Free Republic

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Monday eased its regulations on abortion access in what the country’s health minister said was a response to last week's “sad” U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. The new rules, approved by a parliamentary committee, grant women access to abortion pills through the country’s universal health system and remove a longstanding requirement that women appear physically before a special committee before they are permitted to terminate a pregnancy. The decision came after the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday stripped away women’s constitutional protections for abortion, a fundamental and deeply personal change for Americans’...

EXCLUSIVE: Russian, Syrian and Iranian military commanders have set up a coordination cell in Baghdad in recent days to try to begin working with Iranian-backed Shia militias fighting the Islamic State, Fox News has learned.  Western intelligence sources say the coordination cell includes low-level Russian generals. U.S. officials say it is not clear whether the Iraqi government is involved at the moment.  Describing the arrival of Russian military personnel in Baghdad, one senior U.S. official said, "They are popping up everywhere."  The Russians already have been building up their military presence in Syria, a subject expected to factor prominently in...