Free Republic

U.S. President Donald Trump's demands for a coalition to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz appeared to fall on deaf ears on Monday as allies Japan and Australia said they were not planning to send navy vessels to the Middle East to escort ships through the vital waterway.

The U.S. Navy has refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry for military escorts through the Strait of Hormuz since ​the start of the war on Iran, saying the risk of attacks is too high for now, according to sources familiar with the matter. The ‌Navy's assessments spell continued disruption to Middle East oil exports. The U.S. Navy has held regular ⁠briefings with shipping and oil industry counterparts and has said during those briefings it is unable to provide escorts for the time being, three shipping industry sources familiar with ​the matter said. The sources, who declined to be identified...

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot held a call on Monday with his ​Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to discuss ‌the Iran war and both agreed to work on de-escalation, Barrot's office said in a statement. Both ministers ​committed to seeking a political solution ​that would guarantee collective security and take ⁠into account the aspirations of the ​Iranian people, the statement said. Barrot "reiterated the Iranian ​regime's responsibility for the ongoing escalation, after it unjustifiably attacked several countries in the region," the statement ​said. He also criticised the Iranian regime for ​refusing to respect the resolutions from the United Nations' ‌Security ⁠Council...

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - Only one in four Americans approves of the U.S. strikes that killed Iran’s leader, while about half — including one in four Republicans — believe President Donald Trump is too willing to use military force, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on Sunday. Some 27% of respondents said they approved of the strikes, while 43% disapproved and 29% were not sure. About nine in 10 respondents said they had heard at least a little about the strikes, which began early on Saturday. The poll was conducted during the strikes on Iran by the U.S....

Hungary’s centre-right opposition Tisza party has widened its lead over Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz in February, a highly regarded poll showed on Wednesday, ahead of an April 12 election in which ​the veteran nationalist is seeking reelection. Orban, seeking to retain his 16-year grip on ‌power, is facing a strong challenger for the first time in a parliamentary vote, with the outcome having major implications not only for Hungary but for Europe and its far-right political forces. The poll showed Fidesz losing ground, while Tisza is gaining supporters, despite numerous voter-pleasing measures announced by the government ‌after ​three years...

U.S. and European officials are growing increasingly worried as hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. energy assistance previously pledged for Ukraine remain unreleased, even as a bone-cold winter pushes the nation's war‑damaged power grid to the brink, said several sources familiar with the matter. The funds in question were originally slated to be distributed by the U.S. Agency for ​International Development to help Ukraine import liquefied natural gas and rebuild energy infrastructure damaged by Russian strikes, said the sources, who include a U.S. official and a Ukrainian official. But after USAID was effectively shuttered in the ‌opening weeks of...

Five people were killed, and 14 were reportedly injured in two blasts that rocked Iran’s port city of Bandar Abbas and Ahvaz.Further explosions were reported in Karaj, and the Parand neighborhood of Tehran.Five people were killed, and 14 were reportedly injured in two blasts that rocked Iran’s port city of Bandar Abbas and Ahvaz.Further explosions were reported in Karaj, and the Parand neighborhood of Tehran.According to a Reuters report citing local officials, one person was killed and 14 were injured in the Bandar Abbas blast. An additional five people were confirmed dead from blasts in Ahvaz, Iran International reported.According to...

PARIS/OSLO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump linked his drive to take control of Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize, saying he no longer thought "purely of Peace" as the row over the Arctic island on Monday threatened to reignite a trade war with Europe. Trump has intensified his push to wrest sovereignty over Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark, threatening punitive tariffs on countries which stand in his way and prompting the European Union to weigh hitting back with its own measures. The dispute is threatening to upend the NATO alliance that has...

Summary Industry calls on EU to consider never-before-used 'Anti-Coercion Instrument' Current tariff regime already costing German companies billions U.S. is Germany's top export destination BERLIN, Jan 18 (Reuters) - German industry reacted with anger on Sunday to U.S. President Donald Trump's planned use of tariffs to crank up the pressure on Denmark to sell Greenland, calling on Europe not to cave in to his demands.Trump's threat to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on European allies until the U.S. is allowed to buy the strategically important island derails a period of relative calm for businesses after Brussels and Washington agreed...

U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters that Ukraine - not Russia - is holding up a potential peace deal, rhetoric that stands in marked contrast to that of European allies, who have consistently argued Moscow has little interest in ending its war in Ukraine. In an exclusive interview in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to wrap up his nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. Zelenskiy, the U.S. president said, was more reticent. "I think he's ready to make a deal," Trump said of the Russian president. "I think Ukraine is less ready to...

