Free Republic

...we continue our travels through Guinea-Bissau, a country that just weeks ago experienced a deadly coup attempt that aimed to kill the president, prime minister, cabinet, and army officials, and succeeded in killing almost a dozen people before it was stopped. The president describes the coup attempt as an attack on democracy, and the officials say that it was led by a convicted drug baron...Before European colonial times, Guinea-Bissau and the Bissagos Islands in particular... were central to trade between Africa and Europe... but today, it's the drug trade that they are essential to.The islands are famous for having huge...

You are a treasure to others that do not know, How deeply you intercede as your tears flow, Breaking my heart to answer your prayer, Causing me to come and be right there, I carry your heart's desires in my very hand, Because you go behind enemy lines and take back my land, As Joshua and Caleb you are fearless and true, And this is why I come to you . . . So continue on no matter their heart, Your call and prayer is where I look to let healing start, For you always remain on my front line,...

Christian Brueckner is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for a rape he also committed in Portugal in 2005 A new arrest warrant has been issued by authorities in Germany in separate cases for a man who is also suspected in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The suspect, identified by media as Christian Brueckner, is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in Germany for a rape he also committed in Portugal in 2005. The term in prison is scheduled to end in September 2025. Prosecutors in Braunschweig announced last month that they had charged the 45-year-old in five...

A group of international researchers has uncovered evidence of a super rare genetic condition that gives men an extra X chromosome, reporting the oldest clinical case of Klinefelter Syndrome to date.The evidence comes from a 1,000-year-old skeleton from Portugal.Klinefelter Syndrome is a rare genetic condition where individuals are born with an extra copy of the X chromosome, occurring in approximately one in 1,000 genetic-male births...The team began by analysing genetic information obtained from a skeleton found in northeastern Portugal that had been radiocarbon dated to the 11th century by researchers from the University of Coimbra in Portugal...The researchers say the...

Addressing the Portuguese parliament via video link, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday called on Portugal to send "heavy weapons" and strengthen the sanctions on Russia. "I am grateful for the opportunity in this difficult time because you know how we are feeling, fighting for our independence, but also our survival," said Zelensky, referring to what Portugal experienced in history. Zelensky's 15-minute speech received a standing ovation in the parliament attended by Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Western weaponry pouring into Ukraine helped blunt Russia’s initial offensive and seems certain to play a central role in the approaching, potentially decisive, battle for Ukraine’s contested Donbas region. Yet the Russian military is making little headway halting what has become a historic arms express. The U.S. numbers alone are mounting: more than 12,000 weapons designed to defeat armored vehicles, some 1,400 shoulder-fired Stinger missiles to shoot down aircraft and more than 50 million rounds of ammunition, among many other things. Dozens of other nations are adding to the totals. The Biden administration is preparing yet...

The 11-year investigation into the disappearance of British tot Madeleine McCann is set to end later this year, according to reports. Operation Grange, the British taxpayer-funded probe launched four years after Madeleine’s 2007 disappearance from her family’s vacation rental in Portugal, will be shut down by London’s Metropolitan Police when funding runs out this fall, the Sun reported Saturday. “There are currently no plans to take the inquiry further,” a source close to the matter told the outlet. “The end of the road for Operation Grange is now in sight. The team’s work is expected to be completed by autumn.”...

The Felicity Ace, the cargo ship carrying cars and SUVs from brands including Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini, has now sunk. It had caught fire on February 16 and its crew abandoned the ship. The largely burned out ship was being towed back to a safe port when it sank yesterday, according to a report provided by the salvage team to MOL Ship Management of Singapore, which operates the Panama-flagged ship. A spokesperson for Volkswagen Group confirmed that the automaker was aware of the vessel sinking. The Felicity Ace had been carrying nearly 4000 vehicles from various Volkswagen Group brands....

The Felicity Ace was being towed to land when it began to list to starboard in heavy seas about 250 miles off the Portuguese island chain and took on water in heavy seas, according to the ship's manager. The Portuguese navy confirmed that it sank in a location outside of Portugal's territorial waters that is over two miles deep.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Friday said at a televised news conference that his country would send soldiers to assist Ukraine in its defense against Russia, CNN reported. According to Costa, Russia's war on Ukraine "is a war against the freedom of self-determination of a democratic country and therefore it is also a war against the freedom of self-determination and against democracy." He added that there is "an unanimity of all states, in view of the need to strengthen the NATO presence on the borders of Ukraine and in all the alliance countries that are close to the Ukraine...

