Free Republic

Backsliding on climate action would drive the Labour party into political obscurity, Zack Polanski has warned, as trade union leaders said more drilling in the North Sea would not help UK workers. The Green party leader, speaking to the Guardian as searing heat swept the country for the second time this year, urged Andy Burnham – widely expected to be the UK’s next prime minister – to be bold on climate justice. He said any move to water down the party’s commitments would have dire consequences at the ballot box. “Half measures or backsliding on climate action would be a...

There’s a seeming paradox at the epicenter of the political earthquake that hit New York City on Tuesday night, when a trio of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Zohran Mamdani–backed candidates triumphed in congressional primaries across the city. The progressive candidates who claim to represent a working-class revolution won thanks to the votes of the well-educated, credentialed, and affluent, while low-income New Yorkers tended to back the more moderate candidate. The results reflect a nationwide political reality: Across the country, higher education and income increasingly correlate with progressive voting, while working-class voters—including in long-established immigrant communities—opt for more moderate...

Iran's Revolutionary Guards attacked a Singapore-flagged commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News, posing a challenge to President Trump's efforts to reopen the critical shipping corridor. The ship's bridge was damaged after it was struck on its starboard side by an "unknown projectile" off the coast of Dahit, Oman, according to an advisory from the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre. The advisory said no casualties or environmental impact were reported. After the strike, the United Nations' International Maritime Organization temporarily paused a days-old plan to evacuate many of the vessels stranded...

The German far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), could be closing in on power at the state level for the first time since the Nazi regime's defeat in World War II 81 years ago. Polling suggests the party is far ahead of its rivals in Saxony‑Anhalt and, crucially, within striking distance of an outright majority that would defeat mainstream parties' traditional Brandmauer—or "firewall"—against a far-right government. Germany's electoral system of proportional representation means that most governments at the national and regional level are coalitions. The "firewall" is an agreement of non‑cooperation in which mainstream parties do not govern with, or...

A blacklisted Chinese company claims to have developed a "cyber nuclear weapon" that could be used to hack Western companies and governments. Zhou Hongyi, the chief executive of cybersecurity company Qihoo 360, said it had built an AI system that matched the capabilities of Anthropic's Claude Mythos, the most powerful US AI technology. Qihoo has been blacklisted by the US government since 2020 over claims that it is linked to the Chinese military. Earlier this month, the Pentagon accused Qihoo of being a "military civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defence industrial base" tied to Beijing's intelligence agencies. ...China will...

Senator John Kennedy slams the far-left wing of the Democratic Party, calling them 'Bolsheviks' and 'stone-cold crazy.' He critiques their socialist agenda, saying it 'lowers his IQ' and is out of touch with mainstream America.

@RandPaul Gain-of-function research in foreign labs is a public health threat. Funding it with taxpayer dollars without oversight is reckless. Hiding the evidence is a crime against the American people. Dr. Fauci's NIH did all three. They funded dangerous experiments in Wuhan, buried the evidence, and silenced anyone who tried to tell the truth. I have spent years fighting to expose it, and I am not finished.

I've been reading about the expiration of the 2011 Secure Boot certificates today, mainly with regards to Windows OS systems. Many of those users are dealing with older hardware that will not be getting a BIOS firmware update from the PC/laptop manufactures to get those certificates updated to the latest (2023) versions. The big appeal of getting users onto Linux was the ability to use older hardware that Microsoft deemed incapable of receiving the latest OS installs and updates. Sounds great, but now I am reading this issue carries over into Linux. For so long, we've been told something like...

Fake USB sticks used by the Japanese army spread a China-linked computer virus inside a secure network for nearly a year before they were found to contain malware, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported on Thursday. The flash drives were delivered to Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force during disaster relief operations in March 2024 following an earthquake in central Japan, the paper said, citing internal army documents. The infection was not discovered until February 2025, when a Japanese soldier in Itami, near Osaka, reported that a computer was operating slowly. A scan revealed that it had been infected by a virus carried on...

Ten years following the landmark vote, the EU's former Brexit negotiator said the bloc's door is open to the UK, but that London "cannot cherry-pick" EU policies. Former European Union Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told Euronews that it is up to the United Kingdom to decide whether it would want to rejoin the bloc, but that Brussels has made its conditions clear. His comments come ten years after the UK voted to leave the EU by 52% to 48%, and at a time when polling shows a clear majority of the British public, across party lines, views doing so as...

All branches of the U.S. military began once again requiring their recruits to get flu vaccines earlier this month, an exception to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's decision to lift the military's vaccine mandate, a Pentagon official confirmed to CBS News on Wednesday. The news comes as Lackland Air Force Base in Texas — home to the Air Force's Basic Military Training program — grapples with a flu outbreak that has infected 275 people in recent weeks, a congressional staffer with knowledge of the matter told CBS News. The process of reinstating the mandate for recruits began before the Lackland outbreak...

