WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio is “concerned” that “freedom of expression” is “eroding” in Europe, he told The Daily Wire at his year-end press conference on Friday.
Rubio said that his top priority is situations where “American free speech could be implicated.”
“Are we going to live in a world where some American puts up a social media post and then gets to some airport somewhere and is arrested? We&#8217;re also concerned about the impact that some of their policies are having on our social media platforms,” he said.
Freedom of speech concerns in Europe have garnered the attention of the United States under the Trump administration, as the State Department said in a post on X in July, “In Europe, thousands are being convicted for the crime of criticizing their own governments. This Orwellian message won&#8217;t fool the United States. Censorship is not freedom.” The post was in response to the French Mission of United Nations said that in Europe, people are &#8220;free to speak, not free to spread illegal content.”
In the United Kingdom, roughly 30 people a day are arrested over “offensive online messages,” according to <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/police-make-30-arrests-a-day-for-offensive-online-messages-zbv886tqf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Times</a>. In addition, groups across the political spectrum like the Alliance Defending Freedom and Amnesty International, have sounded the alarm for years over free speech woes, including in countries like France.
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“As you recently saw, you know, X is facing this massive multi-million dollar fine that they&#8217;re going to have to pay, I guess, because they want to continue to operate,&#8221; Rubio continued.
The secretary then dived into the importance of working with nations in Europe because of shared “values and principles,” including freedom of speech, which is what makes the concerns paramount.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/europe-union-ignored-free-speech-concerns-plows-ahead-with-global-censorship-regime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a> reported last month on how the European Commission did not factor in censorship risks when it came to the Digital Services Act, which has tech companies pay up for allowing “illegal content” or disinformation to not be effectively counteracted.
“I think the concerns on free speech are very substantive, and they need a robust response, and we feel that the European Commission has not actually conducted a robust review in the sense of actually inviting all voices and all partners to the table,” Dr. Adina Portaru, a senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom International, told The Daily Wire in an interview at the time.
“The DSA can impact anyone, can impact content creators and influencers and preachers and political dissidents and any kind of content online can be regulated by the DSA through its architecture,” she added.

US-POLITICS-DIPLOMACY-RUBIO

Rubio Issues Stark Warning About Europe’s Free Speech Erosion And How It Could Affect Americans

