Free Republic

Once an economic powerhouse that was the envy of much of the world, there is deep concern in Tokyo that the economies of China and Germany have already surpassed Japan's — and that India's will do so next year. The announcement that in 2025 India will overtake Japan in nominal gross domestic product in dollar terms has shocked Tokyo, which had until 2010 been the undisputed second-largest economy in the world but is now on the brink of slipping to fifth place. In estimates released in late April, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) indicated that India's nominal GDP will reach...

Cathy R., 63, has a master's degree and has worked all her life, though she's very worried for her future. The clerical worker in Minnesota has struggled to rise up the ranks throughout her career. She said she's earning a salary similar to some entry-level positions despite nearly three decades in her current role. She's nervous that even though she's eligible for a pension in a few years, it won't supplement Social Security payments nearly enough to live comfortably. "I can't afford life while working. How can I even think of retiring?" the St. Paul, Minnesota resident said. ...Cathy grew...

Dutch riot police broke up a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) on Wednesday, battling demonstrators who had vowed to stay put until the institution severed all ties with Israel. Protesters on barricades made of desks, fences, wooden pallets and bricks used fire extinguishers to keep the police at bay, images on the local TV station AT5 showed. Police hit protesters with batons and used a shovel to knock down the barricades, breaking through in a matter of minutes. Hundreds of protesters on the narrow streets outside shouted "Shame on you!" as the police pushed them away from...

Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham won elections in areas with large Muslim populations. Both engaged with us as citizens The local and mayoral elections sawmany traditional Labour-voting Muslim voters abandon the party they’ve loyally supported for decades. One incident from one interview, and one sentiment in particular that I heard in my local area, sits front and centre: “I was disgusted when Keir Starmer supported Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza – how can I vote for someone who won’t even apologise for this?” said one man, referring to Starmer’s performance in an interview on LBC last October and...

On January 30, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) razed the Akhoondji mosque and a madrasa, describing them as “illegal structures” in Sanjay Van, a reserved forest area. No one’s quite sure when the Akhoondji Masjid was built in Mehrauli. But the “Mosque of Akhondji” was listed in a 1922 publication by an officer of the Archaeological Survey of India who recorded that while its construction date was “unknown”, the mosque was repaired in “1270 AH (1853-4 AD)”, and that it lay west to to an old Idgah that “existed when Timur invaded India in 1398 AD”. “Removal of the illegal...

Korean Muslim YouTuber Daud Kim’s plans to build a mosque in the western port city of Incheon has come to a grinding halt after it received backlash from local residents. Following the backlash, the land purchase contract he signed has been cancelled upon the request of the landowner, according to a report by the Korea Times. YouTuber Daud Kim, or Kim Jae-han then agreed to cancel the contract with the property owner. The property owners wanted the contract cancelled and said that he did not know about Kim’s plans to build a mosque. Kim posts about living as a Korean...

America's working-age men are employed at much lower rates than they used to be, and a combination of factors — from recessions to globalization to rising addiction rates — could be playing a role. In the early 1950s, as many as 96% of prime working-age American men, who were between the ages of 25 and 54, had full-time or part-time jobs, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of March, about 86% of working-age men were employed, and this cohort's employment rate has lagged behind many developed countries in recent years ...As such, many men are struggling to support themselves...

In response to recent minimum wage increases in California, fast food restaurants across the state are shifting to automation to get rid of wage-earning humans. The move to making customers place orders at digital kiosks alleviates what owners say is the financial strain of rising labor costs after the minimum wage for the state’s fast food workers increased on April 1 from $16 to $20 per hour. Harsh Ghai, a Burger King franchise owner who manages 140 outlets along the West Coast, is leading the transition to automation. He plans to introduce digital kiosks across all his restaurants within months...

Europeans are less ambitious and don't work as hard as Americans, said Nicolai Tangen, the CEO of Norway's $1.6 trillion oil fund. "There's a mindset issue in terms of acceptance of mistakes and risks. You go bust in America, you get another chance. In Europe, you're dead," Tangen told The Financial Times in an interview published on Wednesday. "We are not very ambitious," Tangen added. "I should be careful about talking about work-life balance, but the Americans just work harder." Tangen made these remarks as he gave an overview of his firm's push toward investments in the US, which now...

If you put a lab mouse on a diet, cutting the animal’s caloric intake by 30 to 40 percent, it will live, on average, about 30 percent longer. The calorie restriction, as the intervention is technically called, can’t be so extreme that the animal is malnourished, but it should be aggressive enough to trigger some key biological changes.... Scientists first discovered this phenomenon in the 1930s, The subsequent studies also found that many of the calorie-restricted animals were less likely to develop cancer and other chronic diseases related to aging. ... In the wild, animals experience periods of feast and...

