Free Republic

As Cologne prepares for New Year’s Eve a year after a spate of sexual assaults, officials are considering ramping up security with helicopters, video surveillance and restricted entry to certain places, according to a media report. A group of experts from state and federal police have been analyzing the events of New Year’s Eve last year under a project called “Silvester” — meaning New Year’s Eve in German. Their final report is set to be discussed at a conference of interior ministries starting on Tuesday, and Cologne’s Express newspaper obtained a copy of the police recommendations, the newspaper reported on...

Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Rainer Woelki, accuses the CSU of creating a split in society. With their demands for limits on refugees or a preference for immigrants from the Western Christian culture the party contributes to even greater polarization and...

Two suspects are on the run after a shooting and knife attack in Cologne city centre, it is reported. A man was seriously injured in the assault on Flandrishe Street this morning, according to the German newspaper, Koelner Express.

Suppression of data about migrant rapes is "Germany-wide phenomenon." ◾Germany's migrant rape crisis has now spread to cities and towns in all 16 of Germany's federal states. Germany now finds itself in a vicious circle: most of the perpetrators are never found, and the few who are frequently receive lenient sentences. Only one in 10 rapes in Germany is reported and just 8% of rape trials result in convictions, according to Minister of Justice Heiko Maas. ◾Up to 90% of the sex crimes committed in Germany in 2014 do not appear in the official statistics, according to André Schulz, the...

Around 50,000 supporters of Turkey’s Islamist president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have rallied in Cologne, Germany to demand his authoritarian reign continues. The Islamist crowd chanted “Allah hu Akbar!” and held signs reading, “Erdoğan is a human rights activist”, whilst opponents waved banners insisting “Stop the Erdomania!” Members of the Turkish-nationalist, fascist-leaning “Grey Wolves” group were among the crowd that gathered on banks of the Rhine River with the city’s huge gothic cathedral in the background. The German Federal Constitutional Court banned the live broadcasting of Mr. Erdogan’s speech at the rally, Deutsche Welle reports. Some Germans reacted furiously to the...

The British government has rejected an online petition signed by 4.1 million people calling for a new referendum on whether to leave the European Union. Britons voted by 52 to 48 percent, or 17.4 million votes to 16.1 million, to leave the EU in a June 23 referendum, a result which most politicians have said should be respected but which some who voted "remain" are struggling to accept. The petition called for the government to enact a rule that there should be another referendum if the vote for "remain" or "leave" was less than 60 percent based on a turnout...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s popularity has rebounded after the British vote to leave the EU, an opinion poll showed Saturday, reversing a fall in her appeal caused by the refugee crisis. The poll was the second in a few days to suggest a popularity boost for the German leader. Saturday’s poll, commissioned jointly by Stern magazine and Die Welt newspaper and carried out by the Forsa market research institute, showed Ms. Merkel’s appeal up two points to 48 percent. “What’s more, three quarters of CSU supporters now back Merkel,” said Forsa director Manfred Gullner, referring to the southern German affiliate...

BRISTOL, UK — Among cheering crowds, four street preachers were arrested in the UK on Wednesday for causing a “disturbance” while exhorting men to “obey God and keep His commands.” The incident occurred as local resident Mike Overd was open air preaching outside of the Bristol shopping center, while others engaged passersby in conversation and/or held gospel signs. Some of those joining Overd in the evangelism effort included American citizens visiting the country to share the gospel. “The purpose of mankind is to worship God and enjoy Him,” Overd preached, according to recorded footage of their arrest. “You need to...

German firms expect exports to Britain to tumble five percent next year in the wake of the Britain’s vote to quit the EU, an industry survey showed on Thursday. The German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) also revised its projection for 2016 to a one-percent drop rather than five percent growth. The figures were based on a survey of 5,600 businesses that export to Britain following the June 23 referendum in which 52 percent of Britons voted to leave the EU. Britain is currently Germany’s third-largest export market, buying up €89 billion of goods in 2015. …

Two men were on Thursday pronounced guilty of sexual assault on New Year’s Eve in Cologne and handed probationary sentences. The Cologne court found a 21-year-old Iraqi guilty and handed down a one-year probationary sentence, reports Spiegel. The court said it was evident that Hussein A. had kissed a young woman against her will and had licked her face. […] An Algerian man, Hassan T., was also found guilty of being an accomplice to a sexual assault that was carried out by a group of 15 to 20 men. The 26-year-old told a man who was with the two female...

Theresa May and Andrea Leadsom will battle it out for the Conservative leadership after Michael Gove was eliminated from the contest in the second round of voting.

The consistent theme from my travels so far in Europe– the UK, Scandinavia, Lithuania– has been noticeably higher prices. Shockingly so, in some instances. London, where I spent a rather pleasant and rare sunny weekend with friends and colleagues, has gone from being ‘stupid’ pricey, to just plain absurd. Tube prices, taxi fares, food prices, restaurant bills, train fares… it all keeps going up. And to cap it all off, the British government’s VAT increases have ensured that absolutely everyone is paying a little bit more. Here in Lithuania, the buzz around town is the spiraling gasoline prices, which have...

Let’s be clear. The global economy is not working for the majority of people in our country and the world. This is an economic model developed by the economic elite to benefit the economic elite. We need real change... We need a president who will vigorously support international cooperation that brings the people of the world closer together, reduces hypernationalism and decreases the possibility of war. We also need a president who respects the democratic rights of the people, and who will fight for an economy that protects the interests of working people, not just Wall Street, the drug companies...

Sen. Bernie Sanders is arguing that “the global economy is not working for the majority of people in our country and the world.” Sanders, who hasn’t yet abandoned his presidential campaign, writes in a New York Times op-ed Wednesday that Republican Donald Trump “could benefit from the same forces” that led Britain to vote to leave the European Union. He says that any political advantage flowing to Trump from this market-moving vote “should sound an alarm for the Democratic Party.” …

German politicians and media organizations from across the political spectrum have been scathing about Nigel Farage after he announced his resignation as leader of UKIP, Britain’s anti-EU political party. Farage announced on Monday that he was stepping down as leader of UKIP, saying he wanted his life back. But critics have accused him of irresponsibility, as the decision means he will disappear from the political limelight with the UK’s exit from the EU, which he has long sought, looking set to become reality. “First they lied and stirred up anger, then they created chaos and now they’ve run away. Nigel...

In a move which no doubt has American immigration officials baffled, the Swiss are denying citizenship to Muslim after Muslim for failing to integrate into their society.

Angela Merkel could move to oust Europe’s federalist chief Jean-Claude Juncker 'within the next year', a Germany government minister has said, in a sign of deepening European divisions over how to respond to Britain’s Brexit vote. The German chancellor’s frustration with the European Commission chief came as Europe split over whether to use the Brexit negotiations as a trigger to deepen European integration or take a more pragmatic approach to Britain as it heads for the exit door.

Stupid butt-hurt millennials are whining and crying because the UK voted to leave the EU. Paul Joseph Watson

..One of the guns used in the November 13, 2015 Paris terrorist attacks was from Phoenix where Obama allowed criminals and cartel members to buy thousands of guns in his Fast and Furious gun-walking program. Judicial Watch reported: “One of the guns used in the November 13, 2015 Paris terrorist attacks came from Phoenix, Arizona where the Obama administration allowed criminals to buy thousands of weapons illegally in a deadly and futile “gun-walking” operation known as “Fast and Furious.” A Report of Investigation (ROI) filed by a case agent in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tracked...

Istanbul governor: 28 killed and 60 wounded We have just received an update on the casualties from the attack from Istanbul's governor. At least 28 people have died, with approximately 60 more wounded.