Free Republic

CAIRO (AP) — A Russian-flagged tanker carrying liquefied natural gas exploded and erupted in flames before sinking in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, authorities in the North African country said Wednesday. No casualties were reported.The tanker was under Western sanctions, suspected to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet of energy tankers trying to bypass sanctions imposed on Moscow over its war in Ukraine. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. According to the Libyan Maritime Authority, there was a “sudden explosions, followed by a massive fire” on the Arctic Metagaz on Tuesday while the LNG...

Iran’s state media delivered the message this way: “To the noble and proud people of Iran: With the ultimate grief and sorrow this is to inform you that following the barbaric attack by the criminal governments of America and the evil Zionist regime, the true example of faith, jihad and resistance, the Supreme Leader of the Revolution Grand Ayatollah Khamenei achieved the blessing of martyrdom.”President Trump shares the following message via Truth Social: “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead. This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and...

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the United States, President Donald Trump said, calling it the “single greatest chance” for the Iranian people to “take back” their country.The death occurred after a joint U.S. and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” was to continue through the week or longer. There was no immediate comment from Iran on Khamenei's status.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in Israeli attacks, with U.S. support, on Saturday. He was 86 years old. A plume of smoke rises following a reported explosion in Tehran on Saturday, February 28, 2026. Israel's defense ministry said it had launched a "preemptive strike" on Iran as sirens sounded in Jerusalem and people across the country received phone alerts about an "extremely serious" threat. Middle East conflict Iranian supreme leader killed in Israeli airstrike, source says President Trump announced the Iranian leader's death on social media, saying Khamenei could not avoid U.S. intelligence and surveillance. A source...

Hungary will deploy soldiers and equipment to protect key energy infrastructure amid what Prime Minister Viktor Orban described as a potential Ukrainian threat, he said on Feb. 25, escalating tensions tied to disrupted Russian oil transit....

Hungary’s centre-right opposition Tisza party has widened its lead over Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz in February, a highly regarded poll showed on Wednesday, ahead of an April 12 election in which ​the veteran nationalist is seeking reelection. Orban, seeking to retain his 16-year grip on ‌power, is facing a strong challenger for the first time in a parliamentary vote, with the outcome having major implications not only for Hungary but for Europe and its far-right political forces. The poll showed Fidesz losing ground, while Tisza is gaining supporters, despite numerous voter-pleasing measures announced by the government ‌after ​three years...

Hungary will block a 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) EU loan for Ukraine until it resumes oil shipments to the country via the Druzhba pipeline, its foreign minister said on Friday after Budapest said it would tap strategic reserves to tackle a shortage. Hungary and Slovakia, which have the only remaining refineries in the European Union using Russian oil through Druzhba, have been trying to secure supply since flows were halted on January 27 following what Ukraine said was a Russian drone attack that damaged pipeline infrastructure. Both countries have blamed Ukraine for the delay in restarting the flows for political reasons.

Hungarian opposition leader Péter Magyar launched his party’s election campaign in Budapest on Sunday, vowing to restore Hungary’s Western orientation just eight weeks before he faces Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a pivotal vote. Magyar, a former insider in Orbán’s nationalist Fidesz party, burst onto Hungary’s political scene in 2024 after breaking with his political community and quickly forming the center-right Tisza party. After taking around 30% of the vote in European Parliament elections in June 2024, he has grown Tisza into the most formidable political force Orbán has faced during his 16 years at Hungary’s helm. Most independent polls...

Bart Ehrman, a noted biblical studies professor at UNC Chapel Hill, announced his retirement on December 7, 2025, after more than 40 years in the classroom. Although he was educated at Princeton under the guidance of conservative theologian Bruce Metzger, Ehrman “de-converted” from Christianity and has written a number of books aimed at poking holes in the truth claims of Christianity and especially the reliability of the biblical text. Ehrman used his last lecture to again hammer away at the idea that we really don’t know and can’t trust what the Bible says. He claims there are so many “variants”...

An F.B.I. agent who sought to investigate the federal immigration officer who fatally shot a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis this month has resigned from the bureau, according to two people familiar with the matter. The agent, Tracee Mergen, left her job as a supervisor in the F.B.I.’s Minneapolis field office after bureau leadership in Washington pressured her to discontinue a civil rights inquiry into the immigration officer, Jonathan Ross, according to one of the people. Such inquiries are a common investigative step in similar shootings.

