Free Republic

A Brazilian Supreme Court panel voted 4-1 last week to convict center-right former President Jair Bolsonaro of leading a conspiracy to overthrow the leftist government of President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva. Mr. Bolsonaro received a sentence of 27 years in prison. The verdict is a major blow to Mr. Bolsonaro’s supporters. But many other Brazilians, while not fans of the former president, had also hoped for a different outcome. They’ve been concerned about the politicized Supreme Court for years. Now the high court has allowed the federal prosecutor to bring the former president to trial in Brasília, skipping lower...

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, in a Tuesday opinion piece for The Guardian, called out President Trump for boosting “divisive, far-right politics” worldwide in recent years. “We must unite to take on the reactionary populists and nativists who are exploiting economic concerns, the atomisation of modern life and a growing distrust of political and media institutions – something we have seen in countries across Europe and, of course, in the US,” Khan said in his Guardian piece. “President Donald Trump and his coterie have perhaps done the most to fan the flames of divisive, far-right politics around the world in recent...

TOKYO (AP) — The U.S. Army revealed Monday its mid-range missile system, Typhon, at one of its bases in Japan for the first time as the two allies stepped up their deterrence against China 's growing assertiveness in the region. Typhon was featured during the annual bilateral exercise Resolute Dragon, which started last week, with more than 19,000 U.S. and Japanese troops participating in the exercise that focuses on maritime defense and littoral protection and held across Japan, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The land-based weapon, capable of firing the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk cruise missiles that...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel launched its offensive in Gaza City on Tuesday, vowing to overwhelm a city already in ruins from nearly two years of war as thousands of Palestinians fled in vehicles strapped with mattresses and other belongings that clogged a coastal road. The operation into the largest Palestinian city escalated a conflict that has roiled the Middle East and likely pushed any ceasefire with Hamas farther out of reach. The military would not offer a timeline for the offensive that aims to crush the militant group’s ability to fight, but Israeli media suggested it could take months. “Gaza...

Special Presidential Envoy Keith Kellogg on Monday said he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently advised President Trump that Russia is losing its war on Ukraine — as Moscow has seen more than 1 million casualties while taking less than 1% of Ukrainian territory since November 2022. Speaking at the Yalta European Security Conference in Kyiv, Kellogg revealed he and the chairman, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, each reassured the president of Moscow’s wilting position roughly six weeks ago — shortly before Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. “If Putin thinks Russia is...

It’s no secret that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz prefers to work with that other Polish leader, centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk. But on Tuesday he’ll be receiving Polish President Karol Nawrocki, a nationalist backed by the opposition populist right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which demands that Berlin pay reparations for Nazi Germany’s World War II invasion and occupation of Poland. Relations between Poland and Germany have seesawed between close cooperation and open friction in recent years. While the two countries have strong trade relations and increasingly cooperate on defense, Nawrocki and PiS politicians have railed against the EU’s influence...

US President Donald Trump published a post on Truth Social on Monday, in which he once again called on the Hamas terrorist organization to release all the hostages it is holding. "I have just read a News Report that Hamas has moved the hostages above ground to use them as human shields against Israel’s ground offensive," Trump wrote. He added, "I hope the Leaders of Hamas know what they’re getting into if they do such a thing. This is a human atrocity, the likes of which few people have ever seen before. Don’t let this happen or, ALL 'BETS' ARE...

BRUSSELS — U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has called on the EU’s remaining buyers of Russian fossil fuels to drop their campaign against the bloc’s efforts to end dependency on Moscow and buy from America instead. Speaking on Friday at an event in Brussels, where he has held meetings this week with officials on how to increase imports of American liquefied natural gas and cut off the flow of funds for Russia’s war on Ukraine, Wright said it would be preferable for Europe to get its supplies from “its friends.” Asked by POLITICO whether countries like Hungary and Slovakia,...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Israel on Monday, stopping in Jerusalem and making a visit to the City of David archaeological park in East Jerusalem. The visit was part of the inauguration of the fully excavated Pilgrimage Road, an ancient pathway used as Jerusalem's main thoroughfare and passage for pilgrims during the Second Temple Period.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador Mike Huckabee joined Secretary Rubio. Ambassador Huckabee called the excavation something that "lets the stones speak," according to the Jerusalem Post. Huckabee also reiterated Jerusalem is Israel's "undivided capital," saying, "the Jewish people never forgot that this...

