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Italy on Wednesday pushed back against remarks by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that hundreds of U.S. aircraft had taken off from American bases in Italy to ​support military operations against Iran, saying Rome had authorised only technical ‌and logistical flights. Rutte, speaking to Fox News television, cited Italy as an example of European support for the U.S. and said 500 U.S. planes had taken off from U.S. bases in Italy "to ​support Epic Fury", Washington's name for the war it launched alongside Israel. The ​remarks caused a political row in Italy, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's ⁠government has repeatedly...

A Louisiana pastor accused of fighting with a 20-year-old has said the 'truth will come out in court' after his arrest on a charge of second-degree battery. Tony Spell, 48, who leads Life Tabernacle Church on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, was detained for allegedly attacking a man just after 11am on Tuesday. The pastor appeared in court later that day and told reporters outside that he would give his side of the story during trial - before adding that he had 'a red hot sermon ready' for his congregants too. Spell previously hit the headlines for fiercely opposing coronavirus...

President Trump's meeting with Republican senators on Wednesday turned testy, and at one point, he sternly told Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy to sit down, after questions arose about the War Powers Resolution, according to sources directly familiar with the meeting. Cassidy had been trying to respond to the president, telling the president he should sit down — but Cassidy later relented, saying he would be seated, but not at Mr. Trump's behest. "He raised his voice. I lost my temper. That's not appropriate. It's the Irish in me, but I again matched his tone and his volume," Cassidy told reporters...

Scientists have uncovered a disturbing change in both mice and rats infesting America's biggest cities, making the rodents harder to kill than ever before. Researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey found the vast majority of smaller house mice and larger brown rats in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington DC have genetically mutated to become more resilient to poison. Specifically, five out of every six rodents tested displayed at least one mutation in the Vkorc1 gene, which has been found to affect how well the poisons work. This study of nearly 300 house mice and brown rats also...

June 24 (UPI) -- The Israeli military has surrounded an underground base in southern Lebanon in which dozens of Hezbollah militants are trapped, Israeli officials said. The base is located under the village of Tebnit, in an area where fighting taken place despite an Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire, The New York Times reported. The standoff, if it escalates, could disrupt ongoing peace negotiations between the United States, which backs Israel, and Iran, which backs Hezbollah.Israeli officials said the trapped militants were running out of supplies. On Tuesday, Israeli troops killed at least two people in the area. Israel said those targeted were...

Labour is poised to encourage farmers to give up beef production and plant lentils to help combat climate change. On Wednesday, the Government's long-awaited "farming roadmap" proposed helping landowners switch from high-emission farming – such as cattle – towards "growing oilseeds and pulses" to meet the increased demand for plant-based goods. "Farmers will play a critical role in delivering this transition by adopting practices that reduce emissions while sustaining productive, commercially viable businesses," the Government said. The farming roadmap is intended to set out a long-term vision for British agriculture. It is seen as an attempt by the Government to...

Image that’s going viral, supposed to be the boy beat to death in Narbonne The endless slaying of France by the invaders. The Southern French town of Narbonne, located in the Occitania region has been rocked by the brutal beating of a 17-year-old boy who was found seriously injured on Friday on a construction site, and later died. The public prosecutor of Narbonne, Jean-Philippe Rey, confirmed that five people, including three minors, were indicted for attempted murder and placed in pre-trial detention. Images of the attack have gone viral on social media platforms, where multiple users identified the attackers as...

A strong earthquake struck Venezuela on Wednesday, near the capital Caracas, with witnesses reporting tremors in Colombia as well. The magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the area of Montalbán at a depth of 13.2km depth at 18:04 local time (23:04 BST), according to the US Geological Survey (USGC). People in Caracas were quick to evacuate during the earthquake, with one witness reporting that cracks appeared in their apartment and glass shattered, Reuters reported. Tsunami threats have been issued for Venezuela, Aruba and Bonaire, with advisory threats issued to Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands, according to the US Tsunami Warning...

"Six people have been arrested, and seven people have been cited, for the damage they did to our Country’s now beautiful Reflecting Pool..." - President Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸

The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, has said that Israeli troops would not withdraw from southern Lebanon, further complicating Iran peace talks as fighting in Lebanon continues to be an obstacle to permanent peace. Speaking on stage in an interview in Tel Aviv, Katz said Israeli troops would remain in south Lebanon – echoing sentiments from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The US and Iran signed an accord last week extending a fragile ceasefire and setting the stage for 60 days of talks meant to lead to a permanent peace. The first hiccups to the memorandum of understanding (MOU)...

