Free Republic

Three people have been killed in a shooting in the Swedish city of Uppsala, police have confirmed. The shooting took place at a hair salon close to Vaksala Square in the centre of the city, local media reported. The shooter, who fled on a scooter, is still on the run, according to the reports. Officers have cordoned off a large area and a murder investigation is under way. The incident happened on the eve of the Walpurgis spring festival, which brings large crowds onto the streets of Uppsala, a city located north of the capital Stockholm, and known for its...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that he had "proudly ended" the Women, Peace and Security program at the Pentagon on Tuesday, a program signed into law by President Donald Trump in his first term. "WPS is yet another woke divisive/social justice/Biden initiative that overburdens our commanders and troops – distracting from our core task: WAR-FIGHTING," Hegseth wrote in a post on X. "WPS is a UNITED NATIONS program pushed by feminists and left-wing activists. Politicians fawn over it; troops HATE it." Hegseth said the department would comply with the minimum requirements of the program dictated by law and lobby to...

The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that a former college football player who was shot by his teammate cannot sue gunmaker Beretta over his injuries. a victory not only for the firearms company, but for common sense as well. In 2018, about four months after Andre Lewis purchased a Beretta APX 9mm handgun, Lewis decided to show it off to his Emporia State University teammate Marquise Johnson while the pair were idling at a stoplight in the town of Emporia. According to the complaint, Lewis wanted to show Johnson that he knew how to properly disassemble the pistol, and apparently...

HÀ NỘI — Promising developments are being made in the ongoing tariff negotiations between Việt Nam and the US, despite persistent trade challenges. That's according to Đỗ Ngọc Hưng, Trade Counsellor to the US, speaking at a conference for Việt Nam trade offices abroad held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on April 28. The conference underscored that while global tariff tensions are creating hurdles, they also present opportunities for Việt Nam to restructure its trade strategies, boost innovation and expand its global footprint. Strengthened international cooperation, improved domestic competitiveness and agile policy support remain key to navigating this...

China, the European Union, Mexico, and Canada are among the United States’ largest trading partners and some of the most vocal opponents of the new tariffs. Their leaders and citizens try to create the illusion that they can do without the U.S. as a client, but the reality is different. There is no alternative market capable of replacing the American consumer. These countries already trade globally, and there is little room for world demand to grow enough to offset lost exports to the U.S.Their dependence extends beyond trade. They rely heavily on access to U.S. dollars, U.S. investment, and foreign...

PULSE POINTS:❓What Happened: Walmart has announced new programs, including “Grow with US” and the 2025 Open Call, to expand support for American-made products and American small businesses, as President Donald J. Trump pursues a policy of supporting American producers through tariffs on foreign goods.👥 Who’s Involved: Walmart U.S., led by President and CEO John Furner and CFO John David Rainey, alongside U.S. small businesses and entrepreneurs.📍 Where & When: Announced on April 29, 2025, with Open Call events starting May 1 in Orlando, Florida, and the main event on October 7-8 in Bentonville, Arkansas.💬 Key Quote: John Furner stated, “We’ve...

Canadian Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is projected to lose the parliamentary seat he has held for more than 20 years in a stunning defeat to Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a state-owned outlet, projected the loss on Tuesday morning following Monday’s federal election. However, Elections Canada’s decision to pause the counting of special ballots means it remains unclear whether the Liberals, led by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, will walk away with a minority or majority mandate. Fanjoy, who is projected to take Poilievre’s seat in Parliament, worked in business and marketing and lives in a...

A Labor Department program designed to train 16- to 24-year-olds to join the workforce spends more per person annually than Ivy League colleges, but participants wind up making minimum wage on average — raising questions about whether it should continue to exist. The Job Corps pays teenage runaways, high school dropouts, and twentysomething ex-cons to live in dormitories and receive their GEDs and vocational training. The national cost per graduate was $188,000, with the average graduate staying 13.5 months. Of more than 110 campuses, the 10 least efficient averaged a cost of $385,000 per graduate. Job Corps participants earn $16,695...

A report that Amazon would display price increases due to tariffs on its goods — which the company has since denied — landed CEO Jeff Bezos a phone call from President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Breitbart News can confirm. CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene, citing two senior White House officials speaking anonymously, reported that Trump personally called Amazon’s founder to confront him about the report. A source familiar verified to Breitbart News that there was a call between Trump and Bezos in the morning. Punchbowl News first reported on Amazon’s alleged plan “to showcase how much tariffs were contributing...

WATCH LIVE: Trump delivers remarks to Michigan National Guard The appearance is part of back-to-back events in Michigan marking the 100th day of the president's second term.

