Free Republic

HOUSTON/GEORGETOWN, May 30 (Reuters) - Guyana was already the world’s fastest growing economy before the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran drove up oil prices. Now, the tiny Caribbean nation of nearly 1 million people will reap an even bigger bonanza as the conflict reshapes global energy markets. The war that caused one of the largest energy disruptions in history highlights the growing importance of countries including Guyana that offer political stability and geographically unrestricted access to their estimated ​11 billion barrels of oil reserves. This growing windfall from crude brings pressure from business owners and locals on the government to use...

President Donald Trump appeared to scoop Downing Street on Sunday, announcing that Prime Minister Keir Starmer would resign before any public statement from Starmer himself. “Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of The United Kingdom,” proclaimed in a social media post, in which he also asserted that Starmer had “failed badly” on immigration and energy policy. Then, Trump added: “I wish him well!” Doubts about Starmer’s political future have swirled for weeks since his Labour Party suffered staggering losses in local elections in May, and prospects of a leadership challenge increased markedly on Friday after his most formidable rival,...

The FBI arrested three men on Friday on charges of conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State (ISIS), according to a statement from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Bisaam Ghafoor, 21, Elias Shamsaldeen, 21, and Bereen Dzayee, 25, were taken into custody following a complaint filed in the District of Kansas. They were accused of 'conspiring to provide material support to terrorism' after collectively giving over $2,000 in cryptocurrency to an individual believed to be a member of ISIS. The allegations in the complaint were found to be substantiated, and the funds were proven to have...

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. military has secretly helped 200 commercial ships and more than 100 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. "This wildly successful effort is because the UNITED STATES of AMERICA CONTROLS the Strait of Hormuz — NOT Iran," Trump said in a Truth Social post. "Their military is defeated, and their economy is lost." Trump disclosed the operation earlier Wednesday during remarks to reporters in the Oval Office. He credited the clandestine exports with keeping oil prices around $90 per barrel instead of surging above $200. But ship traffic through Hormuz...

Israel conducted strikes on military targets in western and central Iran early Monday local time, the Israeli military announced, escalating a conflict that had already broken through the ceasefire just hours earlier when Iran fired multiple waves of missiles at Israel on Sunday. The strikes came despite a direct phone call from President Trump to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him not to retaliate immediately for the Iranian missile attack. A senior U.S. official told the Associated Press, on condition of anonymity to describe a private call, that Trump believed he had convinced Netanyahu to wait. Israel struck anyway....

A Houston man is facing a felony charge after authorities say he used a fraudulent boarding pass to board a United Airlines flight at George Bush Intercontinental Airport before the aircraft was forced to return to the gate, according to court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital. Abdulrahman Oluwatumike Oriyomi, 25, has been charged with impairing or interrupting the operation of a critical infrastructure facility in connection with the May 18 incident, according to a criminal complaint filed in Harris County. Prosecutors later sought a $25,000 bond, arguing that the alleged incident delayed a flight carrying a full plane of...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Agri-Business; End to Sex Slavery; 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) I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to...

A generator fuel line set up for temporary lights for a May 17 event was cut, causing fuel to seep into underground cisterns that collect rainwater under the Washington, DC, landmark, Freedom 250 spokeswoman Rachel Reisner told NBC News. “Following the Freedom 250 team’s installation of temporary lighting on the National Mall, our equipment has been repeatedly targeted by vandals. The recent fuel leak was the direct result of that tampering,” she said.

The official account for the Obama White House was hacked on Sunday and spammed with bizarre memes. The unidentified hacker added some pictures to the @obamawhitehouse account, including an AI-generated image that claimed the White House was now under Shiite control, according to TMZ. He also added some posts to the page's Instagram Stories. But a representative for Meta - the parent company of Instagram - said the account has now been secured and all of the unauthorized content removed. The account had previously last been updated in 2017, when President Donald Trump took office for his first term. However,...

There are a lot of stories about Cuba floating around right now. Some are MSM outlets acting like they have a scoop on something that's been happening or rumored to be happening for months. Some are simply absurd and probably not true. Most aren't actually verified by the Donald Trump administration and come from anonymous sources. I'm not even going to bother with those today. I saw this happen in the final months before we captured Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. Most of these reporters and media outlets didn't even care about these countries until they became newsworthy, and once they...

A former senior CIA official with top secret-level clearance is accused of stealing hundreds of gold bars worth more than $40 million from the federal government and stashing them in his home. David Rush was arrested and charged with criminal theft of public money last week, according to federal court filings in Virginia, where he lives. From November to March, Rush requested and received a “significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses,” according to an affidavit from an FBI agent investigating the case. The affidavit says its unclear what Rush...

