Free Republic

US oil giant Unocal must stand trial in California for alleged complicity in human rights abuses by Burma's military junta, including forced labour, rape and torture, a judge has ruled. "Prior to its involvement in the pipeline project, Unocal had specific knowledge that the use of forced labour was likely, and nevertheless chose to proceed," Los Angeles Superior Court judge Victoria Chaney said. In the decision, Judge Chaney rejected arguments by the California-based energy firm, which built a gas pipeline in Burma, that the case should be tried at least in part under Burma or Bermuda law. Unocal had made...

Immigration arrests of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in California increased more than tenfold in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to a new analysis by the USC Equity Research Institute.

Travellers entering and leaving China will face stricter controls under new regulations covering travel applications from Sept 15. These regulations, approved at a State Council executive meeting, were announced on July 31, Xinhua reported. Under the rules, applicants must state a truthful and lawful purpose when applying to enter or leave China, or to stay or reside in the country, reported The Nation. Immigration and visa authorities may question applicants, including requiring them to provide documents and data. Those who submit false documents or statements may be denied permission to enter or leave China. Strengthened warnings for citizens travelling to...

WASHINGTON — The feds nabbed 11 suspects accused of operating a decade-long, multimillion-dollar marriage fraud scheme that resulted in around 1,000 sham weddings between primarily Chinese nationals and US citizens for the purpose of getting the Asians green cards. The “cottage industry” uncovered Wednesday charged foreign nationals up to $100,000 for each fake union, including submitting fraudulent applications to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on behalf of those seeking lawful permanent residency. The sham wedding ring used advertisements on social media platforms, held phony marraige ceremonies and even had both parties to the fake unions sign bizarre pre-nuptial agreements,...

For nearly two decades, Pew Research Center surveys delivered the same reliable finding: The world viewed the United States more favorably than China. That era is over. In its July 2026 report, Pew found China now ranks higher in favorability than the United States across most of the 36 countries surveyed. Gallup data from 2025 already showed China’s median approval edging past America’s. Confidence in Xi Jinping now exceeds confidence in Donald Trump by a clear margin in the countries Pew tracks annually. The Council on Foreign Relations rightly asked what happened. The answer is simpler – and more damning...

Jensen Huang built the world’s most valuable company by pioneering the specialized computer chips behind the artificial intelligence boom. To keep his vision for the future within reach, the Nvidia founder is now attempting a different kind of engineering: convincing Wall Street investors that those chips are long-term financial assets akin to commercial real estate or toll roads. His bet hinges on outpacing AI developments in China. This week, Nvidia unveiled agreements with six of the world’s largest asset managers, BlackRock, Blackstone, Apollo, KKR, Brookfield and Goldman Sachs. The goal was to assemble a $500 billion pipeline to finance the...

Over the past eighteen months, nearly every condition analysts have long said would erode the dollar's dominance arrived at once. War broke out in the Persian Gulf. The Strait of Hormuz has closed, reopened, and closed again, and remains shut as this is written. Iran began charging transit tolls denominated in yuan. Indian refiners started settling Russian crude in yuan and dirhams, the first time a top-five oil importer structurally routed around the dollar for energy. China's cross-border payment system posted record volumes, clearing 1.22 trillion yuan in a single day in March. Central banks bought gold at a pace...

This morning a Long March 7A rocket launching from Wengchang in China suffered a dramatic failure close to Max-Q. We don't have much in the way of details of the launch or its payload but a selection of videos posted on China's social media support the conclusion that a structural failure due to launch loads. The rocket is seen to bend at the interstage between the 2nd and 3rd stage leading to the destruction of the vehicle. China's Rocket Literally Bent Under Pressure! | 9:57 Scott Manley | 1.87M subscribers | 263,458 views | August 10, 2026

The UK Ministry of Defense has discovered that the Royal Navy’s new fleet of spy drones, being operated by elements of the Royal Marines since March, have been secretly transmitting information from the drone’s primary camera to China, according to an investigation from The Telegraph. Components of the camera on the K3 Scout, a 27-foot-long multirole uncrewed surface vessel (drone boat) built by Kraken Technology in the United Kingdom, were produced in and secretly transmitting data to a device in China. An investigation into the drones revealed that the cameras were transmitting “heartbeat communications” – data to confirm they were...

Representatives of the largest American artificial intelligence laboratories met in the White House on August 4. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta were called in to review a framework, recently completed and largely classified, that would give the government 30 days to review AI models before the public sees them and test how well they break into computers. Participation is voluntary, but the timing is not. Twice in two weeks, AI systems built to test how well they could break into computers broke into real companies instead. On July 21, OpenAI admitted that two of its programs, locked in what was...

