Free Republic

The UK has rebuffed Brussels' offer of intensified trade talks next week, telling the European Union's chief negotiator there is "no basis for negotiations". The Prime Minister on Friday accused European leaders of having "abandoned the idea of a free trade deal" and told the country to "get ready" for a no-deal outcome in the negotiations after his October 15 deadline for reaching an agreement passed. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had responded to his media statement by vowing that the EU would carry on negotiating, suggesting talks next week in London would go ahead as planned. But...

The French president Emmanuel Macron has announced a curfew during which everyone must be at home between 9pm and 6am for the Paris region, as well as the cities of Rouen, Lille, St Etienne, Lyon, Grenoble, Montpellier, Marseille and Toulouse. The curfew will begin on Saturday and will last for four weeks, he said.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday that voting US President Donald Trump out of office is critical for the Palestinians. “The election is very important. God help us, the EU, and the whole world if there are four more years of Trump,” he said. Shtayyeh spoke out against Trump’s peace plan, presented earlier this year. “Trump has wasted four years of everyone’s time,” he said. “The ultimate deal was not delivered. [Trump’s plan] was rejected by the Palestinians, the Arabs and Europe… The US is just too biased.” Shtayyeh called for...

The EU’s highest court on Tuesday (6 October) ruled that changes by Hungary to its higher education law which forced a university founded by Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros to quit the country, was in breach of EU law. The 2017 legislation put the Budapest-based Central European University (CEU), established in 1991 by Soros, under pressure in what became one of prime minister Viktor Orbán’s emblematic battles with the EU. At the time, the university said it had complied with all the new rules, but the Orbán government refused to sign off on allowing the university to stay in the...

Teen climate change activist Greta Thunberg has endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. “I never engage in party politics. But the upcoming US elections is above and beyond all that,” Thunberg tweeted. “From a climate perspective it’s very far from enough and many of you of course supported other candidates. But, I mean…you know…damn! Just get organized and get everyone to vote #Biden”

France's president explicitly intends the move to stifle religious instruction of children.October 2, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — French president Emmanuel Macron announced on Friday morning that he intends to outlaw homeschooling for all children except those who have a health condition that would justify staying away from school. He also intends to step up control on private independent schools that receive no public funds, in particular through inspections on the curricula taught there, by more severely implementing a recent law that requires such schools to teach a “common core” defined by a high authority for education. The new law would come...

Russian energy giant Gazprom pledged to appeal what they described as an “unprecedented” fine after the Polish anti-monopoly watchdog UOKiK ordered them to pay some $7.61 billion (€6,47 billion) over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The Polish regulator said that building the pipeline would increase Gazprom’s dominance on the Polish market. The project, which would allow Germany to double its gas imports from Russia, is “tantamount to breaking the rules of law and of fair competition” and the current situation may trigger “serious consequences for Poland’s and the EU’s economy,” they added. Gazprom is spearheading the Baltic Sea construction effort...

Rishi Sunak warned of tax rises to come and lavished praise on “special” Boris Johnson today as he tried to quell growing rumors of a feud over lockdown. The Chancellor hailed the PM as a “close personal friend” and “rare” communicator who had “got the big calls right” as he delivered his keynote speech to Tory conference. He even noted that their families were “joined” and his daughters loved Mr. Johnson’s dog Dilyn. Mr. Sunak again conceded that he will not be able to save all jobs, but pointed to the huge government bailouts so far and said his sole...

Ireland’s health chiefs recommended to the government on Sunday that the country enter a second nationwide lockdown for four weeks in a surprise move that cabinet will discuss on Monday, two government sources said. Ireland’s National Public Health Emergency Team recommended a leap to the highest level of COVID-19 restrictions, Level 5, from current Level 2 controls in 24 of Ireland’s 26 counties and stricter Level 3 measures in Dublin and Donegal. The government has almost entirely adopted their health chiefs’ advice throughout the pandemic, but one of the sources said a return to lockdown would have a serious economic...

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday that the drastic limits placed on people’s freedoms to curb the coronavirus earlier this year had weighed heavily on her, bringing back memories of life in surveillance-riddled East Germany. Speaking on the eve of the 30th anniversary of German reunification, Merkel told the RND newspaper group she was acutely aware of the sacrifices she was asking of Germans when the country went into lockdown in March. “That I had to tell people they could only be out in the street in a single household or just two persons at a time, that no events could...

