Free Republic

US President Donald Trump's vow to step-up protectionist policies to boost the US car industry could lead to a 10-percent drop in profits for German automakers, Germany's Center for Automotive Research (CAR) has warned. The trade barriers would see the European Union's alliance with America "deteriorate significantly," the center's director, Ferdinand Dudenhöffer told DW. He said Trump's desire to "punish" Washington's main trading partners in Europe would inevitably end in a messy divorce that would hurt US car manufacturers more.

Greenpeace charged on Monday that a massive US-EU trade deal would place corporate interests above the environment and consumer safety, as it released classified documents from the negotiations. […] Greenpeace said the papers show, for example, that the US wants to be able to scrap existing EU rules in areas such as food labeling or approval of dangerous chemicals if it they spell barriers to free trade. “TTIP is about a huge transfer of power from people to big business,” the group argued, having also projected an image of a classified text passage onto the façade of Berlin’s parliament building....

Mexico's national human rights commission has said two federal police officers participated in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014. It's the first time national agents have been implicated in the case. The commission announced Thursday it had found an eyewitness who alleges federal officers were present at the scene of the abduction in Mexico's southwestern Guerrero state. Jose Larrieta Carrasco, the commission member investigating the case, said the new evidence suggested the officers did nothing to stop local police from taking the youths away. The 43 student teachers disappeared in the city of Iguala on September 26, 2014. Investigators...

Iraqi officials have reportedly revoked the broadcaster's license, marking the third time Al Jazeera has been banned in Iraq. The news organization says it was told it had violated codes of conduct and other rules. The Qatar-based news organization on Wednesday said its bureau in Baghdad had been shut down after the government accused it of violating laws. According to the pan-Arab broadcaster, Iraq's Communications and Media Commission (CMC) accused the company of "violations of the official codes of conduct and broadcasting rules and regulations." Those rules and regulations were issued in 2014 to regulate media coverage of the "war...

California politicians have voted down a proposal to designate May 26 - the actor's birthday - as John Wayne Day. The idea was rejected after some said Wayne had made racist comments against blacks and Native Americans. The resolution for John Wayne Day was submitted by Assemblyman Matthew Harper, who described Wayne as the "prototypical American Hero, symbolizing such traits as self-reliance, grace under pressure, resolve and patriotism." But Harper's colleague Lorena Gonzalez said Wayne's movies showed a lot of Native Americans being killed and that they sanctioned the white occupation of the continent. Assemblyman Luis Alejo also complained that...

A Russian official has criticized Washington's lack of authorization from Syria to deploy troops. The UN warned Damascus and Moscow of increased violence against civilians after a hospital was bombed, leaving 30 dead. Moscow sees the deployment of an additional 250 US military personnel in Syria as an affront to Damascus' territorial sovereignty, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russia's state-owned TASS news agency on Friday. "If we are talking from the position of the foreign minister, we - of course - cannot not be concerned over the fact that the US carries out such actions without coordination with...

While the people of Egypt suffer from growing poverty and unemployment rates, the country’s generals are well off. They have managed to strengthen their economic power in the aftermath of the revolution. […] While privately owned companies struggle under the burden of overall chaos and political insecurity, the army appears to have been unaffected. According to some observers, the army is indeed profiting from the crisis. Over the past months, the government in Cairo has commissioned construction companies operated by the military to carry out several large infrastructure projects. In November, Interim President Adly Mansour had issued a decree allowing...

In June, Germany's international broadcaster Deutsche Welle announced its plans to launch a Russian-language information program for Belarus called the "Belarusian Chronicle." Official Minsk has so far remained silent about plans for the daily show, which is scheduled to begin in October. But many of Belarus's opposition and pro-democracy circles -- who in theory could only benefit from such an endeavor -- have reacted with alarm, indignation, and even hostility. They want Deutsche Welle to speak Belarusian to Belarusians. Media have since reported that Deutsche Welle won a European Commission tender to organize radio broadcasts to Belarus. Bidders reportedly included...