🚨 BREAKING: The United States withdraws from the World Health Organization TODAY, one year after President Trump's historic executive order from the Oval Office After 77 years, the USA is no longer a WHO member. LET'S GO! 🔥🔥 Good riddance. Thank you President Trump! 🇺🇸

In a social media announcement posted Wednesday, Tucson Pride’s Board of Directors said the organization has made the “difficult decision to close Tucson Pride as an organization" and therefore is also canceling the Tucson Pride Festival scheduled for Feb. 21, 2026. The Facebook post, attributed to the newly appointed board, said the decision came after “thoughtful discussion and careful consideration.” The statement thanked volunteers, sponsors, artists and activists and highlighted Tucson Pride’s role in the community “since 1977,” calling it a space of “visibility, advocacy, celebration, and resilience for nearly five decades.”

At least four prosecutors have resigned from the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division in protest after the unit refused to investigate the ICE agent who killed protestor Renee Nicole Good in self-defense.New cellphone footage from the ICE agent involved in the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good was released last Friday.Alpha News and Fox News obtained cellphone footage from the ICE agent who discharged his weapon and fatally shot Good as she tried to run him over.The POV footage shows Good’s wife talking trash to the ICE agent as he approaches her wife’s SUV.“You wanna come at us?” Good’s wife said,...

Multiple videos captured the deadly encounter between a federal agent and Renee Good, raising questions about whether it was an authorized use of force. Rob Doar, a defense attorney and head of the Gun Owners Law Center, reviewed the videos with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. He emphasized that the use of force should be a last resort, used only in self-defense after all other options are exhausted. “The first shot seems to be while the vehicle is advancing towards him,” said Doar. “The second and third shot that we see in the video comes from the side driver’s window. That becomes...

The whistle blows in short bursts: PHWEEE! PHWEEE! PHWEEE! PHWEEE! Code: ICE is nearby. Then comes the long blast: PHWEEEEEEEEEEE! Code: ICE has taken someone. These are the codes immigrant rapid responders are using to alert their neighbors and co-workers to ICE sightings and kidnappings. Federal agents are armed with military-style weapons. Up against them, everyday people have whistles, boundless courage, and the acronym S.A.L.U.T.E. for information to gather: the size of deployments of federal agents, the actions they are taking, the specific location, the uniforms they are wearing, the time, and the equipment, or type of weapons. At trainings...

The left's "Minneapolis mom" narrative is fading fast as more information about Renee Nicole Good, the woman shot and killed Wednesday after she used her vehicle as a weapon against federal law enforcement officers, comes to light. Far from being a new-in-town gentle soul, Good was reportedly a rabidly anti-Trump radical who had been trained as an "ICE Watch warrior," and presumably knew what she was doing when she behaved aggressively toward the officers. Democrats and their leftist foot soldiers have spent the last day tying themselves into knots trying to cast blame for Good's death on the ICE agent...

The Trump administration announced Wednesday it’s taking U.S. taxpayer dollars away from 66 globalist organizations, nearly half of them affiliated with the United Nations and all of which are identified as “contrary to the interests of the United States.” Most notable is the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parent treaty underpinning all major international climate agreements, AFP reports. The treaty adopted in 1992 is a global pact by nations to cooperate to drive down planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of so-called “climate change.” A despairing European Union climate chief Wopke Hoekstra said the...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) did not leave Washington as a martyr to principle. She left as a case study in how rank opportunism masquerades as populism, and how loudly proclaimed integrity can coexist with some of the most cynical behavior the D.C. swamp has on offer. Greene entered Congress in January 2021, branding herself as a sworn enemy of the political class, promising to drain the swamp and to stand shoulder to shoulder with working Americans. Five years later, she timed her exit to meet the minimum service threshold for securing a taxpayer-funded congressional pension. That benefit was locked...

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino will resign his position with less than a year on the job — after reportedly packing up his belongings and bidding adieu to his team. “I will be leaving my position with the FBI in January,” Bongino announced on social media Wednesday night. “I want to thank President Trump, AG Bondi, and Director Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose. Most importantly, I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for the privilege to serve you. God bless America, and all those who defend Her.” SNIP A different source said that it’s understood that...

There’s been a lot of unsavory comments making the rounds on our side of the political divide the past twenty-four hours following the murder of Rob Reiner. Some people are evidently happy it occurred, or at least acting as if they are. Nope, they’re not going to say a single good word about Reiner. Nope, they weren’t going to sympathize. Nope, they just don’t care. In other words, they’re acting pretty much the same way the Left does when one of ours gets taken down.That this is not acceptable goes without saying, particularly in a case like this. Reiner was...