Ireland’s highest court isn’t sweet on tax breaks for footlongs. The country’s Supreme Court ruled that the starch used in Subway sandwiches is too sugary to meet the definition of “bread” — a legal distinction that would have saved the firm some dough. In deciding whether to give the fast-food chain a tax break for serving a “staple” food item, the five-judge panel ruled that the bread’s sugar-to-flour content is roughly five times too high to qualify, according to the Irish Independent.

LEICESTER, United Kingdom – Former Irish President Mary McAleese says she is pledging “to use whatever time is left to me” to challenge Church teachings on homosexuality and women. Speaking to The View on BBC Northern Ireland on Thursday night, McAleese said, “What else I am going to do in retirement except make myself useful in that regard?” McAleese, 69, served as president of Ireland – a largely ceremonial position – from 1997-2011. She has clashed with Church leaders in the past and was barred from attending a conference taking place at the Vatican in 2018. A longtime critic of...

Anyone walking past the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels earlier this week would have seen a dazzling light display above their heads, in all colors of the rainbow. “More than 330,000 people say: EU — Turn your words into action. Stop ‘LGBT-free zones’ in Poland now” the projected message proclaimed, in letters several meters high. The display was organized by LGBT+ rights advocacy group AllOut in collaboration with the Polish Campaign Against Homophobia. The group handed over a petition with over 330,000 signatures to the European Union demanding the bloc take urgent action over homophobic and transphobic policies...

As we have been telling you, Emmanuel Macron is our pick for the biblical ‘man of sin’, and on Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly, he didn’t disappoint. Macron stood up before the Assembly, virtually of course, and delivered an absolute perfect speech. Perfect, that is, if you are a King James bible believer who loves end times prophecy. As we said, Macron did not disappoint. The fact that the United Nations even exists is the fulfillment of bible prophecy, where it is specifically mentioned. “Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise...

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday urged the world to prevent a Cold War and halt conflicts so it can focus on the coronavirus pandemic. He made the comments as he opened the almost entirely virtual UN General Assembly general debate, marking the organization’s 75th anniversary. “We must do everything to avoid a new Cold War,” Guterres said. “We are moving in a very dangerous direction. Our world cannot afford a future where the two largest economies split the globe in a great fracture — each with its own trade and financial rules and internet and artificial intelligence capacities,” he...

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced on Wednesday (16 September) the priorities for the EU’s upcoming anti-racism action plan. Earlier this year, the murder of George Floyd in the US brought into focus racial discrimination and police brutality also existing in Europe. Now the commission wants to identify gaps in the bloc’s 2000 Race Equality Directive, especially regarding policing and law enforcement. “Hate is hate and no one should have to put up with it,” von der Leyen said in her first State of the Union speech, adding that in the European Union “fighting racism...

Britain’s US trade deal is in jeopardy if the UK endangers Northern Ireland peace over Brexit, US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has said. “We can’t allow the [1998] Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit,” Biden said on Wednesday (16 September). “Any trade deal between the US and UK must be contingent upon respect for the agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period,” he added. Biden spoke out during a visit by British foreign secretary Dominic Raab to Washington. The Democrats’ concern comes after the UK threatened to...

There is considerable cross-border traffic between Germany and France. Daily, German and French nationals cross the 450-kilometer-long (280-mile) border, as many either work or live on the other side. In everyday life, the frontier is barely noticeable. But this cannot be said for France’s coronavirus tracing efforts. In the Northern Hemisphere’s spring months, France launched an app that does not utilize Google’s or Apple’s interface, and automatically stores a user’s contacts on a state-run server. Most other EU states reject this centralized approach, deeming it inimical to users’ data privacy. France, which has the highest volume of cross-border traffic in...

Lufthansa said Monday it will slash more jobs on top of 22,000 previously announced cuts, as well as put more planes out of service, because it is currently losing some €500 million a month. With demand set to be lower than expected through winter as the coronavirus pandemic continues to severely curtail travel, the airline said it now plans to reduce its fleet by 150 planes by 2025. It had previously estimated it would have to scrap 100 aircraft in response to the unprecedented crisis in the aviation sector. Lufthansa, which received a government bailout worth €9 billion in June,...

[Barf Alert] Catholics demanding Communion on the tongue a threat to public health, says priest Bishops advised ‘there must be limits to appeasement’ in dealings with alt-right views A Waterford priest has criticised as selfish the behaviour of Catholics who demand Communion on the tongue despite Covid-19 restrictions.Fr Liam Power, former communications officer with the diocese of Waterford and Lismore, said such people did not seem to “respect the danger this represented to others” and were a cause of “very serious embarrassment for priests, many of whom are elderly”.While the number making such demands was “not huge, reports were fairly...