Europe

Free Speech

Marco Rubio

State Department

In 1988, after escaping socialism in Romania, I celebrated my first Christmas in America. It was a profound experience marked by joy, gratitude, and reflection. It was the first time I was able to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ without fear of being arrested by a totalitarian socialist regime. I enjoyed the freedom to attend church and the joy of discovering new cultural traditions. It marked a significant milestone in my journey toward freedom and renewal.
But before that journey was even an idea, I attended my first Socialist Party Christmas as a child. As we arrived, my father said very sternly, “We are at the Socialism Party headquarters, where Santa’s party will take place. Remember, only say yes or no, nothing more.”
The large reception room was decorated in red, and on each wall there was a large portrait of our “Beloved Leader” Nicolae Ceaușescu, flanked by Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. On the left side of the room, a small Christmas tree stood, decorated with pictures of soldiers who had died, a picture of Ceaușescu, and topped with a big, red socialist star with a yellow hammer and sickle.
There were no angels, no silver Bethlehem stars, no nativity scenes.
Santa was a Socialist Party leader, and all the gifts had a Communist theme. The boys received Communist soldier toys or books about Ceaușescu. The girls received red-scarfed socialist dolls. The following year, Santa was replaced with Dictator Ceaușescu’s name, and no gifts were given.
<div id="attachment_1017011" style="width: 790px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1017011" class="size-large wp-image-1017011" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-3438665-780x576.jpg" alt="circa 1985: Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu (1918 - 1989) and his wife Elena with a large group of children in national costume. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)" width="780" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-3438665-780x576.jpg 780w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-3438665-300x221.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-3438665-768x567.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-3438665.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px" />circa 1985: Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu (1918 &#8211; 1989) and his wife Elena with a large group of children in national costume. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)</div>
Now, years later, I’ve watched as the influence of socialist ideologies and policies has infiltrated and changed how Christmas is celebrated in America.
Since 1971, court cases, like <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/403/602/">Lemon v. Kurtzman</a> and <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/492/573/">Allegheny County v. ACLU</a>, have scrutinized the use of religious elements in public Christmas displays, often resulting in the restriction of nativity scenes on government property to avoid the perception that the government favors one religion over another.
The fear of appearing “too religious” or “exclusive” has transformed Christmas celebrations, shifting them toward a more secular, inclusive holiday focused on community and festive cheer rather than its core religious meaning. This secularization has diluted the profound significance of Christ’s birth.
As governments and institutions increasingly strip Christ from Christmas, our religious freedoms are slowly eroding – and could soon vanish entirely if we don&#8217;t stand against it.
Make no mistake. This is exactly what happened in Romania.
Ceaușescu&#8217;s rise to power in Romania was due to his charm, enthusiasm, anti-capitalist rhetoric, and how he portrayed himself as a man of the people. These qualities all resonated emotionally with citizens and framed socialism as a path to equality and justice.
As soon as Ceaușescu took power in Romania, his regime systematically attacked religious freedom by promoting atheism, controlling religious institutions, and demolishing churches. This created an environment of repression that stifled religious expression and contributed to the decline of organized religion in Romania during his rule.
Ceaușescu used <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71402.htm">Decree 177/1948</a> for further repression that significantly curtailed religious freedom in Romania. He established a framework for state control over religious organizations and practices.
New religious groups faced significant difficulties in obtaining official recognition. Religious literature, including Bibles and other texts, faced heavy censorship. Many publications were banned in socialist Romania or required state approval before distribution. Nativity scenes, crosses, and other religious imagery were often removed from public spaces, and churches faced restrictions on displaying decorations that highlighted the religious significance of Christmas.
Some families in socialist Romania, risking cruel punishment, jail time, or death, created small altars or displays in their homes featuring religious icons, candles, and nativity scenes, allowing them to express their faith privately.
While initially Ceaușescu’s anti-capitalist rhetoric resonated, the reality of his regime’s failures ultimately led to widespread disillusionment.
George Barna&#8217;s research recently found that <a href="https://www.arizonachristian.edu/2021/02/03/americas-thirst-for-socialism-plummets-in-wake-of-2020-election/">support for socialism</a> is growing in America. Socialism is now deeply rooted in New York City after the election of self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani.
And Mamdani is following Ceaușescu’s playbook. He strongly criticizes capitalism as corrupt and exploitative, while socialism is a path to equality and justice. He plays on the emotions of New Yorkers who struggle to survive in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Mamdani hopes people will see the true reality of his policies years from now. He advocates for religious freedom by emphasizing the importance of maintaining a secular government approach to it. He frames religious freedom within the broader context of social justice, racial equality, economic justice, and immigrant rights. He believes in promoting government policies grounded in ethical and secular principles rather than religious doctrines.
<div id="attachment_1017055" style="width: 778px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1017055" class="size-large wp-image-1017055" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2250069091-768x576.jpg" alt="NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 04: Crowds gather for a look at a Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center on December 4, 2025 in New York City. The tree, which is an icon of New York City's holiday season, was lit up on the night of December 3 in midtown Manhattan. (Photo by Liao Pan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)" width="768" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2250069091-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2250069091-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2250069091.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" />Liao Pan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images</div>
The election of progressive candidates who openly identify with socialist principles in America has changed the political landscape, challenging traditional party norms and policies.
Socialism stands in direct opposition to God, replacing Him with an all-powerful government that demands total allegiance. It erodes our God-given religious freedoms and brands faithful Christians as obstacles to its agenda.
My own life bears witness to this truth. I fled a socialist regime in 1988, escaping the brutal oppression that crushed religious rights and silenced believers. Those same poisonous lies of socialism, now spreading rapidly in America, are gaining ground, especially among those who despise our nation&#8217;s founding principles and Judeo-Christian heritage.
We cannot remain silent. Those of us who have endured the horrors of socialism will never stop sounding the alarm. It is time to rise up and fiercely defend our freedoms before they are lost forever.
* * *
<a href="https://www.virginiaprodanbooks.com/">Virginia Prodan</a> is an international human rights attorney, best-selling author of the memoir “<a href="https://virginiaprodanbooks.com/get-the-book-2/">Saving My Assassin</a>,” and host of the “<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/courageous-leadership-with-virginia-prodan/id1590554517">Courageous Leadership with Virginia Prodan</a>” podcast. She serves as an ambassador on the President’s Council for National Religious Broadcasters, a member of the Advisory Board of the American Christian Leaders for Israel, and an Allied Attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Christmas in Rockefeller Center – Season 2025

Don’t Let Socialism’s Red Star Top America’s Christmas Tree

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Karl Marx

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Religion

Zohran Mamdani

Shooting At Brown University In Providence Leaves Multiple People Dead And Injured

Violent Migrants Are Invading And Western Leaders Are Surrendering Without A Fight

