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...

A WEST Belfast priest has hit out at plans to light up Belfast City Hall in support of abortion rights. The National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWC) want to illuminate the building in green on September 28 to mark International Safe Abortion Day. At a council committee meeting last week the proposal was endorsed by Green, Alliance, Sinn Féin and SDLP councillors with the DUP voting against. It will go before the next full Council meeting on Tuesday, September 1. Fr Paddy McCafferty from Corpus Christi Parish described the proposal as "grotesque" and "deeply offensive". "This proposed spectacle is grotesque...

In a tradition dating back more than 300 years, towering pyres have been lit every July in Northern Ireland to mark the Battle of the Boyne, which effectively cemented Protestant rule. They’re held in loyalist neighborhoods – communities that strongly support the union with the United Kingdom – and often carry a political message, with effigies of the pope, the Republic of Ireland’s flag and other symbols of Catholicism and Irish nationalism being burned in the past. But this year, in the village of Moygashel, County Tyrone, the flames found a new target. A replica mosque, with a figure holding...

Official Music video for Zombie by The Cranberries.

Five teenage boys have died and four people have been taken to hospital following a two-vehicle crash in County Kildare. The collision occurred on the M9 Northbound at Junction 3 at about 03:00 local time on Sunday. Gardaí said the bodies of the five teenage boys, all occupants of one vehicle, have now been removed from the scene and taken to Naas General Hospital where post-mortem examinations will take place. They said the vehicle had been travelling on the wrong side of the carriageway when a head on collision occurred with a second car. The driver and front passenger, both...

Irish TV personality endorses ‘women priests’ during ‘homily’ at Knock shrineMary Kennedy’s talk included a tepid homage to ‘Catholicism,’ her suggestions for the religion’s improvement, and self-congratulations for being a ‘good Catholic.’Irish television personality Mary Kennedy endorsed “women priests” in a talk she gave during Mass on Friday at the Knock Shrine.Kennedy, a self-described “à la carte” Catholic, was invited to give a talk after the Gospel at the Knock Shrine in commemoration of the National Public Novena to Our Lady of Knock that takes place annually at the shrine from August 14 to 22.The bulk of Kennedy’s talk was...

A new Irish government jet may struggle to land in bad weather, because it was ordered without key equipment from an Israeli firm, according to a report in Irish outlet The Journal. The 53 million euro (61 million USD) Dassault Falcon 6X aircraft would normally include Elbit’s FalconEye low-visibility system, a system of cameras and censors that gives pilots additional information amid fog or darkness. In August 2024, Ireland said it would no longer award Israeli companies defense contracts, citing an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice against Israeli settlements in the West Bank. According to the report,...

Iran has said it struck two tankers trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz under the escort of the US military as Donald Trump gathered his cabinet to discuss the stalling war and rising prices as midterm elections in the US loom. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Friday the “non-compliant oil tankers ... were struck and brought to a halt, while four other oil tankers quickly changed course and returned to their previous positions”.

As wildfires blazed in southern Italy this week, authorities probing for arson found a grisly clue: cats “with flammable-soaked rags tied to their tails.” “These animals were released into the fields, running around and spreading the fire,” said Domenico Costarella of Calabria’s Civil Protection Agency in a video posted on Facebook on Tuesday. He added that other pieces of evidence also pointed to arson, including candles lit among flammable rags and delayed ignition devices. Firefighters are still working to contain blazes around Calabria’s Pollino National Park, according to Italian broadcaster RAI, which reported Wednesday that firefighting teams have completed more...

Concern is growing in Irish universities over a high rate of refusal of study visas to students in Gaza who are due to take up college scholarships in Ireland this September. RTÉ News understands that upwards of 20 Gazan students, who have all been accepted onto fully funded scholarships for third-level courses, have had their visa applications turned down by Irish immigration authorities. Others are awaiting outcomes. Sources within the universities say the refusal rate this year is in marked contrast to last year, when more than 80 Gazan students were granted visas and left Gaza in an evacuation organized...

A trainee barrister who was allegedly caught driving a car bomb towards Northern Ireland in a suspected New IRA operation spent time in Syria, her lawyer said. Isobella Perrie Sullivan, 25, was arrested after Irish police said they made an 'extremely significant seizure' of a device on Wednesday. The force said the device, which was made from military-grade plastic, could have caused significant damage. It is understood to be the most sophisticated bomb seized by police since the Troubles. A man in his 40s was also arrested in the major investigation, with Irish news outlets reporting that the man was...

