Free Republic

Saudi Arabia has executed 12 people in 10 days despite the Crown Prince's promise to cut down on such form of punishment, according to a human rights organisation. Reprieve said the defendants, all males, were sentenced to death after being imprisoned for non-violent drug offences. According to the non-profit organisation, which gathered data on this week's executions, most of the defendants were beheaded with a sword. Three of the men executed were Pakistani, four Syrian, two Jordanian and three Saudi, Reprieve said. Another man from Jordan was reportedly transferred to a prison wing and is due to be executed on...

Russian troops were battling into a major Donbas city today as a confidential UK report revealed the Kremlin’s army could collapse amid massive losses. A secretive analysis of the invasion says Russian President Vladimir Putin believes losses of 30,350 troops so far are a “price worth paying” for a small victory in Ukraine. But the new report - seen by senior UK government officials and written by a top UK analyst on Russia warns Putin’s blood sacrifice may be a step too far for his troops. Today Moscow’s troops entered the city of Sievierodonetsk sparking fierce fighting in the ruins...

According to a Norwegian International Affairs researcher, the images people in Russia are being shown by the official media are far from the brutal reality of the Ukraine war. Russian president Vladimir Putin is reportedly painting a completely different picture of his ongoing invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. For people only consuming Russian media, it comes across as there being an ongoing "special military operation" in Ukraine, which has the aim of protecting the people of East Ukraine against the so-called nationalistic government in Kyiv. Russian state television aired a short statement by Putin last week, where he described Ukrainian president...

Scientist claims to invent 'time machine' to see into the future with 98 per cent accuracy • He says his device can detail any individual’s life between five and eight years in advance after taking readings from the user's touch An Iranian scientist claims he has invented a time machine that allows you to predict the future with 98 per cent accuracy. Ali Razeghi says his device can produce a print-out detailing any individual’s life between five and eight years in advance after taking readings from the user's touch. He claims the Iranian government, whose nuclear programme has caused concern...

Mainstream media outlets in Great Britain and the US were running news Sunday of a stunning petition that shows 2 million people want a new Brexit vote. Over “two million” signed the referendum in less than 24 hours! The BBC, The Mirror, France 24, The Telegraph, Manchester Evening News, The Guardian… all reported on the bogus petition. But they got punked. The poll was manufactured by 4Chan and Anonymous hackers who loaded up the signatures with fake names from The Vatican, Ghana, North Korea and elsewhere.

The ex-newspaper editor took great delight in making fun of President Bush for falling off a Segway - the two-wheeled, motorised, gyroscopically balanced scooter that, its makers promise, will never fall over. However, he was bitten by karma and suffered the same fate as Bush.

A civil servant and an MP's researcher have been found guilty of leaking a secret memo about talks between George Bush and Tony Blair. David Keogh, 50, from Northampton, has been found guilty of two offences under the Official Secrets Act. MP's researcher Leo O'Connor was found guilty of one Official Secrets offence. It recorded Oval Office talks between Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair about Iraq in 2004, the Old Bailey was told. Sentencing was adjourned for reports........

Just lately (noticeably since the US election result) there seems to be an awful lot of anti-British sentiment on here (there always was a little but I put that down to a handful of xenophobic kiddies) What I would like to know is do most Freepers now share the low opinion that some (many) on here seem to have of our nation or is it just a small (but very vocal) minority of morons? I've enjoyed this forum (for the relatively short time that I've contributed) and have always liked Americans in general, but I now find myself reconsidering my...

The Government has failed to prove that the Daily Mirror's pictures of alleged Iraqi prisoner abuse are fake, the newspaper's editor said. Piers Morgan called on ministers to bring the soldiers responsible for allegedly mistreating Iraqi prisoners to book. And he rejected as "nonsense" accusations from armed forces minister Adam Ingram that he had not co-operated with the Ministry of Defence investigation into the torture claims. In a statement Mr Morgan said: "We have listened to what Mr Ingram has said today but he has still not produced incontrovertible evidence that the pictures are faked." The injunction banning details of...

Here is the text of the Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan's response to a government statement which said the tabloid's photos allegedly showing British troops abusing Iraqis were not taken in the Gulf state. ---------------------------- In the last two weeks the Daily Mirror has exposed a significant amount of serious unlawful abuse by a rogue group of British troops against Iraqi detainees. Abuse similar to allegations that the government was made aware of months ago by the Red Cross and Amnesty International, but the details and scale of which the British public would have known nothing about were it not...

