Free Republic

The state chooses not to control its borders, but arrests citizens for exercising free speech.The British state arrests children for spicy tweets. It taxes their parents at an effective rate of 60% if they earn between £100,000 and £125,000. But it fails to secure its borders or deport illegal immigrants. The British state spies on its people with more surveillance cameras per capita than any other state except China. But it ignores rampant welfare and immigration fraud, fails to investigate burglaries and street crime, and lets Britain’s high streets serve as money laundries for organized crime. It talks of “British...

A ship has been struck in the Strait of Hormuz nearly every day this month, according to the International Maritime Organization. Between Oct. 1 and Tuesday, nine ships – mostly crude oil tankers – were struck in the Strait of Hormuz or off the coast of Oman, according to the IMO. Two additional ships were hit since, with one struck on Wednesday and another struck on Friday, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. Wednesday’s attack was on an unnamed tanker off the coast of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, in the Persian Gulf. Friday’s attack was on an unnamed...

A Christian teacher is taking legal action against a school in Sunderland after being sacked for telling students she is pro-life. Anita Meston, who's been a teacher for 28 years, joined Biddick Academy in Washington in October 2024. During a Year 8 history lesson which focused on the bombing of Dresden in World War II, she asked whether similar moral questions surrounded the current conflict in Palestine. When asked by a pupil, Meston said that she was “pro-Israel” but lamented the deaths of innocent people in Gaza. Later in the lesson, a different student asked if she was “pro-abortion”, to...

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is threatening to execute any U.S. nationals that the terrorist group kidnaps if the U.S. government follows through with its scheduled execution of Nidal Hasan, the 2009 Fort Hood shooter. Al Qaeda said in a statement released Monday that “the day America makes this decision,” referring to the execution of Mr. Hasan, “it will have made a decision to execute whoever among you falls captive to us.” The terrorist group voiced support for Mr. Hasan, who killed over a dozen people, and for the Omani homicide attacker who unsuccessfully planned to fly a plane...

ChatGPT Article SummarySummary: Mexican Cartels Steal U.S. Rental CarsMexican drug cartels are increasingly stealing vehicles from U.S. rental agencies, transporting thousands across the border annually to supply cartel leaders with luxury cars and provide transportation for drug smuggling and armed operations. Popular targets include Cadillac Escalades, BMW SUVs, Ford Raptors, Jeep Wranglers and heavy-duty pickup trucks. Some trucks are modified with ballistic armor, gun mounts and firing ports.California is a major target, alongside Texas and Arizona. Cartel operatives use several methods, including recruiting Americans through social media to rent vehicles, exploiting rental-company procedures, and using stolen identities at rental kiosks....

Donald Trump has threatened to halt weapons supplies to Ukraine unless Kyiv ends its long-range strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.The White House made it clear to European officials over the weekend that a scheme allowing Ukraine's allies to buy US arms and give them to Kyiv could be suspended.Mr Trump is said to be angry at Volodymyr Zelensky's continued strikes on Russian oil refineries, and according to officials in Europe, the US administration has also threatened to withhold intelligence from Ukraine.

In what it called a “Schools Decree,” the Italian government announced last month that no student may cover their face in class, no classroom may exceed 30% foreign-born pupils and parents who skip mandatory Italian lessons could face fines of up to $1,120. The decree, which takes effect next summer, is framed as a push for “integration,” but it raises the question of whether a Western democracy can force assimilation, or is it already too late? Nile Gardiner, director of The Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom said that it is “The single biggest issue of our time in...

In 2000, 17 sailors were killed and 39 injured in an explosion on the USS Cole as it refueled in Yemen.

The Trump administration has warned Ukraine and allies in Europe that the US could suspend intelligence sharing and European purchases of US weapons for Ukraine if Kyiv does not halt its deep strikes on Russian energy facilities, two European officials told CNN.The warnings from the State Department and the Pentagon were sent over the weekend to officials in Ukraine and Europe, including communications from the US military directly to Ukrainian commanders.A US official said that US negotiators told the Ukrainians the United States was a strong partner, providing munitions and intelligence, and so Ukraine shouldn't take actions that hurt American...

El-Sayed said on 'Meet the Press' that neither he nor any of his family members have ties to the Islamist group.. Abdul El-Sayed said on Meet the Press on Sunday that neither he nor any of his family members have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that spawned Hamas. But the far-left Senate candidate’s half-sister has suggested otherwise, boasting on social media that her family "has long been" Muslim Brotherhood and that some have been "jailed" over their membership in the group. Eman Abdelhadi, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, wrote openly about her family’s ties...

