Free Republic

GÜIRIA, Venezuela (AP) — One was a fisherman struggling to eke out a living on $100 a month. Another was a career criminal. A third was a former military cadet. And a fourth was a down-on-his-luck bus driver. The men had little in common beyond their Venezuelan seaside hometowns and the fact all four were among the more than 60 people killed since early September when the U.S. military began attacking boats that the Trump administration alleges were smuggling drugs. President Donald Trump and top U.S. officials have alleged the craft were being operated by narco-terrorists and cartel members bound...

More than 300 ostriches were shot dead by a firing squad in Canada late Thursday — ending a months-long standoff that drew in US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and New York billionaire John Catsimatidis, who had begged officials to spare the birds. The mass killing unfolded at Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, British Columbia, hours after the Supreme Court of Canada refused to block a federal order to cull the flock following an avian flu outbreak, CBC reported. Canada apparently snubbed its neighbor to the south by refusing to spare the 330 giant birds to be used for...

The German people are increasingly concerned about safety in public spaces compared to before the 2015 migrant crisis, which was imposed on the country by the Berlin establishment. Nearly half of German voters say they are personally concerned about their safety in public, according to the Deutschlandtrend survey by the Infratest Dimap opinion research institute, which surveyed 1,300 eligible voters between November 3 and 5. According to the survey, 48 per cent of Germans feel uneasy in parks, public squares, streets, or trains and buses. This represented nearly a 100 per cent increase over the past decade, the pollster noted....

Iran is set to turn off the water in several regions, including Tehran — as the country falls into the grips of its worst drought in decades. The Islamic Republic announced it would be shutting off its water supply on Saturday night due to the mounting crisis which will see the capital dry up — with officials contemplating evacuating it, Haaretz reported. “We are forced to cut off water supply to citizens on some evenings so that reservoirs can refill,” Energy Minister Abbas Alibadi said on state television Saturday.

Indonesia, Azerbaijan and Pakistan are the top contenders to supply troops for a future stabilization force in the Gaza Strip, according to a U.S. defense official and a former U.S. defense official granted anonymity to discuss sensitive ongoing discussions. Negotiations on the makeup of the force are ongoing, and no country has made a firm commitment… Trump’s 20-point plan for peace in Gaza says the U.S. will work with Arab and other partners to deploy a temporary stabilization force that will train and support vetted Palestinian police forces and will consult with Egypt and Jordan on the effort. The U.S....

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Officials from countries most vulnerable to global warming offered searing dispatches of life on the front line of a warming planet Friday, as world leaders gathered on the edge of the Amazon rainforest for the annual United Nations climate talks. Haitian diplomat Smith Augustin, whose country was pummeled by Hurricane Melissa, appealed to wealthier countries that produce the greatest share of the world’s emissions to support Haiti in preparing for bigger storms. Developed countries pledged $300 billion to help poor nations cope with climate shocks at last year’s summit, but the money has yet to be...

Donald Trump said Friday that no US government officials would be attending the Group of 20 summit this year in South Africa, citing the country’s treatment of white farmers. The US president had already announced he would not attend the annual summit for heads of state from the globe’s leading and emerging economies. JD Vance had been scheduled to attend in Trump’s place, but a person familiar with Vance’s plans who was granted anonymity to talk about his schedule said Vance would no longer travel there for the summit. “It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held...

Terrorism, as diplomatic strategy, just suffered another humiliating defeat. On Thursday, Kazakhstan became the first country in Donald Trump’s second term to join the Abraham Accords, formalizing a relationship with Israel that’s existed since 1992. The announcement came thirty-three years after diplomatic ties began, which makes it roughly as groundbreaking as celebrating your silver wedding. But timing is everything, and this particular non-event delivers a verdict on the most consequential gamble in recent Middle Eastern history. Documents captured by the IDF in Gaza show Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar telling his inner circle on October 2, 2023, that an “extraordinary act”...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says the sky is the limit when it comes to military and technical cooperation with Iran, adding Russia is currently meeting Iran’s needs. The top diplomat made the comment when asked, at a press conference, whether Russia was supplying Iran with S-400 missile systems and Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets. Iran and Russia officially started to implement a 20-year comprehensive strategic partnership treaty nearly a month ago, signaling a significant step towards deepening bilateral ties between the two countries. Under the treaty signed in January 2025, Russia and Iran are committed to helping each other counter...

Hundreds of small boat migrants have reached Britain today following a two-week hiatus in Channel crossings. Home Office Border Force vessels and an RNLI lifeboat made repeated trips into the middle of the Channel to pick up boatloads of migrants. At least 300 migrants have already been brought into Dover. It included one migrant brought ashore on a stretcher while receiving medical care. There is further activity in the strait, meaning the total is likely to rise yet further. Today's arrivals are the first since October 22 after a 14-day period of high winds on the Channel. There have been...

