Free Republic

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pressed President Trump earlier to cripple Iran. But as Iran asserted its power, the prince urged a cease-fire, and is now pursuing his security priorities.President Trump and his military commanders were in a bind.They had announced the start of a new mission to help guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had effectively closed early in the war. U.S. naval and air power would ward off any Iranian attacks during a tentative cease-fire, the commanders said.But U.S. Central Command was caught by surprise when officials from Saudi Arabia said American forces could...

Todd Blanche to target tourists and migrants despite such births accounting for less than 1% of US babies born yearly gle A day after the US supreme court upheld the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, has said federal prosecutors and law enforcement officers will focus on combating so-called “birth tourism” – the process of tourists, temporary visitors and undocumented immigrants traveling to the US and giving birth. “There’s other things that [the Department if Homeland Security] can do, and the federal government can do in the visa process, and the application process, to try...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio appear to be staking out differing approaches to carrying out President Donald Trump’s national security agenda as the possible 2028 presidential rivals jostle for position in a divided Republican Party.With vastly different backgrounds and policy experience, they have moved along separate paths to stake out territory: Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants with a long history in the Senate and major interest in Latin America, and Vance, a child of the Midwest and Marine Corps veteran who served in the Senate for only two years before being...

SummaryUS denies extension of US-Mexico-Canada Agreement for 16 years without changes USMCA remains in place for 10 years with annual review before expiring More US-Mexico negotiations scheduled the week of July 20 Mexico's Sheinbaum says work on USMCA will continue, 'today is not a deadline' WASHINGTON, July 1 (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Wednesday declined to extend the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, starting a decade-long clock to wind down the trade deal as it seeks changes to try ‌to reshore manufacturing jobs and reduce U.S. trade deficits with its North American neighbors. The decision, revealed after a six-year review of the...

A U.S. Navy MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier made an emergency water landing in the Arabian Sea early Wednesday, leaving one crew member missing. The incident happened at about 3:30 a.m. ET, according to the U.S. 5th Fleet. Three of the helicopter's four crew members were successfully recovered and are currently in stable condition aboard the George H.W. Bush, officials said. U.S. Navy assets in the region are actively conducting search and rescue operations for the remaining crew member, who has not yet been publicly identified. Military officials said there is no...

The city of Columbus, Ohio, home to one of the largest Somali populations in the United States, is facing backlash on social media over a now-deleted post celebrating the raising of the Somali flag. "Happy Somali Independence Day!" The Columbus Recreation and Parks Department posted on X on Wednesday. "As we celebrate the unification of the Trust Territory of Somaliland and the State of Somaliland into the Somali Republic in 1960, City Hall will be raising the flag of Somalia. " The post was quickly picked up by conservatives on social media, with many wondering why the city of Columbus...

Former US Senator Norm Coleman, who was appointed Monday by Pete Hegseth to a position on the US Defense Policy Board, said a year ago that ‘the masters of the universe are Jews.’ (LifeSiteNews) — After the Monday appointment of former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota to vice chair of the U.S. Defense Policy Board by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, a year-old clip has resurfaced of his exclaiming “the masters of the universe are Jews.”Coleman, who also serves as national chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition, drew attention for remarks made in April 2025 at the Jewish News...

BRUSSELS, June 30 (Reuters) - The European Union has transferred €3.9 billion ($4.44 ​billion) to Ukraine to ‌finance drone procurement, the Commission said on Tuesday. The disbursement is ​part of a €90 ​billion loan approved by the ⁠EU earlier this year. This ​disbursement follows the Commission's ​first €3.2 billion instalment to Ukraine made on June 25 to help ​with the country's ​government financing. "We are releasing a first ‌tranche ⁠of €3.9 billion for advanced drone technology to strengthen Ukraine's defence. And more will ​follow. ​These ⁠investments will help Ukraine protect its citizens, ​defend its sovereignty, ​and ⁠reinforce Europe's security," European...

The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding tells Iran that Hezbollah survives and Israel leaves. The Trilateral Framework says that Hezbollah disarms and that, until it does, Israel stays in Lebanon. The negotiations with Iran were led by Vice President JD Vance, who never wanted this war and made no secret of his wish to end it cheaply. He produced the Islamabad MOU, the paper Iran's regime wanted to hear. The Trilateral Framework was created by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has spent his career treating Iran's proxy network as a threat to be dismantled rather than soothed. Iran negotiated the...

US-Saudi relations have significantly deteriorated in recent months amid anger in Riyadh over Washington’s decision to launch a war against Iran that has caused massive blowback for the rest of the region, a Middle Eastern intelligence official tells The Times of Israel, confirming a Wall Street Journal report. Saudi Arabia refused to allow the US to use its bases in order to conduct Project Freedom, which was aimed at breaking Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz by escorting stuck ships out of the channel. Saudi bases and airspace were critical to the operation and Riyadh’s refusal to cooperate forced...

