Free Republic

So far, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hasn't been linked to any suggested wrongdoing revealed by the Epstein files. But his decision to give another politician, whose ties to Jeffrey Epstein have been laid bare by the documents, the vital job of ambassador in Washington D.C. has drawn a ferocious backlash. As the most tumultuous week in his premiership ends, Starmer is facing calls from his political opponents, and some party allies, to step down from Britain's top job. What did he know, and when did he know it? Those are the big questions facing Starmer amid outrage over his...

The U.S. has arrested Zubayr Al-Bakoush, alleged to be one of the leaders of the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced the arrest on Friday. Bondi said that Al-Bakoush was charged with charges of murder, terror and arson, all related to the 2012 attack. "Zubayr Al-Bakoush will now face American justice on American soil. We will prosecute this alleged terrorist to the fullest extent of the law," Bondi said on Friday. "Let this case serve as a reminder: If you commit a crime against...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A division of the U.S. Agency for International Development eliminated by Trump administration cuts last year was reborn Thursday as an independent nonprofit, allowing its international work to continue in a new form. This reincarnation of USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures as the nonprofit DIV Fund is thanks to $48 million raised from two private donors. It is a rare instance of continuation after the Trump administration froze all foreign funding last year and unleashed Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to tear down the agency that delivered U.S. foreign aid for 60 years. Out of that destruction,...

The krona lost more than 20 percent of its value against the euro over the last decade, before recovering somewhat in recent months. Giving up its own currency would go against decades of Swedish thinking vis-a-vis Europe, which has held that national control of the krona is a vital policy tool for managing the economy. Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson on Tuesday told the country's parliament that her Moderate Party would set up an expert panel to weigh the pros and cons of joining the euro — if the party remains in power after September’s parliamentary election. “Policymakers may worry that...

An examination of the world media’s obsessive coverage of Israel can be found here: “Why global media obsess over Israel and ignore deadlier wars – opinion,” by Samuel J. Hyde, Jerusalem Post , January 13, 2026: 'If news coverage were meant to be a rational analysis, this is not. Even if news were merely supposed to be the coverage of suffering, power, and danger on planet Earth, this would still be indefensible. You cannot plausibly cover Israel more than an entire continent without warping the reader’s sense of reality.This saturation coverage creates the illusion of centrality. It trains audiences to...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that demands made by Democrats for new restrictions on federal immigration officers are “unrealistic” and warned that the Department of Homeland Security will shut down next week if they do not work with Republicans and the White House.Democrats say they will not vote for a DHS spending bill when funding runs out unless there are changes at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal law enforcement agencies in the wake of the fatal shootings of two protesters in Minneapolis last month. The Democratic leaders, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep....

Here we go again. President Donald Trump says he wants to make a deal with Iran and avoid war. And he’s sending negotiators to Oman for talks with Iranian diplomats on Friday. Sound familiar? Ahead of scheduled U.S.–Iranian talks in Oman last June, Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran, instigating a war that Trump later briefly joined with a bombing raid on Tehran’s main nuclear facilities. Not quite eight months later, the world anxiously waits to see if recent history will repeat itself, this time with America leading the charge. Israel, of course, is worried that Trump won’t attack....

The Kremlin said Thursday it regretted the expiration of the last remaining nuclear arms pact between Russia and the United States, while President Trump declared he was against keeping its limits and wants a better deal. The New START treaty’s termination left no caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century, fueling fears of an unconstrained nuclear arms race. Russian President Vladimir Putin last year declared his readiness to stick to the treaty’s limits for another year if Washington followed suit, but Mr. Trump has ignored the offer and argued that he...

Sheila Gunn Reid, Lise Merle and Wyatt Claypool react to debate between Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre over the impact the industrial carbon tax is having on food costs in Canada.The industrial carbon tax isn't helping fuel the rising cost of food in Canada, claimed Mark Carney during debate with Pierre Poilievre in the House of Commons.“We have the highest food inflation in the G7,” Poilievre said, taking aim at the prime minister. “I've given my theory on why under his leadership, Canadians are paying more, faster than anyone else.”“The impact of the industrial carbon tax is, as estimated by...

A popular honeymoon destination is the site of the Pacific’s fastest-growing HIV epidemic, with officials pointing to rising meth use as a key driver. In Fiji, HIV/AIDS cases are projected to double this year to more than 3,000, according to UNAIDS and Fiji’s Ministry of Health. Officials say drug use is fueling the surge across the Pacific island nation. In December, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a rapid assessment detecting unsafe injecting practices.