Brown University

France

Matt Walsh

Muslim Immigration

Opinion

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Rhode Island

Riots

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Violent Crime

Americans and Europeans are overwhelmingly concerned about China’s vision for a new global order and support investment to stay ahead of Beijing in technology, according to polling exclusively reviewed by The Daily Wire.
The American Edge Project in partnership with Mercury Analytics, surveyed thousands of people across the United States and Europe concerning their views on China, artificial intelligence, and other issues. The poll, reviewed by The Daily Wire, was conducted from October 7-25.
Pollsters asked 4,000 adults spread equally among the U.S., U.K., France, and Germany, and another 500 in Belgium. The margin of error is 3.1% for each country’s sample. The margin of error on sub-samples is greater.
The poll on Westerners&#8217; thoughts on China, its orientation toward the West, and the battle to innovate and develop technology comes as the Trump administration has prioritized winning the race for artificial intelligence. The Trump administration has pushed Europe, as well, to embrace technological growth and avoid burdensome regulations that could unduly hamper AI development.
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At an AI summit in France in February, Vice President JD Vance touted the Trump administration’s ambition to make the United States the world leader in AI, but “just because we&#8217;re the leader doesn&#8217;t mean we want to or need to go it alone,” Vance <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-the-vice-president-the-artificial-intelligence-action-summit-paris-france">said</a> in an invitation to Europe.
Americans and Europeans are overwhelmingly concerned about the threat China poses to the United States and Europe. The poll results demonstrate repeated concerns on both sides of the Atlantic that respondents are “deeply worried about China’s plans to create a new global order and its technological threat to Western nations,” according to a polling memo reviewed by The Daily Wire.
According to the poll, 79% of Americans believe that China threatens their economic well-being, and 80% say they are concerned about a national security threat. Europeans responded in similar numbers with 78% saying China threatens their economic well-being and 70% concerned about threats to their national security.
Even more Americans, 87%, responded that they are concerned about China building alliances with non-Western countries to build a bloc that could challenge the West. For Europeans, the number who agreed with the American majority ranged from 80% in Belgium to 89% in France.
And 91% of Americans said they are concerned that China is conducting cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. Almost the same percentage of Europeans, 90%, said the same.

China military parade

Poll Shows Americans And Europeans Agree: China’s Plan For A ‘New Global Order’ Is A Big Problem

Poll Shows Americans And Europeans Agree: China's Plan For A ‘New Global Order’ Is A Big Problem

Artificial Intelligence

Communist China

Global Politics

United States

World

Scotland is facing backlash as the country could potentially adopt the most extreme abortion laws in the European Union.
Scotland is currently regulated by the 1967 Abortion Act, which allows abortions up to 24 weeks of gestation if two doctors agree that the criteria are met. This is notably higher than in many other European countries, where the limit is usually 12 weeks. 
But now, thanks to a <a href="https://www.gov.scot/publications/review-abortion-law-scotland-expert-group-report/pages/2/">review</a> of abortion law commissioned by the Scottish Government, those restrictions could be abolished entirely, with women able to access abortion up to birth for “social reasons” including for reasons of sex selection, such as aborting a daughter if the mother wanted a son instead.
The Abortion Law Expert Group said the current requirements demanding approval from two doctors are “anachronistic, paternalistic and failed to reflect best modern practice.” A new proposal would require approval from two “healthcare professionals,” which would broaden the scope to include nurses, midwives, and other roles in the medical field issuing those approvals.
The topic of sex selection abortions was mentioned in the recommendations, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/18/scotland-abortion-plan-dystopian-nightmare/">per</a> The Telegraph.
“[The review group] believed that any prohibition would be unworkable in practice,” Anna Glasier, the chair of The Abortion Law Expert Group, said, “&#8230;requiring either intrusive and inappropriate questioning of all women regarding their motivation for seeking abortion, or racial profiling and additional questioning of a smaller proportion of women from ethnic communities where sex-selective abortion is believed to be practiced.” 
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No decision has been made on the recommendations, but Jenni Minto, Scotland’s Minister for Women’s Health, said the government will “take time to carefully consider all the findings.”
There has been backlash against the extreme proposal. Telegraph columnist Celia Walden called it a “dystopian nightmare,” <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/18/scotland-abortion-plan-dystopian-nightmare/">writing</a>, “the idea of engineering your children like you’re picking toppings on a pizza makes me queasy.”
Director of advocacy and policy for the Christian group Care for Scotland, Caroline Ansell, said, “If enacted, we believe they would have heartbreaking consequences for women and babies, including exposing more women to the dangers and harms of late-term abortions.”
Several pro-life groups have <a href="https://thecatholicherald.com/article/scottish-government-misreads-public-opinion-on-sex-selective-abortion">pointed out</a> that this proposed change does not reflect public opinion, which has become increasingly opposed to abortion. 
A recent Ipsos <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/data-dive-how-women-and-men-feel-about-abortion-issues">poll</a> across 29 countries found that a higher percentage of Millennial and Gen Z women were opposed to keeping abortion legal in all cases compared to Baby Boomers, who were the biggest supporters of abortion of the demographics surveyed.

woman holding ultrasound image

Scotland May Soon Allow Abortions Up To Birth For ‘Social Reasons’

Scotland Reviews Abortion Laws, May Allow Abortions Up To Birth For Gender Selection Purposes

