Free Republic

SummarySupreme Court ruling causes confusion over birthright citizenship Lawyers and advocates field calls from anxious clients Uncertainty remains on policy across different states WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling tied to birthright citizenship prompted confusion and phone calls to lawyers as people who could be affected tried to process a convoluted legal decision with major humanitarian implications. The court's conservative majority on Friday granted President Donald Trump his request to curb federal judges' power but did not decide the legality of his bid to restrict birthright citizenship. That outcome has raised more questions than answers about...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia is stepping up production of its Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic missile, which it launched for the first time against Ukraine last November. "Serial production of the latest Oreshnik medium-range missile system is under way," Putin told a graduating class of military cadets in televised comments. The system has "proven itself very well in combat conditions," he added. -snip- Putin has boasted that the Oreshnik is impossible to intercept and has destructive power comparable to a nuclear weapon, although some Western experts have cast doubt on those claims. In December, a U.S. official...

A “number of countries” are ready to supply Iran with nuclear warheads following American strikes on nuclear facilities early on Sunday, Russian ex-president Dmitriy Medvedev claimed on social media. In a post on X/Twitter, Medvedev suggested that the United States’ attacks on three sites in Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow backfired, and led to the opposite result from what US President Donald Trump had set out to achieve. According to Medvedev, “enrichment of nuclear material — and, now we can say it outright, the future production of nuclear weapons — will continue.” -snip- In addition, he said, “A number of countries...

SummarySupreme leader's military advisers killed by strikesRaises risk of strategic miscalculations, sources sayKhamenei's son said to be increasingly central figureDUBAI/LONDON, June 17 (Reuters) - Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cuts an increasingly lonely figure.Khamenei has seen his main military and security advisers killed by Israeli air strikes, leaving major holes in his inner circle and raising the risk of strategic errors, according to five people familiar with his decision-making process.One of those sources, who regularly attends meetings with Khamenei, described the risk of miscalculation to Iran on issues of defence and internal stability as "extremely dangerous". Several senior...

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in separate telephone conversations on Friday, told Iran's president that Moscow condemned Israel's actions against Tehran and told Israel's prime minister that questions around Iran's nuclear programme could only be solved through diplomacy. A Kremlin statement said Putin told Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian that Russia "condemns the actions of Israel taken in violation of the U.N. Charter" and expressed condolences for those killed.

At a farm near Moscow, newly arrived guest workers from India are planting potatoes and cabbages - work closely monitored by central bank analysts as they prepare for board meetings to set interest rates. While in developed economies such as the United States food accounts for about 14% of the basket used to calculate inflation, in Russia it makes up a hefty 40% or so, and surging prices for potatoes and other staples have been a major reason for its tight monetary policy. The central bank trimmed its benchmark rate to 20% on June 6 but even that is around...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin's threatened retaliation against Ukraine over its drone attack last weekend has not happened yet in earnest and is likely to be a significant, multi-pronged strike, U.S. officials told Reuters.The timing of the full Russian response was unclear, with one source saying it was expected within days. A second U.S. official said the retaliation was likely to include different kinds of air capabilities, including missiles and drones.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity. They did not detail Russia's expected targets nor elaborate on intelligence matters. The first official said Moscow's...

Ukraine's air forces shot down a Russian Su-35 fighter jet on Saturday morning, the Ukrainian military said. "This morning, on June 7, 2025, as a result of a successful Air Force operation in the Kursk direction, a Russian Su-35 fighter jet was shot down," the military said on the Telegram messenger. It gave no more details. Russian forces have not yet commented on the matter while Reuters could not independently verify the report.

SummaryTrump administration has said it will appeal court ruling Second federal court blocks some levies Markets see modest gains in response Analysts say even a pause provides valuable time May 29 (Reuters) - Senior Trump administration officials on Thursday downplayed the impact of a U.S. trade court ruling that blocked the most sweeping of President Donald Trump's tariffs, expressing confidence it would be overturned on appeal and insisting there are other legal avenues to employ in the interim. Financial markets, which have whipsawed wildly in response to every twist and turn in Trump's chaotic trade war, reacted with cautious optimism...

Russia does not see the Vatican as a serious venue for peace talks with Ukraine because the Holy See is the seat of Catholicism and is surrounded by Italy, a NATO and EU member, three senior Russian sources told Reuters. They also point out that many Russian officials cannot even fly there due to Western restrictions. The Vatican has so far been silent in public on the idea raised by U.S. President Donald Trump after a call with President Vladimir Putin that Pope Leo XIV could host talks aimed at ending Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two. Italian Prime...