So now we’re told that it doesn’t matter whether or not the Iraqi torture pictures are fakes. What’s important is that British soldiers are mistreating prisoners. And if the phoney photos have drawn attention to this greater evil, then so well and good. Yeah, right. Curious how those putting forward this argument have always been first to scream “fit-up” when police are accused of fabricating evidence against known criminals and terrorists. How many cases have collapsed because detectives have over-egged the case against villains they insisted were guilty? How many guilty men have walked free because their “confessions” have been...

The pictures which sparked claims UK soldiers abused Iraqis were staged at a British barracks by Territorial Army (TA) members, it has been reported. Sources told the Daily Telegraph the photographs were set up in a Bedford MK lorry at Kimberley TA base in Preston. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said it was likely the pictures were a hoax. The regiment accused of the abuse has demanded an apology from the Daily Mirror for publishing the images, but the paper has stood by their accuracy. The photographs appeared to show soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment urinating on a prisoner and...

<p>U.K. Has `Indications' Iraqi Abuse Photos Are Fake (Update1) May 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said there are signs that photographs the Daily Mirror published purporting to show British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners may be fake.</p> <p>The comment casts doubt on accusations that British troops tortured Iraqis. Polls show those charges have hurt the approval rating of Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said accusations of abuse by U.K. troops are still being investigated.</p>

Ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein has reportedly been in secret negotiations with US forces for the past nine days. According to the Sunday Mirror report, Saddam was demanding safe passage to the former Soviet republic of Belarus in exchange for information on weapons of mass destruction and his bank accounts. US President George W Bush was being kept up to date on the talks by his national security adviser Condoleeza Rice who was coordinating negotiations led by US general Ricardo Sanchez, the Sunday Mirror said. Sanchez is the commander of US forces in Iraq. "A representative of Saddam in Western-style...

Sport, sex and celebrity puts Mirror back on trackCiar ByrneMonday April 28, 2003 The Guardian Daily Mirror: first good news for paper since sales fell below 2m earlier this month  More jaw jaw and less war war appears to be the way forward for the Daily Mirror, after a week of "light touch" front page stories gave the tabloid a much-needed circulation boost.A triple whammy of sport, sex and celebrity saw the Mirror put on 31,000 extra sales last Tuesday, according to unofficial industry estimates.It is the first piece of good news for the newspaper since its circulation crashed through...

THE MINISTER OF MISINFORMATIONBy Kevin O'SullivanIT'S all over bar the routing. So with all due deference to the tragedy and pain on the field of battle let's look at some of the less important aspects of what Bush and Blair like to call Operation Iraqi Freedom.With brave coalition boys striding through both Basra and now Baghdad there seems little doubt that our troops will soon triumph as Saddam's sad army lurches inexorably towards abject defeat.But war has many sides to it. Away from the field of conflict you can be on the losing side and still be a winner. And...

The Daily Star talks of our "brave heroes" - the SAS. The paper claims that members of the elite group of troops are already on the streets of Baghdad. Oh and there is a picture of a girl in a bikini.The Sun shows a British tank poised to attck Baghdad with the Allied army set to do battle with Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard. It uses the headline: "Saddam's Last Stand."The Daily Express is also looking at the main push towards Baghdad. It uses a picture of allied troops ready to go over the top.US and British warplanes, guided by...

The Daily Star claims Iraq executed a number of American prisoners of war in "cold blood". It also advertises its "Oscars Special" with a picture of Carmen Elektra."God Help Them" is the headline on the front of the Daily Express. It refers to the American prisoners of war that Iraq paraded on TV. It also claims a number of prisoners who were killed were shot in the head.The Sun also looks at the plight of the US prisoners of war being held in Iraq. It says they are being "Held At The Mercy Of Savages".The Daily Mirror continues with its...

Dramatic pictures have been coming out of Iraq since the bombing campaign began. The Sun carries perhaps the most dramatic yet - capturing the moment the "shock and awe" campaign began.The anti-war Mirror puts it another way. It describes last night's attack, which was beamed across the world as it happened, as "America's night of shame".The cruise missile blitz is captured in the two detailed pictures by the Daily Mail, which shows smoke pouring out of one large building.The Daily Express opts to carry a picture of Iraqi troops surrendering in southern Iraq, although the paper's picture desk has ignored...

The Sun reports on what it calls the "Battle For Basra". It says 10,000 British troops stormed into action to seize the key city in southern Iraq.The Mirror carries a full-page picture of smoke rising from a missile strike in Baghdad with the headline "Mass Destruction".The Star also leads with a picture of a burning Baghdad and says allies have blitzed Saddam's palaces and troops have warned: "You ain't seen nothing yet".The Express says 10,000 British troops have spearheaded a full-blown invasion of Iraq and says they have come under fire from "the missiles Saddam the liar said he never...