Free Republic

Israel has taken the controversial decision to recognise the breakaway state of Somaliland as an independent nation, sparking condemnation from many other countries. China is the latest to condemn the decision, with its foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian telling reporters: "No country should encourage or support other countries' internal separatist forces for its own selfish interests." China outlined its position ahead of the UN Security Council holding an emergency session to discuss Israel's decision. Israel on Friday became the first country in the world to acknowledge Somaliland as a standalone republic, more than 30 years after the region declared independence...

They look like coins. They circulated like money. Yet the U.S. Mint never meant them to be coins at all. In the mid-1940s, the United States Mint struck one of the most unusual forms of American gold ever produced: anonymous gold disks made not for collectors or commerce, but to pay oil royalties to Saudi Arabia. These pieces sit at the crossroads of geopolitics, bullion, and numismatic mystery, and remain among the most counterfeited U.S.-minted gold items today. Saudi Arabia Oil Fields Unlike commemoratives or circulating coinage, these disks emerged from a quiet diplomatic crisis. Saudi Arabia demanded gold. The...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia has quietly expanded access to its only store that sells alcohol, allowing wealthy foreign residents to buy booze in the latest step in the once-ultraconservative kingdom’s experiment in liberalization. There’s been no official announcement of the decision, but word has gotten out, and long lines of cars and people can now be seen at the discreet, unmarked store in the Diplomatic Quarter of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The store opened in January 2024 for non-Muslim diplomats. The new rules allow non-Muslim foreigners who hold Premium Residency to buy. The residency permit goes to...

What To Know -Dave Chappelle responded strongly to Bill Maher’s criticism of his comments about free speech at a Saudi comedy festival in his new Netflix special. -Chappelle clarified that his remarks about freer speech in Saudi Arabia were made on stage and not intended for publication, referencing his own experiences with backlash in the U.S. over transgender jokes. -Bill Maher had publicly disputed Chappelle’s claim about free speech in Saudi Arabia, prompting Chappelle’s pointed remarks in his stand-up special. Dave Chappelle just sent a fiery message to Bill Maher after the late-night host slammed comments he made about free...

Well folks, this is both incredible and stunning and also terrifying. The scope and scale is almost hard to fathom. And honestly? Yeah, it looks amazing! I have to admit, it looks wonderful, like a place I’d actually love to visit (if it wasn’t in the Middle East). Drop this thing into Texas and I think it would be a blast! So…why do I say it’s terrifying? Because it plays right into End Times from Revelation. The thing is a near perfect counterfeit of the “New Jerusalem” described in Revelation. I’ll explain more on that in a minute. First, take...

On November 18, 2025, Trump and the Saudi Crown Prince walked into the Oval Office and treated it like a showroom floor. Every sentence was a sales pitch. Every claim was polished to sound like victory. And every lie was delivered with the confidence of people who assume the public won’t bother checking the fine print.What you’re about to read is a highlight reel of contradictions, fantasy numbers, selective memory, and the kind of strategic blindness that gets entire regions burned to the ground.They said the quiet parts out loud, assuming no one would connect the dots.So I did.Below is...

President Trump’s meeting with Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) was a success before the Saudi crown prince set foot in the White House. Despite calls for the Saudis to join the Abraham Accords in exchange for selling them F-35 stealth fighters, Trump wisely saw that pressuring the Saudi prince into a deal whose time passed with the successful U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be harmful to both Israel and the Saudis. But by pocketing what will be the first in a series of large checks for advanced American military equipment, Trump cut directly to the heart of the pact...

President Donald Trump hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for an opulent White House state dinner attended by global titans Elon Musk, Cristiano Ronaldo, Jeff Bezos, and leading CEOs. This star-studded "Royal Night" signals massive U.S.-Saudi investment deals, energy partnerships, and a bold diplomatic realignment reshaping Middle East power dynamics. For more details, watch our story and subscribe to our channel. Live coverage of the private White House dinner between U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the East Room at 0015 GMT (November 19, 2025), following greetings at 2340 GMT. The evening concludes...

President Donald Trump designated Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally on Tuesday, opening opportunities for more defense trade and security cooperation between the United States and its key partner in the Middle East. Trump made the announcement at a dinner for visiting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, after they held talks that included the signing of a strategic defense agreement “Tonight, I'm pleased to announce that we're taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally," Trump said in a speech at the gathering. Saudi Arabia becomes the 20th major...

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman committed his country to increasing his planned investment into the U.S. economy to nearly $1 trillion over the next year on Tuesday. MBS made the announcement while meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, saying the investments will take place across the U.S. economy. Trump initially stated that the investment would amount to "at least" $600 billion, but the Saudi leader confirmed the higher amount during his remarks. “Today and tomorrow, we are going to announce that we are going to increase that, that $600 billion to almost $1 trillion of investment,...

