Free Republic

The European Parliament has voted to pursue unprecedented disciplinary action against Hungary over alleged breaches of the EU's core values. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has been accused of attacks on the media, minorities, and the rule of law - charges which he denies.

Mr Farage spoke highly about the country’s leader Viktor Orban and urged him to not stand to be lectured by the EU but instead follow the UK’s lead and simply leave the bloc. The comments come a day before MEPs are set to vote on whether to trigger Article 7, which is an EU law drafted to ensure respect for democracy and the rule of law as they are worried Hungary is becoming a dictatorship. Mr Orban has said that triggering Article 7 would be an “abuse of power” of the EU. Brussels is concerned with Mr Orban's attitude towards...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is closing the Palestine Liberation Organization’s mission in Washington, the latest U.S. blow against the Palestinians and an international court during the stalled Mideast peace process. Some things to know: THE GIST The administration’s move to close the PLO office in Washington is not directly connected to the Trump White House’s opposition to the International Criminal Court, although the administration is trying to link them. But the Trump administration is trotting out discussions about the two on the same day — Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year — in a move certain to inflame...

National security adviser John Bolton is expected to announced Monday that the U.S. will shutter the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) office in Washington, D.C., The Wall Street Journal reported. “The Trump administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel,” Bolton is expected to say, according to a draft of his speech reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Bolton will reportedly threaten the International Criminal Court with sanctions if it carries out investigations into the U.S. and Israel. ADVERTISEMENT The action against the PLO, which serves as the main entity...

The European Union is in the final stages of crafting legislation that will force big tech and internet companies to censor “extremist” content and cooperate with law enforcement, Reuters reports. The bill is expected to be released by the end of the month and will absolutely require companies such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter to swiftly remove any content considered terroristic from their platforms.

Asia Nader didn't know whether to worry more about being diagnosed with a hole in her heart at the age of 21, or having to wait a year for Swedish doctors to fix it. "I completely fell apart when I found out," she told AFP, remembering the long agonising months until she finally had her operation in June this year, one month before her 23rd birthday.

Africa's population is soon going to "double" and "whatever the circumstances" will mass migrate to Europe -- "and that is a good thing," according to the executive director of Bono's "ONE" NGO. "As Africa's population doubles, a lot of them, whatever the circumstances, will be coming to Europe, as economic migrants or as refugees, they will be coming, many of them," ONE co-founder Jamie Drummond told the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade and Defence last year. "And that is a good thing." "Because we will be senile," Drummond said. "We will be senescent demographically. We'll need their youthful...

Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has recorded an increase of closed murder cases in 2017 involving at least one “non-German” suspect, reported Welt Am Sonntag on Sunday. The number rose to 83 last year, up from 62 the year before, marking a 33 percent increase. In total, 731 people died as a result of murder or manslaughter in 2017. The figures solely comprise closed cases. The BKA’s 2017 report did not specify nationality or whether a suspect was an EU citizen. […] A debate about the link between foreign nationals and murder in Germany was triggered by riots in...

The US Secret Service will send their Men In Black to do a security sweep of Dublin and Doonbeg ahead of Donald Trump’s visit in November. White House confirmation of the two-day trip presents a headache for the Defence Forces who will be braced for large-scale protests. A source said a massive Garda and security operation is needed to safeguard the US President, who met with huge protests on a recent trip to the UK. Trump stirred up a political storm during the four-day visit after criticising British Prime Minister Teresa May in a newspaper interview. He was then snubbed...

Politicians and activists in Ireland have pledged to protest against Donald Trump when he visits in November. On Friday, the White House announced the visit to Ireland would take place as part of a European tour that would also see the US president travel to Paris for a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armistice after the first world war. A White House statement said Trump’s visit would “renew the deep and historic ties between our two nations”. The Irish Labour party, Greens and Solidarity – People Before Profit all pledged to organise protests surrounding the visit, within an...

A German man who used a homemade bomb to attack a mosque in the eastern city of Dresden was Friday sentenced to nearly 10 years in jail for what prosecutors called a xenophobic crime. The accused, Nino Köhler, had apologized during his trial to the imam and his family. No one was hurt in the attack. The bomb damaged the door of the Fatih mosque while the family were inside on September 26th, 2016. That same evening, the accused planted another homemade pipe bomb that slightly damaged a convention center in the city, which was days away from hosting festivities...

