Free Republic

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862) (Trade Expansion Act), it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Policy. Copper is a critical material essential to the national security, economic strength, and industrial resilience of the United States. Copper, scrap copper, and copper’s derivative products play a vital role in defense applications, infrastructure, and emerging technologies, including clean energy, electric vehicles, and advanced electronics. The United States faces significant vulnerabilities in the copper supply...

A US trade adviser appointed by Barack Obama orchestrated a deal to buy gold worth millions of dollars from a wanted Congolese warlord, according to a UN report. Kase Lawal, a Nigerian-born US oil tycoon, transferred millions of dollars to the notorious rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda between December 2010 and February 2011 as part of the deal, the report by the UN's Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) states.If true, this would be a contravention of UN resolutions banning individuals or organisations from financing illegal armed groups in the wartorn eastern DRC.

The U.S. CDC raised its response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic ​Republic of Congo to its highest level on Friday, but said the risk ‌of the disease spreading in the United States remained low. The move, reserved for the most severe health crises, signals growing concern over the rare strain's rapid spread. The outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola has infected over ​1,200 people in Congo, including 321 deaths, and 20 cases in neighboring Uganda, ​reaching the highest first-month total of any episode of the disease, the ⁠World Health Organization said this week. The Centers for Disease...

Hospital says there are currently no concerns regarding public exposureA Montreal hospital has isolated a female patient presenting with symptoms of Ebola, a deadly virus, officials said. The patient arrived at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) late Thursday afternoon exhibiting signs of the disease. Irène Marcheterre, a spokesperson for the CHUM, said that as soon as the suspicious symptoms were identified, the hospital immediately enacted its required isolation protocols. The hospital reiterated that all necessary safety measures have been put in place and stressed that there are currently no concerns regarding public exposure. The suspected case comes...

LONDON -- The New York-based International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid organization warned on Tuesday that the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighboring Uganda is now spreading faster than responders can contain it and risks becoming "the deadliest on record" without urgent international action. What is especially alarming, the IRC said, is that the outbreak is no longer limited to remote areas of the DRC's northeastern province of Ituri, the epicenter of the current epidemic. Cases and contacts are now spreading into larger regional hubs, the IRC warned, including the major city of Goma...

Up to 60 Christians were massacred by Islamists in the province of Ituri, north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on April 1. A source affiliated to Islamic State (IS – also known as ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) reported that its fighters “targeted Christians” after they “rejected the generous offer made to them by Islamic State, based on the just rulings of Islam.” This “generous offer” was likely a demand for members of the Christian community of Bafwakoa, a village in the territory of Mambasa, to convert to Islam or accept dhimmi status as subjugated, supposedly protected, people. One of several...

A catastrophic landslide struck an artisanal mine in Kawama, Lualaba Province, Democratic Republic of Congo on November 15, 2025, killing at least 80 people within seconds. This footage shows the moment the cliff collapsed and the tragic aftermath that followed. Artisanal mining in the DRC is extremely dangerous — miners work without safety gear, under unstable rock walls, driven by poverty and demand for cobalt and copper used worldwide in electronics and EV batteries. This video documents the human cost behind those minerals — the risk, the suffering, and the lives lost.

Before dawn on Tuesday, Sept. 9, a devastating attack by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) shattered the Congolese Christian community in Ntoyo-Mangurujipa, Lubero Territory, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), leaving more than 70 civilians dead.Ntoyo, located about three miles east of Mangurujipa center, was struck while families had gathered for a wake in honor of a deceased loved one. What should have been a solemn night of mourning turned into a bloodbath. According to local reports, the ADF fighters stormed the gathering and opened fire without warning. Women, children, and men, who only hours earlier were comforting...

DAKAR, Senegal — (AP) — Congo’s health ministry on Thursday announced a new Ebola outbreak, the 16th in the central African country, after a case was confirmed in the southern Kasai province. “To date, the provisional report shows 28 suspected cases and 15 deaths, including 14 in Boulapé and 1 in Mweka, as well as four healthcare workers,” said Samuel-Roger Kamba, Congo’s health minister. He added that the case fatality rate, estimated at 53.6%, showed the gravity of the situation. He said that the figures were provisional and research was ongoing. The suspected cases and deaths presented symptoms such fever,...

The Minnesota man being sought in connection with the Saturday morning assassination of a state lawmaker and the shooting of another runs a security company and has ties to the Middle East and Africa, online biographies showed. Vance Luther Boelter lists himself on LinkedIn as the CEO of the Red Lion Group, which is based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He also worked with Minnesota Africans United, a statewide organization working with African immigrants in the state, according to a now deleted biography on the group’s web site. In 2022, Boelter participated as a keynote speaker in his capacity...