Sir Tony Blair has called for a major rethink of net zero policies, arguing that limiting energy consumption and fossil fuel production is "doomed to fail". In a new report, the former Labour prime minister says voters "feel they're being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know the impact on global emissions is minimal". He does not call for Labour to halt its push to decarbonise the UK economy - but says all governments need to rethink their approach, as it is not working. The Tories - who have joined Reform UK in opposing net...

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is set to join President Trump during a Tuesday visit at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in the Great Lakes State, the White House said. The appearance comes just a couple of weeks after Whitmer took heat from both sides of the aisle for a White House visit earlier this month, her second since the inauguration. After Trump brought the governor into the Oval Office during an executive order signing involving her state, a photo of Whitmer appearing to hide her face behind folders garnered ridicule and underscored the tough political terrain of the...

While more than 55,000 unionized workers for Los Angeles County are set to strike Monday evening, county officials said there is simply no money to meet the employees’ demands. The members of Service Employees International Union Local 721, including public works employees, library workers and mental health professionals, were expected to walk off the job for 48 hours, starting at 7 p.m. Monday, accusing the county of failing to negotiate a new labor contract fairly. “We faced nothing less than disrespect at the bargaining table,” a union leader said during a rally, claiming the county's proposal was a 0% increase...

Europe would struggle to collectively muster 25,000 troops to be part of a “deterrence” force in Ukraine because its armies are undermanned and underfunded, sources have disclosed. The Times was given a rare insight into conversations between Europe’s defence ministers and military chiefs as they thrashed out plans for a “coalition of the willing” force. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the British chief of the defence staff, is said to have asked his counterparts on the Continent if they could put together a 64,000-strong force to send to the country in the event of a peace deal.

California lawmakers in the Assembly Public Safety Committee are blocking a proposal that would make it a felony to purchase 16 and 17-year-old children for sex. Assemblyman Nick Shultz, the Democratic chairman of the committee, confirmed AB 379, a bill to crack down on the consumers of the child sex trafficking industry, will move forward on Tuesday, but without the proposed felony charge. It's the latest development in a debate that has been underway for more than a year at the state capitol as lawmakers target criminals who buy children for sex. Last year, Republican State Senator Shannon Grove first...

President Donald Trump got tens of thousands of likes on Truth Social when he announced that his recently introduced tariffs could lead to substantial reductions in income taxes for American workers earning less than $200,000 a year, leading conservatives to celebrate online. For context, in a post shared on Truth Social on the morning of April 27, 2025, President Trump strongly defended his tariff strategy, describing it as laying the foundation for the creation of countless new jobs. In addition, the president emphasized the positive impact that the tariffs will have on income tax, specifically for Americans who would be...

Elon Musk on Tuesday praised a Treasury Department report detailing hundreds of millions of dollars in "improper payment requests" as a "big deal."In a repost on X from the Department of Government Efficiency, it was stated that when the Treasury Department went "live with its first automated payment verification system," it reported identifying and rejecting $334 million in payment requests because of "missing budget codes, invalid budget codes (i.e., the payment was not linked to the budget), [and] budget codes with no authorization (i.e., the budget had already been fully spent)."DOGE added that the Treasury Access Symbol is an identification...

A suspected ISIS member was arrested in connection with the Jan. 1 attack on Bourbon Street that killed 14 people and injured at least 57 others, Iraq's judiciary said Sunday. Following a request from the U.S. for assistance in the investigation, Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said the individual “was arrested for inciting the Jan. 2025 truck attack in the United States," according to Al Arabiya News, a Saudi state-owned international Arabic news channel. The unnamed suspect is “a member of the external operations office of the Daesh terrorist organization" — the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group known ISIS....

A recent survey reveals that over 40 percent of Tesla owners say they have experienced vandalism targeting their vehicles, but less than 20 percent regret buying a car from Elon Musk. Kelley Blue Book reports that a new study conducted by Guardian Service, a company specializing in helping consumers find insurance plans, has found that a significant portion of Tesla owners are facing vandalism and targeted hostility. The survey, which polled 508 Tesla owners, aimed to shed light on how these incidents, coupled with rising insurance costs, are reshaping the EV ownership experience in America. According to the findings, 40...

Ranchers and their elected representatives have won a major battle. The federal government dropped criminal charges against Charles and Heather Maude of Caputa, SD. Ben Patterson, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Federal District Court in the Western Division of South Dakota signed a motion to dismiss the indictment against Charles Maude and Heather Maude, dated April 28. South Dakota ranchers Charles and Heather Maude were indicted separately nearly a year ago on charges of theft of federal property stemming from a fenceline dispute about a fence built before either were born. Wyoming Congresswoman Harriet Hageman is pleased with the news...