM EST Last Updated Sunday, November 16, 2014 1:45AM EST BRISBANE, Australia -- Leaders of the G20 nations finalized a plan Sunday to boost global GDP by more than $2 trillion over five years by investing in infrastructure and increasing trade. The communique issued at the conclusion of their summit in Brisbane, Australia says the leaders plan to jumpstart growth, in part, by creating a global infrastructure hub. The plan will purportedly help match potential investors with projects, and also...

Jihadi John, the Briton who beheaded two British and two American hostages held by Islamic State terrorists, has been injured in a US-led air strike, according to reports received by the Foreign Office. The masked ‘executioner’ with a London accent is believed to have narrowly escaped death when he attended a summit of the group’s leaders in an Iraqi town close to the Syrian border last Saturday. The meeting was targeted by American and Iraqi jets.

The G20 thread got me thinking of this from earlier i the year... Prime Minister of Canada spoke in favour of building a monument in Canada to remember the victims of communism. "100 million died because of it"...read here

Remember the global financial crisis, triggered six years ago when billions of dollars of dodgy loans - doled out by banks to subprime borrowers and then resold numerous times on international debt markets - began to unravel and default? Stock markets plunged, banks collapsed and the entire global financial system teetered on the brink of catastrophe. Well a similarly chilling economic scenario could be set off by the current collapse in oil prices. Based on recent stress tests of subprime borrowers in the energy sector in the US produced by Deutsche Bank, should the price of US crude fall by...

Glenn Reynolds refers to this as “smart diplomacy – the real thing,” but it’s based on the very dumb diplomacy rolled out by Vladimir Putin over the past year. Brisbane, Australia hosts the G-20 meeting this week, and Putin decided to make a point by sending a war flotilla of the Russian navy to the waters north of Australia, in order to make the point that, er … he’s a reasonable guy, or something: But it was clear that Putin’s actions over the past few days were top of mind for the leaders.Abbott lashed out at the Russian leader...

FULL TITLE: EXCLUSIVE: Got him! Jihadi John is 'wounded in US airstrike on secret bunker meeting of ISIS high command' Jihadi John, the Briton who beheaded two British and two American hostages held by Islamic State terrorists, has been injured in a US-led air strike, according to reports received by the Foreign Office. The masked ‘executioner’ with a London accent is believed to have narrowly escaped death when he attended a summit of the group’s leaders in an Iraqi town close to the Syrian border last Saturday. The meeting was targeted by American and Iraqi jets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to leave the G20 summit early after Western leaders lambasted him Saturday over the crisis in Ukraine and threatened further sanctions. “I guess I’ll shake your hand, but I have only one thing to say to you: you need to get out of Ukraine,” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Putin, according to his spokesman Jason MacDonald, Reuters reports. President Barack Obama said the United States was at the forefront of “opposing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which is a threat to the world, as we saw in the appalling shoot-down of MH17.” German Chancellor Angela...

Several commentators pointed out that the "Malaysia" logo on the plane from the photograph was in the wrong place. Maksim Kats, a Russian blogger, said the plane in the picture looked like a slightly altered version of the one that tops the search results if you Google "Boeing view from above" in Russian. It also happens to be a publicity photo of a Boeing 767, not a 777, which was shot down over Ukraine in July. Others noted that the fighter jet looked different from an Su-25 - the type which the Russian media had consistently claimed shot down MH17....

David Cameron has warned Russia it will face more sanctions if it continues to support the separatists in Ukraine's civil war. Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Cameron said: "If Russia continues to destabilise Ukraine, and we continue to see Russian troops and Russian tanks inside Ukraine, then there's going to have to be a very different relationship with Britain and Europe on the one hand, and Russia on the other, and potential for further sanctions." Mr Cameron also suggested in a separate interview that he does not trust Vladimir Putin, and said he was saddened that Mr Putin...

Yesterday, mankind achieved something seriously amazing: we landed a space probe on a comet millions of miles away from Earth. Unfortunately for the scientists involved in this momentous accomplishment, modern day “feminists” exist. One of the scientists was wearing a shirt covered in sketches of of scantily clad women. Not actual photos of women, but sketched images of pin ups in skivvies. So this chick from The Atlantic does what “feminists” do when encountering the inane: she lost her damn mind. Naturally, this scientist’s wardrobe selection means women are not welcome to participate in scientific oriented fields…

Stephen Harper had a showdown with Vladimir Putin on Saturday, telling the Russian leader to “get out of Ukraine” in a dust-up at the Group of 20 summit in Australia. Harper’s spokesman, Jason MacDonald, said the prime minister was speaking to a group of G20 leaders at a private leaders’ retreat on Saturday morning when Putin approached and extended his hand. MacDonald said Harper told Putin: “I guess I’ll shake your hand but I have only one thing to say to you: You need to get out of Ukraine.” According to MacDonald, Putin did not respond positively. He didn’t provide...

Matt Taylor, who's a great scientist and seems to also be a pretty cool dude, gave a teary, heartfelt apology for his choice of attire on the day of Rosetta's probe landing. "I made a big mistake, and I offended many people," Taylor said at Friday's media briefing, his voice trembling, "and I'm very sorry about this." With that, the briefing moved onto the science (as it should -- Philae's days are numbered, and we want to find out as much as we can from the little probe that could). Taylor seemed to have trouble speaking for a few minutes,...