Free Republic

On Saturday, Oleksandr Usyk will take part in one of the most unique fights of his storied career. Usyk is set to face kickboxing superstar Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. The unique location may be the biggest draw for the fight, considering it features one of the greatest boxers of his generation facing a kickboxer with a single professional boxing bout on his resume. However, Verhoeven certainly knows how to fight and is used to being in the spotlight. And, as MMA star Francis Ngannou proved against Tyson Fury, an accomplished combat athlete can surprise a...

The Trump administration was preparing Friday for a fresh round of military strikes against Iran, according to sources with direct knowledge of the planning, even as diplomacy continued. No final decision on strikes had been reached as of Friday afternoon. "Circumstances pertaining to Government" are keeping President Trump from attending his son Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding this weekend, he said in a social media post. The president had planned to spend Memorial Day weekend at his golf property in New Jersey but will now return to the White House. Some members of the U.S. military and intelligence community canceled their...

Iran has asserted expanded control over the Strait of Hormuz, publishing a map showing its claims extending into the coastal waters of the United Arab Emirates and Oman, and holding talks with Oman about sharing fees from ships traversing the waterway. The move was denounced on Friday as unacceptable by US Secretary of State Mario Rubio, who urged all countries to oppose it, and prompted a letter of protest from five Gulf states. US President Donald Trump on Thursday stressed, “We want [the Strait of Hormuz] open, we want it free. We don’t want tolls. It’s an international waterway.” Iran’s...

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Friday for the US to resume strikes on Iran to “finish what we started” — as Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said it was unclear whether a deal was possible even “over weeks or months.” “We are at a moment that will define President Trump’s legacy,” Wicker said in a statement. “His instincts have been to finish the job he started in Iran, but he is being ill-advised to pursue a deal that would not be worth the paper it is written on.”The 74-year-old further criticized current diplomatic...

USA has paused a $14bn arms sale to Taiwan, amid significant pressure from China. The shipment was expected to include equipment vital to the island’s defence, but just a week after Trump visited Beijing for meetings with Xi, the deal has been put on hold. US said it was pausing the deal because it needed to preserve its stockpile for the war in Iran – but in the same message, it insisted it still had enough weapons. Hung Cao, the acting US navy secretary, said: “Right now we’re doing a pause in order to make sure we have the munitions...

An Ebola treatment center in the epicenter of the deadly outbreak in eastern Congo was set on fire Thursday after angry residents clashed with authorities over the body of a suspected victim. Rwampara Hospital was attacked by local youths attempting to retrieve the body of a friend who had reportedly died of Ebola, a witness told The Associated Press. "The police intervened to try to calm the situation, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful," Alexis Burata, a local student who said he was in the area, told the outlet. "The young people ended up setting fire to the center. That’s the...

Since 14 April, Morocco has been conducting large-scale deportation operations targeting sub-Saharan Africans migrating to Europe, reportedly arresting over 100 per day, local sources told Middle East Eye. According to Moroccan human rights groups, around 800 people were detained during coordinated raids in the forests between Fnideq and Belyounech, in the northern tip of the North African state, where many were sheltering before attempting to reach Europe. The operation is still ongoing, with authorities then moving their focus to operations in and around Tangier. Witnesses have described mass arrests, beatings, racist abuse and forced transfers toward the Algerian border. Sudanese...

Austria has moved to restrict refugee family reunification through a new quota-based system as part of a broader tightening of its asylum policy. The government says the measure will align migration flows with national capacity, while rights organizations warn it risks prolonging family separations. Austria’s parliament has approved legislation introducing caps on the number of family members able to join refugees each year, marking a significant shift in the country’s migration policy. The quota system is expected to take effect from July, though officials have not yet set a fixed number, saying it will depend on Austria’s reception and integration...

Denmark has led some of the strictest asylum legislation in Europe. The center-right government of Mette Frederiksen has claimed that limiting the number of foreigners in the country is necessary for maintaining a generous welfare state. The Danish Refugee Council says this is causing a lot of uncertainty and anxiety among refugees. A historically low number of asylum approvals were granted by the Danish authorities in 2025. Denmark granted 839 asylum permits, the government announced on January 10. In 2024, the country accepted some 860 of the 2,333 asylum requests filed that year. These statistics illustrate the Danish government’s drive...

In 2020, just 246 people tried to sneak into Poland from Belarus through the marshy wetlands on the border, according to the Polish government’s records. There was a pandemic on, after all. But over the following year, almost 40,000 migrants from Syria, Somalia, Iran, Afghanistan, India and other countries crossed or attempted to cross this frontier. Those migrants didn’t end up in Belarus by accident. Some were carrying Russian visas or entry stamps. Russia and its ally — some would say lackey — Belarus were, in effect, importing migrants, delivering them to the Polish-Belarusian border and telling them to head...