A shining effigy of controversial Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suddenly appeared in southwestern Germany—to the surprise and chagrin of locals.The 13-foot statue, painted gold, depicts Erdogan with his hand, outstretched and pointing at the horizon. Erdogan is a divisive figure in Germany—which has a diaspora of around 3 million people of Turkish nationality or descent—and when residents of Wiesbaden, 20 miles west of Frankfurt, woke up to a monument honoring the man, they had questions for city officials."We have received calls from a string of irritated citizens—it is not clear to people that it is part of the...

A Dublin woman’s attempt challenge to the result of May’s abortion referendum has been dismissed by the Court of Appeal. Joanna Jordan, from Upper Glenageary Road, Dún Laoghaire, had appealed a ruling by High Court President Mr. Justice Peter Kelly, who last month said she had not met the necessary legal test set by the Referendum Act before a court can permit a petition to be brought. Charles Byrne, a piano teacher and musician, of College Rise, Drogheda, Co. Louth, had initially sought to challenge the outcome, but opted not to appeal the High Court’s decision. In a decision handed...

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio on Monday threatened to veto the European Union’s seven-year budget plan should the bloc not do more to share the burden of migrant arrivals. “In Europe, the music will change,” Di Maio wrote on Facebook less than two days after the country’s latest clash with Brussels over who should take in migrants rescued at sea. […] Di Maio last week threatened to withhold Italy’s EU contributions if the bloc did not agree to take in rescued migrants that the government had blocked on a ship in the port of Catania, in Sicily. …

Merkel defended democratic values in an interview following a contentious summer for her government. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer also said he doesn’t expect a repeat of the crisis that nearly upended Berlin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasized the importance of press freedom, protections for minorities and independent courts in an interview with public broadcaster ARD on Sunday. “Democracy is more than just somebody getting a majority,” Merkel said. “Democracy is protection for minorities, press freedom, the right to demonstrate — democracy is independent courts.” If the independence of those institutions is no longer safeguarded, “then democracy would no longer be...

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has declared Germany “is a nation of immigrants and will remain so”, asserting: “There are no half or whole Germans, no biological or ‘new’ Germans”. Speaking at Berlin’s Bellevue Palace, where a small group of people with Turkish heritage had been invited to share their views on immigration, integration, and xenophobia in Europe, the German president strongly denounced “exclusion of and discrimination against people with foreign roots”. “A permanent suspicion of immigrants, no matter how long they have lived in Germany, is not only harmful for the individuals involved but it is a cause of shame...

Sicilian prosecutors are investigating Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini over his refusal to allow migrants off a coastguard vessel. The Dicott docked in the Sicilian port of Catania on Monday. The Italian government is refusing to most of the migrants disembark until a solution is reached regarding their relocation with other European states. Prosecutors have now opened an inquiry into possible illegal confinement illegal arrest, and abuse of power. Mr. Salvini responded to the news by shrugging off the threat, saying those still on board would be allowed off "in the coming hours"....

Iran awaiting European guarantees on the sale of Iranian oil and banking relations, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA). […] “We are still waiting for Europe to take action on the sale of Iranian oil and the preservation of banking channels,” the Iranian foreign minister said. Zarif also defended the European Union’s decision on Thursday to provide €18 million ($21 million) in aid to Iran to offset the impact of U.S. sanctions, part of efforts to salvage the 2015 deal to limit Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. […] The top U.S. envoy...

A FAMILY filmed hacking up animal carcasses in their back yard are being investigated in a hygiene probe. Neighbours alerted environmental health officials after the raw meat was chopped up on a tarpaulin. It is not known if the family — celebrating Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice — slaughtered the animals at home or were simply butchering them. Julia McClenaghan, 62, whose flat overlooks the yard in Dagenham, Essex, said: “It seems one of the least hygienic places to prepare meat, and they were using an old rag to wipe their tools.” A woman living at the property...

In a response to the UN, the government failed to include information regarding its practice in asylum cases involving female genital mutilation (FGM) in Somalia. Although the country’s refugee agency Flygtningenævnet, which is part of the Ministry of Immigration and Integration, wished to submit the information, a section relating to FGM was removed, making the response less controversial, according to a report by newspaper Information. The decision to remove such information was taken by the ministry in consultation with the Ministry of Justice’s section for state and human rights (Stats-og Menneskeretskontor), according to the report. Information reports that public documents...