Vance Boelter’s videos surface One video on Facebook shows Boelter participating as a keynote speaker in his capacity as CEO of Red Lion Group for the seminar in 2022. He conducted the call from Moanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo and spoke of the Red Lion Group’s ventures in the African nation. On LinkedIn, he lists himself as the CEO of the Red Lion Group, based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “This all started back in 2019, when my partner, McNay Nkashama, brought in the ambassador from the DRC to Minnesota, and we had meetings, the bulk of them...

A former appointee of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is being sought by police in connection with the fatal shooting of a state lawmaker, according to reports. Police are searching for Vance Luther Boelter, 57, who was appointed by Walz in 2019 to serve a four year stint on the Governor’s Workforce Development Board, sources told The New York Post. It comes after an assailant is thought to have impersonated a police officer when they entered the Champlin residence of Senator John Hoffman and his wife early Saturday, shooting both and leaving them critically injured. The shooter then proceeded to the...

Vance Boelter gives sermon in Congo a few years ago.

President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered his administration to accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees for resettlement in the United States next year, amid international pressure to act as heartbreaking images emerge of sometimes-deadly attempts to escape to Europe. California is the top resettlement destination, but some likely will come to centers in the Baltimore area, where refugees will be provided with furnished apartments, classes in English and American culture and help finding work. The International Rescue Committee office in Highlandtown, which has helped to resettle 26 Syrian refugees this year, anticipates receiving many more. The agency helps to resettle...

At least 5 people have been killed and around 50 injured on July 25, 2022, after hundreds of protesters attacked a United Nations headquarters in Goma, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, demanding that the mission leaves the country for failing to protect the population. The protest started after President Felix Tshisekedi’s party and civil society organizations called for the demonstration in Goma after the president of the Senate, Modeste Bahati, called on the UN’s MONUSCO mission to leave Congo in mid-July. The mission is present in the country for more than 20 years. It is the largest peacekeeping mission...

I'm told by a police source in Minnesota the suspect in the shootings of MN state lawmakers is Vance Luther Boelter. It appears it is the same Boelter who was appointed to the Governor’s Workforce Development Board in 2019 by Gov. Tim Walz. He appointed to the Governor's Workforce Development Council in 2016 by then-Gov. Mark Dayton.

The alleged gunman in the deadly shooting targeting two Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party lawmakers and their spouses had a manifesto in his car that listed the two lawmakers and “many lawmakers and other officials”, according to police. The suspect is on the run on foot. UPDATE: A photo was released by the Minnesota State Patrol showing ‘No Kings’ flyers on the seat of the alleged gunman’s car (Photo at end of article.) Police are asking the public to not attend the statewide No Kings protests against President Trump scheduled for today.

Impeachment Star Witness Was Aware of Burisma Corruption Ex-Con Hired by D.C. as ‘Violence Interrupter’ Charged with Murder Judicial Watch Confronts the Election Crisis President Trump Echoes Judicial Watch Concerns about Dirty Voter Rolls Turns out that one of the Democrats’ star witnesses in their sham impeachment of President Trump – former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie “Masha” Yovanovitch – seemed to have been shading the truth. Are you at all surprised? We just received 210 pages of records from the State Department showing that Yovanovitch had specifically warned in 2017 about corruption allegations against Burisma Holdings. However, during...

Three Americans convicted for their role in a failed coup in Democratic Republic of Congo last year have had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment, the presidency has said. They were among 37 people sentenced to death last September by a military court. The three were accused of leading an attack on both the presidential palace and the home of an ally of President Félix Tshisekedi last May. The overturning of the sentences comes ahead of a visit to DR Congo by the newly appointed US senior advisor for Africa, Massad Boulos. Boulos, father-in-law to President Donald Trump's daughter,...

The president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Félix Tshisekedi, has reached out directly to President Donald J. Trump with a historic proposal: help defeat a brutal rebel force terrorizing his nation, and in return, America will gain direct access to one of the world’s richest untapped troves of critical minerals—worth an estimated $24 trillion. According to a letter obtained by The Wall Street Journal, President Tshisekedi offered Trump exclusive mining opportunities through the newly launched U.S. Sovereign Wealth Fund, a Trump-led initiative aimed at reshaping global investment through pro-American partnerships. “Your election has ushered in the golden age...