Abortion

Scotland

American voters want President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration to use trade leverage to protect American businesses from European Union regulations, according to a new poll first shared with The Daily Wire.
The <a href="https://eu-usforum.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://eu-usforum.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1763480980517000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2A1Ns3BfuiQLCZTutD9Sg1">EU-US Forum</a> surveyed likely general election voters and found that Americans view two specific European Union directives — the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive — as bad for American businesses at home. The EU-US Forum is an American nonprofit organization working to advance the president&#8217;s agenda in Europe and combat &#8220;the EU’s radical leftism.&#8221;
&#8220;Our latest national survey of likely general election voters in America shows that they view the European Union’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) regulations as unfair to American companies, chiefly because they expect these rules to raise costs and hurt American competitiveness,&#8221; the forum said in a release.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americans-want-trump-to-use-trade-leverage-to-protect-american-businesses-poll-finds/screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11-43-53-am" rel="attachment wp-att-1002275"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1002275 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11.43.53-AM-1024x342.png" alt="" width="1024" height="342" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11.43.53-AM-1024x342.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11.43.53-AM-300x100.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11.43.53-AM-768x256.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11.43.53-AM-1536x513.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11.43.53-AM-2048x684.png 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
&#8220;A clear majority want the Trump administration to protect U.S. companies from the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) by using ongoing trade negotiations as leverage to shield American companies from EU overreach,&#8221; they shared. &#8220;Elected officials who support President Trump in his leadership to confront CSRD and CS3D in trade negotiations stand to benefit politically, as voters say they are more likely to re-elect lawmakers who fight to free U.S. businesses from excessive European regulation.&#8221;
Almost six in 10 Americans surveyed said that it is important for American officials to use trade negotiations in order to roll back the European Union&#8217;s ESG regulations on American companies, according to the poll, conducted via an internet panel between November 11 and 12 with a margin of error of +/-3%.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americans-want-trump-to-use-trade-leverage-to-protect-american-businesses-poll-finds/screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11-44-05-am" rel="attachment wp-att-1002279"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1002279 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11.44.05-AM-1024x469.png" alt="" width="1024" height="469" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11.44.05-AM-1024x469.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11.44.05-AM-300x137.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11.44.05-AM-768x352.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11.44.05-AM-1536x704.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-18-at-11.44.05-AM-2048x939.png 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed said the European Union regulations would unfairly impact United States businesses. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed said they would be more likely to vote for a member of Congress who pushes the president to use trade negotiations to stop the European Union from putting strict ESG regulations on American companies. Seventy-one percent said that the European Union&#8217;s compliance regulations would raise costs on American families. Seventy-two percent think that the reporting requirements would be problematic for smaller U.S. suppliers.
The EU-US Forum argues that their polling shows that the EU directives are unfair for American businesses and will be expensive for American families and that the Trump administration should use its trade leverage to stop them. They also argue that lawmakers who align with the president&#8217;s agenda &#8220;stand on solid political ground and can credibly claim they are protecting American workers, businesses, and exporters from Europe’s red tape agenda.&#8221;
The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive <a href="https://finance.ec.europa.eu/capital-markets-union-and-financial-markets/company-reporting-and-auditing/company-reporting/corporate-sustainability-reporting_en">requires large companies to share information</a> on &#8220;what they see as the risks and opportunities arising from social and environmental issues, and on the impact of their activities on people and the environment.&#8221; The alleged goal is to help investors, stakeholders, and civil society organizations to evaluate &#8220;the sustainability performance of companies as part of the European green deal.&#8221;
Along similar lines, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive <a href="https://www.corporate-sustainability-due-diligence-directive.com/">gives companies</a> an &#8220;obligation&#8221; to &#8220;conduct appropriate human rights and environmental due diligence&#8221; with &#8220;respect to their operations, operations of their subsidiaries, and operations of their business partners in companies’ chains of activities.&#8221;

NATO Summit In The Hague Final Day

Americans Want Trump To Use Trade Leverage To Protect American Businesses, Poll Finds

