Free Republic

EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner has said Ireland is “very well” placed to adopt the Migration and Asylum Pact, and described the Citywest accommodation center for International Protection applicants as an example of “best practice”. He was speaking in Dublin after visiting Citywest, holding meetings with senior gardaí and the head of the Criminal Assets Bureau, as well as speaking to Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan. The Migration and Asylum Pact becomes operational this June and seeks to introduce a more harmonized approach to asylum, migration and border checks, with swifter screening, mandatory health and security checks and a streamlined...

The Palestinian flag was raised this morning at Toronto City Hall despite fierce grassroots and institutional political resistance. The flag-raising ceremony has been planned since Canada conditionally recognized Palestinian statehood in September. It was facing fierce pushback from Canadian Jewish advocacy group Tafsik, and more than 25,000 people have signed a petition to halt the plans. But despite the furor, the flag was raised over the Canadian building this morning. Groups of supporters looked on in glee as the black, white, green and red flag waved in the wind. Others took smiling selfies with it fluttering in the background. Attendees...

Since the beginning of the P5+1 nuclear talks with Iran, foreign policy establishment figures have been bubbling with optimism about the negotiations leading to a deal that will settle the crisis. The inauguration of the talks is considered a master stroke that will head off the possibility of a Western or Israeli attack on Iran and allow the European Union to back off its pledge to implement an oil embargo on the Islamist regime. All that will be needed, we are told, is a little patience, and then EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will broker an agreement that will...