Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump announced the audacious capture of Nicolás Maduro to face drug trafficking charges in the U.S., he portrayed the strongman’s vice president and longtime aide as America’s preferred partner to stabilize Venezuela amid a scourge of drugs, corruption and economic mayhem.Left unspoken was the cloud of suspicion that long surrounded Delcy Rodríguez before she became acting president of the beleaguered nation earlier this month.In fact, Rodríguez has been on the radar of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for years and in 2022 was even labeled a “priority target,” a designation DEA reserves for suspects...

Keir Starmer joined European allies warning of a 'dangerous downward spiral' in Nato today after Donald Trump threatened a trade war over Greenland. A joint statement from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK said they stood 'firmly behind' the 'principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity'. The president has shocked the military alliance by warning that opponents of an American takeover of the Danish territory will be hit with punitive tariffs from February 1. In a bombshell post on his social media site, Mr Trump said levies will start at 10 per cent - and potentially...

A permanent seat on US President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" aimed at resolving conflicts will cost countries $1 billion each, according to its charter. Invited world leaders include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian premier Viktor Orban and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. US President Donald Trump's government has asked countries to pay $1 billion for a permanent spot on his "Board of Peace" aimed at resolving conflicts, according to its charter, seen Monday by AFP. The White House has asked various world leaders to sit on the board, chaired by Trump himself, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian premier...

President Donald Trump has told his national security team that he would want any U.S. military action in Iran to deliver a swift and decisive blow to the regime and not spark a sustained war that dragged on for weeks or months, according to a U.S. official, two people familiar with the discussions and a person close to the White House. “If he does something, he wants it to be definitive,” one of the people familiar with the discussions said. But Trump’s advisers have so far not been able to guarantee to him that the regime would quickly collapse after...

Police abandon investigations into almost four crimes every minute. There were 2,040,976 offences reported in England and Wales in the year to June where no suspect was identified – equivalent to 5,592 every single day, or 3.8 per minute. Out of the 5.3 million crimes logged by police in England and Wales in the year, 38.6 per cent were closed as 'investigation complete – no suspect identified'. The figures showed only 3 per cent of rapes reported to police led to a suspect being charged. The respective number for 'violence against the person' was 6.3 per cent, robbery 8.1 per...

Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani are taking questions from reporters inside the Oval Office after a "great meeting" - watch live above The US president congratulates the New York mayor-elect on his win earlier this month, as the pair say they look forward to working on affordability The two New Yorkers have been extremely critical of each other in the past, but today Trump says he agrees "a lot more than I would have thought" with the self-described democratic socialist "He's got views that are little out there," Trump says, but he's confident that the NYC mayor-elect will do a...