Donald Trump

European Union

Do you agree with the Apostle Paul?
That was the question police asked Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen repeatedly over the course of 13 hours of interrogation over a social media post she made featuring a Bible verse. 
Six years ago, Räsänen found herself in a small room being questioned after she <a href="https://x.com/PaiviRasanen/status/1140693636176384011">shared</a> a Bible verse from the book of Romans detailing the Christian understanding of sexuality. After she shared the verse, she was charged with hate speech and dragged to the police station for numerous rounds of questions about her beliefs. 
“It was a very, very absurd and surreal experience,” Räsänen said on Thursday when asked by The Daily Wire to describe her experience. “I was sitting in a small room in a police station. I had the Bible on the table and the police were asking me very theological questions.”
She said that she was asked about the meaning of Romans and about the concepts of sin and shame in the Bible. Räsänen said she was brought in for questioning three times for a total of 13 hours, leading to a joke that she was “going to have a Bible study” at the police station, she said. 
Räsänen said her experience reminded her of stories she heard about Christians being persecuted by the Soviet Union. 
“Those stories that I had heard from these communist countries,” she said. “So I was so shocked that something like that could happen in Finland, in a country that has long roots in Christianity and rule of law and freedom of speech and faith.”
After each interrogation, she was given two weeks to delete her social media post and apologize. She refused each time. 
“I said that I do not apologize… because it&#8217;s not my opinion, it is what the Word of God says,” Räsänen said. 
She is a member of the Lutheran Church and was previously Finland’s Ministry of the Interior, meaning she once oversaw the police who interrogated her. Her case is now before Finland’s top court and comes after she was unanimously acquitted in 2022 and 2023 by lower courts. She faces two criminal charges for “agitation against a minority group.”
Räsänen’s case was heard on Thursday by the Finnish Supreme Court. She was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom International and criminal defense lawyer Matti Sankamo. 
<div id="attachment_993749" style="width: 1674px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-993749" class="size-full wp-image-993749" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-30-at-1.20.01-PM.png" alt="" width="1664" height="1106" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-30-at-1.20.01-PM.png 1664w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-30-at-1.20.01-PM-300x199.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-30-at-1.20.01-PM-867x576.png 867w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-30-at-1.20.01-PM-768x510.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-30-at-1.20.01-PM-1536x1021.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1664px) 100vw, 1664px" />Räsänen outside the Supreme Court/ Alliance Defending Freedom International.</div>
In a press call after Thursday’s hearing, Sankamo said that it appeared that prosecutors had changed the primary focus of their case against Räsänen.
Also on trial is Bishop Juhana Pohjola, a Lutheran church leader who published a pamphlet in 2004 written by Räsänen defending the Christian view of marriage as between one man and one woman. Prosecutors have called for Pohjola to pull the pamphlet from circulation. 
“The Christian message of marriage and sexuality has been taught for two millennia, and it should never be considered a crime to speak what Christians have always believed,” he said ahead of the hearing. 
Both Pohjola and Räsänen face a hefty fine if they lose their case. The charges they face could come with prison time, though prosecutors have not requested that punishment. 
Paul Coleman, the executive director of Alliance Defending Freedom International, said that losing the case could make countless other Christian materials considered criminal. 
“We&#8217;ve not yet seen a case reach the highest court of a land where actual theological concepts like sin are considered hate speech, or where the words of the Bible are being put on trial,” he said Thursday. “And so again, if the prosecutor is successful, then that will set a new low, really, for freedom of expression in Europe and specifically for Christians.”
A verdict in the case is not expected until spring 2026, but Räsänen is hopeful that the result will be a resounding win for freedom of religion and speech. 
“The main question in this whole process is, the heart of this trial, is the question of whether teachings related to the Bible can be presented and whether it is still permissible to agree with the Bible, even when they contradict the main ideology of the society,” she said.

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The Bible On Trial: Christian Politician Goes Back To Court Over Religious Beliefs

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

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U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration has prepared additional sanctions it could use to target key areas of Russia&#8217;s economy if President Vladimir Putin continues to delay ending Moscow&#8217;s war in Ukraine, according to a U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter.
U.S. officials have also told European counterparts that they support the EU using frozen Russian assets to buy U.S. weapons for Kyiv, and Washington has held nascent internal conversations about leveraging Russian assets held in the U.S. to support Ukraine&#8217;s war effort, two U.S. officials said.
While it is not clear whether Washington will actually carry out any of those moves in the immediate term, it shows there is a well-developed toolkit within the administration to up the ante further after Trump imposed sanctions on Russia on Wednesday for the first time since returning to office in January.
Trump has positioned himself as a global peacemaker, but has admitted that trying to end Russia&#8217;s more-than-three-year war in neighboring Ukraine has proven harder than he had anticipated.
European allies &#8211; buffeted by Trump&#8217;s swings between accommodation and anger toward Putin &#8211; hope he keeps upping the pressure on Moscow, and are also mulling major actions of their own.
One senior U.S. official told Reuters that he would like to see European allies make the next big Russia move, which could be additional sanctions or tariffs. A separate source with knowledge of internal administration dynamics said Trump was likely to hit pause for a few weeks and gauge Russia&#8217;s reaction to Wednesday&#8217;s sanctions announcement.
Those sanctions took aim at oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft. The moves spiked oil prices by more than $2 and sent major Chinese and Indian buyers of Russian crude looking for alternatives.
Some of the additional sanctions the U.S. has prepared are geared toward Russia&#8217;s banking sector and the infrastructure used to get oil to market, said a U.S. official and another person familiar with the matter.
Last week, Ukrainian officials pitched the U.S. with new sanctions activity, said one source with knowledge of those conversations. Among the specific ideas put forward were measures to cut off all Russian banks from the dollar-based system with U.S. counterparts, two sources said. It is not clear, however, how seriously Ukraine&#8217;s specific requests are under consideration.
The U.S. Senate is also making moves, with some lawmakers renewing a push to get a long-stalled bipartisan sanctions bill over the line.
The person with knowledge of internal administration dynamics said Trump is open to endorsing the package. The source warned, though, that such an endorsement is unlikely this month.
The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin&#8217;s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, said on Friday he believes his country, the United States and Ukraine are close to a diplomatic solution to end Russia&#8217;s war in Ukraine.
Halyna Yusypiuk, Ukrainian Embassy spokesperson in Washington, said the recent sanctions decision was appreciated, but did not otherwise comment.
&#8220;Dismantling Russia&#8217;s war machine is the most humane way to bring this war to an end,&#8221; Yusypiuk wrote in an email.
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Trump&#8217;s decision to hit Russia with sanctions capped a tumultuous week with respect to the administration&#8217;s Ukraine policy.
Trump spoke with Putin last week and then announced the pair planned to meet in Budapest, catching Ukraine off guard.
A day later Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Washington, where U.S. officials pressed Zelenskiy to give up territory in the Donbas region as part of a lopsided land swap to end the war. Zelenskiy pushed back, and Trump left the meeting with the position that the conflict should be frozen at its frontlines.
Then last weekend Russia sent a diplomatic note to Washington reiterating previous peace terms. A few days later Trump told reporters the planned meeting with Putin was off because &#8220;it just didn&#8217;t feel right to me.&#8221;
Speaking to CNN on Friday after arriving in Washington for talks with U.S. officials, Dmitriev said a meeting between Trump and Putin had not been cancelled, as the U.S. president described it, and that the two leaders will likely meet at a later date.
Trump ultimately decided to slap Russia with sanctions during a Wednesday meeting with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a senior White House official said.
Behind the scenes, Ukraine got an apparent U.S. boost after the U.S. approval process for providing targeting data for long-range Ukrainian strikes in Russia was moved to U.S. European Command in Germany &#8211; viewed by U.S. and European officials as more hawkish on Russia &#8211; from the Pentagon in Washington, according to a U.S. and a European official.
However, Trump has said he was still not ready to provide Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles, which Kyiv has requested.
The U.S. is also putting pressure on Europe to further tighten the financial screws on Moscow. In announcing the U.S. sanctions, Bessent pushed the EU to follow. Broadly speaking, U.S. officials have criticized EU and NATO countries for not taking more decisive steps to stand up to Russia.
It will be more difficult, though, for the EU to unleash full-blocking sanctions on Lukoil than it is for the U.S., one senior EU official argued, given how heavily entangled Lukoil is with Europe&#8217;s economy. The oil company owns refineries in Bulgaria and Romania and has a robust retail gas station network throughout the continent.
&#8220;I think we need to find a way to disengage&#8230;before we can fully sanction,&#8221; the EU official said.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery and Steve Holland in Washington and Max Hunder in Kyiv; Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Jonathan Landay and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington and Julia Payne in Brussels; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Diane Craft)