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman tells Lydia Moynihan why Elon Musk is so important to America’s space program. Isaacman also explains why it’s crucial for America to beat China in the race back to the moon. This is an excerpt of the Full interview, "NASA Chief Jared Isaacman: The Race to Mars, Extraterrestrial Life & Elon Musk". NASA Chief Jared Isaacman: Elon Musk is the greatest engineer in history | 13:57 Pod Force One with Miranda Devine | 112K subscribers | 3,795 views | August 8, 2026

As cities and towns across America reckon with power-hungry data centers, the Chinese Communist Party is sowing division. As small towns across the United States reckon with power-hungry data centers springing up, the Chinese Communist Party is muddying the waters and sowing division. By tapping into the tensions around water usage, power demands, and environmental costs, the regime is trying to widen the wedge using an old playbook: influence peddling and propaganda. There’s no discounting the groundswell of anger in American towns about data centers in their neighborhoods. Local resistance has blocked or delayed at least 75 data center...

Yesterday, the President signed new Executive Orders expanding the definition of who is excluded from Birthright Citizenship. While there is an absolute likelihood that all those really smart attorneys and other people in the Executive branch came up with the updated policies independent of anything I floated here, in the blogosphere, and through indirect channels, I will take it as a win. Even if independently arrived at by others, the ideas floated here definitely appear to have been ground into the sausage making process of the new policies. Never underestimate the impact of Free Republic on national debates! -- Back...

The governments of Japan and the United States agreed in 2012 to move more than 9,000 of the nearly 19,000 Marines stationed in Okinawa more than 2,200 miles east to Guam, a U.S. territory.2 This process—finally begun in 2024—amounts to a withdrawal of forces from territory the United States has pledged to defend, and a de facto retreat from the most pernicious threat: the People’s Republic of China.National defense strategies from multiple administrations and both major U.S. political parties agree: China is the greatest threat to the United States and its interests.3 Few issues generate as much robust bipartisan support...

President Donald Trump cast doubt in recent days on allegations that Russia is helping Iran target U.S. forces, even as members of his own administration acknowledge Moscow and Beijing are supporting Tehran in other ways. Trump dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's claim that Russia supplied Iran with satellite imagery of U.S. military installations in the Gulf, saying any assistance would have been "very unimpactful" given the damage inflicted on Iran's military. "We’ll find out if that’s true. I’ll ask Putin. We’ll find out," Trump told reporters at the end of July.

Sunday saw the 10-year anniversary of the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling against China’s nine-dash line. Fourteen countries reacted by reaffirming the ruling. China, predictably, reacted with saber-rattling. To recap the case: In 2012, prompted by a standoff at Scarborough Shoal, the Philippines sought international arbitration. China refused to participate in or recognize the process. It went ahead anyway, and the court ruling eviscerated China’s position, ruling its infamous nine-dash line invalid and faulting China on other points. China still refuses to recognize it and has tightened its grip over the area via salami-slicing gray-zone tactics. But the ruling stands....

China is leading as a global innovator in humanoid robotics, according to a new LexisNexis patent analysis. The report analyzed more than 26,000 patent families to identify the countries and companies that are leading innovation in humanoid robotics. China claimed the top five spots. In total, Chinese companies occupy six of the 10 spots for the most innovative humanoid robotics startups in the world, according to the report. Shanghai-based Fourier and AgiBot ranked first and second, followed by Shenzhen-based LimX Dynamics and Pudu Robotics, and Hangzhou-based Unitree Robotics. Shenzhen’s Leju Robotics also made the top 10, ranking ninth.

The Chinese Communist Party has flown Democratic Socialists of AMERICA members to China, as DSA members take a "pledge" to the CCP This is BETRAYAL. They should have to renounce their citizenship and never return! https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2083254648731812310

MAGA MomMom 1776 ?????? @magagrandmom 11h I woke up and as I had my morning coffee, I realized that everything is about to change. No matter how I vote, no matter what I say, something evil has invaded our nation, and our lives are never going to be the same. I have been confused by the hostility of family and friends. I look at people I have known all my life--so hate-filled that they agree with opinions they would never express as their own. I think that I may well have entered the Twilight Zone. You can't justify this insanity....

Germany, proud parent of the 'Destroy Your Economy and National Standard of Living Through the Climate Cult Fever Dreaming School,' has been wallowing in its own pond scum colored green glory lately.There is not a single week without a German company announcing mass layoffs or closures.Germany is in the deepest structural crisis since WWII. Government spending masks the real magnitudeIt can’t continue forever, governments need taxes from the real economy to keep spending. pic.twitter.com/DuBjY173ys— Michael A. Arouet (@MichaelAArouet) July 26, 2026Now the poster child for the horrors of life under deindustrialization (not that Britain isn't giving them a run for...