Free Republic

Government websites in Europe and elsewhere went offline on Wednesday after the disclosure of critical vulnerabilities in a widely used programming language sent website operators scrambling to protect their systems. Developers of the PHP programming language said Tuesday they had identified two critical vulnerabilities and urged users to update their sites as soon as a fix was released. They said around 1345 GMT on Wednesday that a new version fixing the vulnerabilities was live. But with reports that hackers were exploiting the flaws to break into websites, government agencies in the Netherlands and Finland were among those that took sites...

The site will support more than 1,000 highly skilled manufacturing jobs in the state’s semiconductor industry, said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. Japan will invest up to $21 billion to build two chip factories in New York under a trade agreement with U.S. President Donald Trump, as Washington seeks to expand domestic semiconductor production. They will be jointly owned by the U.S. government and Japanese interests and operated by GlobalFoundries, the company said on Wednesday. Construction of the first factory is scheduled to begin this year, with chip production expected in ⁠2029. GlobalFoundries executives said the partners will decide whether...

Acouple of weeks ago, the winning entry of the annual Nikon Small World in Motion contest was embroiled in a controversy, with experts alleging the undisclosed use of AI in creating some parts of the video. At the time, the winner, Ning Xu, an optical engineer at Tsinghua University, and Nikon Instruments Inc. maintained that he only used AI for image enhancing, which fell within the competition policy. Nikon had also noted that “this particular use of AI—as a tool for enhancement of microscopy-generated source data, not for image generation from scratch—to be in compliance with the rules set forth...

For many Okinawa locals, the arrest of a US soldier accused of robbing and killing a woman in a hotel room has reignited decades of frustration over crimes involving US military personnel there. "Honestly my first reaction was, 'Not again,'" 52-year-old longtime Okinawa resident Ai Sato told the BBC. "Nothing has changed since I was a child. How many times are we going to repeat the same thing, create more victims, cause their families to suffer, and ultimately, cause the people of Okinawa to grieve?" Akemi Oshiro, a 62-year-old Ginowan resident shared similar sentiments. "I know we shouldn't get used...

This video explores how Canon is challenging ASML's dominant monopoly in the semiconductor industry with its innovative nanoimprint lithography (NIL) technology. Key takeaways: The Challenge: While ASML relies on incredibly expensive and complex Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) light systems (costing up to $350 million) (1:26), Canon has developed the FPA-1200NZ2C, a system that uses a physical stamp to pattern chips (0:23, 4:37). This method is significantly cheaper and more energy-efficient (0:23, 7:45). The Technology: Nanoimprint works by pressing a mold directly into a polymer on a wafer (3:13). While historically plagued by contamination issues, Canon—through its 2014 acquisition of Molecular Imprints—has...

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

An Electron rocket launched a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spacecraft for the Tokyo-based company Synspective from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on Sept. 18, 2026 at 11:22 p.m. EDT (0322 GMT and 3:22 p.m. local time on Sept. 19). Credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab launches Japanese Earth-observing radar satellite from New Zealand | 9:25 VideoFromSpace | 2.14M subscribers | 5,187 views | September 19, 2026

NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯_夏樹蒼依@japan_nobunaga·12hMarch 2011. An entire Japanese island was CUT OFF.Kesennuma Oshima. 3,000 people trapped.No power. No water. Harbor obliterated. Freezing cold.The experts said: "No ship can dock. It's impossible."The US Marine Corps looked at the raging sea and said:"Watch us."They fired up the LCACs.Massive hovercrafts built for storming hostile enemy beaches.Ripping across the debris-choked water at 40 knots.Huge jet engines roaring. Spray flying 50 feet into the air.They didn't wait for a harbor.They rammed right onto the frozen sand.Out rolled bulldozers. Generators. Hot water units. Clean food.Marines jumped into the freezing mud to rebuild the power lines.Why?"Because the children need a...

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The events of that day shaped my life, even though I was a third grader more than a hundred miles from any of the attack sites, with no direct connection to anyone who was there. As I’ve reflected on the 25th anniversary of the events that reshaped our world, my mind kept returning to another day that created a similar “flashbulb memory” for an earlier generation of Americans. Nearly 85 years ago, on December 7, 1941, Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and other...

The Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 had bound the two island empires together against a common rival, but it was the German U-boat war that finally brought the Imperial Japanese Navy to the Mediterranean. As Royal Navy escorts were stretched to breaking point, Britain turned to its ally in the East. Eight Japanese destroyers, commanded by Admiral Soto Kozo, sailed for Malta -- and over the months that followed, they escorted nearly eight hundred troopships through submarine-infested waters and clashed with enemy submarines on more than thirty occasions. Why Did Japan Send Its Navy To British Malta In 1917? | 13:33...