Sir Keir Starmer has apologised to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein for believing Lord Mandelson's "lies" and appointing him as the UK's ambassador to the US. The prime minister began a planned speech on funding to improve local communities by addressing the growing anger over how he had dealt with the issue. While he acknowledged it had been publicly known for some time that Lord Mandelson knew Epstein, he said: "None of us knew the depths and the darkness of that relationship". However, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the PM's position was "untenable", while the Liberal Democrats called for a...

Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada announced on Thursday a sweeping plan to offer billions of dollars in incentives and tax breaks for auto industry investment designed to help turn Canada into a global leader in electric vehicles.The new policies, Mr. Carney said, were meant to transform Canada’s economy and make it less reliant on a single trade partner after President Trump’s economic assaults and threats on Canada’s sovereignty have frayed relations between the two nations.“We must take care of ourselves,’’ Mr. Carney told reporters at an auto parts factory in Ontario. “We cannot control what others do.’’Mr. Trump has...

The socialist Spanish government’s amnesty scheme will allow illegal migrants to simply declare that they have no criminal record, rather than providing documentation from their native countries, sparking concern over criminals gaming the system. Last month, the left-wing coalition government of Socialist PM Pedro Sánchez agreed to allow upwards of half a million illegals seek amnesty and obtain residence permits to remain in Spain. While the scheme stipulates that amnesty will not apply to migrants with criminal records — other than the crime of entering Spain illegally — the regularisation decree published by the government this week revealed that Madrid...

U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk despaired Thursday his agency is “in survival mode” due to funding shortfalls driven by a lack of U.S. taxpayer dollars. Such is his fear for the future Turk launched a $400 million appeal for cash to help the U.N. Human Rights Office survive 2026, AFP reports. The unelected Austrian’s panicked plea comes after U.N. chief Antonio Guterres warned last Friday the world body is on the brink of financial collapse and could run out of cash by July, as he urged countries to pay their dues, as Breitbart News reported. The U.N.’s largest contributor,...

Russia said Wednesday it was "no longer bound" by limits on the number of nuclear warheads it could deploy, as its last arms control treaty with the United States looked set to expire. The New START agreement will end Thursday, formally releasing both Moscow and Washington from a raft of restrictions on their nuclear arsenals. Campaigners have warned the treaty's demise could unleash a new arms race between the world's top nuclear powers, and encourage China to expand its arsenal.

Chinese students and scientists who are members of the Chinese Communist Party, attended schools tied to the Chinese military or worked with companies connected to Beijing's theft of U.S. technology have “infiltrated” several top American universities, according to a watchdog group report that raises fresh concerns about America's vulnerabilities to its most fierce adversary. A conservative non-profit oversight group, the American Accountability Foundation, reported that it found nearly two dozen Chinese academics working at elite U.S. schools and labs “who because of the dual-use threat of their research, close ties to the military research sector in China, and/or clear ties...

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have prepared a draft defence agreement after nearly a year of talks, Pakistan's Minister for Defence Production said, a signal they could be seeking a bulwark against a flare-up of regional violence in the last two years. Raza Hayat Harraj told Reuters on Wednesday the potential deal between the three regional powers was separate from a bilateral Saudi-Pakistani accord announced last year. A final consensus between the three states is needed to complete the deal, he said.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., leads a committee on Capitol Hill that has jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security. That agency has been under heightened scrutiny after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens who were protesting immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis last month. In letters to the heads of three federal immigration agencies, Paul wrote, “The Department of Homeland Security has been provided an exceptional amount of funding to secure our borders and enforce our immigration laws. Congress has an obligation to conduct oversight of those tax dollars and ensure the funding is used to accomplish...

The UK economy would be 3.6% smaller by 2040 if net migration fell to zero, forcing the government to raise taxes to combat a much bigger budget deficit, a thinktank has predicted. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said falling birthrates in the UK and a sharp decrease in net migration last year had led it to consider what would happen if this trend continued to the end of the decade. In this scenario the UK population would stop growing at about 70 million in 2030. The latest official figures showed the UK population was 69.3 million...

Guinea worm is on course to become the second human disease eradicated after smallpox, with only 10 human cases reported worldwide in 2025. Just 10 human cases of Guinea worm were reported worldwide in 2025, the lowest number ever recorded, and a major step towards eradication. The Carter Center, a United States non-profit leading the global campaign to eradicate Guinea worm disease, announced the provisional figures, bringing the parasite closer to becoming the second eradicated disease in history. Dracunculiasis, commonly known as Guinea worm, is a parasitic disease transmitted through contaminated drinking water. It causes a painful blister from which...