Free Republic

The number of civilian casualties in Gaza has been at the center of international attention since the start of the war. The main source for the data has been the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, which now claims more than 30,000 dead, the majority of which it says are children and women. Recently, the Biden administration lent legitimacy to Hamas’ figure. When asked at a House Armed Services Committee hearing last week how many Palestinian women and children have been killed since Oct. 7, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the number was “over 25,000.” The Pentagon quickly clarified that the...

<p>As the cost of living in the U.S. has gone up, government subsidies to help people pay for basics have disappeared one-by-one. Up next on the chopping block: Emergency allotments of a food-assistance program that supports 30 million Americans in 32 states.</p>

House Democrats will propose a two-part plan to reopen the federal government once they take power on Thursday, according to multiple Democratic aides. The proposal, however, won’t provide President Donald Trump with his much sought-after border money boost. Their plan would fund the Department of Homeland Security until Feb. 8, and all other closed agencies — such as Transportation, Commerce and Agriculture — for the rest of the fiscal year through Sept. 30. Democrats intend to vote on the plan Thursday, the same day they officially wrest control of the House from Republicans. But the Senate won’t accept the measures...

KAKUMA, Kenya - These barren plains of sand and stone have always known lean times: times when the rivers run dry and the cows wither day by day, until their bones are scattered under the acacia trees. But the lean times have always been followed by normal times, when it rains enough to rebuild herds, repay debts, give milk to the children and eat meat a few times each week. Times are changing, though. Northern Kenya has become measurably drier and hotter, and scientists are finding the fingerprints of global warming. According to recent research, the region dried faster in...

Update — AP’s latest on casualty count: “A spokesman for the Punjab government says that a bomb attack on a park in the Pakistani city of Lahore has killed 60 people and injured 300.” An explosion in Lahore, Pakistan, has killed between 50-60 people, mostly women and children, and left hundreds injured as they celebrated Easter. Law enforcement said the explosion occurred near a large group of Christians celebrating Easter, according to the Associated Press: Senior police officer Haider Ashraf says the explosion took place close to the children’s rides in Gulshan-e-Iqbal park. He says the explosion appeared to have...

A central German regional railway is launching a special women and children only area for their trains, a move which has triggered controversy. The announcement from the central German Regiobahn line came earlier this week, with the network stating the new compartment on their Leipzig and Chemnitz would admit women and young children only. To ensure maximum peace for those choosing to travel in that compartment not only would it be sandwiched between the service’s two quiet coaches, but it would also be next to the on-board office of the “customer service representative. Traditionally known as a train guard or...

Agence France-Presse in Kano Wednesday 18 November 2015 15.37 EST Last modified on Thursday 19 November 2015 04.02 EST Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Share on Google+ Shares 4,576 Save for later At least 15 people have been killed after two female suicide bombers, one said to be aged as young as 11, blew themselves up at a busy mobile phone market in north-east Nigeria, a day after more than 30 were killed in a bomb blast. Two explosions ripped through the Farm Centre market in northern Nigeria’s biggest city, Kano, shortly after 4pm on Wednesday. One of the...

Over 9,000 people died in the Baltic Sea on January 30, 1945, in an attempt to evade the Red Army. The Wilhelm Gustloff was the largest shipwreck in history, but little is known about the catastrophe seven decades on. At around 9 p.m. on January 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler was speaking to the German people. In the packed dining hall of the luxury liner "Wilhelm Gustloff," as in most of the rest of the country, a radio was broadcasting Hitler's address, but the thousands of refugees from Pomerania and East and West Prussia who had struggled onto the ship weren't...

The holiday season brings out the sentimental donation favorites every year. There are of course the used car donations, the Salvation Army and its famous and much needed Red Kettle drive, and then there are a myriad of others that feed the hungry and the homeless. And all of them have tremendous merit. Yet oftentimes lost in this holiday rush for cash donations are the women and children who are left in shelters during this Christmas period. Although the mothers may have taken the first important step to leave the abuser they are left in far too many cases in...

Over 6,000 postcards from angry listeners of the Armstrong & Getty Show were delivered to the floor of the House of Representatives.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - The captain of a cruise ship that sank in the Aegean Sea was charged Saturday with negligence, a government official said. A Merchant Marine Ministry spokeswoman confirmed that a prosecutor charged the captain but said she could not confirm a report on state NET TV that five other officers also were charged. She spoke anonymously according to customary government policy. Two French passengers are missing after the Sea Diamond hit rocks and foundered Thursday near Santorini island. The rest of the 1,154 passengers and 391 crew were safely evacuated. If upheld in court, the charges carry...

Germany asks will Queen say sorry? Fri 29 October, 2004 05:44 By Alexandra Hudson BERLIN (Reuters) - Germans are waiting to see how the Queen refers to Britain's 1945 bombing of Dresden when she visits next week, now that they are speaking more of their own war-time suffering and breaking a long-standing taboo. Just days ahead of the Queen's first visit since 2000, a row has erupted in the British and German press over whether the air raids were justified and whether the monarch should apologise. Dresden was devastated in a firestorm which killed some 35,000 people just three months...