Free Republic

Twitter has joined Facebook and YouTube in restricting social media accounts of popular dissident Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, in the face of intense Chinese pressure. Guo, a New York-based billionaire and critic of corruption among senior Chinese leaders, said several Twitter accounts he used to reach more than 700,000 followers had been suspended. A Twitter spokeswoman declined to comment citing a policy of not commenting on individual accounts. Earlier, YouTube restricted Guo's live streaming from his widely-watched channel used to post hour-long videos revealing tantalizing details of high-level corruption among Chinese leaders. Guo spent 28 years as an entrepreneur in...

China earlier this year ordered the dispatch of 27 intelligence officers to the United States as part of a larger campaign of subversion, according to a leading Chinese dissident. Guo Wengui, a billionaire real estate mogul, disclosed what he said was an internal Communist Party document authorizing the Ministry of State Security to send the spies, described as "people's police officers." Guo, who is being sought by the Chinese government in a bid to silence his disclosures of high-level corruption and intelligence activity, denounced the Beijing regime as corrupt and called for a "revolution" to reform the system. "My only...

WASHINGTON—A suspected Chinese cyberattack on the website of a prominent Washington think tank drew a complaint from U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week in a meeting with top Chinese government officials. The website of the Hudson Institute crashed earlier this week, shortly before the organization was scheduled to host an event with Guo Wengui, a fugitive Chinese businessman and political dissident who has alleged corruption within China’s leadership. The Institute had several days earlier detected a Shanghai-based attack aimed at shutting down access to its website, according to a spokesman. The spokesman said the attack was foiled, and he...

Hospital officials say Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo's condition has worsened and that he's in respiratory failure. The hospital treating him in the northeastern city of Shenyang released a statement on Wednesday, 2 days after its announcement that Liu was in a critical state. Officials added that they explained to his family that Liu needs artificial help to breathe, but that they declined it. The writer was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009, after criticizing the Communist Party for its one-party rule. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 while in jail. Liu was...

The brother of blind activist Chen Guangcheng has gone missing, a lawyer said on Saturday, days after he fled his village in northeastern China to seek help for his son who has been detained in a case that has become a rallying point among rights activists. Chen Guangfu, the eldest brother of Chen Guangcheng, fled his home in Shandong province and arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to seek legal help for his son, Chen Kegui, who is being held on an attempted murder charge. He appears to have become the latest target of the government's reprisals against Chen Guangcheng's family...

The State Department painted it as an elegant way out of a ballooning crisis involving Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng — but by day’s end, it looked like a disgraceful performance by US diplomats. Initial reports had Chen so pleased by the deal that he told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “I want to kiss you.” The agreement Clinton negotiated with Beijing yesterday supposedly allowed Cheng to stay in China and get medical attention, with the authorities guaranteeing his future safety. But things started unraveling just hours after the compromise was inked. First, while State claims Chen never wanted to leave...

Cuban dissident artist Danilo “El Sexto” Maldonado, who was detained by authorities on Saturday after mocking Fidel Castro’s death, was severely beaten, according to relatives who saw him at the detention center in Guanabacoa. “Danilo's mom saw him,” the artist’s girlfriend, Miami resident Alexandra Martinez, 24, said late Tuesday. “He was badly beaten upon entering Guanabacoa and suffered a severe asthma attack.” Authorities also confiscated his cell phone, she said. Martinez said Maldonado’s mother, Maria Victoria Machado, was allowed to visit her son at a Guanabacoa police station, on the outskirts of Havana, for the first time since he was...

TAIPEI (AFP) - A former leader of the Tiananmen Square protests in China has lashed out at US presidential hopeful Donald Trump, whom he dubbed a "privileged comeback king", and warned America is at risk of abandoning its cherished freedoms. Wu'er Kaixi said he was speaking on behalf of Chinese democracy dissidents everywhere in condemning the provocative property magnate, who was criticised last week after describing the 1989 demonstration in Beijing as a "riot". "Speaking personally, after 27 years in exile from that 'riot'... I think I can speak for all fellow exiled and imprisoned Chinese in condemning Trump," Wu'er...

Chinese dissident Harry Wu emphasises that to not be deceived by Chinese propaganda broadcasted to West one needs to understand that the Communist Party of China has still absolute power in the state.

