Free Republic

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Sunday that the Cartel de los Soles, a criminal enterprise titularly led by Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro, will be labeled as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). .@StateDept intends to designate Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Headed by the illegitimate Nicolás Maduro, the group has corrupted the institutions of government in Venezuela and is responsible for terrorist violence conducted by and with other…— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) November 16, 2025@StateDept intends to designate Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Headed by the illegitimate Nicolás Maduro, the...

Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy walk together. Photograph: Marco M Mantovani/PA London and Moscow’s rivalry stretches back to the imperial era, but the Ukraine war has brought relations to a new lowIn recent years, Britain has become the villain of choice in Moscow’s eyes. It has been accused of plotting drone strikes on Russian airfields, blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline, directing “terrorist” raids inside Russia, and even abetting last year’s gruesome Islamic State concert attack in Moscow. This week, a new charge was added to the pile: Russian authorities claimed that British intelligence had tried and failed to lure...

Cudde quotes 'Spider-Man,' says SSNs could counter China beyond North Korea U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Cudde stated that if South Korea proceeds with constructing a nuclear-powered submarine (SSN), “it is a natural prediction that the submarine will be utilized to deter China.” In an interview with domestic and foreign journalists held in Seoul on the 14th, Admiral Cudde responded to the question, “Do you believe South Korea’s SSN will play a role in deterring China?” by saying, “The U.S. defines China as a ‘pacing threat’ and expects to collaborate with allies to achieve common goals related...

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday the U.S. “may be having some discussions” with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a potential diplomatic avenue as the U.S. further builds up its military presence near the South American country with the arrival of its most advanced aircraft carrier. Trump didn’t offer details about the possible discussions with Maduro, but he said “Venezuela would like to talk.”The U.S. military has been carrying out a series of strikes against vessels suspected of transporting drugs. The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford and other warships, announced by the Navy in...

A Russian victory in Pokrovsk will have a negligible impact on frontline dynamics but a far-reaching impact in Zelensky’s nation After nearly 17 months of attritional combat, Russia is on the verge of capturing the Donetsk battleground of Pokrovsk. By leveraging the dense fog engulfing the city, the Ukrainian military estimates that between 300-500 Russian troops have entered Pokrovsk. Even more ominously, Russia is creating a troop “cauldron” to militarily encircle Pokrovsk and the neighbouring city of Myrnohrad.As Russia inches towards this much-anticipated battlefield success, the mood in Kyiv is sombre. President Volodymyr Zelensky recently conceded that the situation in...

The world’s biggest aircraft carrier and largest warship ever built entered the Caribbean Sea on Nov. 16. U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford to the region as an effort to carry out the Trump administration’s plan to disrupt illicit drug trafficking and dismantle criminal networks that “exploit our shared borders and maritime domains,” according to a Navy statement. The carrier’s arrival is considered to be an escalating pressure tactic against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who the United States does not recognize as the legitimate Venezuelan leader based on evidence that he stole last year’s...

As corporation awaits possible action by president’s lawyers, US news organisations offer different lessons about whether to fight or fold At best, the video editing is sloppy. At worst the cuts are a deliberate attempt to harm Donald Trump’s chances of winning the 2024 election.A legal complaint in a US court followed, in tandem with a demand for a massive payout to make matters right.This scenario will be painfully familiar to the BBC but it actually played out months ago at CBS, its sister network in the US. The broadcaster eventually agreed to pay $16m (£12.1m) to make its Trump...

First comes the warning, that disembodied voice over the tannoy: "Your attention please. Air siren in the city. Please move to the shelter on the minus second floor." Then comes the mosquito-like whine of the incoming Russian drones, massing in their hundreds just above the clouds. It's followed immediately by the rattle of anti-aircraft fire, the distant thud of explosions, then finally the ominous klaxon call of ambulance and fire sirens. This is the grim reality of night time in Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine. These are attack drones that explode on impact. Drones are now an integral part...

​The ultraconservative lawyer, José Antonio Kast, is in pole position to become Chile’s next leader after advancing to the second round of the South American country’s presidential election where he will face the Communist party candidate Jeannette Jara. With more than 70% of votes counted, Kast had secured about 24% of the vote in Sunday’s first round vote, having campaigned on hard-line promises to crack down on crime and immigration, while making a Donald Trump-style pledge to “put Chileans first”. Jara won slightly more support, with about 26% of votes going to the former labor minister for Chile’s outgoing centre-left...

BERLIN (AP) — Poland’s foreign minister said Sunday that an “offensive” auction of Holocaust artifacts has been canceled in Germany, relaying information from his German counterpart, following complaints from Holocaust survivors. Radoslaw Sikorski made the comments on the X platform, saying he and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul “agreed that such a scandal must be prevented.” The top Polish diplomat thanked Wadephul for the information that the auction was canceled. Earlier, a Holocaust survivors group called on the German auction house Felzmann to cancel Monday’s sale of hundreds of Holocaust artifacts, including letters written by prisoners and other documents that...

