Free Republic

INTRODUCTION On April 29, 2026, Sen. Bernie Sanders convened a 75-minute panel in the US Capitol on “the existential threat of AI.” Two of the four panelists were Chinese government affiliates: Zeng Yi, Dean of the Beijing Institute of AI Safety and Governance, and Xue Lan, a Tsinghua University professor who chairs China’s national AI governance expert committee and serves as a Counsellor of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. From a US Senate platform, Xue called the US-China AI race “an inaccurate narrative” and argued for “safe zones” of cooperation on AI safety. The event was...

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez said Monday that his country has no "aggressive plans or intentions" to attack any country including the United States – following a news report that the Communist-run island nation has acquired over 300 drones with possible plans to use them to attack American military vessels, the U.S. military base at Guantanomo Bay, Cuba, and possibly Key West, Florida. According to Axios, which based its report on classified intelligence that was shared by a U.S. official, the findings could become a pretext for U.S. military action against Cuba. The official said that the proximity of the...

shootings, stolen vehicles, and related violent crimes that occurred across Austin between Saturday, May 16, 2026, and Sunday, May 17, 2026. The three suspects in custody are: Cristian Fajardo Mondragon, 17 years of age bccbac24 a439 534e 2870 6dcf131d8a57 Hispanic male, 16 years of age Hispanic male, 15 years of age Because two of the suspects are juveniles under Texas law, APD is limited in what information can be publicly released regarding their identities, booking information, and detention status. The 17-year-old suspect, Cristian Mondragon-Fajardo, has reached the age of criminal responsibility under Texas law and may be publicly identified in...

Alex Saab made his initial court appearance after being deported over the weekend by acting President Delcy Rodríguez as part of a purge of insider businessmen who are believed to have enriched themselves through corrupt dealings with Maduro.A close ally of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was charged in federal court in Miami on Monday with bribing top officials to profit from lucrative government contracts. Alex Saab made his initial court appearance after being deported over the weekend by acting President Delcy Rodríguez as part of a purge of insider businessmen who are believed to have enriched themselves through corrupt...

The person was exposed as part of their work in Congo and developed symptoms over the weekend, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A person from the United States has tested positive for Ebola in connection with the deadly outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday. The person was exposed as part of their work in Congo, developed symptoms over the weekend and tested positive late Sunday, according to Dr. Satish Pillai, the CDC’s Ebola response incident manager. “CDC has been working hand in hand with...

On a scorching hot afternoon in Havana, the line outside the state bakery stretches down the block. Inside, the shelves are almost bare. A man in a faded baseball cap tells me he’s been waiting for two hours for bread that might not arrive. Across the street, a gleaming black SUV with tinted windows idles outside a hotel mostly reserved for foreigners. Its lobby is stocked with imported whiskey; the air-conditioning is turned up to Arctic levels. This is not an unusual juxtaposition in today’s Cuba. I walk through Central Havana with Antonio Rodríguez, a 60-year-old university history teacher who...

Sweden, together with the European Commission, will hold talks with the Taliban. The goal is to enable deportations to Afghanistan - but the announcement is being criticized. "A deal with extremists," says Annika Hirvonen (MP). Migration Minister Johan Forssell (M) tells TT that the Swedish government has been "very proactive" in the EU on securing deportations to Afghanistan. The issue of being able to carry out more criminal deportations, i.e. of people who have been convicted of crimes in Sweden or who pose a threat to Sweden's security, is one of my most important priorities, he says. According to Forssell,...

President Donald Trump said Monday that he is calling off an attack on Iran planned for Tuesday because regional leaders had urged him to allow negotiations to continue and that a “very acceptable” deal for the U.S. was at hand.Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates asked him “to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow, in that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal...

Iran has reportedly begun dumping oil into the Persian Gulf after running out of storage capacity for excess crude. Images allegedly showing oil residue in the waters around Kharg Island began circulating around 10 days ago, with more continuing to emerge as time has gone on. Some reports warn that the situation is rapidly becoming an environmental disaster, as Iran’s coastline has reportedly become heavily coated in oil, which is now said to be spreading to the shores of neighboring countries, including Kuwait.

PARIS, May 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury decided to extend ​its sanctions waiver ‌on Russian seaborne oil, which lapsed on Saturday, after ​several countries asked ​for more time to ⁠buy Russian oil, a ​source familiar with the ​plan said on Monday. The waiver will last another 30 ​days, the source said. The Reuters Power Up newsletter provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here. The ​United States had issued the waiver ‌in ⁠a bid to ease oil supply shortages and high prices due to ​Iran's ​closure ⁠of the Strait of Hormuz amid ​a...

