Free Republic

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Friday announcement that the U.S. will host a new Qatari air force facility in Idaho has drawn the ire of the Trump administration’s closest allies, including Laura Loomer, who said she felt “betrayed” over the matter. In a flurry of social media posts Friday afternoon, Loomer unleashed on the administration’s announcement that it had signed the letter greenlighting the building of a Qatar Emiri air force contingent at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in southwestern Idaho. The air arm of Qatar’s armed forces, Qatar Emiri air force pilots would train to fly F-15s in the...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday the U.S. will host a new Qatari air force facility in Idaho, where pilots will train to fly F-15s. Hegseth said the Trump administration has signed the letter greenlighting the building of a Qatar Emiri air force contingent at the Mountain Home Air Force Base located in southwestern Idaho. Qatar Emiri air force is the air arm of Qatar’s armed forces. “Location will be host to a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots to enhance our combined training, increase lethality, interoperability,” Hegeseth said Friday. “It’s just another example of our partnership.”Mountain Home Air Force...

More than 84 per cent of respondents believed that capital punishment deters the trafficking of drugs into Singapore.A large majority of people living in the region believe the death penalty is effective in deterring serious crimes such as drug trafficking in Singapore, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Tuesday (Aug 26). In an online survey conducted on 12,000 residents from six regional cities, 83.9 per cent said they believed that the death penalty deters serious crimes such as murder and the smuggling of firearms into Singapore. Separately, 84.2 per cent of respondents, who are aged 20 to 64,...

The iconic American sports car, Corvette, has made its official debut in Singapore, following a glitzy launch event held at Ion Orchard on July 28. More famously known as the Chevrolet Corvette, the event also marked the introduction of Corvette as a standalone brand in its own right. The brand will be represented by Alpine Motors, which was previously the distributor of Opel cars in Singapore, and it marks the first time that the Corvette is available for sale here through official channels in right-hand-drive form. The latest iteration of one of America's most famous sports cars is dubbed the...

Stingrays are a delicacy enjoyed by most — and it seems nature agrees. That appears to be the case, after a monitor lizard was seen making a hearty meal of a stingray at MacRitchie Reservoir on Sunday (July 20), according to an Instagram post by Navaraj Rajendran later that day. "Sambal stingray!" Navaraj exclaimed in his post. "Hope I didn't use up all my luck chancing upon this big water monitor enjoying a huge stingray." Although Navaraj said he didn't have his camera with him, the veterinary student still managed to snap a few shots, presumably with his phone, adding...

A man who caught his wife naked with another man in the latter's car climbed onto the vehicle's bonnet in a desperate bid to stop them from leaving. But he fell and sustained injuries, after the man stepped on the accelerator to drive off. The purported lover, Chia Hiok Seah, was taken to court on Tuesday (July 1) for the offences of causing hurt through a rash act and appearing nude in a public place, reported Shin Min Daily News. According to court documents seen by AsiaOne, the incident occurred at about 2.13am on June 29, 2024, at the multi-storey...

KEY POINTS -The ultra-wealthy are increasingly moving their gold to Singapore. -A growing sense of unease is driving the surge. - Wealthy investors are also opting for physical gold bars instead of paper for several reasons. The ultra-wealthy are increasingly moving their gold offshore as economic and geopolitical uncertainty roils markets — and Singapore is emerging as a favored destination. Not far from the city-state’s airport sits a six-story facility covered in onyx and fortified by tight security. Tucked behind its steel doors are gold and silver bars amounting to about $1.5 billion. Known as “The Reserve,” the storage facility...

Singaporean Malone Lam – arrested and charged over one of the biggest crypto heist in the US – splurged up to US$500,000 (S$665,000) a night at clubs and was seen giving Hermes Birkin bags to models and influencers in his lavish outings. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said the 20-year-old and co-accused, American Jeandiel Serrano, 21, were arrested in September 2024 and charged with “conspiracy to steal and launder over US$230 million in cryptocurrency from a victim in Washington, DC”. At today’s prices, the 4,100 stolen Bitcoin are worth more than US$450 million. In his latest court hearing last...

Two other Asian cities made the top 10 of the 2025 Happy City Index - Seoul ranked 6th and Taipei 8th.Singapore has been ranked the world's 3rd "happiest" city for 2025, behind Copenhagen and Zurich. Two other cities in Asia made the top 10 - with Seoul in 6th place and Taipei in 8th. That's according to the Institute for the Quality of Life's latest Happy City Index, which tracked 82 indicators across six major themes that "directly influence" the happiness of residents. The six categories are citizens, governance, environment, economy, health and mobility. Scoring a total of 979 points,...

Not all airports are created equal. Some are soulless, clinical spaces with little more than bright blueish lighting and endless corridors. They are but a functional building from which to launch your next adventure. Others, however, can make your vacation experience special from the outset. The world’s best airports go above and beyond. They feature indoor gardens, rooftop terraces with runway views, or even playgrounds to keep the kids happy and occupied. These added luxuries and services have landed 100 airports on the Skytrax World’s Best Airports list this year, with Singapore Changi Airport taking the top spot for 2025....