This is an obituary about a dead communist lawyer, not particularly thrilling; but you must read it to see who interned at his radical firm back in 1971. Amazing what gets printed in the New York Times: December 2, 2001Robert Treuhaft, Lawyer Who Inspired Funeral Exposé, Dies at 89 By PAUL LEWIS Robert Treuhaft, a crusading radical lawyer who inspired his wife, Jessica Mitford, to write her best seller "The American Way of Death," died in New York on Nov. 11. He was 89. As a union lawyer representing longshoremen in the San Francisco area in the 1950's, Mr. Treuhaft ...

he Portugese Navy has confirmed this morning that one of its patrol boats came to the aid of the Felicity Ace, a car carrier transiting the Atlantic Ocean, as reported by the Washington Post. The vessel transmitted a distress signal after fire broke out in one of the cargo decks, with the ship announced as "not under command" shortly afterwards. Thankfully, the 22 crew on board have been reported as successfully evacuated from the ship. The Felicity Ace had departed from the port in Emden, Germany on February 10, believed to be carrying vehicles from Porsche and other Volkswagen Auto...

@MaajidNawazPfizer’s own documents show tens of thousands of adverse reactions + over 1200 DEATHS in the first 90 days of the vaccine. Ex-Portugal minister @MacaesBruno supports covid mandates, I asked who’s responsible when one side effect is DEATH He didn’t like it ... Clip.. [5 mins]

The wife of a major Democratic donor who landed in hot water for contributing to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s controversial “pay-to-play” nonprofit is in line for a plum post as US ambassador to Portugal — after helping raise more than $100,000 for President Biden’s campaign last year. Randi Charno Levine’s nomination to be the top-ranking diplomat to the scenic Mediterranean country was sent to the US Senate for confirmation earlier this month following Biden’s announcement of her appointment on Oct. 29.... ...It’s unclear when the Senate will take up Randi Levine’s nomination, as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has reportedly been...

Researchers have discovered evidence to support the idea that Vikings settled on the Azores several hundred years before the Portuguese arrived in 1427. Evidence from animal remains has led ecologist Pedro Raposeiro and his team, of the University of the Azores, to believe the Vikings were there first.... ...Evolutionary biologist Dr Jeremy Searle of Cornell University has supported the conclusions by Mr Raposeiro. He has also argued that Vikings made it to the Azores - but his work is based on the mouse as his biological source....

13th October 1917 Fatima, Portugal Estimates of the number of people present range from 30,000 and 40,000, by Avelino de Almeida writing for the Portuguese newspaper O Século,[15] to 100,000, estimated by lawyer Dr. José Almeida Garrett, the son of a professor of natural sciences at the University of Coimbra.[16][17] Various claims have been made as to what actually happened during the event. According to many witnesses, after a period of rain, the dark clouds broke and the Sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disc in the sky. It was said to be significantly duller than normal, and to cast...

An international team of researchers has found evidence that people lived on islands in the Azores archipelago approximately 700 years earlier than prior evidence has shown. In their paper, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study of sediment cores taken from lakes on some of the islands in the archipelago.Due to the absence of other evidence, historians have believed that people first arrived in the Azores in 1427, when Portuguese sailor Diogo de Silves landed on Santa Maria Island. Soon thereafter, others from Portugal arrived and made the archipelago their home. In this...

Portugal’s health care system was on the verge of collapse. Hospitals in the capital, Lisbon, were overflowing and authorities were asking people to treat themselves at home. In the last week of January, nearly 2,000 people died as the virus spread. The country’s vaccine program was in a shambles, so the government turned to Vice Adm. Henrique Gouveia e Melo, a former submarine squadron commander, to right the ship. Eight months later, Portugal is among the world’s leaders in vaccinations, with roughly 86% of its population of 10.3 million fully vaccinated. About 98% of all of those eligible for vaccines...

I look for you in the garden, But its your soul I seek, To find my heart inside yours hidden safe and deep, So warm, pure and true of virtue and fire, Rising up in you with love for others to inspire, A giving out of heart, An eternal spark, An ember of my love, Warming my beloved, So take the warmth I give, To others so they can live, With me inside as you, This is what I desire you to do, Be the bearer of my love, My pure and holy dove,

Health authorities in Portugal today are described as “on the alert” following the so far unexplained death of a 41-year-old pediatric operational assistant two days after she received her first dose of the Covid vaccine.The woman, so far unidentified beyond her age and professional situation (see update below), died in bed on New Year’s Day.According to tabloid reports her body was discovered by her partner when he returned home from a trip to the shops.The partner “called for help and a VMER (medical reanimation team) was dispatched. Efforts ensued to resuscitate the victim “without success”.The woman was one of 538...