Explanation: The Sun has just set... in the opposite side of the sky. Pictured here are anticrepuscular rays apparently converging in the east in this image of the limestone plateau in the heart of the Hyblaean Mountains of southeastern Sicily, in Italy. How were these anticrepuscular rays formed, if the Sun wasn't there? After the Sun set (in the west, as usual) its light still illuminated a cloud higher up in the sky. Partially blocked by the cloud, the sunlight produced patterns of light and shadow, crossing the sky in parallel lines. Perspective makes it look like they converge in...

Lance Twiggs was living with Robinson when Kirk was killed last year.A judge on Monday dismissed a motion by Tyler Robinson’s attorneys to subpoena his former romantic partner to testify in court next month. Robinson, 23, is accused of killing right-wing activist Charlie Kirk as he spoke at a campus debate at Utah Valley University in Orem last year. Robinson faces multiple charges in connection with the killing, including felony aggravated murder. On Monday, state District Judge Tony Graf Jr. granted prosecutors’ motion to quash a subpoena brought by defense attorneys to have Lance Twiggs testify live in Utah at...

BREWSTER COUNTY, Texas (KOSA) - A multi-agency operation in Pecos led to the rescue of seven human trafficking victims and the arrest of 24 people, according to the Reeves County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators said the discovery was made during a June 13 search warrant execution at El Ranchito Night Club, an adult entertainment establishment that had been operating out of compliance with a local ordinance. Authorities said residents began reporting suspected violations as El Ranchito continued operating. The Reeves County Sheriff’s Office then launched an investigation, which led to a search warrant. “That’s how we were able to develop our...

Almost one in four Europeans support far-Right parties, new research shows, with the figure doubling in the last decade. The rise in far-Right support was particularly present between 2023 and 2025, according to the research. Europe's far-Right has indeed scored some recent successes. France's National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen, gained ground in municipal elections earlier this year, while Alternative for Germany (AfD) is performing increasingly well in polls. The populist leader of the Czech Republic, Orban ally Andrej Babis, returned as prime minister last year. Austria's far-Right Freedom Party advanced from 16 per cent to 29 per cent...

A Virginia judge has issued a statewide preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the Commonwealth’s new ban on so-called “assault firearms” until December 31, 2026, handing Virginia gun owners a major victory just days before the law was scheduled to take effect.The ruling came Thursday in Crump v. Katz, the state-court challenge to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s sweeping gun-control package. The judge read the preliminary injunction from the bench and made clear that the assault-firearms ban is now enjoined statewide while the case proceeds.The Commonwealth tried to limit the injunction to Lancaster County. The judge refused.The state then asked the judge to...

Donald Trump's Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin clashed so heatedly with a Democratic lawmaker at a committee hearing that even the Republican chairman lost patience with him. Mullin got into a finger-pointing argument with blue-haired Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro on Capitol Hill Thursday during a debate over the administration's child separation policy for undocumented migrants. Mullin accused DeLauro of being a 'hypocrite' for being outraged over children separated under Trump when she 'didn't say a word' about the minors who went missing during Joe Biden's tenure. 'Don't interrupt me!' DeLauro screamed at Mullin, pointing her finger at the DHS secretary....

Apple shares fell sharply Thursday after the tech giant raised prices on a number of its signature products to make up for what it said were skyrocketing memory prices resulting from the AI boom. As of 2:00 p.m. ET, Apple stock was down by nearly 6%, putting the company on track for its worst one-day performance in more than a year, and wiping out about $250 billion worth of market value. The company had announced that prices for its MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, iMac, and iPad product lines would all rise, in some cases by as much as $200. The...

Editor Of #Iranian Regime Mouthpiece 'Kayhan': 'Loathsome, Child-Eating' #Trump Has Been Defeated; 'He And His Crime Gang Must Be Killed'; In Response To His Threats, Close Bab-El-Mandeb Strait, Cut Internet Cables In #PersianGulf - Report & audio [ow.ly/6jrc50ZgmB5] #MEMRI

David Clayton-Thomas, the Canadian singer and songwriter whose soulful voice was ubiquitous on American radio in the late 1960s and early ‘70s as lead singer of the brass-driven group Blood, Sweat & Tears, has died, according to his publicist. No cause of death was cited except that he died peacefully at a Toronto hospital on Wednesday evening; he was 84. Clayton-Thomas wrote “Spinning Wheel,” the group’s most well-known original composition, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969, one of three songs by the band to reach that mark in that year; “When I Die” and the...