The baby was between 29 and 33 weeks old. After having unprotected sex with her boyfriend several times, a young girl in Singapore noticed she had missed her period. Suspecting she was pregnant and not ready to become a mother, she purchased abortion pills from an online seller. Believing the foetus had not yet fully formed, she took the pills. A medical abortion is recommended up to 10 to 11 weeks after the last day of a pregnant woman's period. However, the girl later experienced severe abdominal pain and eventually gave birth to a baby girl on the floor of...

Leong Mun Wai, secretary-general of the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), has called on the Government to negotiate a new trade deal with the US following the latest imposition of tariffs by President Donald Trump. On Wednesday (April 9), Leong, speaking on behalf of his party, posted a statement on his Facebook page, acknowledging the concerns of Singaporeans. "We should take this opportunity to secure a new trade deal with President Trump and work with the US to address their concerns, which may include making adjustments to internal policies or making strategic investments in the US," he said. He added that...

Indiana University has faced criticism after abruptly firing Professor XiaoFeng Wang on the same day FBI agents executed search warrants at his home. The university also removed the couple’s online profiles, causing concern among academics regarding their due process. Federal authorities have confirmed the investigation is ongoing. Wang has brought approximately $23 million in federal grants to the university. However, Wang was barred from his office and denied access to university resources prior to his dismissal. Veracity IIR president Doug Kouns said, “He’s right there on the cutting edge of this kind of research as far as data privacy, cybersecurity...

Singapore expresses disappointment over U.S. tariffs on its exports despite a free-trade agreement and trade deficit with the U.S. Trade Minister Gan Kim Yong emphasizes diplomacy over retaliation and highlights talks with the U.S. to resolve concerns. Singapore will review economic forecasts due to the escalating issue. In a move that has sparked international economic tension, Singapore's trade minister expressed disappointment over the U.S. imposition of a 10% tariff on its exports, despite a free-trade agreement and trade deficit with the United States Trade Minister Gan Kim Yong, speaking at a press conference, assured that Singapore would not pursue retaliatory...

Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio on Wednesday warned that a significant supply-demand problem regarding U.S. debt could have a profoundly disruptive impact on the global economy. It is the latest in a series of stark warnings about America’s mounting debt from the U.S. hedge fund billionaire, with the country’s national debt currently standing at more than $36.2 trillion. “The first thing is the debt issue, we have a very severe supply-demand problem,” Dalio told CNBC’s Sara Eisen at CONVERGE LIVE in Singapore. ”[The U.S. has] to sell a quantity of debt that the world is not going to want to buy.”...

In just seven short years, Malone Lam Yu Xuan went from being a student in a secondary school in Choa Chu Kang to being dubbed crypto whizz-kid by some in the US in 2023. Many who saw his spending spree were amazed a 19-year-old could afford large mansions, a fleet of expensive cars and luxury clothes. In truth, Lam was living off the millions in crypto he stole from various investors, he later told investigators in the US. This was before August 2024, when he allegedly got involved in the theft of Bitcoin valued at more than US$240 million (S$320...

Singapore has charged three men with smuggling NVIDIA AI GPUs to Chinese firm DeepSeek. The AI servers, supplied by Dell and Super Micro, were allegedly moved from Singapore to Malaysia. Authorities are investigating with US cooperation to determine if export control items were involved. The case highlights scrutiny on AI server sales. AI servers have been used in a fraud case that Singapore announced last week, with NVIDIA AI GPUs that were supplied by US companies like Dell, with banned AI chips from entering China according to a government minister on Monday. Singapore has charged three men with a fraud...

Unwelcome guests have been helping themselves to meals meant for the feathered inhabitants of Bird Paradise at Mandai. Rats have made the various aviaries at Singapore's only bird park their home and have been running amok in the bird enclosures. The pests were observed feeding on food left out for birds and lurking in the undergrowth just feet away from wildlife. Rats were sighted at the park as early as November last year, and their presence was noticeable when CNA visited earlier this week. The park, previously located in Jurong, moved to a 17ha-site at the Mandai Wildlife Reserve in...

Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju capped a stunning ascent to the pinnacle of chess by dethroning China’s Ding Liren to become the youngest ever world champion on Thursday in Singapore. The 18-year-old from Chennai dramatically snatched the decisive victory from a dead-drawn position in the final contest of their best-of-14-games showdown when Ding made one of the worst blunders in the 138-year history of world championship matchplay. The 32-year-old defending champion resigned moments later after a game that lasted 58 moves and just over four hours, sealing Gukesh’s 7½-6½ win in the three-week match and rendering moot the widely expected prospect...

GM Gukesh Dommaraju will have the white pieces against GM Ding Liren for Monday's game one of the 2024 FIDE World Championship after the opening ceremony concluded in the Capitol Theatre in Singapore. At an earlier press conference Ding, who's again accompanied by GM Richard Rapport, said, "I feel peace and with a lot of energy," while Gukesh paid glowing tributes to "huge icon" GM Viswanathan Anand and his coach GM Grzegorz Gajewski, adding, "I’m confident I have all the chances in the world." The main business of Saturday's "media day" of the World Championship was to decide who would...