US President Donald Trump has demanded that allies stop buying Russian oil before he moves on punishing Moscow, and told them to hit China with tariffs.But Trump's requests do not seem feasible, and the EU notes that it has already hammered the Kremlin with sanctions.Meanwhile, diplomats fear it could be a ploy by Trump to again stall on taking a tough stance against Russia himself.- Stopping oil purchases? - snip If Trump is serious about getting all NATO countries to turn off the taps, then the bigger issue could be non-EU member Turkey.snip- Tariffs on China? -snipBy demanding something he...

The Senate and House are on a collision course over whether to repeal comprehensive sanctions on Syria, a rare area where there are bipartisan coalitions on both sides of the debate. Discussion centers on whether to completely repeal the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, a severe sanctions mechanism that blocked nearly all U.S. and international cooperation or engagement with the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. Legislation to repeal Caesar is included in the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2026. But an amendment to the House version of the NDAA to repeal Caesar...

United States Senator Lindsey Graham hit out at Hungary and Slovakia over their purchases of Russian energy, threatening the Central European countries with “consequences” if they don’t end their reliance on Moscow. American President Donald Trump last week called on NATO countries to “stop buying oil from Russia,” pledging to sanction Moscow once they had all done so. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright also called on the EU’s remaining buyers of Russian fossil fuels to look elsewhere for their energy. Graham, a top Trump ally, said in a social media post that the president was “right to demand that...

The stones of the ancient site "100% validate that the Jewish people not only belong here now, but they have belonged here for 4,000 years, since the time God said to Abraham: this is yours," said U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. (Sept. 16, 2025 / JNS) Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday reopened the Pilgrimage Road in Jerusalem, a first-century route linking the City of David to the Temple Mount. The Pilgrimage Road, a broad stone route used during the Second Temple period, connected the Pool of Siloam, where pilgrims purified themselves...

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is targeting beards and facial hair in the military to establish a new "grooming standard," as the Pentagon announced Monday that leadership will be required to conduct a review of how service member grooming practices have changed over the past decade. The "rapid force-wide review of military standards," requested by Hegseth, according to a Pentagon statement issued Monday, includes "grooming standards for facial hair." "The grooming standard set by the U.S. military is to be clean shaven and neat in presentation for a proper military appearance," Hegseth said, according to the statement by Chief Pentagon...

President Donald Trump said the U.S. military on Monday again targeted a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three aboard the vessel, and hinted that the military targeting of cartels could be further expanded. "The Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) headed to the U.S.," Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the strike. "These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to U.S. National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital U.S. Interests." The strike was carried out nearly two weeks after another military...

“ Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday Gaza "is burning" as Israeli forces were "striking with an iron fist," apparently at the launch of a long-anticipated offensive to seize Gaza City. "Gaza is burning. The IDF is striking with an iron fist at the terror infrastructure, and IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas," Katz said in a post on X, originally in Hebrew, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.“

Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has defended the trial which saw his predecessor in office, Jair Bolsonaro, sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for plotting a coup. In an opinion piece published in the New York Times, Lula dismissed the description by US President Donald Trump of the trial as a "witch hunt", saying that it was a "historic decision which safeguard's our institutions and the democratic rule of law". The Brazilian leader said he had written the essay to establish an open and frank dialogue with US President Donald Trump, who has imposed 50% tariffs...

President Donald Trump announced Monday that U.S. military forces carried out a second strike against suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers, escalating tensions between Washington and Caracas amid a broader crackdown on the international drug trade. In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “This morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a SECOND Kinetic Strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility. The Strike occurred while these confirmed narcoterrorists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics … The Strike resulted in 3 male terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces...

Russia put on a display of firepower as part of its major military exercises in Belarus on Monday, with neighboring NATO nations on alert amid some of the highest tensions in Europe since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. ... The drills come less than a week after around two dozen Russian long-range drones crossed into Poland, which shares a 260-mile border with Belarus and a 130-mile border with Kaliningrad. At least three drones were shot down by responding Polish F-16 and Dutch F-35 fighters, Warsaw said. The incursion was by far the largest-ever of Russian...

While Hamas attempts to prevent residents of Gaza City from evacuating the city, as instructed by the IDF, the terror group’s leaders are scrambling to get their own families out of the enclave, COGAT revealed in a post on Sunday. In a post to X, COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) showed several Hamas officials who made requests to Israel to allow their families to leave the Gaza Strip, and some even requested permission to leave themselves. This comes amid repeated reports from Gaza City residents that Hamas has been instructing them not to leave the city, despite...