Free Republic

A leading scientist’s warning about intensifying technological competition has been interpreted by the market as a starting gun. Shares of U.S. quantum computing companies soared after John Martinis, a 2024 Nobel Prize laureate in physics, stated in a recent Bloomberg interview that China is catching up rapidly, with the U.S. lead potentially narrowed to “nanoseconds.” The episode highlighted how geopolitical anxiety can fuel a market frenzy. “China has caught up quickly… I’m worried that maybe we’re nanoseconds ahead of them,” Martinis said. While intended as a serious warning about eroding U.S. technological supremacy, the financial market drew a different implication:...

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Edinburgh Airport says no flights are operating on Friday morning due to computer problems in the air traffic control system. The airport says teams are working on the issue and will resolve it as soon as possible. The airport, in a statement released on X, advised passengers to check with their airlines for the latest flight information.

EU leaders warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a closed-door call that the United States might betray both Ukraine and Europe by conceding territory without firm security guarantees, Spiegel reported on Dec. 4. According to the outlet, European heads of state and government expressed deep mistrust toward Washington’s role in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Spiegel published what it claims is a transcript of the call — involving German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, several other European leaders, and Zelenskyy — in which the Americans were portrayed as unreliable. “There is a possibility that the United States...

When President Donald Trump suspended the refugee program on day one of his current administration, thousands of people around the world who had been so close to a new life in America found themselves abandoned. Many had already sold possessions or ended leases in preparation for travel. They had submitted reams of documents supporting their cases, been interviewed by U.S. officials and in many cases already had tickets to fly to America. As part of Trump’s crackdown on both legal and illegal migration, the Republican president has upended the decades-old refugee program that has served as a beacon for those...

“War criminal!” exploded social media last Friday when the Washington Post released a purported “bombshell” revelation about Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. The paper alleged that Hegseth had ordered a second strike to kill drug smugglers belonging to a designated terrorist organization who had survived the first American attack on a Venezuelan boat on Sept. 2. The story was based on two anonymous sources who, if they indeed exist, claimed to have knowledge of the War Department’s workings on the matter. On Sunday, the Post’s story was contradicted by President Trump, who told reporters Hegseth had authorized no second strike....

Moldova is working with the European Union and the United States on a plan to reintegrate the separatist region of Transnistria, a process officials describe as sensitive and requiring full discretion, according to the Romanian daily Adevarul. Transnistria, on the left bank of the Dniester, has operated for more than three decades as a de facto entity sustained politically, militarily and economically by Moscow since the 1992 conflict. The renewed focus on reintegration comes as Chișinău accelerates its EU accession efforts and seeks stronger Western backing for its security and state consolidation agenda.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should testify before Congress “under oath” about the orders to strike suspected Venezuelan drug boa “I think he should testify under oath about the orders that were given, and I think that the video of the distressed, shipwrecked or incapacitated people on those boats being bombed, that video should be shown to every American,” Paul said

Cpl. B captured rare footage of last week’s firefight in Beit Jann, where three soldiers were seriously wounded and at least 13 terrorists were killed, revealing how clash unfolded and how reservists fought to evacuate injured under heavy fire.

A growing number of IT staffing firms are posting help wanted ads that say the quiet part out loud: Americans need not apply. Federal law prohibits this—duh—but in an industry reliant on an H-1B program that provides visas to more than 700,000 immigrants, the Free Beacon’s Aaron Sibarium “identified over two dozen job postings since 2024 that appear to bar applications from U.S. citizens” in favor of visa holders. Many of the companies behind them tout their commitment to DEI. Take LanceSoft, an IT staffing firm committed to “diversity, equality, and inclusivity.” In a post to an IT jobs aggregator...

President Donald Trump's administration has warned that Europe faces "civilisational erasure" and questioned whether certain nations can remain reliable allies, in a new strategy document that puts a particular focus on the continent. The 33-page National Security Strategy sees the US leader outline his vision for the world and how he will wield US military and economic power to work towards it. Trump described the document as a "roadmap" to ensure America remains "the greatest and most successful nation in human history". European politicians have begun to react, with Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul saying his country did not need...

