Free Republic

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he told Apple CEO Tim Cook that he doesn’t want the tech giant to build its products in India, taking shots at the company’s moves to diversify production away from China and urging him to pivot Stateside. “I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” Trump said. “I said to him, ‘my friend, I treated you very good. You’re coming here with $500 billion, but now I hear you’re building all over India.’ I don’t want you building in India.” Trump was referencing Apple’s commitment of a $500 billion investment in the...

The Trump administration has fully implemented the defunding of the UNFPA that it announced back in March and announced today that no new funding will the directed to it. And the pro-abortion agency is unhappy. As LifeNews reported then, Trump has ordered the defunding of the UNFPA, a United Nations population control agency which promotes abortions worldwide. This is a continuation of his pro-life policy from his previous administration. In 2017, Trump signed an executive order defunding the UN population group because it pushes abortions on other countries and has worked with China for decades to implement its forced abortion...

The US and China have agreed a deal that will significantly cut the import tariffs, or taxes, both sides have imposed on one another for a 90-day period. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said both countries would lower their reciprocal tariffs by 115% for 90 days. The announcement came after the two countries held intensive talks in Switzerland over the weekend.

Ask someone who drives a gasoline-powered car why they wouldn't want to get an electric one, and you're almost certain to hear this answer: they take way too long to charge. They're not even entirely wrong. Even though DC fast charging times are getting shorter and shorter for modern electric vehicles, they can seem totally unacceptable for anyone who's used to fueling a gas-powered car in a matter of minutes—and that still describes most people in this country. To counter this, the Chinese carmaking giant BYD, which recently surpassed Tesla in EV sales, came up with an idea so ambitious...

...The Turkish foreign ministry called on both parties to "exercise common sense and refrain from unilateral actions."They added, "We expect that measures will be taken to reduce tensions in the region as soon as possible and that the necessary mechanisms, including in the field of counter-terrorism, will be put in place to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents. We also support Pakistan's call for an investigation into the 22 April terrorist attack."...Azerbaijan also issued a statement soon after the attack, condemning violence against Pakistan.In their statement they said, "The Republic of Azerbaijan expresses its concern over the further escalation of...

In a saga that reads more like a political thriller than a real estate dispute, Texas businessman Timothy Barton is at the center of a high-stakes legal storm that some allege is less about justice and more about silencing dissent. Timothy Barton—a Christian businessman, proud Trump supporter, and founder of the successful JMJ Development—has, in yet another glaring example of Biden-era political persecution, become the latest target of lawfare by a weaponized federal government more interested in shielding the Chinese Communist Party than protecting American citizens. Barton’s “crime”? Sounding the alarm on what he believed to be a covert Chinese...

The Justice Department on Friday opened an investigation into the planned Sharia City near Dallas, Senator Cornyn said. Last month Texas Governor Greg Abbott launched a campaign against a planned Islamic “mega-city” outside Dallas. The East Plano Islamic Center, via its affiliate Community Capitol Partners, is seeking to construct a 1,000-home settlement around 40 minutes from Dallas. The “Sharia City” would come complete with a mega mosque, Sharia adherent Muslim schools, community college, and sporting facilities. KHOU reported: The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened an investigation into EPIC City, a Muslim-centric development proposed in Collin County, following calls...

China pulls off a stunning space rescue, using a gravity slingshot to save its stranded moon satellites from certain destruction. A render of the navigation system. Image credit: CSU | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel In March 2024, China launched two satellites, DRO-A and DRO-B, as part of an ambitious mission aimed at positioning them in a distant retrograde orbit (DRO) around the moon. Their task was to provide critical navigation and tracking support for spacecraft within Earth-moon space. However, due to a malfunction with the Yuanzheng-1S upper stage of the launch vehicle, the satellites were stranded in an...

Qatar has been a threat to our national security since at least 1986. Their inroads into the U.S. have been subtle and persistent, which doesn’t make them any less dangerous, and the penetration is primarily into our education system: Foreign donors have given as much to U.S. universities in the last four years as they did in the previous 40, according to a new report by the Network Contagion Research Institute shared exclusively with The Free Press. The study shows an explosion in overseas funding for American schools between 2021 and 2024, with nearly $29 billion in foreign money donated...

Russia and China warned on Wednesday that Donald Trump’s proposed “Golden Iron Dome for America” missile defense system would destabilize global security and turn outer space into a new arena for armed confrontation. “The recently announced large-scale ‘Golden (Iron) Dome for America’ program is deeply destabilizing,” the two sides said in a joint statement during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow. The U.S. plan “explicitly provides for a significant strengthening of the arsenal for conducting combat operations in space,” it added. -snip- Moscow and Beijing claimed nuclear states must “reject Cold War mentality” and avoid seeking military...