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U.S. Eyeing Further Sanctions On Russia, But First Wants Europe To Amp Up Pressure

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NATO said on Saturday it is upgrading its mission in the Baltic Sea with an air-defense frigate and other assets in response to drone incursions in Denmark.
Unidentified drones were observed near military installations in Denmark overnight, the Armed Forces said on Saturday, following several drone incursions near airports and critical infrastructure this week.
Copenhagen Airport, the Nordic region&#8217;s busiest, closed for several hours late on Monday as several large drones were seen in its airspace. Five smaller Danish airports, both civilian and military, were also shut temporarily in the following days.
In response, NATO will &#8220;conduct even more enhanced vigilance with new multi-domain assets in the Baltic Sea region,&#8221; it said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
The alliance said the new assets included &#8220;intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms and at least one air-defense frigate.&#8221;
A NATO spokesperson said they would not provide details on which countries were contributing the extra assets.
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The new assets will enhance NATO&#8217;s &#8220;Baltic Sentry&#8221; mission, launched in January in response to a string of incidents in which power cables, telecom links, and gas pipelines on the Baltic Sea bottom have been damaged.
NATO countries have deployed frigates, patrol aircraft, and naval drones as part of the mission, to help protect critical infrastructure.
The alliance also launched the &#8220;Eastern Sentry&#8221; mission this month, to bolster the defense of Europe&#8217;s eastern flank in response to Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace.
It warned Russia on Tuesday that it would use &#8220;all necessary military and non-military tools&#8221; to defend itself after Estonia said on Friday that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated its airspace for 12 minutes before NATO Italian fighter jets escorted them out.
Russia has disputed that Russian jets violated Estonia&#8217;s airspace and said that its drones had not planned to hit targets in Poland.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Saturday that the threat from drones was &#8220;high&#8221; and that the country would take measures to defend itself.
Russia&#8217;s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned NATO and the European Union on Saturday that &#8220;any aggression against my country will be met with a decisive response.&#8221;
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas and Andrew Gray; Editing by Alison Williams)