WASHINGTON — The results of four command investigations related to serious mishaps during the Harry S. Truman carrier strike group’s recent deployment point to inadequate training and poor performance by ship crews as well as their commanders, according to newly released Navy investigation reports.The reports, which were heavily redacted for public consumption, paint a picture of strike group sailors and officers who erred in their judgment and failed to communicate properly while under exceedingly high pressure and operational tempo as the strike group was conducting operations to counter Houthi rebel attacks in and around the Red Sea.The investigations released today...

Italy is one of the few EU countries not to have compulsory sex education in schools despite evidence showing that comprehensive relationship and sex education helps to prevent violence against women and girls. The bill, which the lower house of parliament has passed, allows the teaching of sex education in middle schools, so for children aged 11-14, but only with written parental consent. The bill, which the senate would have to pass before it became law, is in line with the current procedures in high schools. Sex education is banned in primary schools. Opposition parties, which had called for sex...

The Taliban forced a 13-year-old boy to carry out a public execution, with 80,000 people packing a sports stadium to watch the young teen shoot the man who murdered 13 members of his family. Video shared online shows thousands of cheering people packing into the stadium in the eastern city of Khost on Tuesday for the sick spectacle that the United Nations condemned as “inhumane” and “contrary to international law.” The young boy was made to shoot the murderer, named Mangal, in a Sharia-law “retaliation punishment” known as Qisas, which is akin to an “eye for an eye.”

NEW YORK — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday predicted that the administration still will be able to implement its tariff agenda regardless of whether it prevails in a pending case before the Supreme Court. Repeating assertions he had made prior to the high court hearing a month ago, Bessent cited several sections of 1962 Trade Act that give the president sweeping powers over import duties. “We can recreate the exact tariff structure with [sections] 301, with 232, with 122,” he said during an onstage interview at The New York Times DealBook Summit. Asked by host Andrew Ross Sorkin —...

The ‘cement-coated’ YKJ-1000 could prove ‘formidably competitive’ internationally if sold at the relatively cheap price of US$99,000Chinese aerospace firm Lingkong Tianxing unveiled a hypersonic glide missile last week that has a range of up to 1,300 km (800 miles) and a top speed of Mach 7. The YKJ-1000 has been nicknamed the “cement-coated” missile for its use of civilian-grade materials such as foamed concrete in its heat-resistant coating. According to slides widely circulated online, the unit production cost of this missile, already in mass production after successful combat trials, may be as low as 700,000 yuan (around US$99,000). A single...

The minority Liberal government has struck a deal with Bloc Québécois to “eliminate long-standing Criminal Code safeguards for freedom of expression and religious freedom in exchange for the Bloc supporting Bill C-9,” according to the National Post. Currently, the law exempts hateful or antisemitic speech if it based in good faith on the interpretation of a religious text, but that immunity is set to be removed. Additionally, the Liberals are expected to back off plans to eliminate the need for a provincial attorney general’s sign-off to pursue a hate-propaganda prosecution. The removal of the religious exception clause is being driven...

Democrats and the media have been trying to whip up a story about the Trump administration taking out drug boats. They thought they had something with a story from the Washington Post that claimed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered a second strike on a drug boat when there were survivors in the water. I reported how Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) made troubling comments about the military "may help save us from this president and his lame people like Hegseth" because their "commitment is to the Constitution and obviously not to Trump." He was saying that in response to questions...

Norway will allocate $7 billion dollars to Ukraine for defense needs next year. Additionally, Ukraine and Norway will launch joint defense production on Ukrainian territory, according to a post by Ukraine’s Minister of Defense, Denys Shmyhal. Shmyhal reported that during his working visit to Norway, he met with his counterpart, Tore Sandvik, and received an invitation to a meeting of the defense ministers of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF). Ukraine will participate in this format for the first time.

Benjamin Netanyahu taunted Zohran Mamdani this week, saying he would return to New York, defying the socialist mayor-elect’s pledge to have him arrested on charges of war crimes. “I’ll come to New York,” Netanyahu told the Dealbook Summit at Lincoln Center on Wednesday via video from Israel. “Yes, of course I will.” Mamdani vowed during the election campaign to impose an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister in connection with the war in Gaza. Netanyahu also told the forum he wouldn’t meet with the Democratic mayor unless he accepted Israel’s right to exist. “If [Mamdani] changes...