Free Republic

India’s fertility rate has for the first time fallen below the level needed to stop the population from shrinking, raising concerns about future labour shortages and an ageing society. For decades, India has seen rapid population growth. According to government statistics, including the Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report — the country’s largest demographic survey — India has had a falling fertility rate for some years, but the reproduction rate remained high enough to keep the population growing. The latest SRS report, released last month by India’s Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, said that India’s Total Fertility...

The story of this little girl and the video of her protecting her sister, which galvanised the world, has come full circle. In August of last year, Lola and Ruby Moire were walking home in a suburb of Dundee, Scotland, and being harassed by the ubiquitous 'migrants' who form so integral a part of these United Kingdom stories anymore. The abuse from their pursuers was so intense that one of the girls can be heard warning them off, shouting, 'Don’t f**king touch her, she’s f**king 12!' Weapons the youngster had in her waistband came out, and she brandished them bravely...

Donald Trump announced the killing of Tren De Aragua cartel leader Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, aka 'Nino,' in a swift and lethal kinetic strike' by US Southern Command. The President has made protecting the border and taking down criminal gangs and cartels a priority in his second term and celebrated the killing of the leader of what he called 'one of the most bloodthirsty Terrorist Organizations on Planet Earth.' 'Early in my Administration, I delivered on my promise to designate Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, deport thousands of evil criminals, and wage war against the Cartels, who...

The United Arab Emirates has agreed to unlock billions of dollars for Iran, four sources ​said, in a tactical shift after weeks of Iranian attacks on the wealthy Gulf Arab state during the U.S.-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic. (snip) Two regional sources told Reuters the UAE had agreed to release a total of $10 billion, more than $3 billion of which had already been delivered. Two other sources with knowledge of the arrangement put the total funds involved at $20 billion, adding that the move had been agreed in return for a ​halt to Iranian attacks on the UAE....

"Until you are willing to harm the left more than they are willing to harm you, they will win. It’s really that simple." —Aimee Terese on X You’ll just have to stand by on whether this war with Iran is over or not, since the Shia true believers’ practice of Taqiyya is a permission structure for lying to infidels (us) when necessary — like, to advance global chaos that will bring the return of the Hidden Imam (Mahdi) to fill the world with justice, and establish Islamic rule. (Got that?) One might wonder, of course, whether the majority of Iran’s...

Republicans on Capitol Hill are seething that Donald Trump is not more focused on the economy as this year's midterm elections approach, warning it could obliterate the narrow GOP congressional majority. Polling indicates that voters are souring on Trump and his Republican allies in Congress ahead of his November's elections that will prove fateful for the President's agenda. In addition to the lack of attention to fixing the economy, senior aides also identified the nomination of Federal Housing Finance Director Bill Pulte, a close ally of the President, to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as an...

A senior administration official on Friday laid out elements of a potential short-term agreement between the U.S. and Iran, which could usher in formal negotiations to end the war between the two countries.The senior administration official, in a call with reporters Friday afternoon, said the deal: reopens the Strait of Hormuz and lifts the U.S. blockade on it; "leads to the dismantling of the Iranian nuclear program;" "leads to the United States getting the enriched [nuclear] material” and that material being destroyed and removed from the country and has "an inspection regime that makes sure that this is a long-term...

Iran insisted on Friday on its right to enrich uranium and maintain control over the Strait of Hormuz under any deal with the United States, after President Donald Trump said a draft accord was ready. US ally Israel has said that Trump had promised it that any agreement would see Iran stripped of its enriched nuclear material, but Tehran's official IRNA news agency said this was not even on the table.

The U.S. and Iran could reportedly sign a peace deal as soon as Sunday, after Iranian state media said the draft deal included a commitment from the U.S. to lift oil sanctions and a pledge from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days. The 14-point document dictates that final negotiations will not begin until the release of half of Iran’s frozen funds, the suspension of Iran’s oil sanctions and the lifting of the naval blockade, the Mehr News Agency reported. All American forces would need to withdraw from Iran, and the U.S. and its allies would need...

Iran’s semi-official IRNA news agency says that Tehran will not give up its right to enrich uranium under any deal it makes with the United States. Negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program are expected to begin after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, which US President Donald Trump has claimed could be signed as early as this weekend. IRNA reports that Iran will “negotiate only the nuclear program solely within the framework of the Islamic Republic’s fundamental principles.” “Issues such as Iran’s right to enrich uranium and the retention of enriched material by the Islamic Republic of Iran will be...