Jamey dutifully wore her keffiyeh, took up with a “Palestinian” man, and converted to Islam. Jamey Carney was an American woman who moved to Ireland five years ago. She was a deep supporter of the “Palestinian” cause, took part in marches to protest against the Jewish state, dutifully wore her keffiyeh, took up with a “Palestinian” man, and converted to Islam. And despite all that, that “Palestinian” partner, whom the police described as a “Middle Eastern man,” beat her to death. More on her sad life and sadder death can be found here: “‘Asylum seeker’ on the run after American...

The bail system in Ireland is “operating in an opaque, haphazard manner” which risks eroding the rights to liberty and to a fair trial, the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) has said. The IPRT has argued that reforming current bail systems and reducing the number of people on remand in prison would help solve the prison “overcrowding crisis overnight”. It said a reliance on pre-trial detention for minor offenses is putting “unnecessary strain” on Ireland’s overcrowded prisons as it called for the establishment of an “adult bail support scheme” modeled on a youth justice scheme of intensive supervision which saw...

There has been an increase in the number of new HIV cases in Ireland recently, with the number of new cases back to pre-COVID levels. HIV Ireland says that the country now has the second highest transmission rate per capita in Europe. A new report by the organization, which was developed with clinicians, researchers, advocates and people with lived experience from across Ireland and the UK, said that Ireland is unlikely to achieve its objective of ending new HIV transmission by 2030. […] Professor Yvonne Gilleece, a consultant in HIV medicine, has said that Ireland needs to increase testing rates...

If you are attending the parade in the Champs-Elyséés, don't forget to wear your QR code - Liberté, égalité, cybersecurité! A pioneering example of the extension of "online safety" to real life. In hopes of deferring my next trip to Comaland, I am trying hard to comply with my doctors' instructions to eschew the Internet and commune with the birds and flowers. But some news insists on breaking through. I learn from my pal Dan Wootton, for example, that, of three Mark Steyn Show guests, one has been brutally murdered, another subjected to (so far) less fatal political violence, and...

The internet is making sure the U.S. won’t exit the World Cup quietly, and Ryanair was the latest player to join the banter. The American dream of winning the 2026 FIFA World Cup was crushed in a 1-4 loss to Belgium, marking the team’s heaviest defeat since 1990. As the pomp and fanfare quickly fizzled out, memes mocking the U.S. team came pouring in, with Ryanair unabashedly joining the fun. The internet is making sure the U.S. won’t exit the World Cup quietly, and Ryanair was the latest player to join the banter The Irish airline has seemingly made a...

The suspect in the murder of a New York mom who recently moved to Ireland is a Middle Eastern asylum-seeker who met her at an anti-Israel protest — and who may have already fled the country, according to reports. The bloody body of Jamey Carney, 43, was found Tuesday afternoon by her 13-year-old daughter at her rented home in Killarney, where she had moved five years ago from Westchester County, the Irish Sun reported. She was beaten to death and suffered multiple head injuries, with cops probing reports that a loud argument was heard the night before at her home...

A New York mother, who moved to Ireland with her teen daughter, was beaten to death inside her home as police launched a search for a “person of significant interest” whom she knew. Jamey Carney, a 43-year-old Westchester County native, was found covered under her bedsheets, suffering from multiple head wounds inside her rented home in the Irish town of Killarney on Tuesday... Blood stains were splattered around Carney’s room and the killer allegedly used a duvet to cover Carney’s wounded torso and face before fleeing... Results of the postmortem examination were not publicly released, but officials upgraded the case...

An American left-wing activist moved from New York City to Killarney, Ireland, five years ago, and now she’s dead. The woman’s name was Jamey Carney. She was a single mother of a thirteen-year-old and fit the typical stereotype of a white liberal woman from Manhattan. She hated ICE, loved Palestine, and moved to Europe, where she began a relationship with a migrant man. Jamey was found dead in her bed, hidden under a duvet by her teenage child. The migrant man she was involved with is nowhere to be found. Police officials are looking for him, and reports online suggest...

A long-awaited bill banning Israeli goods from the occupied territories in Palestine has passed the final stage in the Dáil without including services from the region. The Government-drafted Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) bill passed through its report and final stages in the Dáil (lower house) on Tuesday without a vote. It will now be sent to the Seanad (Senate) next week and, if it as likely is also passed by the Upper House, will be signed into law at that point. The bill is a renewed version of the original Occupied Territories...