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen

NATO Increases Baltic Presence As Mystery Drones Swarm Denmark

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Congressman Jim Jordan on Tuesday celebrated Google&#8217;s decision to reinstate YouTube creators censored under President Joe Biden, calling the decision &#8220;a win for free expression.&#8221;
Jordan, who is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told The Daily Wire that Google and YouTube parent company Alphabet <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unacceptable-and-wrong-google-admits-caving-to-censorship-pressure-from-biden-admin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admitted</a> in a Tuesday letter to the committee that the company and its subsidiaries bowed to pressure from the Biden administration to censor conservative creators speaking out about election integrity and COVID-19.
&#8220;They had kicked some people off the YouTube platform altogether — you, your channel, you&#8217;re gone. They&#8217;ve agreed to reinstate those individuals, which I think is good. They&#8217;ve said they will not use the fact-checkers, like other platforms have done — which was a big problem because fact-checkers are typically really biased against conservatives. I thought it was, again, a win for the First Amendment, a win for free expression.”
Alphabet <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/google-reinstate-banned-youtube-accounts-censored-political-speech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pledged</a> in the letter its &#8220;commitment to free expression,&#8221; and said it &#8220;will provide an opportunity for all creators to rejoin the platform if the company terminated their channels for repeated violations of COVID-19 and elections integrity policies that are no longer in effect.&#8221;
Creators banned under this regime include Dan Bongino and Sebastian Gorka, both of whom now serve in the Trump administration.
Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, recalled just how extreme the Biden administration&#8217;s censorship efforts were.
&#8220;Never forget the Biden administration established the disinformation governance board,&#8221; Jordan said on Wednesday&#8217;s edition of Morning Wire. &#8220;I mean, the most Orwellian-sounding thing you could think of — as if a bunch of bureaucrats can tell you what you can say, what you can read, what you can tweet, what you can post! That was frightening stuff.&#8221;
Fortunately, Jordan notes, &#8220;we had an election last November and, thank goodness, things changed.&#8221;
Still, Jordan isn&#8217;t ready to give up the fight, warning that the United States could soon fall victim to European speech restrictions — something congressional Republicans are fighting to stop.
European speech laws are creating complications for the American social platforms, Jordan said. In particular, the European Union’s Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act could <a href="https://fedsoc.org/events/the-digital-services-act-and-global-free-speech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">force</a> restrictive European speech codes on Americans.
Jordan takes that risk seriously.
Earlier this month, British authorities arrested Irish comedian Graham Linehan upon his landing at London’s Heathrow Airport after a flight from the United States. At issue were a series of X posts he wrote in April, which included jokes about transgender-identifying people.
“If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls,” one of Linehan’s posts in question <a href="https://x.com/judebrew/status/1965556461612007541" target="_blank" rel="noopener">read</a>.
Americans are generally not in danger of arrest in the United States for mocking leftist ideologies, such as transgenderism. But they are still under threat of suppression and retaliation from companies like YouTube or other influential entities, Jordan says.
“I think it&#8217;s just a matter of time before that happens to an American,” the lawmaker told The Daily Wire. “We&#8217;re particularly concerned about that relative to YouTube.”

Jim Jordan

Jim Jordan Celebrates YouTube Ending Conservative Censorship: ‘A Win For Free Expression’

Jim Jordan Celebrates YouTube Ending Conservative Censorship: 'A Win For Free Expression'

Congress

Google

Politics

YouTube

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee pulled no punches on Tuesday while speaking with The Jerusalem Post at its Diplomatic Conference, declaring that European nations pushing a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state “destroyed” the negotiations for the Israeli hostages held by the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
“I’ll tell you what destroyed the negotiations for the hostages was the European nations going and having this push for a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state,” Huckabee asserted. “I can tell you that was very detrimental, and it destroyed negotiations.”
“I can’t say we were close to some type of resolution because Hamas has never been close to a resolution, and people have to understand: Whatever they pretend that they’re for, they’re not at the moment in which they have to make the agreement,” he stressed. “The same people who did the barbaric, savage things on October 7 are the same people you’re expected to sit down and have a conversation and a negotiation with? Look at what they did on October 7. Good gosh, remember what they did?”
“These are not normal people,” he asserted. “These are not people that you deal with like you’re buying a car or you’re working out some trade agreement. These are horrible, savage people who did the most unspeakable things to other human beings, civilians, and so they don’t negotiate for hostages based on a moral code that we’re used to dealing with; Israel is used to dealing with. That’s not what we’re dealing with. And so, we all want the hostages home, and we want them home today. President Trump has said so many times, so clearly, so consistently: All the hostages come out at once and Hamas must disappear, go away, disarm, can’t stay. That’s as clear as he can be.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee:
&#8220;What destroyed the negotiations for the hostages was the European nations going and having this push for a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state&#8230; it destroyed negotiations.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/Y83Jvifvyn">pic.twitter.com/Y83Jvifvyn</a>
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) <a href="https://twitter.com/Osint613/status/1968305229038072007?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“We not only disagree, we strongly urge nations to not go there,” he said of the movement for unilaterally declaring a Palestinian state. “For one, it violates Oslo. It is a stunt at the United Nations. It is not going anywhere; it is not going to create a Palestinian state.”
Huckabee also <a href="https://www.jpost.com/diplomatic-conference/article-867635">said</a> that if Israel decided to claim sovereignty over the biblical areas of Judea and Samaria, the U.S. would not object. “We respect Israel as a sovereign nation,” he stated. “We are not going to tell Israel what it can and cannot do any more than we would expect Israel to tell us what we can and cannot do.”
“Sometimes [Israel] may disagree with the United States – that is their right,” the ambassador said. “They are a sovereign nation, and they have every basis to say we disagree. We respect our partner. &#8230; We have friends as the United States, and we do have allies, but I would say we only have one real partner,” noting the “levels of intelligence, military hardware and software, levels of cooperation and communication, the likes of which simply do not exist with any other country.”
“West Bank is a very modern, nebulous term,” he contended. “It is more accurate to call it Judea and Samaria, the term that goes back two or three thousand years – and 80% of the Bible is about Judea and Samaria.”

