Free Republic

Over one in every four people in Germany, or nearly 22 million, now have an “immigration history”, according to the country’s national statistician. A report from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) has found that the proportion of people living in Germany with an immigration history rose by 0.5 per cent last year to a record 26.3 per cent. The category is defined as someone who has either immigrated to Germany since 1950 or who has two parents that came to the country as migrants. This is significantly stricter than the previously used category of “migration background”, which is defined in...

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force secretary extended the life of the A-10 "Warthog" attack plane until 2030, sparing the aging but beloved ‌close air support aircraft that has played an important role in Iran from ‌an earlier retirement deadline of 2026. "We will EXTEND the A-10 'Warthog' platform to 2030," Air Force Secretary Troy Meink ​posted on social media, adding the move "preserves combat power as the Defense Industrial Base works to increase combat aircraft production."

ROME — It is “intolerable” that Christians are being targeted for persecution in Nigeria, said U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch during an event in Rome on Friday. The group Solidarity with the Persecuted Church (SPC) and the Embassy of the United States to the Holy See organized the April 17 conference at the embassy on threats to religious freedom in Nigeria. Burch spoke to EWTN News on the sidelines about the stance of the U.S. on religious violence in Nigeria. He described the current situation as a “conflict between radical Islamic groups and Christians because of their...

President Donald Trump on Monday said it was "highly unlikely" he would extend the ceasefire with Iran past Wednesday evening if Tehran did not reach agreement to end the conflict.The ceasefire with Iran is set to expire this week and hostilities could resume after talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, failed to result in a permanent agreement. Trump told Bloomberg on Monday that it was "highly unlikely" he would seek to renew or extend the ceasefire. The U.S. has sought a commitment from Iran to never possess a nuclear weapon, an end to its funding of proxy groups in the region, and...

The U.S. Department of Education has proposed new rules aimed at holding colleges and universities accountable for programs that leave students with low-earning jobs as the federal student loan debt nears $1.7 trillion.The proposal***would establish an accountability framework designed to address concerns that many students are financially worse off than if they had not attended college. The plan*** is a part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which aims to cut taxes, according to the department. ***programs that fail to meet earnings benchmarks in two out of three consecutive years could lose access to federal student loans....

The church Pope Francis left usEditor’s note: This article is adapted from the Laetare lecture on March 26, given in New York after the author was awarded the Loyola Medal by the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. Pope Francis’ vast legacy will take a generation to unpack. But already it is being developed in Pope Leo XIV, who was “the last surprise of Pope Francis” according to the subtitle of a recent account of the conclave that elected him from America correspondent Gerard O’Connell and Elisabetta Piqué. The cardinals spoke in the weeks before that election a year ago of...

Russia’s foreign minister delivered a prosecution of the American-led world order from Turkey’s annual diplomacy forum over the weekend. Sergey Lavrov called NATO an “aggressive bloc” and the rules-based international system a slogan that “never existed.” He said the war the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran was “a plan to control the oil through the Strait of Hormuz.” Hours earlier, NATO’s deputy secretary-general told the same forum that Europeans and Canadians must now take primary responsibility for their own defense. Radmila Shekerinska said alliance credibility depends on action, not words. The three-day Antalya Diplomacy Forum, with an estimated 6,400...

China-Vatican deal on bishops is ‘escalating repression’ of Catholics: Human Rights WatchA sweeping new report documents arbitrary detention, surveillance and intimidation of Catholics, alongside demolished churches, as Xi Jinping's Sinicization campaign intensifies. Chinese authorities are increasing pressure on Catholic communities to join the state-controlled church under tighter ideological and administrative restrictions.On April 15, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report according to which the Chinese government has escalated measures against Catholic communities across the country by strengthening ideological oversight, surveillance systems, and administrative restrictions. The government is particularly targeting underground Catholics who refuse to join the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic...

"Meow ... meow!" The animal sounds heard over an air traffic control frequency were not from a cat loose on the plane, but human pilots making animal noises. The meowing occurred over an air traffic control frequency at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on April 12. The audio was recorded and obtained from ATC.com. The pilots were quickly scolded, with someone else on the frequency saying, "You guys need to be professional pilots." The scolding was met with more meows and barks. In this March 31, 2024, file photo, Washington's Reagan National Airport (DCA) is shown in Arlington, Virginia. Daniel...