President Donald Trump and other conservatives have accused artificial intelligence chatbots of being politically biased against them — and an executive order he signed that said they must be “neutral, nonpartisan tools” triggered fears from Democrats that AI could start tilting to the right. So, are chatbots politically biased? The Washington Post tested the AI models behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and others using political questions designed by researchers to gauge how chatbots respond to hot-button political issues. The results suggest that chatbots have clear political leanings that can conflict with promises made by the companies behind them. The model...

President Donald Trump clashed with Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy in a meeting with Republican senators on Wednesday, multiple sources told ABC News, over the war powers resolution passed Tuesday in the Senate -- a rare rebuke of Trump that saw with four Republicans voting with Democrats.Multiple sources described the clash between Trump and Cassidy as a shouting match. Senate Majority Leader John Thune tried to intervene to de-escalate the situation and other senators tried to jump in to ease tensions over the resolution, which aims to limit Trump's ability to wage war in Iran but does not have the force...

Jordana Brewster suffered a major meltdown during the surrogacy process and she felt like an "imposter" after her son was born. The Fast and Furious star, 46, is mother to two sons — Julian, 12, and Rowan, 10 — with her ex-husband Andrew Form and both boys were born via surrogate. Jordana has now explained she suffered an emotional breakdown after attending a scan with the woman — named only as Jessica — which left her sobbing and vomiting. In an essay written for The Cut, Jordana explained: "I'm driving south, I realised on the ride back, and my child...

Speaking after an Oval Office meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte, the President branded Mr Burnham as "extremely liberal" when asked about what he knew of the former Manchester mayor. He told reporters: "I don't know anything. I see that he was, I guess, the mayor of a town. "I hear he's extremely liberal. Extremely. So that means he probably won't open up the North Sea". The Labour government's reluctance to drill for oil in the North Sea has been a common bugbear of Mr Trump's. He added: "You know, I gave Keir Starmer some pretty good advice. I said,...

The video would have those who take pride in their lawns clutching their pearls. A doorbell camera caught an Amazon contractor doing much more than delivering a package. The driver was shown driving their car over a customer’s well-manicured front lawn in Corydon, Indiana early Sunday. The video shows a woman driver, who appears to be pregnant, driving her car right up to the front steps and placing the package there. She gets back into her vehicle, driving back over the lawn, causing more damage. Amazon released a statement regarding the matter saying they hold their delivery partners to “high...

SSPX issues 154-point profession of faith to Pope Leo, cardinals ahead of consecrationsThe Society of St. Pius X unveiled a sweeping 17-chapter ‘Profession of Catholic Faith,’ urging Pope Leo and the cardinals to embrace Tradition as the remedy to the Church’s ‘deepest ills.’The SSPX has published a “Profession of Catholic Faith” as part of communications with the Pope and the cardinals ahead of the planned episcopal consecrations and “in response to the chief and gravest dangers of our time.”According to an open letter published by the Society of St. Pius X “to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and to the...

Celebrating America's 250th birthday on Free Republic!Trump is leading the peaceful American Revolution 2.0 and Free Republic provides the best seat in the house to catch the action.Your donations kept Free Republic online, 100% independent and spreading the truth during the most intense worldwide censorship pushes since Trump descended that elevator in 2015 (See Covid, lockdowns and 'vaccines' for details!).Please donate and spread the word to help Free Republic keep pace with President Trump. As Trump says, the best is yet to come (Uniparty tears incoming!). As Jim Rob used to say, "God Bless."We're also grateful to collect prayers for...

A couple was left bewildered after they discovered how some shops in China are taking payment.

Jack Clark discusses Anthropic's regulatory fights, the possibility of recursive self-improvement, and how AI could reshape the economy.Today's guest is He's the co-founder of the artificial intelligence company behind Claudeand the head of its newly launched , a forum designed to think through the philosophical, political, and practical challenges that AI poses to society. Nick Gillespie talks with Clark, a former tech journalist at and , about his company's with the Trump administration; whether Anthropic should have held back Mythos, its superpowerful version, from general release; and what might happen if and when AI becomes fully capable of "," or...

Taiwan’s executive branch pitched a $6.6 billion budget last week for the procurement of more than 200,000 domestically-made unmanned systems designed to defend the island’s shores. The proposal will cover up to 208,200 one-way attack drones, 1,446 reconnaissance drones and 1,320 unmanned surface vessels, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense on Friday. A social media post on Sunday from Joseph Wu, the Secretary-General of Taiwan’s National Security Council, claimed that the budget will create an “unmanned shield.” Amid concerns of a potential invasion from China and an increasingly capable People’s Liberation Army, Taipei has turned to unmanned systems to...