A Japanese father was berated by cops when he ditched his fussy 7-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji — then kept climbing toward the iconic summit with his older son. The 48-year-old dad, who is from Nagoya, was hiking the Fujinomiya Trail Thursday with his sons, ages 7 and about 12 or 13, when he left the younger boy near the trail’s sixth checkpoint about 8,000 feet up Japan’s tallest peak, according to Japan Today. The boy complained that he was tired during the climb, but his dad told him to “wait here” and continued toward the summit, which is...

Highly pathogenic avian influenza in Korea (Rep. of ~) Suspected outbreak (Disease never reported before in the Republic of Korea). Emergency report Information received on 12 Dec 2003 from Dr Chang-Seob Kim, Chief Veterinary Officer, Animal Health Division, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), Gwacheon: Date of the report: 12 Dec 2003. Date of initial detection of animal health incident: 11 Dec 2003. Outbreaks: Location Eumsung district, Chungcheong-buk province, in the central part of the country) No. of outbreaks: 1 farm [This is not good news, as recent outbreaks of Avian Influenza have been in the southeastern most part of...

Japanese scientists are readying a mission to Mars' moons to retrieve samples that may unlock the origins of the Solar System and life on Earth, although a rival Chinese mission aims to make it back first. The unmanned Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), set to blast off from Tanegashima Space Center in the coming months, could also lay the groundwork for humans visiting the red planet. The spacecraft, revealed to media last Thursday, will stay in Mars' orbit for around three years and will attempt to land on Phobos. It will collect at least 10 grams (0.35 ounces) of material from...

A young man who once wondered if he would live past 1941 will be turning 105 years old Saturday. James (Pat) Bollich grew up in Louisiana. He trained at Fort Polk and arrived in the Philippines in November, 1941, less than a month before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Jamie Bollich wrote, “U.S. and Filipino forces retreated to the Bataan Peninsula when the Japanese invaded the Philippines, but after four months their food and ammunition ran out and the 70,000 troops were forced to surrender.”

Japanese Crown Prince Akishino, the younger brother of Emperor Naruhito, on Thursday said he has “mixed feelings” about the government’s revision to the Imperial House Law that reinforces a rule dictating only men can become emperor. “I believe there is no difference between men and women” in serving the roles of the imperial family to respond to social needs, Akishino said at a news conference ahead of a trip to Paraguay later this month to mark the 90th anniversary of Japanese emigration to the South American country. The comments by Akishino, the next in line for the throne, come just...

Fighting in the Second World War went on until the very end. WWII: The Last Day | 20:41 The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered | 1.64M subscribers | 14,619 views | August 14, 2026

Newsdump Update" This Weekend French Mainstream Media Reporting On The Prison Report Into The 2022 Suicide Of Jeffrey Epstein's Key French Associate Jean-Luc Brunel... Newsdump Alert: The Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) National Oil Company Says One Of Its Tankers Was Hit In The Strait Of Hormuz Early Saturday... Newsdump Update A Story I Missed... Japan is the biggest holder of the US national debt more than one trillion dollars so it should not surprise anyone that the US and Japan jointly intervened to support Japan's currency the "Yen"... Yes James "We Shot Our..." But are you just trying to...

A growing anti-Muslim movement is gaining traction in Japan. When most people think of Japan, they don’t picture a country with a significant Islamic presence or a growing number of mosques. But the reality may surprise them. Japan has long been viewed as one of the few remaining countries willing to fiercely protect its national identity, traditions, and culture. What many of us didn’t realize was that the left had been quietly working its way in all along… just take a look at these numbers. East Asia Forum: Japan’s Muslim community has grown rapidly to around 420,000 people What Japan...

The U.S. Treasury bought yen on Friday to support the battered Japanese currency, the Financial Times reported, marking Washington’s first yen-buying intervention with Tokyo in more than a decade as it languishes near 40-year lows. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York sold euros for yen on behalf of the Treasury through Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the FT said, citing people familiar with the matter. The report did not indicate any amounts of yen purchased. Earlier on Friday, the Treasury informed a number of banks that it might intervene in the yen market and that they should “stand ready...

Japan and the US have confirmed that they jointly intervened last week to halt a slide in the yen after it fell to a fresh 40-year low. The joint intervention is the first since 2011, when both countries took coordinated action to weaken the yen after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit eastern Japan. Both Japan's Ministry of Finance and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have said that they will not hesitate to conduct more joint interventions in the future. It highlights both countries' efforts to prevent a sell-off in the yen and Japanese government bonds from having an...