According to the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command (PLA STC), the HNLMS De Ruyter (F804) and its embarked helicopter intruded Wednesday over the airspace of the Paracel Islands, an archipelago under the control of Beijing following its violent seizure from Vietnam in the 1970s.The Dutch frigate was forced away from the Paracel Islands using “necessary measures” and was “in accordance with laws and regulations,” Senior Captain Zhai Shichen, spokesperson for the Chinese PLA STC, said in a news release.China controls the Paracel Islands via a network of 20 outposts and support forces from the mainland. Through its artificial island...

President Donald Trump will convene a rare Cabinet meeting at Camp David Wednesday as negotiations with Iran enter a critical phase. All Cabinet members are expected to attend the meeting, first reported by the New York Post and confirmed by Fox News, including outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The gathering comes as the administration weighs next steps in high-stakes negotiations aimed at securing a broader agreement with Tehran amid a fraying ceasefire. Trump in recent days has suggested the sides are nearing a potential breakthrough, while Iranian officials have publicly pushed back on claims that a deal is...

"He comes from a place called Cuba, which we will be taking over almost immediately. Now, Cuba's got problems. We'll finish one first. I like to finish a job. On the way back from Iran, we'll have one of our big, maybe the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the biggest in the word. We'll have that come in, stop about 100 yards offshore, and they'll say, 'Thank you very much. We give up.'"

Sinaloa Senator Enrique Inzunza Cazárez, a high-ranking member of Mexico’s ruling socialist Morena party, has been ARRESTED in San Diego after turning himself in to U.S. federal authorities. The cartel-connected politician, 53, was taken into custody by the Drug Enforcement Administration on charges of narcotics importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess the same, according to multiple Mexican news outlets and U.S. court documents. Inzunza Cazárez was one of 10 current and former Sinaloa officials hit with a massive federal indictment unsealed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York...

California Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Xavier Becerra went viral yesterday for saying to a local Los Angeles television (KTLA) reporter, after she asked a hard question, “By the way, this is a profile piece, this is not a gotcha piece, right?” Reporter Annie Rose Ramos responded, appropriately, “These questions are fair. It’s in order to learn about you as a candidate.” Progressives responded by criticizing Becerra’s messaging. A progressive Pod Save America co-host and former Obama spokesman, posted on X, “Politicians and candidates…let your staff have these whiny conversations! Or at least don’t do it on camera!” Former Obama strategist David...

On Shabbat morning of February 28, as Jews gathered in synagogue to read from the Torah about the importance of remembering – and destroying – the evil Amalek, American and Israeli fighter jets began their own destruction of the Iranian military. Since then, not only have America and Israel been cooperating at closer levels than ever before, but for the first time, Jewish and Christian soldiers have been fighting shoulder to shoulder, representing a new chapter in Judeo-Christian civilization. Ten weeks later, this coming Shabbat will serve as another historic milestone. Never before in American history has a president invited...

There were no neat rows of tanks or ballistic missile carriers rolling down the smooth cobbles of Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday, as Russia scaled back what is usually a grand militaristic Victory Day parade celebrating the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany. 'Victory has always been and will be ours,” Putin said, addressing columns of troops. He vowed to fight on in Ukraine North Korean troops marched in the parade for the first time, a visible sign of Moscow’s deepening partnership with Pyongyang that has resulted in the deployment of over 10,000 troops to fight the war in...

A spokesman for Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) condemned the United States on Friday for conducting what U.S. Central Command referred to as “self-defense strikes” to protect American assets in the region, claiming that it had responded and caused “significant damage.” Central Command (CENTCOM), the wing of the American armed forces responsible for operations in the Middle East, revealed on Thursday that it had “intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self-defense strikes,” destroying the Iranian assets used in the attack. CENTCOM described a flurry of “missiles, drones, and small boats approaching American naval assets and attacking, but...

Majid Khademi, the IRGC intelligence chief killed in Tehran early Monday, was not a battlefield commander so much as a career security insider who rose through Iran’s secretive counterintelligence system and helped oversee repression, surveillance and anti-infiltration work. His death matters because he sat at the junction of two of the system’s most sensitive functions: guarding the Guards from infiltration and directing the intelligence arm accused of crushing dissent. In March, Washington’s Rewards for Justice program offered up to $10 million for information on Khademi and other senior IRGC figures, a sign that he was seen abroad not just as...