Single-sex toilets and changing rooms in England, Wales and Scotland must exclude transgender men and women, according to a new code of practice from the equalities watchdog. But the long-awaited guidance also says that businesses and service providers have to offer practical alternatives such as gender-neutral toilets for people who do not wish to use services for their biological sex. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) document sets out how public bodies, businesses and other service providers should respond in practical terms to April 2025’s landmark supreme court ruling that sex in the Equality Act refers only to biological...

Democrats won an unexpected victory Tuesday when legislation to halt the Iran war cleared an initial hurdle in the Senate — a vote that strengthens their hand in the increasingly fractious debate over the conflict. Critics of the military operation took advantage of a shorthanded Republican conference — three GOP senators missed the vote — resulting in a 50-47 decision to force debate on a rebuke of President Donald Trump. War opponents gained another GOP defector in Sen. Bill Cassidy. The Louisiana Republican, who voted to convict President Donald Trump in the wake of his second impeachment over the Jan....

Denmark is one of the few countries in Europe that keeps detailed crime statistics based on country of origin and immigration background. And when you read those numbers, you begin to understand why some politicians across Europe prefer not to open this discussion at all. According to the official data, there are immigrant groups that are significantly overrepresented in violent crime and sex offenses compared to the native population. In the case of Palestinians in Denmark, the rape offense rate is reportedly 12 times higher than that of native-born Danes. Unlike much of Europe, Denmark has adopted stricter immigration policies,...

The United States will be sending an additional 5,000 troops ​to Poland, U.S. President Donald Trump said on ‌Thursday. Trump, in a Truth Social post, cited his relationship with Poland’s conservative nationalist president, Karol Nawrocki, as the reason behind his decision ​to send additional troops. The announcement comes two days ​after U.S. Vice President JD Vance told reporters a ⁠U.S. troop deployment to Poland had been delayed.

In a scene more befitting a thriller than routine law enforcement, a Minnesota fraud suspect named Mohammad Omar dramatically jumped from a fourth-floor balcony during an FBI operation Thursday morning, escaping custody and prompting an active manhunt. Federal officials announced the incident alongside charges against 15 individuals in what they describe as record-breaking Medicaid fraud schemes totaling around $90 million. This audacious flight comes amid a broader federal push to root out systemic fraud in Minnesota, a state long plagued by massive scams involving child nutrition programs, daycare assistance, and now expanded Medicaid initiatives. The episode raises pointed questions about...

May 21 (Reuters) - Syria will attend the G7 summit in France next month as ‌a guest nation and be represented by President ‌Ahmed al-Sharaa, three sources familiar with the matter said, marking Syria's ​first participation in a summit of the group since the forum was founded in 1975. An invitation to Sharaa to attend the June 15-17 summit in Évian-les-Bains, southeastern France, ‌was hand-delivered to Syrian ⁠Finance Minister Yisr Barnieh, who attended the group's financial talks earlier this week in ⁠Paris, one of the sources said. The source, a Syrian official, said Syria's participation in the talks would likely...

Israel was widely condemned for the “monstrous” and “unacceptable” humiliation of activists who were detained after trying to deliver humanitarian aid by boat to Gaza. Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, said she was “truly appalled” by a video posted by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli national security minister, in which he taunted protesters as they knelt on the floor with their wrists tied.“We have demanded an explanation from the Israeli authorities and made ‌clear their obligations to protect the rights of our citizens and ‌all those involved,” ⁠Ms Cooper said. Around 430 protesters from more than 40 different countries were filmed...

https://archive.ph/CHQ6i President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed a new effort to reach a deal with Iran in a difficult call on Tuesday, three sources said, with one source saying Netanyahu's "hair was on fire" after the call. Why it matters: A revised peace memo was drafted by Qatar and Pakistan with input from the other regional mediators to try to bridge the gaps between the U.S. and Iran, the sources said. It comes with Trump vacillating over ordering a massive strike on Iran and holding out for a deal. Netanyahu is highly skeptical about the negotiations and...

Iran's Supreme Leader has issued a directive that the country's near-weapons-grade uranium should not be sent abroad, two senior Iranian sources said, hardening Tehran's stance on one of the main U.S. demands at peace talks.Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei's order could further frustrate U.S. President Donald Trump and complicate talks on ending the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Israeli officials have told Reuters that Trump has assured Israel that Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, needed to make an atomic weapon, will be sent out of Iran and that any peace deal must include a clause on this. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...

The Confederation announces that it will submit to the Sejm a bill prohibiting the adoption of children by people in same-sex relationships. Deputy Speaker of the Sejm, Krzysztof Bosak, announced the submission of the bill on Wednesday. "We are submitting a bill to the Sejm banning same-sex adoptions," he wrote on the X platform. Bosak: We need clear regulations to protect children Bosak argues that currently, Polish law does not explicitly prohibit adoption by people in same-sex relationships. "Few people know that there is currently no such prohibition in Polish law. Until now, it wasn't necessary because the matter was...