Free Republic

Millions of Brazilians will vote Sunday in an election dominated by two rivals: incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted in a failed coup attempt after he lost to Lula four years ago. Twelve candidates are on the presidential ballot, but only Lula and Bolsonaro are thought to have a real chance of becoming Brazil’s next head of state. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two advance to a runoff Oct. 25. Lula, who at 80 is one of the world’s...

Two weeks ago, students in the impoverished Seine-Saint-Denis area of northern Paris decided they were fed up with the conditions they had to endure to get an education in France. The buildings were dilapidated and infested with rats and roaches. The kids had to share textbooks because there weren't enough to go around. There weren't enough chairs for kids to sit. There also weren't enough teachers or support staff. The bathrooms were appalling. And school hours were excruciatingly long. Some readers on this site and others think it matters that the kids complaining are Muslim or immigrants. I don't know...

The ax required by regulators is intended for emergencies but puts a weapon in reach for attackersDUBAI—A central mystery of this week’s attempted downing of FlyDubai Flight 1073 has been how the co-pilot managed to smuggle a weapon into the plane to carry out his attack. It turns out he didn’t. The weapon he used is a cockpit fixture. United Arab Emirates authorities said Saturday the co-pilot attacked his captain with the plane’s crash ax—a tool that regulators around the world require airplanes to carry.Designed for use as an emergency tool to tear through metal in case of a fire...

The flydubai hijacker was previously banned from flying by Omani authorities over concerns regarding his radical ideological views, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Friday. The report cited several people familiar with the matter, who told the WSJ that the pilot, identified by the sources as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, was hired by UAE-based carrier flydubai despite the concerns, though it is unclear whether the airline knew about the issue. It is further unclear exactly what sort of radicalism Omani authorities cited as their reason for grounding the pilot, who stabbed Capt. Smit Machchhar in a failed attempt...

Second and third-generation migrant rioters torch schools and assault people, turning education protests into proof that multiculturalism has failed and that Le Pen’s case is strengtheningSchool blockades in France escalated into arson and assaults on staff and emergency services starting on 1 October 2026. Interior Ministry figures recorded nearly 2,000 arrests in a single day following violence in cities including Nantes, Rouen, and Marseille. French intelligence officials reported during a crisis meeting that hard-left politicians helped initiate the school blockades that eventually turned into riots. Marine Le Pen and the Rassemblement National are positioning these events as evidence of the...

The United States on Thursday told its European allies, particularly Germany and France, to "immediately" release their strategic reserves of diesel to help lower the soaring price of the refined fuel. It comes a day after President Donald Trump floated the possibility of banning US diesel exports to stem the rise in prices. At an emergency meeting of the European Union's energy task force on Friday, an EU spokesperson said the bloc "fully rejects" the ban threat, saying it would "undermine ... trust in the US." Average US diesel prices have surged over 70% to $6.39 per US gallon (€1.50...

Move was made to help bring down the soaring price of diesel and other fuels PARIS—The Group of Seven major economies agreed to release 100 million barrels of crude oil and fuel from their emergency stocks and not to restrict exports, aiming to bring down the soaring price of diesel and other fuels.On his Truth Social platform, President Trump said European nations agreed “to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil. The process will begin immediately.” The G-7 statement said the reserve release would happen over four months.The announcement would seem to end the threat of a...

Nina Manes was travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv with her family when she asked her mother Tali to take her to the toilet near the front of the Boeing 737 MAX 8. As they approached, Tali heard shouting and banging coming from behind the cockpit door and immediately realised something was wrong. She alerted a flight attendant before the cockpit door opened and revealed Captain Smit Machchhar covered in blood as he fought with his co-pilot. Tali began screaming for help, shouting: “He’s stabbing the pilot, he’s stabbing the pilot, come help!” Her husband Tzvika heard the screams, collected...

It was a stormy week politically in Ireland. It wasn’t over an attempted terrorist attack as we had here in Israel this week. It wasn’t over the rising cost of energy or immigration, like elsewhere in Europe. It was a soccer match against Israel. That was enough to dominate the country’s headlines. How did Ireland become so focused on Israel, and so hostile to the Jewish state? Alan Shatter, a leading Jewish figure in the country and former justice and defense minister, says a pro-Palestine ‘cult’ has taken over the country’s politics. The country has always had a checkered past...

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI began examining Ellaboudy after receiving information that he had purchased precursor chemicals, components and other materials associated with improvised explosive devices. Investigators also found purchases of parts used to construct drones and remotely operated aerial systems. The complaint alleges that Ellaboudy took sick leave in December 2024 after claiming exposure to highly concentrated nitric acid, a chemical that can be used in explosive materials. In September 2025, prosecutors say, he used an official passport issued during earlier employment with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to travel from Washington state to...