Labour could lose nearly 1,600 council seats at the local elections even on a good night, new research suggests. In a best-case scenario, Labour could still lose 1,597 council seats across England and nearly 2,000 seats in the worst-case – in a set of local election results that could seal Keir Starmer’s fate as PM. Labour currently has 2,196 councillors across the seats up for election, meaning a good result for the party would still leave the party’s number of locally elected representatives dwindling in the hundreds. Labour is also on track to come third in both the Scottish and...

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TX — SpaceX team members were left confused and awkwardly unsure about how to respond when founder Elon Musk emerged from a darkened room on 4/21 with bloodshot eyes and a relaxed smile while asking if anyone had seen his Starship rocket. The Starship launch had taken place, as scheduled, on 4/20, resulting in a successful liftoff before the rocket exploded in what SpaceX called a "rapid unscheduled disassembly." Though it was still considered a successful test, team members were uncertain about how to break the news of the spacecraft's destruction to Musk, who had been enjoying...

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Pope Field, North CarolinaPope Field is a U.S. military facility located 12 miles northwest of the central business district of Fayetteville, in Cumberland County, North Carolina. Formerly known as Pope Air Force Base, the facility is now operated by the U.S. Air Force via a memorandum of agreement (MOA), and an inter-services support agreement (ISSA) with the U.S Army as part of Fort Bragg.The United States Army Fort Bragg Garrison is the host organization at Pope Field. The garrison provides airfield support, security, and protection to include emergency medical and fire response, aircraft...

California Democratic Party chair Rusty Hicks repeated his call for low-polling candidates to drop out of the governor’s race to prevent the possibility of a Republican advancing out of the June 2 primary. On Monday, former state controller Betty Yee withdrew from the race, citing a lack of resources and voter disinterest in competency or experience, which she had built her platform around. She had been polling in the low single digits since launching her campaign two years ago. Hicks told reporters on a media call that more Democratic candidates should follow suit as a party-commissioned poll showed a plurality...

CLOVERDALE, Ind. (WISH) — Police arrested a 27-year-old man from California in Putnam County Monday morning after police found 392 pounds of cocaine in his trailer. Indiana State Police say a trooper conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle that was speeding eastbound on I-70 near Cloverdale. During the stop the trooper “observed multiple criminal indicators” from the driver, Harmandeep Singh.

Democrats send swat teams when evidence of illegal behavior surfaces. Republicans, well, they issue reports. The summary is: the Democrats ActBlue fundraising apparatus is a scheme to launder foreign funds and hide large donor activity through a process of straw (fake) small amount donors. The House Judiciary Committee investigated as media reports of the fraud began to surface. The House sent subpoenas to five key ActBlue witnesses. The witnesses showed up and plead the fifth WASHINGTON — ActBlue employees invoked their Fifth Amendment right at least 146 times in depositions with congressional committees investigating alleged donor fraud on the fundraising...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media.This is the confidence we have in approaching God: That if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (1 John 5:14)Religion Forum threads labeled *Prayer* are closed to debate of any kind.1 John 5:20 "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true...

"17 rare books, worth $ millions … stolen from venture capitalist John Hay Whitney's Long Island home decades ago have been recovered." (Shift to Wikipeida on Whitney 1904-1982.) … inherited a large fortune from his father, making him one of the wealthiest people in the United States. In 1929, he participated in a hostile takeover of Lee, Higginson & Co.*** with Langbourne Willliams, rising to the position of chairman of the board at just 29 years old. In 1946, after serving in the OSS during WW2, he founded J. H. Whitney & Company, the oldest venture capital firm in the...

Since the first days of his second term as president, Donald Trump has been pushing back against a constitutional right he says has been taken advantage of for too long - what he calls "Birthright Citizenship." A new analysis from Pew Research shows, following a 40 percent drop from 2006 to 2016, a rapid rise in the number of births to unauthorized mothers in the United States from 2019 to 2023, which means about 9% of all 3.6 million babies born were to authorized immigrant mothers or those with temporary legal status. (TNND) “It had to do with the babies...

The early vote in Virginia’s special election on redistricting has turned out more GOP voters than the 2025 gubernatorial election did, as Democrats look to redraw the state’s map with a 10-to-1 blue district margin. Virginia is just one day out from its referendum on whether or not to allow the blue state legislature to redraw the state’s congressional map in favor of Democrats, and election forecasters are zeroing in on the state’s early voting numbers. The final early vote tally in Virginia is about 3% more red than the early vote turnout in 2025, according to election forecaster State...

Jose Antonio Morante Camacho, dubbed 'king of the bullfighters' by some publications, has reportedly suffered a "very serious" injury after a bull gored him as a medical reports reveal an injury to his rectum.