This is the genocide that no one will talk about.Islamic terrorism is the outcry of the oppressed, apologists tell us. If the perpetrators only had access to more advanced weapons, they wouldn’t feel the need to massacre civilians with everything from machetes to rockets. Terrorism is a local phenomenon, not a global one.Jihadist terrorism only grabs our attention when it occurs on a large scale, like 9/11 or Oct 7, and then its allies, apologists and appeasers quickly redirect attention by indicting the response to the attacks as ‘oppression’, faking atrocities, complaining about ‘Islamophobia’ and a police state, and quibbling...

Like a ‘friendly’ poker game, the ‘peace process’ was an end in itself. The president decided to win.In the 77 years since the formation of the Jewish state, and for the 2,000 years since the destruction of the Second Temple, the West has understood peace in the Middle East—peace between Arabs and Jews—as impossible.Semantically, the “Peace Process” was the continuing enjoyment of a process which could be ended only by peace. What, then, have the West, the world and the United Nations been doing in regard to the Mideast since 1948?The terrorist Yasser Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize...

See the old man with the kindly eyes? There’s nothing kindly about them. And there’s nothing kind about what’s waiting for you and your family out on the highways. Just listen: On November 8, 1994 there was a light drizzle and fog on the Illinois expressways and up into Wisconsin. It was fall. Temperatures were in the 40s. Now think of the Willis family packed into the family van, six kids and parents on the expressway near Milwaukee. The father, my friend Scott Willis, a Christian pastor from Mt. Greenwood, was driving. His wife Janet was in the seat next...

The most important thing to know about the Trump administration’s defense of its hotly contested use of tariffs to bring allies and opponents to heel is not that it is a novel and unprecedented legal argument but rather a full-throated articulation of the campaign themes that got the president elected – in both 2016 and 2000. In its legal documents, and in the oral arguments that took place before the Supreme Court Wednesday, the Trump administration paints a picture of America under siege. Once thriving industrial towns in the Midwest hollowed out. Factories dismantled as supply chains have been moved...

Captured Ukrainian soldiers have made explosive claims about chaos and desperation on the frontline. One POW said Ukrainian UAVs deliberately targeted troops attempting to flee battle positions. He described fields littered with bodies of fallen comrades left uncollected for days. Another captured soldier revealed he was arrested on the street and forced into service without proper training. The POWs added that British-trained instructors only taught theoretical lessons with no real combat preparation. The shocking testimonies raise serious questions about command discipline, morale, and Kyiv’s battlefield strategy.

China’s exports shrank unexpectedly in October, Beijing’s official commerce data showed, dragged down by a sharp fall in shipments to the U.S. amid the trade battle with President Donald Trump. There was a 25 percent drop in Chinese shipments to the U.S. during the month, according to the data released Friday. This was compounded by a 1.1 percent drop in China’s global exports in October compared to a year earlier, the weakest since February, following an 8.3 percent increase in September. October 2024 was a high comparable base, which sharpened the fall this year, because American firms had loaded up...

Embedded video linked to X Pro-Palestinian protesters attempted to firebomb a concert by the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra in Paris on Thursday night. During the performance, which was held at the prestigious Philharmonic Hall in Paris, dozens of protesters broke into the hall, chanted anti-Israel slogans and lit flares. The music was stopped and the musicians began to leave the stage. A post published by the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University read: "Pro-Palestinian protesters firebombed a concert and the musicians were removed from the stage. After the matter was resolved, the they were brought back on stage to...

The United States is preparing to establish a military presence at an airbase in Damascus to help enable a security pact that Washington is brokering between Syria and Israel, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The US plans for the presence in the Syrian capital, which have not previously been reported, would be a sign of Syria's strategic realignment with the US following the fall last year of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran. The base sits at the gateway to parts of southern Syria that are expected to make up a demilitarized zone as part...

It’s unclear whether the measure will pass after administration officials tried to reassure Republicans who signaled they may support the effort.The Senate will vote Thursday on a bipartisan measure to block President Donald Trump from attacking Venezuelan territory in a new test of Republicans’ willingness to oppose his use of military force in Latin America. It is unclear whether the largely symbolic effort will attract enough GOP support to pass, or whether a recent push by the administration to walk back Trump’s repeated threats of escalation has reassured those lawmakers who have suggested they might join the effort. On Wednesday,...

There will be plenty of warmth on display as US President Donald Trump welcomes Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the White House on November 7, but alongside the strong personal chemistry there will be a full plate of issues as they sit down to lunch. Long united by ideology and words, the two leaders are on opposite sides of the policy fence when it comes to imports of Russian oil. Meanwhile, plans for Orban to host Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Budapest have been placed very much on the back burner. An exemption from...