Global debt surpassed $365 trillion in H1 2026, with emerging markets accounting for the bulk of the rise. Higher inflation has helped contain debt ratios, masking underlying vulnerabilities....

The Left’s cries of “genocide” against Israel ring hollow when many of its loudest critics ignore the far bloodier histories of their own ancestral homelands. On October 7, 2023, Hamas killers slaughtered 1,200 people, more than two-thirds of them civilians, inside Israel. For the ensuing three weeks, they refused Israel’s demands to turn over the 251 hostages and to surrender the architects of the massacre. No matter—within a day of the attacks, when Hamas gunmen were still fighting Israeli troops on Israeli soil, the American Left was already screaming “genocide!” They did not mean Hamas’s intended genocide of Jews, a...

MECCA: A suicide bomber reportedly attempted to detonate explosive-laden vest inside Grand Mosque here Friday night. The device malfunctioned and no blast occured. According to reports the alleged bomber got close to Kaaba. However, Saudi authorities on Friday, while denying suicide bombing reports, clarified that a man was arrested for harassing passerby, causing fear and panic. No details apropos the nabbed person has yet been provided. Reuters reports on Thursday: The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis said on Thursday the terrorist group had attacked a power distribution station in the holy city of Medina this week, putting one transformer out...

The United States remains Canada’s gravitational center, whether they like it or not.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Strasbourg this week selling a “unique alliance” with the European Union while courting Chinese capital at home. The pitch is straightforward: President Trump’s tariffs and “51st state” taunts make Canada’s century-old economic marriage to the United States too risky. Thus, Canada should diversify toward Brussels and Beijing. One massive problem: geography, capital flows, language, and supply chains dictate otherwise. These harsh facts on the ground make the European Union option, in particular, a political fantasy. Canada cannot join the European Union....

There has been a lot of quite legitimate worry that China has been planning to invade Taiwan in the next year or two, but according to recent intelligence assessments, the likelihood of that happening is diminishing. Good. First, it's important to recognize facts that often get blurred: Beijing has pursued a policy of developing capabilities on a timeline that would make an invasion in 2027 a realistic choice, but that never meant it planned to do so in 2027. It never established a timeline for invasion, but one for readiness. Look at Russia Ukraine. They cant even get food to...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ruled out a ceasefire on long-range strikes with Ukraine as Moscow steps up its campaign of aerial attacks on Kyiv. “We are told: ‘Let them stop striking your refineries, and you will stop striking their ships.’ It is simply ridiculous,” Putin said on Thursday at the Valdai political forum in Moscow. The remarks followed a meeting between United States President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York on September 22, when Zelenskyy said Kyiv was ready to cease strikes on Russian oil refineries and other energy facilities if Moscow also stopped its...

President Trump on Thursday said “it’s possible” the Iran war could cost him the November midterm elections by risking Republican control of the House, Senate or both. “Well, it’s possible. It should help,” Trump told reporters outside the White House before heading to a campaign rally in the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma. “Because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. So when you say, ‘Is it OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon?’ I would say 100 percent of the people say no, including worldwide. So, when you say it that way, it would help. If you don’t say...

Hospital says there are currently no concerns regarding public exposureA Montreal hospital has isolated a female patient presenting with symptoms of Ebola, a deadly virus, officials said. The patient arrived at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) late Thursday afternoon exhibiting signs of the disease. Irène Marcheterre, a spokesperson for the CHUM, said that as soon as the suspicious symptoms were identified, the hospital immediately enacted its required isolation protocols. The hospital reiterated that all necessary safety measures have been put in place and stressed that there are currently no concerns regarding public exposure. The suspected case comes...

The U.S. can deport the leader of Wisconsin’s largest mosque on the grounds that he is a threat to national security, an immigration judge ruled Wednesday. Salah Sarsour was detained in Milwaukee in March by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. A federal judge ordered Sarsour’s release in June, saying he raised a “substantial” claim that the Trump administration was targeting him for speaking out against Israel and advocating for Palestinian rights. Sarsour called the ruling “deeply disappointing,” but said he intends to appeal. “I will continue fighting to defend the right to free speech and to stay in the...

The flydubai staffer accused of trying to hijack a plane carrying 174 people to Israel by stabbing the lead pilot was known as a religious extremist who refused to shake hands with women, according to a colleague. The co-pilot responsible for what Israel’s defense minister called “a jihadist terrorist attack” Wednesday has not been named publicly, but was an Omani national who had worked for the airline for less than a year. He was “someone characterized by very strange behavior, especially around religious observances that were out of step with his surroundings,” a fellow pilot told Israel’s Channel 16 journalist...