Free Republic

President Donald Trump said Friday that U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel will form a “partnership,” after the Japanese steelmaker’s bid to acquire its U.S. rival had been blocked on national security grounds. U.S. Steel shares jumped more than 24%.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – The two political parties expected to form the next German government have agreed to loosen the country’s constitution restrictions on borrowing, enabling 1 trillion euros ($1.08 trillion) or more in spending on defense and infrastructure. It´s a major change in Germany´s debt-averse political culture, rejecting conventional economic wisdom that long dominated Europe´s biggest economy and one of the world´s wealthiest countries. Here are key facts about the debt brake and what the changes will mean for Germany and Europe. The debt brake was passed in 2009, when a global financial crisis led to sharp increase in...

South African-American billionaire Elon Musk promoted the Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) in unambiguous terms in a newspaper column, prompting the publication’s opinions editor to resign in protest. Germany has been failed by its legacy parties and is teetering on the brink of collapse, Elon Musk wrote in an op-ed for the Sunday edition of the national newspaper of record Die Welt. His diagnoses of Germany’s problems came with a suggested solution, voting for the right-sovereigntist AfD. The legacy media and prevailing political opinion in mainstream Germany considers the AfD extreme if not outright dangerous. Moves to ban the party are...

Germany’s domestic energy policies and economic environment are driving its biggest industrial players away from home and toward more favorable conditions in China. Escalating energy costs, massive subsidies for renewable energy and stringent regulations have created an environment in Germany that is increasingly hostile to industrial growth. As a result, many of Germany’s most established companies are downsizing at home, shedding thousands of jobs, while investing heavily in China. This shift underlines the profound impact of current policies on Germany’s industrial landscape, with long-term implications for the local economy and employment. Asia Times examines here the key factors and the...

Despite relentless attacks from left-wing media and threats of violent jihad from Muslims, Modi has remained steadfast in his pursuit to protect minorities facing persecution in Islamic nations. Through groundbreaking CAA legislation, he offers sanctuary to victims of Islamic persecution, contrasting sharply with Western countries that extend entry to those persecuting non-Muslim minorities. On Monday, March 11, the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took a significant step in addressing religious persecution by officially implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). This piece of legislation, passed in December 2019, aims to provide a haven for minorities such as Hindus,...

The next generation of the Toyota Camry, the best-selling sedan in the U.S. market, will come with only a gas-electric hybrid powertrain, the boldest move yet by the Japanese automaker to push hybrid technology into the heart of the U.S. market. The 2025 Camry will combine a 2.5-liter gasoline engine with an electric drive system tuned to deliver more power in both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive versions of the car, Toyota said. Compliance with tougher U.S. fuel economy rules was a factor in Toyota’s decision to make the new Camry an all-hybrid vehicle line, dropping four- and six-cylinder combustion...

VIDEOFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis must realize by now that he made the biggest mistake of his life by running for president in this election cycle. Common sense should have told him there was NO WAY he could go up against President Donald Trump. However hubris, plus campaign consultants fortified with Murdoch money, convinced him otherwise. And now he wishes he could somehow go back in time and NOT run since that way he would have been the odds on favorite for 2028. Instead his political career is in ashes and you can read it on his face. He is just...

While echoing the policies and positions of former President Donald Trump, Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis took some veiled shots the runaway GOP primary polling leader – blasting Republicans as having been losers. "We must reject the culture of losing that has infected our party in recent years. The time for excuses is over. We've got to demonstrate the courage to lead and the strength to win." "If we make the 2024 election a referendum on Joe Biden and his failures, and if we provide a positive alternative for the future of this country, Republicans will win across the board,"...

(CNN)A United States military investigation into a deadly Kabul drone strike in August has found that it killed 10 civilians and the driver and the vehicle targeted was likely not a threat associated with ISIS-K, according to a US military official familiar with the investigation The Pentagon had maintained that at least one ISIS-K facilitator and three civilians were killed in what Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley had previously called a "righteous strike" on the compound on August 29. The investigation released Friday found that all of those killed in the residential compound were civilians.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson described his phone call with former Vice President Joe Biden as “refreshing”, in an apparent dig at President Donald Trump, who he referred to as the “previous president”. On Tuesday, Boris Johnson revealed that he had spoken to the 77-year-old Democrat, to congratulate him after the mainstream media declared him the winner of the presidential election, as well as to discuss future ‘Build Back Better’ opportunities on issues such as climate change.