That’s turned up the heat on Trump and the Republican Party to address surging prices ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The president’s approval ratings on the economy have hit a new low, according to an AP-NORC poll released last week, as the Iran war and his trade battles have increased U.S. prices for oil and other goods. A limited impact, at best Energy policy experts on Friday expressed doubts that a boost in diesel supply from Russia will have a significant impact on oil prices, whether in the U.S. or globally.

Europe paid around €7.88 billion for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia’s Arctic energy project in the first nine months of 2026, a record 12.18 million tonnes reaching European ports between January and September this year. This comes at a time when Europe's gas storage levels are at a record low, and the bloc faces a brutal energy crisis. European LNG imports from the Russian Yamal project rose 9.5% year-on-year between January and September, with EU ports receiving 85% of Yamal’s recorded deliveries. France received nearly three-quarters of September’s EU deliveries, with the Dunkirk and Montoir ports receiving 571.716 million...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of six senators on Sunday called for President Donald Trump’s administration to “immediately reverse course” on a plan to purchase diesel from Russia as part of an effort to lower high fuel prices. Trump shocked lawmakers when he announced on social media Friday that he struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call. He said Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the American and global market, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia will deliver an additional...

Iran announces a large oil tanker has hit a naval mine while exiting the Strait of Hormuz through the US-backed southern Omani corridor, with a massive explosion and fire in the engine room. It is the second such incident under 24 hours. A crude oil supertanker exploded and caught fire after it hit a mine while trying to leave the Strait of Hormuz using an "unauthorised and dangerous route", Iranian media Press TV has reported. The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in a statement said the crude oil supertanker had switched off its navigation and global positioning systems while trying...

French far-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon is celebrating Gen Z protesters driving a school movement shaking FrancePARIS — French far-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Sunday celebrated high school students whose protest movement has shaken France as he called at a campaign rally for lowering the voting age to 16 and an end to selective admission to universities.The fiery anti-capitalist Mélenchon also took aim at U.S. President Donald Trump, NATO and the global financial system, in a sweeping speech to thousands of supporters meant to kick his campaign into high gear for next year’s two-round election in April and May....

President Donald Trump claimed Sunday that Ukraine and Russia have agreed to an "energy ceasefire" as part of the ongoing conflict. There was no immediate confirmation from Moscow, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly said this "was news for me."Trump made a similar announcement a month ago, only for the two sides to continue their aerial attacks on each other's energy facilities."Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine," Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday morning. "Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!" He did not elaborate further on what the ceasefire...

The Sinimäed Hills memorial, erected in 1999, has become the site of annual gatherings to honor the SS monument, erected in 1999, has become the site of annual gatherings to honor the SS. (See report in the Jerusalem Post ). Due to the participation of local collaborators, Estonia’s Jewish population was virtually eradicated within months of Germany invading the country in 1941. The two other memorial stones in the main Sinimäed Hills complex honor the 5.SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade “Wallonien” aka the Walloon Legion (French-speaking volunteers from Belgium) and Dutch soldiers, nurses and auxiliaries who volunteered to fight against the USSR. Close to...

Governments caution flying to Saudi Arabia, or through its airspace, after weekend attack left at least 12 deadCommercial air travel has been dragged into the front lines of escalating conflicts across the globe, with airports, planes and airspace becoming the deliberate target of missile and drone attacks on a scale not seen before.Since the U.S. and Israel started the Iran war in February, major airports across the Middle East have been repeatedly targeted. Parked aircraft have been hit by missiles or falling debris from interceptor systems, killing crew members and passengers. The threat culminated Saturday in a Houthi missile strike...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Only Russia is responsible for the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday as he vowed to press ahead with strikes on Russian oil refineries, despite criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, who blamed him for high diesel prices and said he should be replaced. The exchange came as Kyiv pressed its campaign against infrastructure deep inside Russia, with a drone attack on Sunday shutting down a data center run by Russian technology giant Yandex, the third strike on the company’s facilities in four days. Russia and Ukraine are locked in a long-range aerial...

More than half of adults in thousands of neighbourhoods across England and Wales are on out-of-work benefits, a report has found The common denominator in these counties is Deindustrialization, structural economic decline, and a post-pandemic surge in health and incapacity-related benefits (such as Personal Independence Payments or PIP) that keep working-age adults permanently out of work.