Free Republic

France's President Emmanuel Macron escaped what may have been an attempted assassination Tuesday during a visit to Syria's capital. The French presidential palace, the Elysee, said in a statement that Macron was safe and would continue his visit to Damascus after two bombs exploded outside the hotel where he spent the night. Macron had left the hotel when the explosions took place Tuesday, and he was in the Syrian presidential palace for a meeting with his counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa and their respective delegations, according to the French presidency. State media cited an unnamed security official as saying the blasts were...

ust before climbing steps outside the U.S. Capitol, the Air Force major predicted what his protest would cost him. “In the grand scheme of things, I’m just a nobody,” he told reporters. “What matters far more than who I am is what I have to say and the price I’m willing to pay to say it.” He had demonstrated before against President Donald Trump — for 22 days last year as part of a hunger strike, but that was anonymous. Every day, he wore a skintight white mask and a white jumpsuit as he silently sat in a lawn chair...

These are tricky times for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The “special military operation” he launched against Ukraine in 2022, intended to last a few days until a puppet regime in Kyiv could be installed, has now gone on longer than both the Soviet fight against Nazi Germany and all of World War I. His forces have long ceased making significant gains on the battlefield; some data even suggest that Russian forces lost territory in April and May. What gains the Russians have made have come at enormous cost: Last month, Anna Keast-Butler, the director of British intelligence agency GCHQ, cited...

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...

'Contrary to rumor, Morris Day & the Time will not be performing at the "Great American State Fair."' The Commodores subsequently announced that they would not be performing at Freedom 250. 'Our music has always been our voice and we choose not to publicly affiliate with any single political party,' the funk act said in a statement on Instagram. 'We support the betterment of all Americans.' Country music hitmaker Martina McBride also joined the list of cancellations on Thursday. 'I was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading,' McBride wrote...

Japan for the first time has deployed ground troops to the Balikatan exercise, a series of multidomain drills staged across the Philippine archipelago. Participation by about 1,000 Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Soldiers augments the annual training that began decades ago as a Philippines-United States exercise and now involves about 20 nations. Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) personnel previously attended Balikatan as observers and in noncombat roles focused on humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HADR). They participated in a maritime drill in 2025. A reciprocal access agreement between Manila and Tokyo, which took effect in September 2025, allows JSDF and Armed...

Peru has a female president for the first time, after ex-president Pedro Castillo was impeached - hours after he tried to dissolve parliament. Dina Boluarte - previously the vice-president - was sworn in after a dramatic day in Lima on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Mr Castillo had said he was replacing Congress with an "exceptional emergency government". But lawmakers ignored this, and in an emergency meeting impeached him. He was then detained and accused of rebellion. Ms Boluarte, a 60-year-old lawyer, said she would govern until July 2026, which is when Mr Castillo's presidency would have ended. Speaking after...