An Iranian state news outlet said Friday that an agreement with the U.S., which President Trump touted the previous day as a "great settlement of the war," includes the U.S. releasing $24 billion of frozen Iranian financial assets. Iran's semi-official Mehr News agency published what it said was a draft of the 14-point agreement Friday. It includes a stipulation that Iran's assets will be released during a 60-day extension of the current ceasefire, which would begin as soon as the deal comes into effect. Iran's Foreign Ministry cautioned earlier that the regime had yet to fully commit to the agreement....

A Toronto police officer has been shot to death during a raid tied to a March shooting outside the US consulate. The officer was shot during a gunfire exchange at a high-rise building in the early hours of Thursday, the Toronto Police Service said. He was later pronounced dead in hospital. Police had been investigating suspects who allegedly fired shots at the US consulate building in Toronto earlier this year, in what US and Canadian authorities described at the time as a "national security incident". (excerpt) US officials have linked the March shooting to a dual Iranian-Iraqi national accused of...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Two children and an adult were killed Thursday in the rural southern Netherlands when a car struck a group of cyclists who were on a school camping trip, local emergency services said. Four more children were seriously injured in the incident. They were taken to hospitals in the Netherlands and nearby Belgium for treatment. The dead and injured were part of a group of 14 schoolchildren and two chaperones, the Zeeland Security Region organization said in a statement. Police are investigating the cause of the incident on a provincial road that runs between farmers' fields near...

Iran hasn't reached a final decision on a peace deal with the U.S., an Iranian official said Thursday. "So far, Iran has not reached a final conclusion on the agreement," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement provided to Agence France-Presse. The statement comes after President Trump said earlier in the day that the U.S. had reached a "great settlement" regarding the Iran war. A letter of intent or memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran was likely to be signed early next week, two sources familiar with the diplomatic efforts told CBS News. Following Mr. Trump's...

Four U.S. Air Force C-17 transport aircraft departed for Europe on Thursday, carrying equipment for a possible signing ceremony in Geneva. U.S. President Donald Trump claimed earlier that the United States had reached a "great settlement" with Iran to end the war, while Tehran said it had "not yet reached a final decision," as Iran's hardline faction warned that Trump may be bluffing. If signed, the "Islamabad Agreement" would immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz without transit fees, extend the ceasefire for 60 days, including in Lebanon, and open nuclear negotiations, representing the most significant diplomatic breakthrough in the war.What's...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government can continue collecting the 10% worldwide tariff it imposed in February while legal challenges to the levies continue to work their way through the courts, a federal court ruled Thursday. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington decision handed a procedural win to the Trump administration, concluding that its case was “likely to succeed on the merits.’’ At issue are temporary 10% worldwide tariffs President Donald Trump imposed after the Supreme Court in February struck down even broader double-digit tariffs the president had imposed last year on almost every country on Earth....

Officers carried out search warrant at residential building Thursday morning, prior to shootingA 19-year-old will be charged with first-degree murder in the death of a Toronto police constable shot in an exchange of gunfire in the city's northwest end Thursday morning, police say. The shooting happened as officers were conducting an investigation linked to several other incidents involving firearms around the Greater Toronto Area, Toronto police Chief Demkiw said, including one that took place at the U.S. consulate in March. Const. Marc Pinizzotto, 43, was "a hero in life, not death," Demkiw said at a news conference outside Sunnybrook Health...

Another ex-girlfriend of Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Maine, is shedding light on his private behavior and disputing his claim that he didn’t know that the tattoo of a skull on his chest was a Nazi Totenkopf. Platner’s ex told The New York Post about the conversation she had with him about the tattoo. “As a person who is a leftist, I immediately looked at him and asked him, ‘Is that a Totenkopf?’ and he told me a whole, ‘he will hold this weight forever’ bravado sob story about how it was, but he decided to keep...

A U.S. official says the U.S. military shot down two Iranian drones that were trying to strike commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz tonight. “It appears Iran has attempted to strike commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz tonight. U.S. forces shot down two Iranian one-way attack drones. Traffic flow through the Strait continues,” the official said. The attack occurred after Trump spoke about being close to a deal with Iran this afternoon.

If you missed it, Hadi Alodid is the suspect accused of attacking a Scottish man on the streets of Belfast on Sunday night. The video of the attack quickly went viral, leading to two nights of riots in the city. Family friends told The Telegraph that Alodid was from a large and politically connected family from the town of Karima. He was born and partly raised in Saudi Arabia, but returned to Sudan for his education. Azheri Omer said he had been friends with Alodid since 2022 in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. He joined the police in Khartoum, but Mr...