Free Republic

Mitch McConnell has missed 38 Senate votes since his June 12 fall. If absent Monday, it will be his 39th missed vote, extending his absence beyond six weeks.The United States Senate is set to convene on Monday, July 27, for a key vote to appoint Donald Trump's nominee Walter Clayton as the new Director of National Intelligence. But the lingering question remains on the Republican Party camp: will Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell be present for Monday's roll call at the Senate? McConnell remains hospitalized at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC undergoing rehabilitation after his treatment, according to...

Anthony S. Fauci, the former government official who helped lead the nation’s coronavirus response, is set to again face Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who has spent years accusing Fauci of playing a role in the virus’s creation. Paul, the chairman of the Senate’s government oversight committee, announced Thursday morning that Fauci will testify on Wednesday after being subpoenaed. Paul has been investigating the potential origins of the outbreak. Fauci, who last testified in front of Congress in June 2024, has repeatedly denied accusations from Paul and other Republicans as “preposterous.” The 85-year-old former National Institutes of Health (NIH) official left...

A major police operation is under way in Berlin after a vehicle was driven into a crowd. One person is dead and at least 17 injured. The nearby Pride parade was cancelled hours after it began. Follow the latest on this story below. .... At least one person has died, with more than a dozen injured, several seriously, after a transporter reportedly drove into a crowd. A manhunt is under way, and police say a suspect was known to police as a member of the "Islamist scene." The suspect is said to have fled after crashing into a tree. Helicopters...

I was only a year old when the UK's deadliest terror attack shocked the world. In December 1988, Pan Am flight 103 exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing all 259 people on board as well as 11 on the ground. I was a teenager by the time Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of the bombing in 2001 and, when he later died, I thought that was largely the end of the story. It wasn't. The case still rumbles on and, later this year, a man suspected of making the bomb which blew up the plane, Abu...

Dr. Anthony Fauci will testify next Wednesday in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee after being subpoenaed, panel Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Thursday. Paul has been laser-focused on Fauci, the nation’s former top infectious diseases doctor, for allegedly covering up the U.S.’s involvement in risky viral research in a Chinese lab that the Kentucky senator says created the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic. “I expect he will not tell the truth,” Paul said in a Fox Business interview Thursday. “I don’t expect him to be honest, he hasn’t been honest in the last six...

Iran has been accused of smuggling spies into the UK disguised as small boat migrants crossing the English Channel. UK authorities are said to have discovered individuals linked to Tehran's intelligence agencies among asylum seekers arriving in Britain by using face recognition technology fitted to drones and surveillance watchtowers. It is also understood that the routes used to traffic migrants are operated and 'owned' by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Daily Mail reported in March how asylum seekers ostensibly fleeing the war in Iran had arrived in France to cross the Channel to the UK. Dozens were said...

I've never met Rupert Lowe and, judging from his latest comments this weekend, I'd say it's unlikely that's going to change. According to the leader of Restore Britain (we've got Reform and Restore; I'm looking forward to Replace and, even better, Retire) for a period in my life I wanted to destroy all that's good about Britain, create a dependency culture and, for good measure, sterilise the untermenschen. The MP for Great Yarmouth has not been looking into my soul and excavating its darkest secrets. He has, rather, been sounding off about one of the most bizarre conspiracy theories to...

The Labour Government has been accused of trying to block a report on migrant crimes from being released. The Ministry of Justice has launched legal action to prevent the publication of crime statistics by nationality. The Information Commissioner’s Office has ordered the department to release conviction data from between 2018 and 2024, which the department is now appealing. The Centre of Migration Control (CMC), a think tank, requested data on violence, sexual offences, drugs, arson, criminal damage, weapons, theft, and robbery under the Freedom of Information Act. The Ministry of Justice has argued that the data would be too expensive,...

Eating eggs could increase the risk of developing a dangerous heart rhythm problem that can trigger deadly stroke, a study has suggested. Researchers have found a link between a compound found in the bloodstream that's released after eating a number of everyday foods - including egg yolks and beef steak - and atrial fibrillation. The condition, which causes the heart to beat irregularly, can lead to heart failure and stroke. Now experts at the Cleveland Clinic in the US have found that those with the life-threatening problem have high levels of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) - which is produced in the...

Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes on Houthi targets in the Yemeni port city of Hodeida and a nearby island on Friday, after the Iran-backed group announced a maritime blockade and attacked Saudi ships. Saudi authorities later issued emergency alerts for the province of Jizan as the Houthis claimed responsibility for a missile attack on the city of Jizan. Early on Saturday, the Houthis' Ansarollah media said on Telegram that a "Yemeni missile strike" had caused fires in the Saudi city of Jizan.

Journalist and activist Laura Loomer decided to visit Ukraine for herself this week, after years of criticizing America's involvement in the conflict. Her trip culminated in a visit to the presidential palace and a nearly hour-long exclusive interview with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 'I really wanted to see it up close and find out, wow, you know, is this a country full of Nazis? Are they laundering our taxpayer dollars to Democrats? You know, is Zelenskyy a cokehead?' she said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail while she was in Kiev.

Over the summer months, 5 million people will visit London, with its free museums and galleries, massive events featuring the biggest names in music and sport, and everything Britain’s capital city has to offer. And, as new figures released today show, they’ll be able to do so knowing London is one of the safest cities of its size in the world. On social media, a dark blizzard of disinformation – much of it coordinated and amplified by extreme groups and hostile foreign actors – has seen bots and trolls depict London as a “lawless” city where crime goes unpunished and...

Far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was among thousands who gathered at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site Israel’s far-right minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, joined thousands of Jewish extremists who stormed Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Thursday. Escorted by armed police, they prayed, waved the Israeli flag and sang the national anthem in a provocative display of political power. Under a fragile, decades-old agreement known as the status quo, non-Muslim prayer is banned at the site, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif compound and to Jews as the Temple Mount. Ben-Gvir has eroded the agreement in recent years through a...

Former Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) is making a run for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) seat after his death, Sanford announced Thursday morning. “Our country is at a financial tipping point, and I can’t sit on the sidelines while Washington adds a trillion dollars to the debt every 100 days,” Sanford wrote on social media Thursday. “I’ve spent my entire time in politics fighting this fight, and I’m running for U.S. Senate to keep the American dream alive for our sons, my grandson, and those you love. Join us,” he added. Sanford’s post also featured a video of himself...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has voted repeatedly for resolutions to withdraw U.S. troops from the military conflict with Iran, told reporters Wednesday that the United States is “worse off” than it was before President Trump launched the war in late February. “I think the Iran war has not been a success. I’ve been opposed to the Iran war from the beginning. I think by any objective measure we’re worse off than we were before the war,” Paul said on Capitol Hill. “If you look at the militarization of the Strait of Hormuz, that’s never happened before,” he said. “There’s...

@FmrRepMTG Total betrayal. The House of Representatives passed the NDAA 216-212. 7 Republicans voted NO. 6 Democrats voted YES. This $1.1 trillion dollar military budget contains Sec 219 that ties our military intelligence and military industrial base to Israel. Now it goes to the Senate.

Summary The US has signed a landmark nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia The US Department of Energy says the "peaceful nuclear co-operation agreement" will provide "great access" for US firms to the Saudi nuclear energy programme A "bilateral safeguards agreement" has also been signed as part of the deal, it says US media reported before the deal was announced that it could potentially allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium itself - we're yet to see the full details The fear is that if Saudi Arabia starts enriching its own uranium, hardliners in Iran could be encouraged to secretly race to...

SUMMARY The US is due to sign a deal that will allow Saudi Arabia to develop a civilian nuclear programme - timeline of their talks An announcement is expected from US President Donald Trump's administration, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner The deal will reportedly allow US companies to run nuclear power for the Saudis on Saudi soil Nuclear experts and former officials in Israel - the US's top ally in the Middle East - have warned that such an agreement could lead to Saudi Arabia being able to develop a nuclear weapon The fear is that if...

With the pointless war of choice in Iran going poorly, the Trump administration has declared a virtual war on the international criminal court (ICC). Secretary of state, Marco Rubio, vowed on Monday to “dismantle” the court as a supposed threat to US sovereignty. His rationale is laced with sophistry. The administration’s real goal is to secure impunity for war crimes, even those committed on the territory of ICC member states. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed and a video posted on X, Rubio conjures up a dystopia in which local American officials such as police officers or border patrol agents...

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is threatening to block two of President Trump’s ambassador nominees if the administration does not present evidence of progress on releasing funds to the President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief (PEPFAR), a government program which provides treatment for HIV and AIDS around the world. “The only way it seems like you can get the administration’s attention on some of these funding issues is by using the leverage to withhold votes on nominees,” Cornyn said in an interview with Semafor on Tuesday. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Cornyn sits, is scheduled to vote on the...