Free Republic

ar AL-QATTAA/AFP/AFP More than 250 media outlets in over 70 countries staged a front page protest Monday highlighting the deaths of scores of journalists in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, the Reporters Without Borders media freedom group said. "At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza by the Israeli army, there will soon be no-one left to keep you informed," the group's general director Thibaut Bruttin said in a statement. The protest was taken up on the website front pages of publications including Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, British news site The Independent, French newspapers La Croix and L'Humanite...

Europe is drawing up “pretty precise plans” for a multinational troop deployment to Ukraine as part of post-conflict security guarantees that will have the backing of US capabilities, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the Financial Times in an interview published on Aug 31. “President Trump reassured us that there will be (an) American presence as part of the backstop,” Dr von der Leyen told the FT, adding that “That was very clear and repeatedly affirmed.” -snip- European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte and von der Leyen are...

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has become a “problem,” adding she will try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war as her country currently holds the EU presidency. “Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen says in an interview with the Jyllands-Posten daily, adding that the Israeli government is going “too far.” The center-right leader slams the “absolutely appalling and catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and new settlement project in the West Bank. “We are one of the countries that wants to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet obtained...

As an openly gay politician who lives with her Sri Lanka-born partner in Switzerland, Alice Weidel was an unusual choice to many to lead Germany’s far-right AfD into Sunday’s elections, where it scored its best-ever result. To her legions of political foes, Weidel serves as a “fig leaf” for a party that has railed against asylum seekers, Islam and multiculturalism and some of whose top figures have voiced revisionist views on Germany’s Nazi past. On Sunday the 46-year-old, who says Margaret Thatcher is her political idol, led the Moscow-friendly AfD to a record result of around 20 percent. She told...

Former President Mary Robinson has condemned what she called “ridiculous”, “nonsense” and “malicious lying” regarding Israeli claims that it is ready to distribute aid into Gaza. Mrs. Robinson said that Israeli claims that UN agencies are not working quickly enough to distribute aid are “all ridiculous”. “We saw the most there was incredible collaboration between the Egyptian Red Crescent… and the UN,” she said, after a visit to Egypt and the Rafah crossing alongside former New Zealand president Helen Clark. Following the visit, Mrs. Robinson said that targeted sanctions should be imposed on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and all...

Ursula's new "European Media Freedom Act" permits the arrest of journalists if it is in the "public interest." ... The act also allows surveillance software to be deployed on devices used by media service providers, editorial staff, or related persons in the “public interest. Who decides the “public interest?” Sophie ... The new law also contains numerous provisions that call for action against alleged "disinformation." Ursula von der Leyen, EU Commission President ... "national lists" are to be created listing the owners and addresses of media outlets, as stipulated in Article 6. Despite its intent to strengthen media freedom, critics...

The EU is inching toward the biggest peacetime surveillance experiment in its history, with plans to quietly search every private message before you hit send. The European Union is still wrestling with a controversial plan that would turn private messaging services into surveillance tools. For over three years, talks have stalled over whether providers should be forced to scan every user’s messages for possible illegal material and forward anything suspicious to law enforcement. The European Commission is still pushing for a universal scanning requirement. In contrast, the European Parliament insists any checks should apply only to unencrypted messages from people...

Palestinian statehood comes at the end of negotiations for a two-state solution and that process can no longer be held in abeyance, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Thursday. “A negotiated two-state solution remains the only path that can offer people on both sides a life in peace, security, and dignity,” he said in a statement issued shortly before his trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, as reported by Ynet News. “For Germany, the recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of that process. But such a process must begin now.” Wadephul’s remarks follow a string...

The founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF) has been accused of ordering the falsification of research to make it appear that Brexit was detrimental to Britain’s economy. An internal probe conducted by the Homburger law firm into the alleged misconduct of former WEF Chairman and founder of the globalist Davos institution, Klaus Schwab, has reportedly found that the German-born economist orchestrated the manipulation of economic research to advance his political agendas. According to the Swiss Sonntags Zeitung newspaper, the architect of the Great Reset is accused of personally intervening during the World Economic Forum’s 2017/18 Global Competitiveness Report to...

The Netherlands’ counter-terrorism authority has included Israel in its latest report as one of the state actors assessed to pose a threat to the country’s security. The country is thus placed alongside Iran, North Korea and Turkey, among others. The Netherlands’ National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV) published on July 17, 2025, its annual report “Assessment of threats from state actors 2025” (Beoordeling Dreigingen door Staatactoren 2025), where Israel is listed for the first time as a security-threatening actor. Israel’s placement on the list is linked to assessments that the country uses informal methods to influence public opinion and...