Monday on “The Alex Marlow Show,” Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow talked about Melat Kiros. Marlow said, “If I had read that and told you that that was said by Usama bin Laden, not one of you in the audience would doubt me.”

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday ​the United States was getting along ‌very well with Iran and that recent meetings in Qatar went well. "The denuclearization of ​Iran is moving along well," Trump ​told reporters. "They've had very good meetings, and ⁠we'll see." The U.S. and Iran ​held technical talks in the Qatari capital of ​Doha on Wednesday as they seek to agree on the flow of shipping through the Strait ​of Hormuz and secure a lasting ​ceasefire, a source with direct knowledge of the talks ‌and ⁠an Iranian official said. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff met...

Thousands of people have marched in South Africa's main cities to demand that all undocumented migrants leave the country. Police officers - backed by private security guards - have been deployed because of fears that protests could turn violent. Anti-migrant groups had set Tuesday as the deadline for undocumented migrants to leave. Many foreigners have already fled to escape violence and intimidation. South African police say 25,000 have been repatriated so far. Most are from other African countries. One undocumented Malawian told the BBC he was "happy to be going back" but "heartbroken" to be leaving behind four young children....

Turkey’s Hypocrisy Exposed by Israeli Recognition of Armenian Genocide Israel's recognition of the Armenian Genocide is an important step toward historical truth and exposes the profound hypocrisy of Turkey's genocide accusations against Israel while it continues to deny its own history. Turkey’s Hypocrisy Exposed by Israeli Recognition of Armenian Genocide Key Takeaways: Israel’s recognition of the Armenian Genocide affirms an essential historical truth. Acknowledging one of the twentieth century’s first genocides reinforces the principle that mass atrocities must be remembered honestly, regardless of political convenience. Turkey’s genocide accusations against Israel are undermined by its own century-long denial of the Armenian...

An ordinance to repeal a ban on gay sex bathhouses in Minneapolis has been signed by Mayor Jacob Frey (D), who did so to support “our LGBTQIA+ neighbors.” The prohibition on the adult facilities known for hosting sexual activity with strangers was originally passed in the city in 1988 as a response to the AIDS epidemic. Local leaders, including those who identified as gay, deemed the bathhouses too risky to be open to the public due to the rampant spread of disease. When the “R-rated” bathhouses were banned nearly 40 years ago, the city had three, which the Washington Post...

The heatwave wreaking chaos across Europe is a “dramatic warning” to reject climate naysayers, a European Commission vice-president says. Teresa Ribera, executive vice-president for a clean, just and competitive transition, lambasted those who listened to the “vested interests” of the fossil fuel industry rather than scientists and their own citizens. “This is a dramatic warning being sent once again by nature on what it means to have a different climate system,” she told the Guardian. “What we are experiencing today [in the form of record heat] is what we knew could happen, but we have not been smart enough to...

Spain's plan to grant legal residency and work rights to undocumented migrants will be the largest scheme of its kind in European history. There have been at least 1.3 million applications made, more than double the 500,000 the centre-Left coalition government expected. The deadline for applications is on Tuesday. Pedro Sánchez, Spain's prime minister, said the amnesty was an act of justice but also of necessity, to continue Spain's strong economic growth and safeguard public pensions by bringing younger workers into the country. It began on April 16 and by mid-June 360,000 people out of 900,000 applications had been granted...

You’ve probably seen it by now. A chart, passed around on social media with the kind of grim satisfaction that only statistics can produce: more Europeans die each year from summer heat than Americans die from gun violence. The implication cuts both ways—Europe’s lack of air conditioning is deadlier than America’s lack of gun control—and it has been lighting up feeds across the political spectrum ever since. Turns out, it’s mostly true. And this summer is making it impossible to ignore.This semi-true graph is picking up steam online.Hannah Ritchie’s By the Numbers SubstackEurope is currently in the grip of its...

He says the situation is worse than it looks and that family members have been denied access by the military and police in their attempts to find their children. Save the Children NGO is already operating in Venezuela. “They are taking traumatized and orphaned children for child trafficking.” “It’s not even humans doing it. These people are evil.” Video Transcript SummaryThe X post by @ShadowofEzra shares a video of a man (split-screen with disaster footage of a child being held amid rubble) who claims that elites have quickly begun trafficking children in Venezuela following a major earthquake. Key claims in...

“They are stealing the children… they are taking the children who are found alone.” A desperate mother says her daughter was rescued after the earthquake, but when she went to claim her, she was allegedly told the child’s last name had been changed. The little girl has since disappeared. She claims that many children found alone are being taken, with their identities altered. Video Transcript Summary Transcription / Translation of the video (based on post context and caption):The X post features a video of a desperate Venezuelan mother speaking about her missing daughter after an earthquake. Key content from the...