Free Republic

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Argentine President Javier Milei on Saturday agreed to diversify India-Argentina trade basket and vowed to expand cooperation in a range of critical areas such as defence, security, energy and minerals. In their wide-ranging talks, the two leaders emphasised on boosting defence cooperation between the two countries as it will serve each other's strategic interests. PM Modi arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday on a two-day trip in the third leg of his five-nation tour. Though PM Modi visited Argentina in 2018 to attend the G20 Summit, it is the first bilateral visit to the South...

On Saturday, two "Elbows Up" rallies returned to Western New York, drawing crowds at both Freedom Park in Buffalo and Terrapin Point in Niagara Falls. Dozens of participants expressed their opposition to tariffs already put in place by the Trump administration and comments made by the president about making Canada a ‘51st state’ back in January. According to a White House fact sheet in April, Canada was left off the list of countries receiving "reciprocal tariffs,” making them largely exempt from the then-sweeping tariffs. However, Tariffs still in place include a 25% tariff on non-compliant CUSMA goods, such as aluminum,...

Largest tax cut for American workers aims to cement blue-collar boom and make life affordable againThe same issues that drove the Founders to declare independence from the Crown in 1776 drove 77 million Americans to the polls in 2024: heavy taxes, weak leadership, and an overreaching government numb to the needs of its citizens. President Trump won in a landslide victory by offering powerful solutions to each of these problems. He is the American people's declaration of independence from business as usual in Washington.The president seeks to serve "the forgotten men and women of America." And the One Big, Beautiful...

Workers are anxious that artificial intelligence could wipe out their jobs as layoffs continue and employers are cautious about hiring. Tech executives, economists and other experts say that AI could automate mundane and tedious tasks and also create new roles. Tech companies that are cutting jobs and leaning more on artificial intelligence are also disrupting themselves.Amazon’s Chief Executive Andy Jassy said last month that he expects the e-commerce giant will shrink its workforce as employees “get efficiency gains from using AI extensively.”At Salesforce, a software company that helps businesses manage customer relationships, Chief Executive Marc Benioff said last week that...

Former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama are once again joining forces to denounce President Donald Trump, this time for slashing international services they claim are critical to U.S. interests. Bush appears in a new video alongside Obama and U2 frontman Bono, a notorious Trump critic, praising the departing staffers of USAID, the international diplomacy arm that Trump gutted earlier this year. Bush was an advocate for funding the program to combat AIDS and HIV in parts of Africa. “Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy,” Obama said in a video shown to departing USAID employees on...

Let me just state this right up front. Farmers in America, particularly ones that employ several to more than a hundred workers, are not unsophisticated country bumpkins. There will be no whining in this essay along the lines of “Oh, the poor farmer! He does not know how to fill out online federal forms for income tax withholding, immigration, etc.” That’s farm animal excrement! Farmers EFT their own quarterly income tax payments, so they can certainly make payments for their workers’ withholding.President Trump has listened to the sad stories of loving employers and their willing wage workers providing our food...

Glancing upwards only to spot a drone hovering over their gardens last week was the last straw for residents of Welford Place SW19, whose homes overlook the much lauded All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC). While the eye in the sky probably belongs to an accredited broadcaster scouting out local colour ahead of the annual championships, the intrusion felt all too typical of the approach that the Wimbledon high command itself takes to its near neighbours. The annual championships may charm a world audience with its cultivated celebration of grass court tennis, strawberries and a nostalgic evocation of English fair...

Russia's richest people received record dividends in 2024, according to Forbes Russia. The top earner was Alexei Mordashov, who received 201.8 billion rubles in dividends from Severstal. Russia's richest people collected record-high dividends in 2024, even as the country's economy showed clear signs of slowing, according to Forbes Russia on Thursday. Total dividend payouts to the 50 wealthiest Russians reached a record 1.769 trillion rubles, or $22.3 billion, according to the publication. That's a sharp increase from each of the previous two years, when less than 1.4 trillion rubles were distributed. The top earner was steel magnate Alexei Mordashov and...

Today, the Big, Beautiful Bill will become law once President Donald J. Trump puts ink to paper at a big, beautiful signing ceremony in Iowa. Despite opposition from every Democrat in Congress, the House and Senate enacted critical measures to benefit millions of blue-collar workers and their families. It’s another promise from the campaign trail that has become a reality. [SNIP] Perhaps nowhere is the gap between reality and rhetoric clearer than in the bill’s efforts to reform America’s out-of-control health care system. Because the bill eliminates wasteful and ineffective Obamacare programs, creates a work requirement for some programs, and...