Embattled UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is channelling his inner Donald Trump as he tries to stop the relentless flow of small boats carrying immigrants across the English Channel from sinking his Labour government. A package of harsh measures to be officially unveiled on Monday would make Starmer the human rights lawyer blanch. But Starmer the prime minister has little choice but to get tough if he is to stop the votes flowing to the insurgent Nigel Farage. The new measures are modelled on those adopted by Denmark’s centre-left government, which has managed to cut the flow of irregular immigrants...

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump was unapologetic about putting America first. He promised to secure the nation’s borders, strengthen the domestic workforce and be tough on countries he thought were taking advantage of the United States.Now, 10 months into his second term, the president is facing backlash from some conservatives who say he is too focused on matters abroad, whether it’s seeking regime change in Venezuela, brokering peace deals in Ukraine and Gaza or extending a $20-billion currency swap for Argentina. The criticism has grown in recent days after Trump expressed support for granting more visas to foreign students...

The most advanced aircraft carrier in the nation crossed into the Caribbean Sea on Sunday, the U.S. Navy said, marking a major buildup in the region. The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford marks a major moment in what the Trump administration says is a counterdrug operation but has been seen as an escalating pressure tactic against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The U.S. has asserted that Maduro is complicit with armed criminal gangs that smuggle drugs into the U.S., allegations that Maduro has rejected. And over the last two months, the U.S. military has conducted strikes against at least...

Several thousand people took to the streets of Mexico City on Saturday to protest crime, corruption and impunity in a demonstration organized by members of Generation Z, but which ended with strong backing from older supporters of opposition parties. The demonstration was mostly peaceful but ended with some young people clashing with the police. Protesters attacked police with stones, fireworks, sticks and chains, grabbing police shields and other equipment. The capital’s security secretary, Pablo Vázquez. said 120 people were injured, 100 of them police officers. Twenty people were arrested. In several countries this year, members of the demographic group born...

Nigeria's Christians are being pushed to the brink of extinction - and could be wiped off the map within two generations without urgent international intervention. That's the chilling warning from Emeka Umeagbalasi, the outspoken founder of Nigeria's International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety). And he's not mincing his words. The veteran activist says a silent, systematic genocide has swept Africa's most populous nation for nearly two decades - a 'long-running, coordinated campaign' of killings, kidnappings and church burnings carried out mostly by Islamist militants and enabled by the Nigerian state itself. 'If you look at the...

The White House is considering offering political asylum to British “thought criminals”, The Telegraph understands.Donald Trump’s administration is exploring the possibility of extending refugee status to free speech activists who have been prosecuted for their words or for taking part in silent protests outside abortion clinics.The censoring of pro-life campaigners Livia Tossici-Bolt and Adam Smith Connor raised particular concerns among the president’s key allies.“There are some people inside the administration that are actively scouting for cases,” a source with knowledge of the decision making said.The intervention is the latest sign of Mr Trump’s willingness to intervene in domestic British affairs...

Around 20 people are believed killed in a terrorist attack at a hospital run by religious sisters in the North Kivu village of Byambwe, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with missionaries denouncing the “shameful silence” of the international community.A terrorist attack on civilians took place on Friday night in the North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing around 20 people, many of them sick and confined to hospital beds. Despite a recent US-mediated agreement between DRC and Rwanda, fighting with the M23 rebel group continues unabated in the eastern provinces, while the central government also faces...

Lee calling on those present – including Spike Lee and Cate Blanchett – to make cinema what he called “an art of the Spirit.” Vatican officials cast Pope Leo XIV’s meeting Saturday with three dozen Hollywood and Italian A-lister cinema stars as “cultural outreach” by a pontiff who has long had a soft spot for film.But in a papacy barely six months old, even small things can be a cultural Rorschach test – including the conspicuous absence of high-profile conservative stars at Saturday’s event.Leo’s guest list included Oscar-winning director Spike Lee; two-time Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett; comedy director Judd Apatow;...

A “Protestant minister” in Berlin said she conducted a “poly wedding” for four men at what the Daily Caller characterized as a “summer pop-up wedding event outside a Kreuzberg church.” According to the Berliner Zeitung, the allegedly Protestant minister, Lena Müller, 33, posted that “four young men said ‘yes’ to each other” and stood under “God’s colorful blessing.”This, despite the fact that Germany does not recognize multi-partner marriages. (Intolerant fascists!)I’m not sure God would bestow his blessing on these particular nuptials, colorful or not. Especially insofar as the Bible clearly states His belief mandate that marriage should be between one...

California's Medicaid-for-illegals disaster couldn't come at a worse time for Democrats. After grinding the federal government to a halt for more than 40 days — partly to reopen a loophole letting taxpayers foot the bill for illegal immigrant health care — the Golden State is serving up a perfect example of why that's a terrible idea. The numbers are staggering.According to a report from the Epoch Times, California's spending on health care for illegal immigrants through Medi-Cal is now projected to hit $10 billion annually from the state's General Fund. That figure is more than double what officials initially estimated....