Free Republic

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on Tuesday announced import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the the West Bank, as well as sanctions against specific individuals and businesses that provide services such as construction, instruction, financing or real estate for settlement expansion. The announcement was carried out in coordination with France and Canada.On August 19, UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he would introduce a comprehensive set of measures in “the coming weeks.” Nevertheless, the timing has been criticized, coming just days before the Jewish High Holy Days begin - which has already been flagged as a dangerous period...

Hungary has blocked Ukraine’s EU accession process for a third time, with the government saying it will only lift its objection if Kyiv makes progress on the rights of the country’s Hungarian minority. The latest dispute emerged at the European Council’s Working Party on Enlargement and Countries Negotiating Accession (COELA), which held its first meeting after the summer recess on Tuesday, 1 September. According to Ukrainska Pravda citing European Pravda’s sources in Brussels, Hungary refused to approve the screening results for Ukraine’s second and third negotiating clusters. Without unanimous support from all 27 EU member states, the Council cannot move...

Rising interest rates, record insolvencies, and permanent recession -- the looming economic crisis in the EU is taking shape. Brussels is responding by preparing the ground for capital controls. The regulators' latest target: European citizens' foreign bank accounts. Starting January 11, 2027, trouble looms for EU citizens with foreign accounts. From that date, banks from third countries -- Switzerland, the UK, the US, or Singapore -- will be prohibited from offering so-called core banking services to European citizens. In essence, this covers three core functions: classic deposit-taking (checking, savings, or fixed-term accounts), lending, and the guarantee business. Banks wishing to...

Austria’s government is beginning to work on a proposal to constitutionally ban “political Islam,” after Chancellor Christian Stocker called for the legislation and Integration and Europe Minister Claudia Bauer said she would draw up a proposal for the coalition partners. *** Stocker first raised the possible legislation in an interview with Heute on August 28. The chancellor expressed his intention to implement a constitutional law on political Islam, which he called “incompatible with democracy and Western values.” In a statement, Stocker said, “I do not want our children and grandchildren to grow up in an Islamic state.”Stocker argued that everyone...

Greece is set to sign a 3.1 billion euro defence agreement with Israel in Tel Aviv, marking the largest single defence export deal in Israeli history and equipping Athens with its first fully integrated, multi-layered air defence system. A Greek delegation will formalise the contract with the Israeli Defence Ministry, concluding three years of negotiations. The systems, known collectively in Greece as Achilles’ Shield, will be delivered in stages and are scheduled to reach full operational readiness within 35 months. Most of the funding will flow to Rafael Advanced Defence Systems for David’s Sling batteries capable of intercepting heavy rockets...

A conservative German mayor's €10,000 donation to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is making things awkward for his party's leaders. Bernd Prange, a Christian Democrat who serves as mayor of Altmärkische Höhe in Saxony-Anhalt, wrote in an open letter on Wednesday that he would be voting for the AfD in the state's upcoming election on Sept. 6. "I want the AfD to become so strong in the Saxony-Anhalt election that it can govern alone," wrote Prange. The goal, he said, was for his own party to "finally wake up," tear down Germany's political firewall and abandon what he called...

Nathan Cofnas, the U.S. academic who raised plagiarism concerns over the late Cambridge professor Jason Arday, said on Thursday he had been suspended by Belgium’s Ghent University and was under investigation for discrimination. Arday, once hailed as Cambridge’s youngest Black professor, was found dead, aged 41, in London last Friday, days after resigning from his post. Arday had denied the allegation of plagiarism but acknowledged making mistakes. “I was just suspended by Ghent University. They will almost certainly fire me,” Cofnas wrote on his X account. In a post a few hours earlier he said he was “under investigation by...

Turkey has renewed its challenge to Greek sovereignty in the Aegean Sea, using Greece's newly approved Special Spatial Framework for Tourism as the latest pretext. In an official statement, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred to "geographical features whose sovereignty has not been granted to Greece through international treaties" -- language that directly revives Ankara's long-standing "gray zones" theory regarding certain islands and islets in the Aegean. Turkey declared that the Greek spatial plan "will have no legal consequences for Turkey" and accused Athens of attempting to instrumentalize environmental protection for political purposes. Ankara further warned that "unilateral actions...

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - A single laptop can reveal much, and so it is with the digital treasure chest that Colombian commandos found in the jungle quarters of slain rebel leader Raul Reyes. Files in the computer seized in Saturday's raid into Ecuador that claimed the lives of Reyes and 23 of his comrades offer an intimate portrait of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's desire to undermine Colombia's U.S.-allied government. If authentic, the documents show that sympathies Chavez first aired publicly in January grew out of a relationship that dates back more than a decade. But Chavez is not one of...

Spain announced it would temporarily establish border controls for flights and ships from Italy as a row between the two countries over the influx of migrants into Ceuta intensified. Passport, nationality and visa checks would be conducted for visitors and maritime passengers arriving from Italy from midnight on Friday until Sept 7 "amid the persistent irregular migratory pressure" from Rome, the Spanish government declared. Spain said the measures would apply while Italy applied its own measures, which Rome said were motivated by the mass migration rush by 72,000 people to Spain's African exclave of Ceuta on July 30. Hours earlier,...