"Good times for dissident Dominicans: Über-liberal Timothy Radcliffe appointed by Pope Francis as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace" The Vatican Bollettino for today reports that Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP, has been appointed by Pope Francis as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The former Master General of the Dominican Order is a prominent supporter of the Kasperite proposal in favor of communion for the "divorced and remarried". He has also spoken out in favor of the ordination of women, if not to the priesthood, then at least to the diaconate (see this.) However...

Six men have been arrested in the Republic of Ireland after police discovered bomb making equipment close to where Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall are due to visit next week. Explosives and weapons were recovered at various locations as Irish police carried out more than 20 raids aimed at disrupting dissident Republican activity.

By Ignatius Ssuuna Bujumbura — More than a week after he disappeared from a Bujumbura prison, Hussein Radjabu, a former rebel commander and powerful politician who enjoys significant popular support, has finally spoken. "I am planning to work with all Burundians [to bring about] a better politics that brings everybody on board, so that we have a better country," he told the Swahili service of Voice of America, putting paid to rumours that he might have been assassinated. His location was not disclosed. Rajdabu's 1 March jailbreak, which was well organised with outside assistance, adds to the uncertainty and tension...

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has stated that a Catholic college’s plans to host a priest who has advocated for the ordination of women would “damage the unity” of the Church, according to a statement released exclusively to The Cardinal Newman Society. In 2011, Fr. Helmut Schüller of Austria was a leader in a movement that issued a “Call to Disobedience,” which advocated for the ability of divorced and remarried Catholics to receive sacraments as well as the ordination of women and married men.Currently, Fr. Schüller is touring the United States on what’s called “The Catholic Tipping Point” tour. That...

August Landmesser (born May 24, 1910; missing and presumed dead Oct 17, 1944; declared dead in 1949) was a worker at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, best known for his appearance in a photograph refusing to perform the Nazi salute at the launch of the naval training vessel Horst Wessel on 13 June 1936. August Landmesser was the only child of August Franz Landmesser and Wilhelmine Magdalene (née Schmidtpott). He joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in 1931 in hope of getting a job. When he became engaged to the Jewish woman Irma Eckler in 1935, he was...

Pope should be deposed if he accepts the SSPX back

Editor: We got earlier statements from the good Cardinal at Enlace Catolico. Here he is again, this time for Vatican Radio and kath.net, saying his piece against these theologians. It's certainly one of the most striking statements from a Curial official so far, and one of the most surprising. Here are some excerpts from his interview as translated at kath.net. "Churches, which have opted for woman's ordination and the recognition of same-sex partnerships, have put themselves for that reason in a very deep crisis"

A survivor of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in China appealed to President Barack Obama during a press conference on Tuesday to push Chinese President Hu Jintao to end the practice of forcing women to have an abortion as part of China's one-child-per-couple policy. “President Obama, we’re speaking to you as the president of this great nation, we also speak to you as a great father for your two beautiful children,” said Chai Ling, who came to the United States in 1990 and founded All Girls Allowed, a Christian organization that helps Chinese victims of forced abortions and sterilization in...

NEW DELHI: After deep cogitation, India has decided to stand up to Chinese pressure and attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on Friday. Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo is this year's recipient, and the Chinese government has been furious at anybody who wants to attend, warning them of "consequences", Indian ambassador to Norway Banbit Roy will attend the ceremony on Friday, official sources said, as he has attended the peace prize ceremony over the past couple of years. India has also delinked its attendance from the forthcoming visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao next week. This is significant, because...

(IsraelNN.com) Iranian anti-regime activists are hoping for an Israeli technological hand to help them fight the Islamic Republic. As of now, hundreds of protesters have been killed by the regime, which is evidently using Arabic-speaking armed thugs from Hizbullah to help perpetrate the violence. "Dear Israeli Brothers and Sisters," writes Iranian dissident Arash Irandoost, "Iran needs your help more than ever now. And we will be eternally grateful

Chinese dissidents emulate anti-Soviet heroes with Charter 08 Chinese intellectuals have challenged the country's Communist leaders to end one-party rule with the launch of Charter 08, a throw-back to the Charter 77 declaration of Soviet-era Czechoslovakian dissidents. By Richard Spencer in Beijing Last Updated: 3:56PM GMT 09 Dec 2008 The bold plea for political reform calls on the government to allow freedom of expression and association and to give up Communist Party control over the legal system. Its launch coincides with Wednesday's 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is one of the most dramatic steps taken...