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Hamas rejected the United Nations Security Council passing a U.S.-drafted resolution endorsing U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza plan, saying it fails to meet Palestinians' rights and demands and seeks to impose an international trusteeship on the enclave that Palestinians and resistance factions oppose. "Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation," the group added.

Saudi Arabia is undergoing a historic transformation — shifting its power base from oil to artificial intelligence. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is investing billions to turn the kingdom into a global AI hub, building vast data centers, launching tech firms like Humain, and partnering with U.S. giants such as Nvidia and Amazon. Through megaprojects like NEOM and a national AI strategy, Saudi Arabia aims to become the world’s third-largest AI power, redefining its identity from energy exporter to digital innovator. As oil pipelines give way to data networks, the kingdom’s next empire may rise not underground, but in the...

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approved the attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure, a U.S. government official told CBS, adding that the approval had been granted on the condition that Iran’s involvement could be denied. If what other U.S. officials are saying is accurate, this condition has not been met, however. Earlier this week, a team of U.S. security experts who traveled to Saudi Arabia to examine the wreckage of the drones and cruise missiles fired against Aramco’s Khurais field and the Abqaiq processing facility said they had determined the weapons were manufactured in Iran. Snip They also showed surveillance...

Because of them, telephone taping was carried out a year before the massacre.Two of the Moroccoan Islamist Fugitives Were the Key to Investigate Jamal Zougham Before 3/11.LD (Luis del Pino) The surprising flight of nine Islamists from a Moroccan prison last week has taken an unexpected turn, when it was discovered that two of them, the Chatbi brothers, were allegedly linked to the top sentenced for 3/11, Jamal Zougham, and his stepbrother Mohamed Chaoui, arrested like Zougham on March 13th, but released a few weeks after the Madrid attacks. Although that relation between Zougham and the Chatbi brothers was finally...

President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the Gaza war has not only won support from Israel, but also from the Arab and Muslim world — and from the Palestinian Authority, which has opposed his plans in the past. The 20-point plan, as Breitbart News has noted, would fulfill Israel’s goals of freeing the remaining hostages, as well as disarming Hamas and removing it from power. It also offers the prospect of a Palestinian state — if Hamas complies with the plan and the Palestinian Authority agrees to sweeping reforms of its policies and anti-Israel culture. If Hamas does not agree,...

"If we work together, we can bring an end to the death and destruction that we’ve seen for so many years."Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to a U.S.-backed plan to end the war in Gaza and establish “a credible pathway” to a Palestinian state.The White House rolled out the plan shortly before President Donald Trump appeared with Netanyahu for a joint press conference at the White House. Trump announced that Israel had agreed to the 20-point framework, which the president said would deliver “peace in the Middle East,” during his opening remarks.“Today is a historic day for peace,...

The event has drawn criticism due to human rights abuses by the Saudi governmentJimmy Kimmel grilled comedian Aziz Ansari over his involvement in the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia. The state-sponsored festival, which also featured fellow standups Dave Chappelle and Bill Burr, has drawn criticism due to the Saudi Arabian government’s alleged human rights abuses, as well as accusations around its involvement in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Appearing on the October 7 edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Ansari was faced with questions from the host about performing. “This is something that’s become a big...

Virginia Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones isn’t the only that could have a rough week. Gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger is having her work history brought into the light, having taught at a Saudi-run school post-9/11. The institution is a terrorist hub, with top Hamas officials sending their children there. The school’s comptroller had ties to Hamas, so it shouldn’t shock anyone that graduates of this school, ISA, were on the radar of federal officials for possibly carrying out attacks against Israel. Spanberger worked at ISA between 2002-2003. Spanberger has not denied working here, even saying she was proud of...

The actor-comedian details his experience at the event: "Definitely one of the top three experiences I've ever had ... I think it's going to lead to a lot of positive things."Bill Burr took to his podcast to give a detailed rundown of his experience last week in the Middle East, where he performed at the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival. The actor-comedian described rather nervously warming up for the event with a set in Bahrain to get a feel for what an audience in the region would find funny (and acceptable) and then performing at the Saudi Arabia festival’s opening night...

SNIP Known in the Armenian community as “psycho Barbie,” Nadine had allegedly stalked an ex. She was also accused of keying his new girlfriend’s car and showing up at his home on Christmas Day in 2010 with her two children to try to win him back, according to a restraining order. “Nadine always believed she was above the law,” the former boyfriend said. With Menendez, friends said, she played hard to get, though, pitting him against Anton. When they began dating again in 2018, Menendez allegedly sent Capitol Police officers from Washington, DC, to his rival’s office in Hackensack, New...