Free Republic

More than 2,500 AK-47 automatic rifles were seized from a stateless skiff in the international waters of the Gulf of Aden at the end of August. U.S. Navy sailors aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG 109) discovered the illicit weapons shipment during counter-trafficking mission on August 28.

Medeni Duran wrote that his imprisoned brother Metin "cannot walk, speak, or eat and does not recognize anyone anymore. He can only breathe." Mistreatment and even torture of journalists and media employees, along with arbitrary arrests, are getting alarmingly commonplace in Turkey. At least 183 journalists and media workers in Turkey in are being held, either in pretrial detention or serving a prison sentence, according to the Platform for Independent Journalism. Dissident journalists and writers in Turkey increasingly face government threats and arbitrary arrests for their work and opinions, but for Metin Duran, the punishments have been even more...

Fulani Muslim militants launched raids on eight villages burning alive a Christian pastor, wife and three of their children. Islamic raiders, with machetes and AK47 rifles, looted destroying 95 houses, farmland and three churches. They killed Pastor Adamu Gyang Wurim and his family by setting fire to their house while them inside and shot his wife. Also, two villagers killed &wounding several others. Local lawyer, Dalyop Solomon Mwantiri, spoke with one of three surviving pastor's children away at University that learned of it on Facebook. "When I called a friend to find out about the situation, the report I received...

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut relations with Qatar for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. The Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting Yemen's Houthi rebels also expelled Qatar from its alliance because of Doha's practices of strengthen terrorism. Qatar has categorically denied supporting; Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and is confidant US President Donald Trump will not last in power.

Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed 30 people, including 22 children, in a rebel-held area in northwestern Yemen on Thursday, according to the Houthi-controlled Health Ministry. Four families were evacuating their homes in a vehicle when the airstrikes hit, according to Houthi-owned media. Earlier coalition airstrikes on Wednesday killed four people and injured two, according to two surviving family members who preferred to remain anonymous for security reasons. "Four people were killed in the strike before, that's why they fled. They wanted to save their lives, their children's lives. Is nowhere safe for us?" one survivor said. Both sources did not want...

According to reports from human rights organizations Saudi Arabia is about to behead female activist in public - Mainstream media is silent to avoid damaging the image of Islam. Esraa al-Ghamgam, a female human rights activist sentenced to death over her human rights activism after serving three years in detention. Her last words as she was sentenced to death were “I am being killed innocent, I will seek justice from God.” Saudi Arabia is the head of the UN Human Rights Council despite its worst human rights record in the world.

Pakistan army chief hosts Christian leaders Army chief hails Father Joseph Coutts’ appointment as cardinal a ‘national honour’ Islamabad: In a first, Pakistan’s Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa hosted a banquet dinner on Monday for some of the country’s most senior Christian leaders, to celebrate the ‘honour’ bestowed on Pakistani priest Joseph Coutts. On June 28, Pope Francis appointed Coutts as cardinal in the Vatican City. General Bajwa hailed the appointment as a matter of ‘national pride’ that a Pakistani priest was awarded that unique honour by no one else but the leader of the...

Gunshots have been fired at the US embassy in Ankara but caused no casualties, Turkish and American officials said, amid escalating tensions between the two NATO allies.

On Wednesday Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended the company’s decision to put Infowars founder Alex Jones in a seven-day “timeout”. Dorsey said, “I feel any suspension, whether it be a permanent or a temporary one, makes someone think about their actions and their behaviors,” Dorsey said. In the same week that Jack Dorsey is lecturing on “appropriate actions and behavior” Twitter just certified racist New York Times writer Sarah Jeong with a blue check mark. And now this Twitter shut down two top Iranian activist’s pages today.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is putting on a rather fierce face in reaction to new tariffs from President Donald Trump and the plunging lira. Erdogan – ever the strongman – implored the country to show economic patriotism in response to what was going on. Via Daily Sabah in Turkey. “If you have dollars, euros or gold under your pillow, go to banks to exchange them for Turkish lira. This is a national struggle,” he said.“This will be my people’s answer to those who declare economic war against us,” he added.Erdoğan also said Turkish people should not worry, saying “We...

ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s administration has quietly started cutting scores of Pakistani officers from coveted training and educational programs that have been a hallmark of bilateral military relations for more than a decade, U.S. officials say.

A top Iranian official has admitted for the first time that Iran knowingly helped al-Qaeda terrorists — including some of the 9/11 attackers — travel secretly through the Middle East. “Their movements [through Iran] were under the complete supervision of the Iranian intelligence,” Mohammad-Javad Larijani said in a recently surfaced interview. That was one of the main accusations leveled against Iran in the U.S. government’s 9/11 Commission Report, which named the nation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Larijani, the secretary of the Iranian judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights and a former diplomat, is a prominent member of the...

The Turkish lira has collapsed to an all-time low against the dollar, but the country's leader has brushed aside concerns, telling Turks "we have our God." The Turkish President Recep Erdogan then followed those comments up Friday by urging Turks to sell dollars and gold and buy lira. At around 8:00 a.m. ET Friday, the lira had fallen to $7.081, an almost 11 percent loss for the session. It has since pared some losses. As recently as April one dollar bought about four Turkish lira.

Shocking photos show the men, dressed in blue overalls, handcuffed and surrounded by Yemeni soldiers as crowds watched their public execution take place in city's streets. Authorities ordered the rapists to lie down on the floor, pointing a gun to their head, before shooting them five times in the heart. The rapists' dead corpses were propped up by in the air by a crane, in Sana'a, Yemen, publicly displayed in front of crowds, serving as a firm warning to anyone who dared commit such crimes. Capital punishment in Yemen is legal, and the country has one of the highest execution...

The Saudi Arabian government plans to withdraw all Saudi students studying at Canadian universities, colleges and other schools in retaliation for Canada criticizing the country’s human-rights record. A Saudi government source, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said there are more than 15,000 Saudis here on government-funded scholarships, grants or in trainee programs. Accompanying family members bring the number to 20,000 or more. The Saudi students will be moved immediately to study programs in other countries with similar education systems, such as Britain or the United States, the Saudi official said. Separately, Saudi Arabian Airlines, via the...

Turkey has delusions that it is a superpower have led to a deepening crisis with the United States, said Simon Waldman, head of the Turkish Studies Research Group at King’s College London. This false impression of its power is one of the root causes of problems with the United States, which also include a weak Turkish state and increasing authoritarianism in the country, Waldman wrote for his blog, simonwaldman.org. “Turkey suffers from delusions of grandeur when it comes to international affairs and finds it difficult to reconcile its self-image of greatness, often emanating from a selective and politicised memory its...

Bin Laden’s mom says he was a good boy who fell prey to ‘a cult’ By Natalie O'Neill 2-3 minutes August 3, 2018 | 6:56pm | Updated August 3, 2018 | 7:01pm A mother’s love really is unconditional. Osama Bin Laden’s mom says her ruthless terrorist son was a good boy who fell prey to “a cult” — and shouldn’t be blamed for the attacks on 9/11, according to a report. In her first-ever interview about the notorious Al-Qaeda leader, Alia Ghanem insisted her son grew up sweet and was led astray by bad influences, according to the UK Guardian....

<p>The Trump administration is quietly pushing ahead with a bid to create a new security and political alliance with six Gulf Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, in part to counter Iran’s expansion in the region, according to U.S. and Arab officials.</p>

Christian pastor who has been detained in Turkey for 21 months has been released after President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence threatened to impose a new “harsh policy” and sanctions, according to Reuters. Andrew Brunson, a North Carolina native, left a Turkish prison on Wednesday and will reportedly be transferred to house arrest. Many are crediting Trump sand Pence for his release from prison, as the White House threatened to impose a new round of brutal sanctions on Turkey if the American pastor was not released. Brunson, who has worked in Turkey for more than 20 years, was...

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman said on Thursday the U.S. administration will not achieve its desired results by threatening Turkey, after U.S. President Donald Trump warned of sanctions unless Ankara freed an American pastor. “The United States must reconsider its approach and adopt a constructive position before inflicting further damage to its own interests and its alliance with Turkey,” Ibrahim Kalin said in a written statement. End