A police source told AFP on Tuesday that the judge had received threats and was killed in retaliation for the release of gang members. At least 16 judges or prosecutors have been killed in Ecuador since 2022, according to Human Rights Watch. Last October, a gunman on a motorbike killed a judge in Ecuador while he was walking his children to school. Around 70 percent of the drugs produced by Colombia and Peru, the world's largest and second-largest cocaine producers, respectively, are shipped through Ecuador. President Daniel Noboa, one of President Donald Trump's staunchest allies on the continent, has prioritized...

U.S. special envoy Jeff Landry, appointed by President Donald Trump last year to push for American control ​of Greenland, arrived in Nuuk on Sunday, local ‌media reported. Landry, the governor of Louisiana, has previously backed Trump's goal of making the vast Arctic territory a part of the United States. The ​ambition has been strongly opposed by both the Greenlandic ​and Danish governments, which have repeatedly said Greenland ⁠is not for sale. Footage from Nuuk published by public ​broadcaster DR showed Landry exit a plane. He is scheduled to ​attend the 'Future Greenland' business conference on May 19-20 and will be...

The United States has prosposed temporarily waiving off sanctions on Iranian oil, as per reports by Tehran's Tasnim news agency on Monday. To ramp up its pressure on Iran from the economic front, Washington had introduced restrictions on trade of Iranian oil. While primary sanctions included barring American companies from trading in Iranian oil secondary sanction threaten to penalise non-American entities, banks, and foreign governments that purchase Iranian petroleum.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz means virtually no gas has left Qatar’s shore for more than two months. The nation is also cut off from the sea routes through which it imports everything from vehicles to produce. Fears of regional instability have hurt tourism and eroded business sentiment. Ras Laffan, Qatar’s industrial center for gas production, is shuttered, and roads are blocked. At the vast Hamad port south of Doha, loading cranes stand paralyzed. Throughout the capital, hotels and boutiques sit in noticeable silence. Qatar’s growth forecasts have been slashed amid the cessation of L.N.G. trade. For Qatar,...

Turkey’s total fertility rate — or the average number of children a woman is expected to have — has been declining for more than a decade. It now sits significantly below the 2.1 needed to keep the population stable without migration, much less to increase it. Demographers attribute the decline to factors common in countries around the world: urbanization, changing lifestyles and the spread of higher education, especially among women. They also blame the economy shaped by Mr. Erdogan’s economic policies. Persistently high inflation and low wages have left many families struggling to afford housing, child care and other necessities....

President Donald Trump is back from China with a very clear message to the Iranian regime. “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!” - President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/33gyF0c0O5 — The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 17, 2026 “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!” Before Trump left for China, it was clear that his patience with the Iranian regime was wearing thin. So if...

The Ministry of the Interior and Administration said the planned changes would end what it called “automatism” in granting Polish citizenship and replace it with a model based on a foreigner’s real connection to Polish society, culture and the state. Under the proposal, foreigners seeking Polish citizenship would have to meet stricter conditions. The ministry said the aim was to avoid “the mistakes made in the past by other countries handing out citizenships.” One of the main changes would extend the required period of legal residence to eight years. This would include three years of temporary residence followed by five...

The owner of the Japan nightclub in Mexico City has imposed a nearly $300 cover charge on Americans to protest President Trump’s policies and threats. The surcharge triggered criticism but also won applause from those who see it as legitimate protest against gentrification and American cultural influence in the Mexican capital. ‘Gringo go home.’ The uproar reflects escalating tensions in Mexico City, the site of anti-tourism protests and a growing resentment about American ‘digital nomads’ reshaping the city. MEXICO CITY — Federico Crespo was tired of President Trump’s bullying. Of his punishing tariffs, his threat to bomb cartels in Mexico...

The U.S.-brokered alliance designed to counter Iran in the Middle East is showing signs of strain amid tensions between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, an analyst says, as the possibility of a broader conflict with Tehran intensified Sunday. The friction first surfaced May 13 after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he held a "historic breakthrough" meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a "secret visit" to Al Ain near the Oman border. The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a swift denial following the announcement. Sachs, a senior fellow at the institute, said...

The World Health Organization declared an Ebola outbreak in Central Africa an international public health emergency on Sunday after dozens of suspected deaths were reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring Uganda. The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, does not meet the criteria for a pandemic emergency, the WHO said. The declaration follows reports of 80 suspected deaths, eight laboratory-confirmed cases and 246 suspected cases as of Saturday across at least three health zones in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including Bunia, Rwampara and Mongbwalu.