Free Republic

Chief Executive of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association has described an increase in thefts last year — driven mainly by robberies from shops — as “frightening”. Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Vincent Jennings said it is not just just the thefts that are concerning, but the associated incidents — such as assaults, assaults causing harm, drunkenness, misogynistic and hateful comments being made to staff and public order offenses. Annual crime figures released by the Central Statistics Office show there was a significant increase in theft offenses last year. Almost half of the more than 74,000 thefts and related...

LONDON (AP) – Ireland is poised to get its youngest-ever premier after Simon Harris secured the leadership of the Fine Gael party on Sunday, replacing Leo Varadkar who announced his surprise resignation last week. The 37-year-old Harris, who is the government’s further and higher education minister, was the only candidate to put his name forward to succeed Varadkar, who had been Ireland’s previous youngest prime minister, or what Ireland calls its taoiseach.

The French government is raising its terror alert warning to its highest level following the shootings on Moscow, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said on Sunday after a meeting with senior security and defence officials with President Emmanuel Macron. Attal said in a post on X that the decision, which comes months before Paris hosts the Olympic Games, was taken "in light of the Islamic State's claiming responsibility for the (Moscow) attack and the threats weighing on our country". ...

Ireland, Spain, Malta and Slovenia standing ready to recognize the Palestine state has given Palestinians “hope,” its ambassador has said. Earlier, in a joint-statement, the four countries’ prime ministers said they were ready to recognize the Palestine state when the “circumstances are right”. The Palestinian ambassador to Ireland, Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, welcomed the statement, describing it as “promising news”. She said it might only be a few EU countries, but that Ireland is “leading” the way and she expressed thanks for “all the Irish efforts”. …

One of the nation's major oil companies says it will close 1,000 gas stations. Shell made the announcement in its 2024 Energy Transition Strategy report, saying the measure is “in response to customer needs” and aimed at reallocating those resources towards EV charging stations. Shell said it will close 500 stations in 2024 and the other 500 in 2025. “We believe growth in oil demand is set to slow in the second half of this decade and could start falling in the 2030s because of increasing vehicle efficiency and growth in electric vehicles," the company stated in the report. "Today...

In 2017, Varadkar became the first gay prime minister of the once-staunchly Catholic country and the youngest person to hold the office. He returned to the premiership in 2022 under a rotation arrangement struck between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, the two largest parties in a three-party coalition with the smaller Green Party. Varadkar's government has overseen a sharp economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic but has struggled to tackle a decade-long housing crisis and more recently the pressure on services from record numbers of asylum seekers and Ukrainian refugees. He also suffered an embarrassing referendum defeat this month when...

German police took a 16-year-old schoolgirl out of her class after she was denounced by her headteacher for expressing political sympathies with right-wing party AfD in a harmless Smurf video. The incident has caused a national scandal in Germany. Now Loretta and her mother, Annett B., speak out publicly for the first time in a interview with conservative weekly Junge Freiheit. The girl feels humiliated; her mother fears for political freedom and civil rights in Germany.

Five months into the Gaza crisis, the results of the updated Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment released today indicate the unfolding of the worst possible forecast for Gaza. Gaza is already facing famine, with 100% of people estimated to be acutely food insecure, according to the IPC. In Gaza's Northern Governorates, 70% of the population are facing imminent famine. In the centre and southern governorates, 50% of people face catastrophic food insecurity conditions. The situation is projected to deteriorate fast in the next weeks and months and famine is likely to also affect the South. This is unprecedented....

Breaking News: The open borders, lockdown addicted, mandatory JAB pushing, WEF Govt of tiny Rishi Sunak are introducing new legal definitions of terrorism. Critics of the WEF, UN, EU, NATO and the WHO Treaty can expect a knock at the door. Here are the new diktats from WEF Sunak and Co. Under the new definition, which comes into force on Thursday, extremism is “the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to: 1. negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or

President Biden met with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar Friday, where the leader said he thinks there should be a cease-fire “as soon as possible” between Israel and Hamas. Varadkar said he was “keen” to speak with Biden about the war in Gaza, as the two leaders met at the White House to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. “You know, my – my view that we need to have a cease-fire as soon as possible to get food and medicine in, to get the hostages out,” Varadkar said. Biden interjected, saying “And I agree.” The Prime Minister continued, saying he and...