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Holds Nomination Hearing For Mike Huckabee To Be Ambassador To Israel

Huckabee: Europe’s Palestinian State Push ‘Destroyed’ Hostage Negotiations

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Imagine facing your nation’s Supreme Court for the “crime” of sharing a Bible verse. On October 30, that’s the reality for Päivi Räsänen, a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-finnish-court-to-hear-case-on-politician-charged-over-sharing-bible-verse?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Top+Finnish+Court+To+Hear+Case+On+Politician+Charged+Over+Sharing+Bible+Verse">Finnish grandmother</a>, medical doctor, and parliamentarian. Her soon-to-be seven-year ordeal began in 2019, when she questioned her church’s support for Helsinki Pride and posted a Bible verse on X. That single tweet triggered 13 hours of police interrogation, two full trials, and now a third prosecution under Finland’s “hate speech” law.
Räsänen’s case might sound like an exclusively European story — but it also serves as a warning about the growing threat of censorship coming from the EU. While someone living outside of Europe might assume they are exempt from the troubling wave of censorship spreading across the continent, that assumption is dangerously mistaken.
The EU has implemented an online censorship law that could turn stories like Päivi’s into a legalized norm. The law, known as <a href="https://adfinternational.org/es/article/digital-services-act-unpacked">The Digital Services Act</a> (DSA), poses one of the greatest threats to free speech online, not just in Europe, but worldwide.
Presented as a way to create a “safe online environment,” the DSA is in fact a sweeping censorship regime. It compels major online platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, X, and Google to take down “illegal content” or face crippling fines of up to 6% of their global revenue. For companies like Apple or Meta, that could mean billions. With penalties this steep, platforms have every incentive to preemptively over-censor content, not just in Europe, but everywhere.
And what counts as “illegal” content? That depends on the varying laws of 27 EU member states. One country’s vague definition of “hate speech” or “misinformation” can ripple outward, forcing platforms to delete content across the entire internet. What Brussels bureaucrats decide could silence speech in Boston or Boise — posts fully protected by the First Amendment, gone in an instant.
The enforcement system makes this worse. The DSA empowers “trusted flaggers,” which can include activist groups, regulators, or even private entities, to demand removals. The European Commission itself sits at the top, monitoring and punishing companies that don’t comply. In practice, this means platforms will act first and ask questions later, scrubbing lawful speech before it can cause “problems” in Europe.
<div id="attachment_652929" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-652929" class="size-large wp-image-652929" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-1024x573.png" alt="Päivi Räsänen" width="1024" height="573" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-1024x573.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-300x168.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-768x430.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM-1536x859.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-11-14-at-7.01.23-AM.png 1573w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Credit: Alliance Defending Freedom International</div>
Päivi Räsänen’s case shows what happens when governments weaponize vague speech laws: peaceful expression treated as criminal conduct. The DSA threatens to make this dynamic global. By institutionalizing vague categories like “hate speech” and “disinformation,” it builds the <a href="https://constitutionaldiscourse.com/the-eu-digital-services-act-and-freedom-of-expression-friends-or-foes/">architecture for censorship</a> that knows no borders.
Americans should not be lulled into thinking this is someone else’s problem. The internet is global, and so are the platforms that host our speech. Already, U.S. lawmakers — from the House Judiciary Committee to Vice President JD Vance — have warned that the DSA could chill <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/jim-jordan-presses-european-commission-for-answers-over-eu-social-media-law-henna-virkkunen-digital-services-act/">constitutionally protected expression</a> here at home. The danger isn’t hypothetical: EU officials have already floated the possibility of censoring American <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4824438-eu-sends-warning-letter-to-musk-ahead-of-trump-interview/">political figures under the law.</a>
The stakes are enormous. If the EU succeeds in exporting its censorship regime, authoritarian governments worldwide are likely to use it as a blueprint. They will point to Brussels as justification for their own crackdowns. Already, we’ve seen Europe attempt to export the DSA model abroad. For example, at the EU-Canada Summit, Canada and the EU agreed to advance a Digital Trade Agreement that <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/price-testimony.pdf">expands the reach of DSA principles.</a>
Free speech does not stop at national borders. If America cares about freedom of expression, it must push back against the DSA and its creeping global reach. Päivi Räsänen’s trial is a human face on what’s at stake. Her courage reminds us that when governments claim the power to police speech, no voice is safe.
* * *
Lorcan Price is an Irish barrister and legal counsel for ADF International.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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