Italy said on Friday it was suspending the ​EU's border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain for one month in response to a mass influx of ‌migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco. Italy does not share a land border with Spain but the measure - which looks certain to anger Madrid - will impact people travelling by plane or boat between ​the two countries, meaning they will need to show a passport to gain access. Italy's interior ​ministry said in a statement it had also agreed with Paris ⁠to strengthen controls along the Franco-Italian land border to try...

Italy’s most senior politicians have called for Spain to be kicked out of Europe’s Schengen zone, with tempers running hot as thousands of migrants reportedly forced their way into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Images of people entering the Spanish territory on the coast of Morocco have been amplified on social media, drawing a furious reaction from anti-migration campaigners and politicians. “The images coming from Ceuta are shocking and demonstrate, once again, that uncontrolled illegal immigration poses a real threat to the security of Europe’s borders,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on X. “We are prepared to take action...

Thousands of migrants pour into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta after crossing the border from Morocco. (Screenshot/Faro TV) Italy’s conservative government is considering extraordinary border controls as Spain’s socialist open-borders experiment erupts into chaos. The Gateway Pundit reported earlier that Spain’s border police were overwhelmed as thousands of mostly young men poured into the Spanish enclave from Morocco, forcing businesses to close and local officials to demand troops. Spain’s border with Africa descended into “absolute chaos” Thursday as thousands of migrants stormed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from neighboring Morocco. Videos from Tarajal Beach showed enormous crowds swimming...

The Meloni government responded to Madrid in a written statement, declaring that Italy will not accept external pressure or ultimatums when it comes to national security and border controls."Italy does not accept impositions from abroad or ultimatums" concerning national security and border control, the government said.Rome also made clear that it has no intention of reconsidering its decision to temporarily suspend the application of the Schengen Agreement for third-country nationals arriving from Spain, at least until August 15.The Italian government said it would maintain the measures until authorities rule out potential terrorism-related and other security risks to Italy.It also pointed...

The Spanish enclave of Ceuta, located on the African coast next to Morocco, is being invaded by military-aged men who broke through border gates, fences, and the coastal barriers that mark the border. So far, several tens of thousands of Moroccans (and who knows who else?) have flooded across the border, creating panic in the city of 85,000, and the flow is not stopping. Moroccan authorities, in fact, appear to be facilitating the invasion. Not coincidentally, nearly 2,000 criminals were pardoned and released from prison, leading many to speculate that the two are connected. Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has...

The U.S. delegation briefly walked out of a United Nations Security Council meeting during France's address in protest on Monday after the European ally criticized America’s human rights record. Dan Negrea, an alternate U.S. representative to the U.N., accused France of feigning “moral outrage” while pretending to lecture the world about the Ukraine conflict and human rights in general. “That is why we walked out during France's intervention,” he said during a meeting on Russia's war in Ukraine. “This disingenuous grandstanding is tiresome, but we have tolerated it out of a sense of camaraderie and mutual respect as P5 members.”...

Nearly five years after the last American troops left Afghanistan, al-Qaeda is again finding both sanctuary in the country and an audience far beyond it. A new report from Europol warns that jihadism remained Europe’s most widespread form of terrorism in 2025, accounting for 24 of the 45 terrorist attacks reported by European Union member states and 347 terrorism-related arrests. More ominously, the report finds that al-Qaeda is exploiting the war in Gaza to regain influence and incite attacks against Western and Jewish targets. The group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, has been particularly aggressive. Europol reports that...

215,474 views Jul 28, 2026 Europe says confronting political Islam is impossible, but Germany has quietly been dismantling extremist networks. Using a unique "Militant Democracy" doctrine, Germany can ban and erase entire organizations overnight. Even as it takes a hard line on structures, it refuses to touch faith. This approach challenges Europe to rethink its strategy against online radicalization and foreign influence. Is Germany's narrow path the only way to win?

Germany, proud parent of the 'Destroy Your Economy and National Standard of Living Through the Climate Cult Fever Dreaming School,' has been wallowing in its own pond scum colored green glory lately.There is not a single week without a German company announcing mass layoffs or closures.Germany is in the deepest structural crisis since WWII. Government spending masks the real magnitudeIt can’t continue forever, governments need taxes from the real economy to keep spending. pic.twitter.com/DuBjY173ys— Michael A. Arouet (@MichaelAArouet) July 26, 2026Now the poster child for the horrors of life under deindustrialization (not that Britain isn't giving them a run for...

PARIS — Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz are trying to jump-start the Franco-German engine one final time. After joint ministerial meetings in Germany last week, the leaders of the European Union’s two biggest economies have tasked their governments with striking a grand bargain that they say would strengthen Europe’s industrial defenses and revive the bloc’s automotive industry — key priorities for the two countries. The pact would fuse France’s push to reserve more public procurement contracts and subsidies for European industry with Germany’s drive to rescue its ailing carmakers, whose crisis has reached an acute stage after Volkswagen warned recently...