Germany's Bundesbank confronted its predecessor's Nazi past in new research published on Friday and vowed it would never allow antisemitism or discrimination. The bank has put out an abridged version of an upcoming series of volumes, at a time when the far right is on the rise in Germany, triggering nationwide protests in a country still scarred by its 20th century history. It detailed how the Reichsbank financed Adolf Hitler's war efforts, helped the exploitation of occupied territories and was involved in the confiscation, expropriation and sale of Jewish assets.

Former president Mary Robinson has called on the Taoiseach (prime minister) to urge the US to end its military and financial support for Israel during his meeting with Joe Biden at the White House. Leo Varadkar this afternoon met US President Joe Biden, with Ukraine, Gaza, Northern Ireland and the economic outlook on the agenda. The chairwoman of the Elders group said the focus should not be on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, but on political responses to it. Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Mrs. Robinson said: “Yes, the humanitarian situation is utterly catastrophic and dire, reducing a people...

The Polish General Staff is convinced that 300,000 NATO soldiers are on high alert and will immediately arrive in Poland in case of a threat to the country This was stated by the Deputy Chief of the Polish General Staff Karol Dymanowski. According to him, several thousand American soldiers are currently deployed in Poland and are involved in exercises. Answering the host's question about whether the number of US troops in Poland may increase to 100,000, he said that this is a realistic scenario. "These are NATO's plans, which were approved at the political level at the last NATO summit...

President Michael D. Higgins has issued a blistering critique of the situation in Gaza, saying it is scandalous that humanitarian aid and medical supplies are being blocked from entering the coastal strip. He added that those nations responsible for allowing the blockade to continue “must take responsibility for the deaths that are ensuing”. The President also criticized a “propaganda campaign” against the United Nations and called on countries to increase aid for the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA). Several countries, including the US and UK, have paused funding for the relief agency in Gaza following claims from Israel that some...

Europe is continuing its shift to the right, as voters in Portugal on Sunday rejected socialist governance and cemented the populist-nationalist Chega party as a major political force in the country and potentially a coalition partner in the next government. Following a corruption scandal hitting the highest levels of the socialist government of António Costa, whose own chief of staff and other government ministers were arrested on suspicion of corruption, forcing the PM to announce his resignation and call for an early election, the party has tumbled in the weekend’s election.

The Biden administration scrambled behind the scenes to prepare for the imminent possibility that Russia would use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, a shocking new report revealed. In 2022, the CIA warned President Biden of a 50% change or higher that Russia would reach for its nuclear arsenal if it found its forces were decimated and the illegally annexed territory of Crimea was at risk, according to the New York Times. Those reports caused Biden to deliver his famous “Armageddon” speech at an Oct. 6, 2022, fundraiser in New York City, in which he warned, “We have not faced the...

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Demand for transporting goods from Asia to Europe by rail via Russia has increased by an average of 30% since the start of the Red Sea crisis, the Financial Times newspaper reported, citing logistics companies and rail operators. German shipping company DHL said that requests to transport goods on Russian railways have increased by 40% since container ships began traveling along alternative routes following the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, the report said on Sunday. At the same time, Netherlands-based Rail Bridge Cargo said that rail freight traffic via Russia was 31% higher this year compared...

Portugal’s Socialists conceded defeat in a parliamentary election on Sunday which saw the far-right emerge as the biggest winner. With nearly 99% of votes counted, the center-right AD coalition had secured 77 seats against 75 seats for the Socialists. “Everything indicates that the result won’t enable the Socialist Party to be the most voted party," Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos said. He congratulated the AD for their election victory. Far-right party Chega recorded the biggest jump in support compared with the 2022 election - it has already won 46 seats, almost quadrupling its current tally. This means the AD would...

A dual referendum in Ireland on redefining family and women's roles in the constitution has been defeated, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Saturday. The government had supported the proposed changes, which would have widened the definition of the family and clarified out-dated language about the duties of women in society. "I think it's clear at this stage, that the family amendment and the care amendment referendums have been defeated," Varadkar said at a press conference in Dublin.The votes are the latest attempt to reflect the changing face of European Union member Ireland, and the waning influence of the once-dominant...

The European Commission will propose on Tuesday ways for the European Union to boost its arms industry so it can shift to “war economy mode” in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Thierry Breton, the European industry commissioner, will lay out proposals to encourage EU countries to buy more weapons together from European companies, and to help such firms increase production capacity, according to EU officials. “We need to change the paradigm and move into war economy mode. This also means that the European defense industry must take more risks, with our support,” said Breton, previewing the package. Breton, a...