Saratu Dauda had been kidnapped. It was 2014, ... Kidnapped from their dormitory exactly 10 years ago, the 276 captives known as the Chibok Girls were catapulted to fame by Michelle Obama, by churches that took up the mostly Christian students’ cause and by campaigners using the slogan “Bring Back Our Girls.” “The only crime of these girls was to go to school,”... Their lives have taken wildly different turns since the abduction. Some escaped almost immediately; 103 were released a few years later after negotiations. A dozen or so now live abroad, including in the United States. As many...

Christians in west Africa were the victims of a new wave of suspected Islamist attacks in the weeks after Easter. Suspected Fulani militants carried out a three-day massacre in the Diocese Pankshin in Nigeria’s Middle Belt on 12-14 April, killing at least 29 Christians and burning down churches and houses. Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Fr Andrew Dewan, the diocese’s director of communications, said the attacks were “designed to drive away the owners of the land, so the Muslim extremists can take over”. He added that the attacks have “religious and ethnic components, all mixed up...

For the people who now live in Eastern Oregon, they could see some of their existing rights eliminated under Idaho law, writes guest columnist Rebecca Tallent. It is unique: Some parts of Oregon are seeking a divorce from the state because the residents do not feel represented in the state Legislature.In recent elections, 11 Oregon counties voted to change states, from Oregon to Idaho. Greater Idaho, the nonprofit group promoting the move, said four Washington Counties (Asotin, Columbia, Walla Walla and Garfield) also expressed interest in moving. But what would this mean for Idaho?On its website, Greater Idaho said the...

The writings Sulayman al-Ghazzi (or Solomon of Gaza) are one of the great hidden gems of Arab Orthodoxy, though not a word of them is yet available in a western language. I'm doing a little work on them for a different venue, but would like share something about him on this blog. I'll do another post soon about his life in more detail, but he was an Orthodox bishop in Palestine in the 11th century, during the persecution of Christians under the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amrillah. He is the first Arabic-language poet whose poetry was entirely dedicated to Christian religious...

The Persian conquest of Palestine in 614 CE is described in historical sources as a most violent military raid that dramatically affected the political and administrative stability of Byzantine Palestine, involving large scale damage to churches and a mass killing of the local Christian population. Common view has it that the conquest marked a turning point in the history of the Near East and was one of the causes for the rapid Early Islamic conquests, twenty years later. Although the Persian domination - lasting only 14 years (614-628), was a very brief episode in the long historical sequence of Palestine,...

Inside a canteen for seniors in downtown Shanghai Ms. Xu is familiar with the rhythms of the Tongxinhui Community Canteen because she eats there every day to save money. She has a good job as an accountant at a foreign firm, but she can’t shake a creeping sense of unease about her future. “Only when you save money will you feel safe,” she said. In these tough economic times in China, many young people are jobless, but they aren’t the only anxious ones. A devastating crash in the value of real estate, where most household wealth is tied up, has...

More and more people, including Pope Francis, are asking Ukraine to drop its defense and sit at the negotiation table with Russia. Citing the stalemate on the battlefield and Russia’s superior resources, they urge Ukraine’s leadership to consider a deal. What exactly that would involve is largely left unsaid. But it would clearly involve freezing the conflict, resigning Ukraine’s occupied territory to Russia in exchange for an end to the fighting. My country, Moldova, knows all about that kind of bargain. A small western neighbor of Ukraine, Moldova experienced Russia’s first post-Soviet war of aggression, which ended with a cease-fire...

On the first night of Passover, the singsong of the Four Questions echoed from Jewish homes and gatherings around the world, including from unlikely, contested spaces: the center of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia and other universities where demonstrations are taking place. As evening fell over Columbia’s tent encampment on Monday, about 100 students and faculty gathered in a circle around a blue tarp heaped with boxes of matzo and food they had prepared in a kosher kitchen. Some students wore kaffiyehs, the traditional Palestinian scarf, while others wore Jewish skullcaps. They distributed handmade Haggadahs — prayer books for the Passover...

They opened the box on a Sunday in late March, getting their first look at Asfan Mohammed since he departed India for Russia four months earlier. He was better dressed than when he’d left – a black suit, white shirt, tie and shoes replacing the casual attire he’d worn when family and friends saw him off. But he had to be buried in line with his Muslim beliefs, so his body would need to be prepared; the neat clothes removed. ...videos on YouTube about job opportunities in Russia gave Asfan new hope, and he contacted an employment agency, his brother...

Currently in the Liturgies of daily Mass we have been reading the Book of Revelation. It is commonly read at the end of the liturgical year, for it bespeaks the end of, and passing qualities of all things of this world. It is also a book of glory, depicting the ultimate victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, after a great period of conflict between the doomed kingdom of this world, and the victorious Kingdom of Christ. In this context the Book of Revelation is not a mere tour guide to the last days, but is a book of glory reminding...