Free Republic

Any level of drinking can lead to loss of healthy life, the World Heart Federation has said, as it sought to dispel the idea that a daily glass of wine may be good for you. In a new policy briefing, the organisation said it wanted to “challenge the widespread notion” that drinking moderate amounts of alcohol can decrease the risk of heart disease and called for urgent action to tackle the global rise in deaths caused by drinking. Monika Arora, member of WHF’s advocacy committee and co-author of the briefing, said: “The portrayal of alcohol as necessary for a vibrant...

What happened to the FBI? ... The FBI’s Dallas division’s special agent in charge, Matthew DeSarno, described the gunman to the press as “singularly focused on one issue, and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community.” I don’t blame SAC DeSarno — a former colleague — for this disbelieve-your-lying-eyes assessment. He takes his orders from FBI headquarters. And we exist in woke times. Yes, sometimes investigations take time, and we don’t want to release inaccurate information. Yet this was a ground ball. The White House asserted the FBI’s course correction a day later, allowing that, of course, the...

Twelve European Union (EU) members condemned Israel for housing expansion in the West Bank, which they claim jeopardizes the two-state solution. Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, and Sweden issued a joint statement last October in which they expressed their opposition to Israeli government approval of constructing 3,000 housing units in area C of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), as well as 1,600 units for Palestinians in the same area. The EU claim is that the housing units for Jews infringe on the so-called “occupied Palestinian territory.” Yet, area C has been designated...

As you can tell from his title, Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed – born in 1957 in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan – is an aristocrat, a nob, a gent, a member of the crème-de-la-crème of the United Kingdom – a man who’s moved in the most rarefied circles and enjoyed the most extraordinary privileges. A former Labour MP, he was created a life peer in 1998 by Her Majesty the Queen on the recommendation of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair. On January 5 of this year, he was convicted by a Sheffield court of buggering a boy under age 11 and of...

Iran’s imposition of “sanctions” on dozens of Americans amounts to an assassination threat against members of former President Donald Trump’s administration, according to a senior U.S. official who threatened “severe consequences” for any harm done to them. “Make no mistake: the United States of America will protect and defend its citizens,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday. “This includes those serving the United States now and those who formerly served.” Iranian officials have made explicit their interest in killing one of the people involved in the U.S. strike that killed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Qassem Soleimani....

It's been a week since an antisemitic attack was reported in broad daylight on the streets of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Linda Sarsour has lived in Bay Ridge for years and headed the Arab American Association of New York until 2017. Her silence is deafening. https://t.co/AfgVJdXPlj— kweansmom (@kweansmom) January 2, 2022

PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of empty, parked cars go up in flames in France each New Year’s Eve, set afire by young revelers, a much lamented tradition that appeared in decline this year, which saw only 874 vehicles burned. The number of cars burned overnight has declined compared to New Year’s Eve 2019 when 1,316 vehicles went up in flames, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Saturday on Twitter. Fewer arson attacks occurred because of massive police presence on cities’ streets this New Year’s Eve, enforcing law and order and restrictions on public gatherings and wearing face masks as infections driven...

One of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) staffers called Israel a “racist European ethnostate built on stolen land” in one of his social media posts. Hussain Altamimi is a legislative assistant to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, who joined the office last month. He reportedly shared a picture of himself with the Congresswoman on Instagram, adding the caption, “New beginnings,” in November. Altamimi used his Instagram account to target Israel, a key middle eastern ally to the United States. In a Christmas Eve Instagram story, Altamimi wrote, “Israel is a racist European ethnostate built on stolen land from its indigenous population!” His caption was...

France has ordered the closure of a mosque in Beauvais, a town north of Paris The mosque will be closed for six months according to regional government It said the imam's sermons were inciting hatred, violence and 'defending jihad'

A new poll of Arab residents of Jerusalem by a Palestinian media outlet found that 93% of them prefer to remain under Israeli rule and would not give up their Israeli identity card. Arab residents of Jerusalem are, for the most part, not Israeli citizens, but can request citizenship if they wish. Those who are not citizens carry a special ID card allowing them freedom of movement within Israel proper.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously adopted a US-proposed resolution to help humanitarian aid reach desperate Afghans, while seeking to keep funds out of Taliban hands. Advertising The resolution – a first step by the UN after months of wrangling over how to avert a humanitarian catastrophe amid economic meltdown in Afghanistan – was welcomed by the Islamists as a "good step." Since the Taliban swept back to power in August, billions of dollars in aid and assets have been frozen by the West in what the UN has described as an "unprecedented fiscal shock" to the aid-dependent Afghan...

