Free Republic

Companies are betting on AI—yet nearly all enterprise pilots are stuck at the starting line. The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025, a new report published by MIT’s NANDA initiative, reveals that while generative AI holds promise for enterprises, most initiatives to drive rapid revenue growth are falling flat.Despite the rush to integrate powerful new models, about 5% of AI pilot programs achieve rapid revenue acceleration; the vast majority stall, delivering little to no measurable impact on P&L. The research—based on 150 interviews with leaders, a survey of 350 employees, and an analysis of 300 public AI deployments—paints...

A Welsh police force is investigating the 'staggering' fraud as it warns of a 'disturbing new trend'Police have launched an investigation after a Welsh victim was swindled out of £2.1m in a "staggering" Bitcoin scam. They were tricked into surrendering a password by a cyber criminal pretending to be a senior law enforcement officer. Within moments they had lost assets worth millions. North Wales Police is now investigating in an attempt to catch the perpetrators and retrieve the funds, as they issued a warning to anyone who owns cryptocurrency. North Wales Police have released a statement on the investigation....

James Clayton Dobson Jr., the evangelical psychologist who became one of the most recognizable voices in American Christianity through his ministry Focus on the Family, died on August 21, 2025. He was 89. His passing was confirmed by the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute. For more than four decades, Dobson shaped evangelical thought on marriage, parenting, and family life. Trained as a child psychologist, he first gained national attention in 1970 with his bestselling book Dare to Discipline, which promoted a model of firm yet caring child-rearing. The book’s success led to media appearances, speaking tours, and eventually the creation...

Ninety years ago, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, which created the program that now sends monthly benefit checks to millions of Americans, including retirees, disabled individuals and families. But by the time the program celebrates its centennial, benefits may not look the same as today’s Social Security payments. The reason: Social Security’s trust funds, which the program relies on to help pay benefits, are facing a looming shortfall. Starting in 2033 — two years before its 100th anniversary — the program may only be able to pay 77% of scheduled benefits for retirees, their families and...

Jade Damarell, who lived in Caerphilly, died after crashing onto a farm following a skydive earlier this year An experienced skydiver deliberately fell to her death from 15,500ft the day after her relationship ended, an inquest heard. Marketing manager Jade Damarell, died after crashing onto farmland in the village of Shotton Colliery, Co Durham, on April 27. Ms Damarell, who was born in Hong Kong and lived in Caerphilly, was an experienced skydiver who had accomplished more than 500 jumps. There was "no reason to suspect" her equipment was not working on the day she died, the inquest was told....

SACRAMENTO, Calif (AP) — California voters will decide in November whether to approve a redrawn congressional map designed to help Democrats win five more U.S. House seats next year, after Texas Republicans advanced their own redrawn map to pad their House majority by the same number of seats at President Donald Trump’s urging. California lawmakers voted mostly along party lines Thursday to approve legislation calling for the special election. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has led the campaign in favor of the map, then quickly signed it — the latest step in a tit-for-tat gerrymandering battle. “This is not something...

You've probably seen words like 'skibidi', 'lewk' and 'tradwife' used by younger generations all over social media platforms. Now these popularised words are among 6,000 new entries to the online edition of the Cambridge Dictionary, according to its publisher Cambridge University Press on Monday (Aug 18). For instance, based on Cambridge's definition, 'lewk' (a stylised spelling of 'look') refers to a "particular style, fashion or outfit", especially one that is "unusual and impressive". The dictionary's sample sentence reads: "Your lewk is giving Barbie." There's also 'skibidi', which is from the popular Skibidi Toilet series on YouTube. For the uninitiated, the...

Spain's civil-protection chief warned that the fires continue to pose a direct threat to populated areas, while Defence Minister Margarita Robles described "airborne action" as difficult because of thick smoke. Spain and Portugal are at the epicentre of one of Europe’s most destructive wildfire seasons on record. Data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) show that by 19 August about 9,670 square kilometres of land had burned across the EU this year, almost three times the 2006‑2024 average. Southern Europe, particularly Spain and Portugal, is facing one of its worst wildfire seasons in two decades. Spain has already...

The representatives for Netherlands and Egypt at the embassy. The Netherlands has returned stolen artifacts to Egypt in a show of solidarity. Photo Credit: Egyptian embassy of the Netherlands IN a move reflecting international solidarity, the Netherlands has handed over a collection of Egyptian artifacts dating back to ancient Egyptian civilisation. The Egyptian Embassy in The Hague received the artifacts from the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities following confirmation that the archaeological artifacts had been obtained illegally. The artifacts, which included a myriad of pottery items, are representative of the artistic and artisanal diversity of ancient Egyptian craftsmen. The move,...

Billionaire Terry Pegula, the owner of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, isn’t in good standing with some New Yorkers after a recent video of his yacht anchored in Newport, Rhode Island, surfaced. It’s normal for billionaires to be spotted with these massive vessels, but when New York state taxpayers are partially covering the cost of the Bills’ new $2.1 billion stadium in Buffalo, they’re taking exception to Pegula’s $100 million yacht, "Top Five II." Some members of the "Bills Mafia" were furious and made their opinions known on social media. "The Pegulas are relaxing in Newport while...