“Jan 13 (Reuters) - Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said Greenlanders could vote to join Russia if U.S. President Donald Trump did not move quickly to secure the Arctic island, Interfax reported on Monday. “Trump needs to hurry. According to unverified information, in a few days there could be a sudden referendum, at which the entire 55,000-strong Greenland could vote to join Russia," Interfax reported, quoting Medvedev, a former Russian president. "And then that’s it. No new little stars on the (U.S.) flag.

Mali and Burkina Faso have said they are imposing a travel ban on US citizens in response to an equivalent measure announced by the Trump administration earlier this month. In separate statements issued by their foreign ministries late on Tuesday, the two West African countries said they were acting in the name of “reciprocity” after the White House announced on December 16 that US President Donald Trump was adding them and five other countries to a list of those subject to a full travel ban. The White House said the expanded ban, set to take effect on January 1, applied...

The Capitol riot of January 2021 set off the largest criminal investigation in the Justice Department’s history. For federal prosecutor Ashley Akers, it was a defining moment in a seven-year career spent untangling complex cases, from wire fraud to domestic terrorism. She helped put away dozens of rioters – including some who swung bats and beat police officers. Then the tables turned. On his first day back in office, U.S. President Donald Trump granted clemency to every criminally charged January 6 rioter. Akers resigned. Now, Akers and other prosecutors who handled Capitol riot cases face a new threat. Reuters has...

Summary For a serving president, Trump is unusually engaged in midterm strategy Trump tries to pivot to affordability, urging Republicans to highlight tax cuts Democratic control of the House could re-open risk of impeachment proceedings WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump isn't on the ballot in next November's midterm elections, but he’s plunging into them with his own presidency at stake. He's calling candidates, making early endorsements, shaping strategy and pushing economic messaging to try to keep Congress in Republican hands, according to nine Republicans involved in election strategy. As early as this summer, 18 months before Election...

CHICAGO, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Tyson Foods (TSN.N) will close a major beef plant in Lexington, Nebraska, with about 3,200 employees in January after U.S. cattle supplies dropped to their lowest level in nearly 75 years, the meatpacker said on Friday. The closure in the heart of cattle-feeding country signaled that supplies will remain tight, forcing meatpackers to pay steep prices for cattle to process into steaks and hamburgers. Beef prices have set records due to low supplies and strong demand, raising costs for consumers. President Donald Trump said last month that he was working to bring down prices. Tyson...

Summary DOGE disbanded eight months ahead of scheduled end in July 2026 Former DOGE employees take new roles in administration Elon Musk initially led DOGE, promoting its work on social media WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate, ending an initiative launched with fanfare as a symbol of Trump's pledge to slash the government's size but which critics say delivered few measurable savings. "That doesn't exist," Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told Reuters earlier this month when asked about DOGE's status. It is...

Nov 11 (Reuters) - Venezuela is deploying weapons, including decades-old Russian-made equipment, and is planning to mount a guerrilla-style resistance or sow chaos in the event of a U.S. air or ground attack, according to sources with knowledge of the efforts and planning documents seen by Reuters. The approach is a tacit admission of the South American country's shortage of personnel and equipment.

Firefights broke out along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border late on Saturday, with the Afghan Taliban attacking Pakistani posts, according to security officials from both countries, following a Pakistani airstrike in Kabul this week. Pakistani security officials said that they were responding "with full force" to what they called unprovoked firing from Afghanistan. The exchange of fire took place at more than six locations along the border, they said.

Summary BLS loses senior leaders as Trump targets agency's integrity About 12 of 35 senior leaders have left amid Trump's criticism Modernizing data collection suggested to improve response rates WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's unwarranted attacks on the integrity of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics were undermining trust in economic data and had accelerated retirements of key personnel at the agency, former BLS commissioners said on Wednesday. During a discussion at the libertarian Cato Institute, Erica Groshen and William Beach, who headed the agency under presidents of both parties, said the BLS had lost 12...

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg alleged on Tuesday that she and other detainees of the Gaza flotilla were subjected to torture in the Israeli prison they were held. Thunberg told a news conference in Stockholm that she and others were “kidnapped and tortured” by the Israeli military. She declined to elaborate, adding when pressed that she didn’t get clean water and that other detainees were deprived of critical medication. “Personally, I don’t want to share what I was subjected to because I don’t want it to make headlines and ‘Greta has been tortured’, because that’s not the story here,” she said,...