In an interview with Euronews, Plamen Ralchev says: “The euro is a lifeboat that Bulgaria should board!" The scientist at the University of National and World Economics warns against right-wing populist parties exploiting the currency debate. The days of the Bulgarian lev are numbered! Bulgaria wants to introduce the European single currency, the euro, in January. The reform efforts are paying off: The European Commission, central bank and EU finance ministers have given the green light. Bulgaria meets all the conditions for the euro: Consumer prices are rising only slowly The budget deficit is low Public debt is one of...

The orders include the purchase of 20 Eurofighter jets from Airbus, up to 5,000 Boxer armored vehicles from Rheinmetall (ETR:RHMG), and at least 3,500 Patria Oyj armored vehicles, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions. The German cabinet is scheduled to approve its medium-term financial planning on Wednesday. The plan will more than double the country’s annual defense budget to as much as €162 billion ($189 billion) within four years.

Okay, this is a very big win. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen outlines some more details of the U.S-EU trade agreement. The parameters fall similar to the Japanese deal, without the banking aspect. The EU will face (and accept) a 15% tariff rate for most exports to the USA including autos, that’s huge, even with some zero-for-zero tariff sectors outlined. The primary motivating factor was to avoid the 35% tariff rate scheduled for August 1st and provide the EU corporations with certainty in their tariff rate as applied by the USA (15%). WATCH:This is almost full acquiescence to...

France will recognise a Palestinian state in September at the UN general assembly, Emmanuel Macron has said. The French president announced the decision on X on Thursday evening, saying he hoped it would bring peace to the region. Macron published a letter sent to Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, confirming France’s intention to become the first major western power to recognise a Palestinian state. “True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine,” Macron said. “I will make this solemn announcement at the...

“Germany is considering purchasing up to 2,500 armored fighting vehicles and as many as 1,000 battle tanks as part of a joint European effort to create new NATO brigades to deter Russia, according to people familiar with the matter. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has asked Germany to contribute as many as seven combat brigades to the alliance within the next decade. The fighting vehicles and tanks, if approved, would equip these forces, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.” “The order under consideration by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and the Bundeswehr’s top generals would include as...

Irish students seeking US educational and exchange visas will be required to make their social media profiles public to allow officials to review their online activity, the US Embassy in Dublin has said. In a statement on Monday, the embassy said the US State Department is “committed to protecting our nation and our citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process”. “A US visa is a privilege, not a right,” it said. The embassy said visa applicants will be required to list all social media usernames or handles for every platform they...

The EU cloaks supranational tax increases in green.On the hunt for fresh sources of cash, the European Commission has zeroed in on households and motorists. A planned expansion of the EU’s carbon pricing scheme to include home heating and transportation fuels is set to plug Brussels’ gaping budget deficit — at the expense of its citizens. What we are witnessing is a fiscal smash-and-grab dressed up in green. Starting in 2027, private homes, small businesses, and passenger vehicles will be folded into a second emissions trading system (ETS2), placing them under the strict control of EU-level cap-and-trade mechanisms. This bureaucratic...

PARIS/JERUSALEM, June 16 (Reuters) - France shut down the main Israeli company stands at the Paris Airshow on Monday for refusing to remove attack weapons from display, sparking a furious response from Israel and inflaming tensions between the traditional allies. Stands including those of Elbit Systems (ESLT.TA), opens new tab, Rafael, IAI and Uvision were blocked off with black partitions before the start of the world's biggest aviation trade fair. Smaller Israeli stands, which didn't have hardware on display, and an Israeli Ministry of Defence stand, remained open. France, a long-time Israeli ally, has gradually hardened its position on the...

On January 20, 2025, the first day of his second presidential term, Donald Trump signed an executive order: “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.” The bad old days of the “censorship-industrial complex,” allegedly responsible for suppressing online speech under President Joe Biden, were over.Except they weren’t. The driving force behind online censorship had never been the U.S. government, which meant that freedom of speech could not be restored by the stroke of a president’s pen. Rather, the European Union has wielded its Digital Services Act (DSA) to restrict the speech not just of Europeans but especially of Americans...

MAGA firebrand Steve Bannon called on President Donald Trump to condemn Ukraine’s weekend drone attack on Russian airbases and “pull all support” after reports that the White House was not informed in advance of the offensive. More than 40 warplanes, including Russia’s Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombers, were reportedly damaged or destroyed across four airbases in Murmansk and Irkutsk, thousands of miles from Ukraine’s border. The operation, which Ukraine revealed it had been in planning for 18-months, came just one day before Monday’s peace talks were set to begin in Istanbul. Axios reported on Sunday that sources within the administration...