When it comes to the war in Gaza, how is it that the legacy media always defers to the narrative that benefits Hamas? A recent Reuters story illuminates the problem. Last month, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) produced an internal analysis tracking reports of waste, fraud, and abuse of humanitarian aid in Gaza. According to that report, between October 2023 and May 2025, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance received 156 notifications of “fraud, waste, and abuse notifications” from its NGO partners in Gaza, amounting to a loss of more than $4.6 million. The key finding was that...

The fifties are when retirement gets determined. Not financially—most boomers figured that out—but existentially. It's when patterns solidify, relationships either deepen or atrophy, identity either expands or calcifies around a job title. 1. They let their entire identity collapse into their job title 2. They believed retirement was a reward rather than a transition. You can't flip a switch from workaholic to fulfilled retiree. 3. They stopped making new friends Somewhere in their fifties, they closed the friend roster. The social circle became fixed—college buddies, work colleagues, couple friends from the kids' childhood. No new applications accepted. 4. They ignored...

When asked their biggest financial regret in 2025, most Americans said it was not saving enough, according to a new Bankrate poll. Altogether, 3 out of 4 respondents said they had a financial regret in the past year, with around 40% pointing to regrets tied to savings — whether for retirement, emergency expenses or children’s education — making it the most common theme in this year’s 2,078-person survey. ...1. Put out ‘financial fires’ Before focusing on long-term savings, prioritize putting out “financial fires,” Martin says. High-interest debt such as credit cards or payday loans should be paid down first. “These...

A massive, magnitude 8.0 earthquake jolted South America on Friday morning, following which a tsunami risk was being evaluated. Unconfirmed reports suggested the earthquake jolted Drake Passage, a body of water located between the southern tip of South America and Antarctica. Multiple reports also suggested the magnitude of the earthquake was later downgraded to 7.5. While there were no immediate reports of any damage or injuries, reports suggested the earthquake hit the southern part of America at 2.16 am UTC, 7.46 am as per the Indian Standard Time.

As was recently reported in Breitbart, next year I’m planning an Anti-Communist Film Festival. It can be difficult and expensive to counteract all the left-wing propaganda coming out of Hollywood. As someone who regularly attends film festivals featuring movies from Ireland, Africa, Iran, and other countries, I realized that we could put on an Anti-Communist Film Festival, give the people the truth, and throw a big party. I am currently in talks with theaters in Washington, D.C., about rentals and licensing fees. They are enthusiastic about the project. There is no shortage of great films over the last 70 years...

If you think the H-1B visa program is about bringing in “the best and brightest,” think again. What we’ve actually imported is an army of cheap, unqualified labor that’s gutted our tech industry, sunk wages, and turned once-prestigious jobs into low-level coding sweatshops. Economist Peter St. Onge breaks it down perfectly in this clip… what was sold to Americans as this “high-skilled program” is now a marathon race-to-the-bottom that’s costing us our jobs, our innovation, and our competitive edge. But here’s the good news: President Trump and JD Vance are putting an end to the H-1B “bait-and-switch.” They’re ripping out...

Archaeologists have recovered a series of ancient statues from the seabed near Alexandria, Egypt, offering new insight into a once-thriving city submerged for over two millennia. The discoveries were made in Abu Qir Bay, where divers and cranes recently brought several large sculptures and relics to the surface. The recovered artifacts include royal statues, sphinxes, and carved figures that had been lying beneath the Mediterranean Sea for centuries. Experts say these ancient statues likely belonged to the city of Canopus, a prominent hub during the Ptolemaic (Greek) and Roman periods. Alexandria, Egypt’s second-largest city, continues to yield significant finds from...

Ahn Hak-sop volunteered to fight for the North Korean army in 1952 but was captured by South Korean soldiers in April 1953, months before the fighting stopped with the armistice. A 95-year-old former North Korean soldier who spent decades imprisoned in the South will continue his campaign to return to the North, an activist said on Thursday, after South Korean troops stopped his symbolic border march this week. Flanked by activists and holding a North Korean flag, Ahn Hak-sop walked toward an inter-Korean bridge in the border town of Paju on Wednesday, demanding that South Korean authorities arrange his repatriation...

Uganda also expressed a preference that those brought into the country should be nationals of African countries and not be unaccompanied minors. Uganda has agreed a deal with the United States to take in deported migrants on condition that the deportees don’t have criminal records and aren't unaccompanied minors, officials said on Thursday. The Ugandan foreign affairs ministry in a statement said the "two parties are working out the detailed modalities on how the agreement shall be implemented." Uganda also expressed a preference that those brought into the country should be nationals of African countries.

In July 2023, Marla-Svenja Liebich, then still known as Sven, was sentenced to one and a half years' imprisonment without probation by the Halle district court. A year and a half later, Sven became Marla-Svenja by simple deed poll, made possible under a new law. Sven Liebich, now known as Marla-Svenja Liebich, has been convicted of right-wing extremist activities, including incitement to hatred, and is due to start a prison sentence soon. The public prosecutor's office in Halle has summoned Liebich to appear at Chemnitz prison. Liebich himself published a corresponding summons to start his sentence in a post on...