An engineer called the Florida Department of Transportation to report concerns about a crack on their new 'instant' bridge two days before it collapsed - but no one ever picked up their voicemail. FIGG's lead engineer responsible for the Florida International University, FIU, pedestrian bridge project, W. Denney Pate, left a message warning that they had observed some cracking at the north end of the bridge. The voicemail was not picked up until Friday - a day after the bridge collapsed killing six. Pate warned that the cracking areas would need repairs but assured that, 'from a safety perspective we...

New: Trump just said he signed a memo directing the Attorney General to propose a rule outlawing bump stocks, all devices "that turn legal weapons into machine guns." He expects those regulations to be finalized "very soon."

An unexpected noise came out of a child's present this Christmas: an Islamic prayer. Instead of whooshing and roaring expected out of a toy F-16 fighter jet bought on Amazon, the toy plays a prayer in Arabic, KING-TV reported. The toy's manufacturer, WolVol, blamed its factory for the mistake, according to the report. "It sounds like an Arabic chanting, which is pretty unusual," Bjorn Thorpe, the boy's uncle, told KING-TV. "I think we're kind of confused on how this would happen." Nadeem Israr, president of the Islamic Society of Whatcom County, told King 5 the sound is a Muslim prayer...

A dozen Syrian refugees arrive in Texas today hoping to start a new life far from their war-torn homeland. But they're not being welcomed by the state. Six of the 12 refugees are members of one family. Two small children with their parents and grandparents will join relatives in Dallas. The other six refugees will be greeted by relatives in Houston. The Bayou city will get another nine refugees on Thursday.

When the 19th Amendment went into effect 95 years ago today (8/26), The Nation was already looking ahead to the deeper implications of women’s suffrage. “What Will They Do With The Vote?” asked a piece by Stella Crossley Daljord. The answer has implications for the state of American politics today, almost a century after the extension of suffrage to women.

Gov. Scott Walker (Wis.) is open to the idea of teaming up with Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) on a GOP presidential ticket, he told Bloomberg on Thursday. “I do like Marco Rubio, I think he and I have similar thoughts on national defense and foreign policy,” Walker, who is weighing a 2016 run, said in an interview on Bloomberg's With All Due Respect. Asked by Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin if he would be open to announcing in December that the two of them would run as a ticket, and settle who would be the nominee for president and vice president later,...

'We made a big mistake': Teenage Austrian poster girls for ISIS who moved to Syria to live with jihadis are now pregnant and want to come home... but officials say that will be 'impossible' Interpol became involved when the girls left Austria in April, despite the fact that they wrote a note telling their parents: “Don’t look for us. We will serve Allah – and we will die for him.” Once they arrived it is believed they were married off to local fighters and both the girls are thought to be pregnant. Police in their homeland Austria say that the...

The White House made a big mistake over the weekend, accidentally revealing the name of the CIA’s top officer in Kabul in a prepared list of U.S. officials who were taking part in a briefing related to President Barack Obama‘s surprise visit to Afghanistan. After the White House caught the error, which named the individual as the “Chief of Station” — a label given to the CIA’s top spy in any given country — the agent was removed from the email and a revised list was distributed, the Washington Post reported. But before making the change, the official’s identity was...

Meet the kinder, gentler Conservative Political Action Conference. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, snubbed last year after palling around with President Obama, is coming. So is GOProud, the gay rights group that was banned for the past few years amid noisy boycotts from critics and supporters. There's even a panel debating the merits of medical marijuana. "CPAC is about finding conservative solutions to every challenge in America and not just saying 'no'," said Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union, which runs the conference in Washington, D.C. "We're determined to win the majority of American support." The annual debate...

Fox News Channel says it has hired Democratic strategist James Carville as a contributor. The channel said Thursday he will offer commentary during appearances on various Fox News Channel programs. Editor's Note: Add Up to $152,046 to Your Social Security Benefits Using Weird Trick Carville was the lead strategist for Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, which was documented in the film "The War Room." He served as a senior political adviser during Clinton's presidency. Carville's TV work includes co-hosting the 2002-05 edition of "Crossfire" on CNN. He and his wife, Republican strategist Mary Matalin, were analysts at CNN until last...