A bill aimed at cracking down on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its practice of forced organ harvesting passed with overwhelming support on Wednesday – though one House lawmaker voted against it. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was the lone Republican to oppose the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act, which passed 406-1. "It's just another example of us trying to stick our nose in another country's business and write their laws," Massie told Fox News Digital after the vote. "And at the end of the day, they're gonna do what they're gonna do, and it's just sort of a virtue...

Oil producing countries are bracing for a bumpy ride this year, with a precipitous drop in prices to the lowest levels in four years seen as the initial, alarming sign of looming turmoil. A price drop benefits any country seeking to cut its fuel bill. But in oil producing nations, lower prices can feed economic troubles, and sometimes political unrest, as governments slash spending. Analysts who had already been predicting lower oil prices because of softening demand amid increased global production said the possibility of a tariff trade war and the overall climate of uncertainty could well deepen producers’ woes....

Russia said on Sunday that Chinese President Xi Jinping will arrive in the country’s capital Moscow on an official visit, as it is set to host ceremonial events marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory in World War II next week. A statement by the Kremlin said that Xi will pay an official visit to Moscow between May 7-10, at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, where he will take part in Victory Day events in the country’s capital.

The Kremlin said on Saturday it wanted a definitive response from Ukraine to Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer of a three-day ceasefire next week, criticising the reaction so far as ambiguous and historically wrong. Putin on Monday declared a three-day ceasefire to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazi Germany in World War Two. The Kremlin said the 72-hour ceasefire would run on May 8, May 9 - when Putin will host international leaders on Moscow's Red Square, including Chinese President Xi Jinping - and May 10. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy...

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Early vote counting in Australia’s general election Saturday suggested the government was likely to be returned for a second term. The Australian Electoral Commission’s early projections gave the ruling center-left Labor Party 70 seats and the conservative opposition coalition 24 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, the lower chamber where parties need a majority to form governments. Unaligned minor parties and independent candidates appeared likely to win 13 seats. Senior government minister Jim Chalmers said the early results pointed to volatility and different contests across the nation. Opposition Sen. James McGrath expected the result would...

Australia’s Anthony Albanese claimed a historic second term as prime minister on Saturday in a dramatic comeback against once-resurgent conservatives that was powered by voters' concerns about the influence of U.S. President Donald Trump. Peter Dutton, leader of the conservative Liberal party, conceded defeat and the loss of his own seat - echoing the fate of Canada's conservatives and their leader whose election losses days earlier were also attributed to a Trump backlash. [snip] Albanese would be the first Australian prime minister to win a consecutive term in two decades. He said Australians had voted for fairness and "the strength...

Neil Young is facing criticism for a new song he wrote about “fascists” buying Teslas. The 79-year-old singer-songwriter debuted the song, reportedly titled “Let’s Roll Again,” at the Light Up the Blue charity concert in Los Angeles over the weekend. “If you’re a fascist, get a Tesla / It’s electric, it doesn’t matter / If you’re a Democrat, taste your freedom / Get whatever you want, taste your freedom,” Young could be heard singing in clips circulating on social media. “Come on Ford, come on GM / Come on Chrysler, let’s roll again,” the song continued. “Build something special that...

The moves are part of the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign on Iran to help weaken its terrorist activities in the Middle East, including through its use of proxy forces. President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the United States will impose secondary sanctions on all countries or individuals that purchase oil or petrochemicals from Iran. The announcement comes a day after the State Department sanctioned seven entities it accused of trading Iranian oil and petrochemical products. The president confirmed the new secondary sanctions in a post on Truth Social, warning countries they would not be allowed to do business with...

The Pope's loss of confidence, the financial issue, or a lack of pastoral experience are obstacles Is Parolin's candidacy fading? "Although Francis appointed him as Secretary of State, over time he realized he no longer trusted him," La Nación reports, quoting a bishop of the Curia, who maintains that, if elected, Parolin will hinder the "flourishing of the Church" brought about by Bergoglio. He has traveled all over the world, and he is the only one whom the most heterogeneous conclave in history knows and values. Furthermore, at the second of the novendiales, held this Sunday, he launched his candidacy...

Could Cardinal Parolin be validly elected pope?For Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican II 'renewal' is to be brought about through compromise with the proponents of liberalism and naturalism, rather than by combatting these errors.Pietro Parolin is widely regarded as one of the leading candidates who may be elected at the next conclave. Parolin was named a cardinal by Francis in 2014 and has been a member of his influential Council of Cardinal Advisers since that year. He played a prominent role in Francis’s radical revolution and has been a strong supporter of “synodality”, which he sees as a continuation of Vatican...