SummaryJudicial reform raises concerns over rule of law in Mexico Critics fear reform may increase organized crime influence Election agency could disqualify ineligible candidates after vote CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, May 24 (Reuters) - When residents in the state of Durango vote in Mexico's first judicial elections next weekend, Leopoldo Chavez will be on the ballot for federal judge - despite the nearly six years he served in a U.S. prison. Chavez was convicted on drug offenses: for smuggling over 4 kilograms of methamphetamines in 2015. Durango is part of Mexico's Golden Triangle, a cartel-controlled region growing marijuana and opium poppies....

May 16 (Reuters) - Moody's on Friday downgraded the credit rating of the United States by a notch to "Aa1" from "Aaa", citing rising debt and interest "that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns". "Successive US administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs," Moody's said in a statement.

U.S. President Donald Trump's senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg will travel to Istanbul for potential talks on Thursday on how to end Russia's war in Ukraine, three sources familiar with the plans said on Tuesday. However, a senior U.S. official said it was unclear whether anyone from the Russian government would show up. The White House, State Department, National Security Council and a spokesperson for Witkoff did not immediately respond to a request for comment. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will only attend the talks this week if Russia's Vladimir Putin is also there, an aide to the Ukrainian leader...

Iran is preparing to deliver in the near future launchers for short-range ballistic missiles that the U.S. said Tehran sent to Russia last year for use against Ukraine, according to two Western security officials and a regional official. The delivery of the Fath-360 launchers - if it occurs - would help support Russia's grinding assault on its neighbor and reaffirm the deepening security ties between Moscow and Tehran. With a 75-mile (120-km) range, the Fath-360 would give Moscow's forces a new weapon to fire at Ukrainian frontline troops, nearby military targets, and population centers close to the border with Russia,...

When U.S. President Donald Trump decided to seek a second term in the White House, Doris Davis and Susie Bartlett - an interracial lesbian couple living in New York City - made a life-changing decision. If he won, they would move abroad. The couple said they had been willing to give Trump a go during his first term, but they'd watched in alarm as he returned to office and ended a range of policies aimed at promoting racial equity and rights for LGBTQ+ people. "We love this country, but we don't love what it has become," Davis, a 69-year-old educational...

Christmas decoration suppliers should have received their first orders for trees and ornaments by now. But they haven't. Chinese producers of plastic Christmas trees and other festive decorations say orders from US clients, which are crucial for their business, have stopped amid a tariff tit-for-tat tariff announcements. President Donald Trump has raised tariffs on Chinese imports by 104 percent so far this year US retailers are almost completely reliant on China for Christmas decorations, where they source 87 percent of the holiday's goods — worth roughly $4 billion. Chinese factories are also heavily dependent on the US market, where they...

(Reuters) - Ukrainian troops appeared on the point of losing their hard-won foothold inside Russia's Kursk region on Wednesday as Moscow claimed further advances there and military bloggers on both sides said Kyiv's forces were withdrawing.Ukraine sprang one of the biggest shocks of the war on August 6 last year by storming across the border and grabbing a chunk of land inside Russia, boosting citizens' morale and gaining a potential bargaining chip. But after clinging for more than seven months to a gradually shrinking area, Ukraine has seen its position worsen sharply in the past week.Russia's defence ministry on Wednesday...

Ukrainian and U.S. officials held crunch talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to find a path towards ending the war with Russia, hours after Kyiv's forces launched their largest drone attack on Moscow to date. -snip- "The meeting has begun very constructively," Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy's chief of staff who is leading the Ukrainian delegation, wrote on Telegram. -snip- Ukraine overnight launched its biggest drone attack on Moscow yet, deploying at least 91 drones, killing at least three people, sparking fires, closing airports and forcing dozens of flights to be diverted, Russian officials said. The strike - in which 337 drones...

Russian forces damaged Ukrainian energy and gas infrastructure overnight in their first major missile attack since the U.S. paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine, piling pressure on Kyiv as President Donald Trump seeks a swift end to the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, seeking to shore up Western support for his country after Trump's diplomatic pivot towards Moscow, called for a truce covering air and sea, though not ground troops - an idea first mooted by France. "The first steps to establishing real peace should be forcing the sole source of this war, Russia, to stop such attacks," Zelenskiy said on...

Turkey, with the second largest army in NATO after the United States, could contribute to a potential peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, a Turkish defence ministry source said on Wednesday. "The issue of contributing to a mission will be considered if deemed necessary for establishing regional stability and peace, and will be assessed mutually with all relevant parties," the source told reporters in Ankara. -snip- Turkish media reported last week that President Tayyip Erdogan had discussed a possible deployment with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during separate meetings in Ankara last month. Turkey has maintained cordial...