Free Republic

Muslims who have long opposed a proposed church building in East Java Province are using an administrative error as a pretext to halt its approved construction, sources said. Claiming to have the backing of the entire area Muslim community, Muslim residents from the 01 neighborhood of 05 community unit in the Dukuh Kukun area of Babat Jerawat Urban village, Pakal District, Surabaya, assert that the address in official permit documents does not match the proposed church site in the CitraLand housing complex. “Residents have known about the church construction plan since around 2013-2015. The plan was previously delayed due to...

The Trump administration plans to limit the number of refugees admitted to the country to 17,500 mostly white South Africans, the administration told Congress Tuesday, as it continues to transform a program that at one point served as a pathway to safety for people fleeing war and strife from countries around the world. In a notice to Congress obtained by The Associated Press, the administration said the white South Africans faced seizures of their land and other forms of persecution and would be likely to assimilate when they come to America. The South African government has repeatedly rejected the idea...

Ukraine is ready for an energy ceasefire with Russia. Kyiv will refrain from striking enemy energy facilities if Moscow does not attack Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this while speaking to journalists following his meeting with US President Donald Trump. "We spoke about an energy ceasefire. I don't want to go into details," the head of state said. According to the president, Washington will convey Ukraine's proposal on an energy ceasefire to Moscow.... Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would stop striking Russian energy facilities if Russia does not attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

Trump on Iran: I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness for generations? But I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election, because...

TAKAICHI: "I'd like to cover a lot of agenda items [with Trump]. Why don't we ask the press to leave the room?" TRUMP: "Well, YOU HEARD HER!" 🤣🇯🇵🇺🇸 Trump's meeting is now KICKING OFF with Takaichi, behind closed doors You can tell they have a GREAT alliance. She wants to accomplish great things for both Japan and America

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 22 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington and Tehran were moving toward a settlement, while a senior Iranian official said Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within days if the US eased military pressure and lifted its blockade on Iranian ports.Trump's remarks came just hours after ‌he repeated a threat at the UN General Assembly to annihilate Iran if it failed to strike a deal.Speaking after a meeting with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham at the United Nations ‌in New York, Trump said: "They want to talk to us. They have been...

Argentine court orders eight suspects to trial for 1994 Jewish community bombing. Seven Iranians and a Lebanese face trial in absentia for their role in the most lethal terror attack in the Latin American country’s history. Etgar Lefkovits (Sept. 22, 2026 / JNS) An Argentine court has formally charged seven Iranians and one Lebanese national with involvement in the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, in a historic legal advancement of the Latin American country’s deadliest terror case, Argentina’s Justice Minister announced on Monday. The ruling, issued by Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas, targets the prime suspects...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — President Donald Trump returned to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday at a tumultuous moment for the world — and for his presidency — and made the case that he's shown fortitude while other leaders have equivocated. Watch in our video player above. The president started his address ticking off progress — including adding private sector jobs, stemming illegal migration and curbing crime before turning to a fulsome defense of his decision to start a war with Iran. WATCH LIVE: Day 1 of the 2026 United Nations General Assembly "The terrorist regime is behaving badly, not...

The majority of today's immigrants, particularly the illegals, appear to loathe everything about the United States except its wealth. Far too many of them are effectively saying, “We detest capitalism, your system of government, your Christian faith, Judeo-Christian values, and your culture, all of which we are zealously trying to change. But do continue to pay us and put us up so that we can live comfortably without needing to work.” Also, “We much prefer the brutality, stonings, misogyny, pedophilia, arranged marriages, and gang rape of young women (and perhaps occasionally a goat or two) to what we have found...

Most people I went to high school with did not go to college. Unless you grew up someplace incredibly wealthy, I bet it’s the same for you. It wasn’t expected of me; it wasn’t even really discussed because the concept was foreign to my family, and I only ended up going full time after a few years of floundering, drinking, and job after job I hated and was miserable doing. I lost touch with most, but not all, people from high school. But losing touch doesn’t mean not knowing what they’re up to. Many went on to big careers and...

US President Donald Trump came close to ordering a new American military campaign against the Houthis in Yemen this weekend, after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman personally urged him to intervene, but called off the planned strikes as they were nearing execution, The New York Times reported. According to the report, Trump had spent roughly two weeks weighing repeated Saudi appeals for US military assistance against the Iran-backed Houthis, whose renewed offensive has expanded the conflict in Yemen and increased pressure on Saudi Arabia. Reuters separately reported Monday that Washington had considered strikes after renewed Saudi appeals but that...

