Free Republic

PARIS (AP) — French authorities on Friday raised preliminary terrorism charges against an 18-year-old accused of a plot targeting spectators attending soccer games at the upcoming Paris Olympics. The interior minister said it was the first such thwarted plot targeting the Games, which start in eight weeks as France is on its highest threat alert level. The man is accused of planning a ‘’violent action’’ on behalf of the Islamic State group’s jihadist ideology, the national counterterrorism prosecutor’s office said in a statement Friday. The man, who was not identified, is behind held in custody pending further investigation. Interior Minister...

The European Union just passed a directive requiring ESG mandates for European businesses. ESG, of course, stands for environmental, social and governance standards. Or in the fine print — definite corporate action concerning climate change; social justice; and diversity, equity and inclusion. Basically, it’s applied Marxism without all the goofy theories — tyranny with nuance, we could call it. The EU Council approved what it called the “corporate sustainability due diligence directive” on Friday. Under the new rules, companies “will have to take measures to prevent, identify and mitigate any adverse impact on human rights or the environment,” the council...

After the announcement last week that Spain, Norway and Ireland would recognize the state of Palestine, a visibly-delighted Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations came to talk to the press. “We need somebody to take pictures,” Riyad Mansour said, ushering the Irish, Spanish and Norwegian envoys into an impromptu photoshoot just outside the UN Security Council. “A glorious day today,” Mr. Mansour declared as the four ambassadors stood shoulder-to-shoulder. […] All this, the supporters of Palestinian statehood hope, is gathering momentum towards the implementation of a two-state solution. That is not how Israel, nor its closest ally, the US, see...

Irish Ambassador to Israel Sonya McGuinness was summoned to the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry in Jerusalem today and reprimanded over Ireland’s decision to recognize the State of Palestine. The ambassadors of Spain and Norway attended the same meeting for the same reason. Before any discussions, they were shown a previously unaired video of Hamas taking female army conscripts captive on 7 October last year. It is understood the Irish Government was disappointed at this, on the basis that it fell below the established procedures and practices regarding diplomatic engagement. What is believed to have been a “forthright exchange of views”...

I’m allowed to say the following because I’m Irish. We get to say it about each other. Except this time, the N-word is “Nazi.”Ireland, Norway, and Spain are now recognizing a country that does not exist and never has.Ireland Recognizes Palestine As Independent StateSo: Hamas butchers and rapes a bunch of innocent people, diligently documents it all on livestream video, and now the world is supposed to hand them a state? Please take that idea and stuff it up your bottom with a broom handle till your tonsils ache.It’s official: Antisemitism is mainstream, and nobody cares because none of these...

The Israeli foreign ministry has posted a video message directed at Ireland, which claims that if the Irish Government recognizes the State of Palestine, it will be encouraging terrorism. The headline states: “Recognizing a Palestinian state will lead to more terrorism, instability in the region and jeopardize any prospects for peace. Don’t be a pawn in the hands of Hamas.” In the 35-second video, the script declares: “Ireland: The possibility of recognizing a Palestinian state risks turning you into a pawn of Iran and Hamas.” It continues: “Such a move will only strengthen Hamas and weaken an already dysfunctional Palestinian...

Europe is saying goodbye to natural gas for good with a superturbine that will produce the substitute energy. Although demand for natural gas has fallen in recent years, the continent remains dependent on it as an alternative to coal, a fossil fuel it wants to replace with pure hydrogen. However, to achieve this, a combustion system must first emerge that can work efficiently with any concentration of H mix, including 100%. Different nations aim to achieve decarbonization through a gradual energy transition. In this search for new alternatives to fossil fuels, hydrogen has many possibilities. Its production for energy purposes...

Car manufacturers are slowing their transition to producing electric vehicles (EVs), because of low customer demand and production problems. Mercedes-Benz announced to investors in March of this year that it is going back on its pledge to sell only fully electric cars by 2030. Instead, investors were told that the company plans to continue to make gasoline-powered cars well into the next decade. Fully electric cars and hybrids will account for only up to half of its sales by 2030. It appears that carmakers are suffering after committing wholeheartedly to the ideological fad of EVs, rather than introducing them as...

If Donald Trump wins a second term in the White House in November, NATO may fall apart, a recent wargame found. As a presidential candidate, Trump has threatened to quit NATO unless European allies contribute more, and should he carry it out Europe may decide to go it alone on defense, the game suggests. "A US policy of frustrating NATO has the potential to cause the alliance to collapse, with the EU as a candidate for eventually replacing NATO's ultimate function — defending Europe from Russia," wrote Finley Grimble, the British defense expert who designed and ran the game. The...