January 2, in Hamtramck's centenary year, when Amer Ghalib will be inaugurated, along with an entirely Muslim city council. Hamtramck will become the first known city in the US with a government made up entirely of Muslims, according to the Muslim Public Affairs Council, which says it has no record of any other such administration. ...Mayor-elect Ghalib was born in Yemen and came to the United States alone as a young man, with a smattering of broken English and little else. He's now 42, works in the medical field and is studying to become a doctor. Hamtramck's heyday had apparently...

Hamtramck, Michigan (CNN)For decades, Hamtramck was known as Michigan's "Little Warsaw," a city of just two square miles of tightly-packed houses and factories, spitting distance from downtown Detroit. The Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla visited once, back in 1969, before he became Pope. A statue of Wojtyla, arms outstretched, still casts a shadow over what's now called Pope Park, where a huge mural of Polish folk dancers stretches almost an entire city block. In the 99 years since its incorporation, every mayor of Hamtramck has been Polish American. That ends January 2....

* Killing reportedly took place in the country's gas-rich province Cabo Delgado * Suspected ISIS-linked extremists ordered the pastor's wife to deliver his head * Police said the widow arrived to the local police headquarters last Wednesday * Cabo Delgado province has been rocked by attacks by ISIS-linked militants since 2017, killing at least 3,340 people and displacing more than 800,000Suspected ISIS-linked extremists have decapitated a Christian pastor before handing his severed head to his wife to show authorities in Mozambique. The killing, reported by local news, took place in the country's gas-rich northern province of Cabo Delgado. Last Wednesday,...

Trump accused Netanyahu of speaking up too quickly following what the former president has still yet to concede was a legitimate election. "Nobody did more for Bibi. And I liked Bibi. I still like Bibi," he said, referring to the former prime minister by his nickname. "But I also like loyalty. The first person to congratulate Biden was Bibi. And not only did he congratulate him, he did it on tape." Despite Trump’s condemnation of Netanyahu, the then-prime minister was not amongst one of the first world leaders to congratulate Biden for securing the presidential win. Netanyahu waited roughly 12...

LONDON (AP) — Rohingya refugees sued social network powerhouse Facebook for more than $150 billion, accusing it of failing to stop hate speech that incited violence against the Muslim ethnic group by military rulers and their supporters in Myanmar.

A brutal mob killing of a Sri Lankan man accused of blasphemy in Pakistan has sparked protests in both countries, with Pakistan's leader condemning the vigilante violence. Priyantha Diyawadanage, 48, a factory manager in the city of Sialkot, was beaten to death on Friday and his body set alight. More than 100 people have been arrested so far, said Pakistan PM Imran Khan. He has described the incident as a "day of shame" for his country. The victim's family in Sri Lanka have told the BBC they are in despair. His wife, Nilushi Dissanayaka, called on both Pakistan and Sri...

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was silent for several seconds before telling Fox News anchor Bret Baier on Saturday what his regrets are about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. "Do you have any regrets about the Afghan withdrawal?" Baier asked Austin during a keynote discussion at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California. After a silence that lingered for nearly 10 seconds, Austin replied, "Bret, I regret the fact that we lost 13 of our finest at Abbey Gate. I regret that we lost 10 civilians in an errant strike.

‘Woke’ London headmaster leaving school amid charges of anti-Semitism The headmaster of England’s most expensive private day school is leaving her post after a revolt from parents who claim an “ultra-woke” curriculum lead to anti-Semitic incidents. Robin Appleby, who has led the prestigious, $50,000-a-year American School in London since 2017, is allegedly exiting to “focus on her own wellbeing and that of her family,” but insiders tell the Daily Mail she is being booted from the star-studded school — and her $550,000-a-year position — because of her controversial curriculum.

Next week’s anniversary of the historic United Nations Partition Plan of November 29, 1947 (Resolution 181) should not only remind us that Palestinian rejectionism prevented the birth of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, but also that those who today advocate an uncompromising militancy are hawking the same damaged goods that have failed the Palestinians so miserably.