With as many as 300 Americans detained in China, where some are subjected to sexual abuse and torture, Rep. Chris Smith is demanding that President Trump make their release a centerpiece of his upcoming summit with China’s President Xi Jinping. The New Jersey Republican, who co-chairs the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, warned that quiet, piecemeal diplomacy has only emboldened Beijing to keep taking American hostages. Mr. Smith, who has been chairing hearings with witnesses testifying about people imprisoned and persecuted by the Chinese government, told The Washington Times that China “only recognizes strength.” He cited his 1994 meeting with Chinese...

Threats to the Red Sea have shut the kingdom’s workaround DUBAI—Saudi Arabia spent months rerouting oil across the desert to circumvent the Strait of Hormuz. Now, with its Red Sea bypass route disrupted by attacks, the world’s oil kingpin is having to return to the waterway it was trying to avoid in the first place.Saudi Aramco, the country’s state-controlled oil giant, is loading more oil onto tankers in the Persian Gulf and then taking its chances sending them through the Strait of Hormuz. The company has told several of its customers in Asia—its most important oil market—to pick up shipments...

Nine protesters blocked access to Elbit Systems’ factory in Staffordshire by attaching themselves to five ‘lock-ons’ to launch the direct-action group ‘Silence Elbit Drones’. Al Jazeera spoke with spokesperson Audrey Corno, who said the group aims to disrupt Elbit’s operations over its supply of military equipment to Israel.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani ​on Monday for a first chat between two of ‌the biggest names of the political left in the Americas ahead of key elections in both Brazil and the United States. Lula is in ​the US for the United Nations General Assembly ​and received Mamdani in an Upper East Side house ⁠that serves as the residence and office of the Brazilian ​representation to the UN. Lula said in a brief declaration to ​reporters after the meeting that the two talked about problems that are common to both...

The U.S. diplomat arrived in West Africa in mid-June with little fanfare, hopscotching along the Atlantic coastline for scheduled visits with senior government officials in the Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Togo and Gabon, whose president greeted him inside an opulent seaside palace. The American, a career State Department official named Christian Ehrhardt, was an unlikely diplomatic VIP. For nearly two decades, he served as an officer in the agency’s security branch, focusing on embassy protection, before being summoned to Washington last year to lead a new initiative — the Office of Remigration. Since then, Ehrhardt, 41, has crisscrossed Africa, trying...

Attorney General Ken Paxton says he has successfully shut down a Houston “birth tourism” center following his lawsuit against the operation. De’Ai Postpartum Care Center was accused of operating an illegal scheme that imported foreign nationals to give birth for U.S. citizenship. The center catered to Chinese nationals, communicating with clients through Chinese social media and websites. It claimed responsibility for 1,000+ American-born babies. The operation went beyond providing its four residential locations. It “coached foreign nationals on how to evade immigration restrictions, including advising women to apply for visas ‘before pregnancy’ to avoid detection,” according to the Office of...

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her government will introduce legislation to limit the number of foreign students in classrooms and ban full-face coverings in schools. Appearing on Sunday at the Fenix, the annual national youth festival organised by Gioventù Nazionale, the youth wing of her Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, told her student supporters that Italian children should not become a minority in their own classrooms. “It’s unthinkable that in an Italian classroom, Italian children feel cornered because they’ve become the minority. It can’t be done,” she said, according to Corriere della Sera. The Italian premier said her Council...

I want to set the tour drama aside for a moment, because underneath the chanting and the flags is a premise nobody in that crowd seems to have actually examined: free Palestine from what, exactly, to become what, exactly? There has never been a sovereign Palestinian state. Not once, not ever, not under any government, any constitution, any flag flying over internationally recognized borders. The land in question passed from the Ottoman Empire to the British Mandate to a 1947 partition plan the surrounding Arab nations rejected outright, choosing war instead. From 1948 to 1967, the West Bank sat under...

NATO endorsed an agreement between the US and Denmark to expand Washington's military presence in Greenland, potentially forestalling President Donald Trump's demands to take over the Arctic territory. The agreement provides a potential US veto power over Russian and Chinese investments on Greenland, makes permanent Washington's military presence, and allows for more US bases. The deal notably falls short of American ownership — an earlier demand by Trump that had strained NATO to its breaking point. The deal should "begin the process of healing," Atlantic Council experts said, though the specter of US aggression against treaty allies kicked off a...