Ireland, Spain and a number of other EU member states are considering 21 May as the date on which they will jointly recognize the State of Palestine, RTÉ News understands. Two sources have said that 21 May is being looked at. A third source said contacts between Dublin and Madrid, as well as between Slovenia and Malta, have been intensifying with a view to the countries jointly recognizing Palestinian statehood. […] Currently, eight EU member states recognize the State of Palestine, the most recent being Sweden in 2014. Ireland has been in ongoing discussions with “like-minded” states for a number...

The Irish state is now at war with its own people as clashes grow between police and Irish citizens who are protesting against unchecked migrants being forced into their communities.

The rate of carbon tax will increase today with consumers of carbon fuels set to pay more for such products. Carbon tax is applied per tonne (1.1 ton) of carbon dioxide emitted by carbon fuels, and from today it increases by €7.50 ($8), bringing the rate to €56 ($59.71) per tonne. From today, natural gas customers will also pay just over 1c (1.1¢) extra per kilowatt hour, adding just under €17 ($18.22) to annual bills. It will bring the total carbon tax that customers pay in a year to around €122 ($130), based on average consumption of 11,000 kilowatt hours...

Well, as suspected, the war in Ukraine isn't about Democracy. It is about business and appeasing investors, the same investors who are also donators to the political parties. Col Douglas MacGregor talks about BlackRock and other investors who wanted to carve up Russia & Ukraine.

Cars will beep, vibrate or slow down if drivers are speeding under new mandatory safety technology which comes into effect this summer. From July 6, new vehicles sold in the European Union and Northern Ireland will be fitted with intelligent speed assistance (ISA) to prevent accidents. Although the UK has opted out, meaning it will not be a requirement on British roads, the technology will still be installed in most cars, and drivers can choose to switch it off on a daily basis. Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, an independent research organisation, told the Sunday Times: “I think...

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday that Europe could “die” if it fails to build its own robust defense as Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on, or if it fails to undertake major trade and economic reforms to compete with China and the U.S. . . . “Our Europe today is mortal,” Macron said. “It can die and that depends solely on our choices,” he added. He called on people to make those choices now because, “it’s today that Europe is between war and peace.”

A leading Eurocrat in Brussels branded Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives who voted against President Joe Biden’s demands to send billions more of American taxpayer dollars to fund the war in Ukraine as “traitors”.On Saturday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for violated the ‘Hastert Rule’, which requires Republican speakers to only put forward bills to the floor of the House if a majority of the GOP conference supports the measure, to push through a $60 billion Ukraine aid bill.The bill passed with the support of House Democrats, many of whom were seen waving Ukrainian flags and chanting “Ukraine!”...

The European Council decided today to list four persons and two entities under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime. "The listed individuals and entities are responsible for serious human rights abuses against Palestinians, including torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and for the violation of right to property and to private and family life of Palestinians in the West Bank," the EU stated. "The listed entities are Lehava, a radical right-wing Jewish supremacist group, and Hilltop Youth, a radical youth group consisting of members known for violent acts against Palestinians and their villages in the...

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) unveiled a gambit to burst a legislative logjam and unleash a four-vote flood including a standalone vote on tens of billions in American taxpayer aid to Ukraine. The plan appears to exploit the sense of urgency in Congress for sending aid to Israel in the wake of Iranian missile attacks in a scheme to bypass Republican animosity towards continuing to fund Ukraine’s war against Russia. Johnson unveiled his plan to his colleagues during a Monday night House Republican Conference meeting. His plan is to hold a single vote on a rule — the product specifying which...

Ireland is close to formally recognizing a Palestinian state and would like to do so in concert with Spain and other like-minded countries, its new prime minister Simon Harris said on Friday after meeting his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez, reported the Reuters news agency. “Let me this evening say our assessment is that that point is coming much closer and we would like to move together in doing so,” Harris said after meeting Sanchez, the first premier to visit Dublin since Harris became prime minister this week. “When we move forward, we would like to do so with as many...

April 9 (UPI) -- The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said Tuesday that at 1.68 degrees Celsius hotter than the "pre-industrial" era, March was the warmest March on record and the tenth straight temperature record-breaking month. The new March high was calculated from an estimate of the average March temperature during the "pre-industrial" reference period, designated as 1850-1900 which also shows a year-round global average temperature from April 2023 to March 2024 period that is 1.58 degrees Celsius higher than the pre-industrial average. The climate group's top scientist called for urgent cuts in the volume of greenhouse gasses being...