Pro-life organizations are praising Congress for passing the “Big, Beautiful Bill” on Thursday, which strips federal taxpayer dollars to abortion-giant Planned Parenthood through Medicaid. The provision was allowed to remain in the final version of the budget reconciliation bill after Senate Republicans changed the timing of defunding from ten years to one year. While pro-life organizations view the move as a battle won, they are pledging to continue fighting to have the organization permanently defunded through debarment. “For years, we’ve said that forced taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood & Big Abortion could end, arguing with our political friends and enemies...

New pro leagues, increasing audience and investment more a movement than a momentIn July 2020, about five months into the global pandemic, 144 WNBA players gathered in Bradenton, Fla., to play a 22-game condensed season in empty arenas...

UPS is offering voluntary buyouts to its full-time US drivers following its decision to slash 20,000 jobs and close 73 facilities. The Atlanta-based company will be providing its laid off employees with various benefits, including pensions and healthcare. The layoffs are part of UPS's network configuration plan, which also confirms the upcoming closures of over 90 more facilities in the future. The changes are part of the company's $3.5 billion cost reduction target for 2025, aiming to reach a 12 percent US operational margin by next year. UPS, which is one of the largest parcel delivery companies in the US,...

Microsoft applied for as many as 6,000 specialized migrant worker visas leading up to a decision to terminate 9,000 jobs globally, according to new reports. The global tech giant revealed this week it would cut around 4 percent of its global workforce as it ramps up investments in artificial intelligence. The move has seen loyal, long term American employees lose their livelihoods and sparked unrest at a time when President Donald Trump is trying to ramp up local production and employment. But data compiled by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service suggests that in the 2025 fiscal year, Microsoft has already...

The unemployment rate ticked down 4.1% from 4.2% in May, the Labor Department said Thursday.U.S. employers added 147,000 jobs in June as the American labor market continues to show surprising resilience despite uncertainty over President Donald Trump's economic policies. The unemployment rate ticked down 4.1% from 4.2% in May, the Labor Department said Thursday. Hiring rose modestly from a revised 144,000 in May and beat economists' expectations of fewer than 118,000 new jobs and a rise in the unemployment rate The U.S. job market has cooled considerably from red-hot days of 2021-2023 when the economy bounced back with unexpected strength...

BREAKING: U.S. House of Representatives officially pass H.R. 1 – One Big Beautiful Bill Act, sends to President Trump to sign bill into law.

Congress passed a massive tax and spending cuts package Thursday that curbs billions of dollars in spending across clean energy. That means people will be paying a lot more for home solar, energy efficiency and other green technologies — and the nation’s efforts to address climate change just got a lot more challenging. The bill supports mining, drilling and production of the oil, coal and gas that are largely driving Earth’s warming and the increasingly deadly and costly extreme weather that comes with it. Producing and burning these fossil fuels also contributes to air pollution and human health problems.

Unilever is reportedly cutting off millions of dollars in funding to the Ben & Jerry’s charitable foundation after it refused to provide audit documents about donations to pro-Palestinian groups, escalating an internal dispute between a corporate parent and its left-leaning subsidiary. Peter ter Kulve, head of Unilever’s ice cream division, informed Ben & Jerry’s executives via email that the foundation’s trustees “have continued to resist basic oversight” and are not cooperating with requests from corporate auditors, according to the news site Semafor. “It represents a marked departure from the norms of charitable organizations, for whom transparency is typically a bedrock...

President Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill is one step closer to becoming law — and reshaping policy from Medicaid to taxes. The House passed the massive spending bill on Thursday afternoon in a 218-214 vote. Every Democrat voted against the bill, along with two Republicans: Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. The final passage came after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke for roughly eight hours and 45 minutes in opposition to the bill, breaking the record for the longest House floor speech in American history. The bill now heads to Trump's desk for signing, which...

The veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent who interviewed Kamala Harris for the segment that triggered the just-settled lawsuit filed by President Trump against CBS News and its parent company reportedly grew emotional during a staff meeting held after the deal was announced. Bill Whitaker, 73, appeared “teary-eyed” and “quite somber” during a tense Zoom meeting Wednesday morning as he addressed his “60 Minutes” colleagues in the wake of Paramount Global’s $16 million settlement with Trump, according to Oliver Darcy’s Status newsletter. Paramount Global, CBS’s corporate parent, agreed on Wednesday to pay $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes”...

BYD, Chery and other Chinese car makers have reshaped global competition through their unprecedented agility. They have found ways to develop new models in less than half the time it takes their foreign rivals, helping to drive explosive growth. SHENZHEN - In October 2023, Chinese automaker Chery ordered engineers and suppliers to travel on short notice to proving grounds in Zhaoyuan, Shandong Province. Over a weekend, they planned an overhaul of the suspension and steering on the Chinese version of Chery’s Omoda 5 SUV for Europe, a key market in its global expansion. The problem: The car had been designed...