Free Republic

MASTER YAN'AN HAS trained at the Shaolin Temple in the Henan province of China since he was 6 years old. He has climbed the roughly 1,500 stone steps up Wuru Peak to the Bodhidharma Cave thousands of times. None of the steps is the same size or height. Some are narrow; some are tall. During the day, tourists who visit the temple usually take one to two hours to reach the peak. It is not advised to climb at night. There are no lights along the trail, and one wrong step could send a hiker tumbling down the steep staircase....

Campaigners have accused the Government of a “betrayal” after court papers revealed plans to keep hundreds of migrants housed in a Sussex town for up to four more years. The former cadet training centre in Crowborough was handed over to the Home Office earlier this year, with asylum seekers beginning to move onto the site despite fierce local opposition. Residents had previously been assured the camp would accommodate around 500 migrants for just 12 months. But documents disclosed in legal proceedings show the Home Office has asked the Ministry of Defence for permission to keep using the site until 2030....

At least 42 United States military aircraft, including fighter jets and drones, have been lost or damaged during the war in Iran, according to an official report. The losses may increase due to multiple factors, including classification, ongoing combat activity, and attribution, said the report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The aircraft losses and damages include four F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets, one F-35A Lightning II fighter aircraft, one A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack aircraft, seven KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refuelling aircraft, one E-3 Sentry airborne early warning-and-control system aircraft (AWACS), two MC-130J Commando II special operations aircraft, one HH-60W Jolly...

She was “praying to Poseidon” that she’d get laid off. But on Wednesday morning, as thousands of her Meta colleagues found out they’d lost their jobs, the app designer was disappointed to find she still had hers. She’s now one of just two survivors on her team, left behind to navigate Meta’s shift to AI. “Thinking about what the company will be like after the layoffs depresses me more than thinking about getting laid off,” she said, asking for anonymity. “Nobody wants to stick around for that.” Hundreds of Meta employees in the Bay Area woke up early Wednesday to...

The 7th Congressional District race is shaping up to be a classic duel between two Democrats, the veteran Doris Matsui and the upstart from Sacramento City Council, Mai Vang. So why is this campaign becoming so much about two Republicans? Vang is pitching the similarities between Matsui and the Republican everybody knows about, President Donald Trump. And now Matsui is doing her best to elevate a Republican few know about, Sacramento State student Zachariah Wooden, who is an also-ran in this race and apparently hasn’t raised a penny in support from his party or anyone. Vang and Matsui have been...

The remains of 44 people, many of them believed to be male teenagers of the Continental Army, unearthed during a construction dig in 2019, will soon be laid to rest on the shores of Lake George. On Wednesday, May 20, the remains will be escorted via motorcade from the New York State Museum in Albany up state Route 9 to the Lake George Battlefield Park. The majority of the remains will be interred at a new memorial on the east side of Fort George Road called “Repose of the Fallen” that day.

The European Commission found the treatment of the Gaza flotilla activists shown in a video released by Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is "completely unacceptable", a spokesperson said on Wednesday. "Every detained person must be treated with safety, dignity and according to international law," spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said in a post on X. "We call on the Israeli government to ensure the protection and dignified treatment of these activists, including several EU citizens," he added. Israeli police forced activists who were aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla to kneel on the ground in rows with their hands tied behind...

In B.C. to meet with the province's premier who is skeptical of another oil pipeline, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the world is in the throes of an "energy crisis" and Canada must do its part to supply it with the natural resources it needs. Speaking to a largely business audience at the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade before sitting down with Premier David Eby on Wednesday, Carney said recent global shocks have threatened the availability of some forms of energy, putting other countries in a bind. He said Ottawa wants to move quickly to supply those resources, and if...

What if every U.S. state were a person you could meet on the street, in a diner, out in the wilderness, or behind a smoky grill? This coast-to-coast collection imagines exactly that—one woman for every state, each captured in a moment that reflects her home’s spirit, culture, quirks, and contradictions.

The left-wing Labour Party government in Britain has refused to confirm that it is not using slave labour in its publicly owned green energy project, despite having passed a law last year committing to do so. The push in the UK to eliminate the use of fossil fuels and replace them with supposedly cleaner forms of energy may be coming with a hefty human toll, with it being unclear if the state-funded Great British Energy (GBE) project is using forced labour in places like China to prop up its so-called renewable sector. Following pressure from campaigners, after initially baulking at...

The Trump administration is planning to tell NATO allies this week that it will shrink the pool of military capabilities that the US would have available to assist the alliance’s European nations in a major crisis, three sources familiar with the matter said. Under a framework known as the NATO Force Model, the alliance’s member countries identify a pool of available forces that could be activated during a conflict or any other major crisis, such as a military attack on a NATO member. While the precise composition of those wartime forces is a closely guarded secret, the Pentagon has decided...

The Biden Justice Department’s former second-in-command, Lisa Monaco, is facing a referral to the Department of Justice over allegations that she buried investigations into Microsoft’s cybersecurity failures before landing a top job at the tech giant, according to a letter from the American Accountability Foundation. Monaco, who served as Deputy Attorney General under former Attorney General Merrick Garland, joined Microsoft in May 2025 as President of Global Affairs just months after leaving government. Her hiring drew immediate criticism from President Donald Trump, who blasted Monaco in a Truth Social post last September. “Corrupt and Totally Trump Deranged Lisa Monaco,” Trump...

A Sikh man accused of the murder of a first-year university student has told a court that he had acted in self-defence after the teenager had racially abused him and knocked his hair out of his turban before grabbing it. Vickrum Digwa is on trial at Southampton Crown Court charged with the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, from Chafford Hundred, Essex, in Belmont Road in Southampton, on December 3 2025. The 23-year-old is also charged with carrying a knife in public and his mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, is accused of assisting an offender by removing a weapon from the scene....

The United States on Wednesday charged former Cuban President Raúl Castro over the 1996 shootdown of two small aircraft, marking the first time a senior figure from the communist regime has been accused before the courts of its neighboring enemy. Castro is accused of murder, conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, and destruction of aircraft in connection with the deaths of four people. The charges represent a new escalation in Washington’s intense pressure campaign against the communist island, which has been under a U.S. embargo since 1962 and is now devastated by a severe economic crisis. Raúl Castro, now 94, was...

John W Hardin presents Foster Brooks delivering a humorous tribute to former Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Brooks recounts fictional stories about their friendship, campaign efforts, and humorous takes on political events.

You can’t spell “graduation” without “gator.” A graduating McNeese State University student is shocking the internet with a senior photoshoot with a 14-foot alligator named Big Al — including one shot where she’s planting a smooch right on the gator’s snout, her face mere inches from its wide-open jaws. The photo is nuts — but not quite as nuts as it might seem. Kat Daley, 22, who helps run Gator Country in Beaumont, Texas, with her fiancé Eddie said she wasn’t frightened during the shoot — and that it wasn’t her first time being face-to-face with an alligator. “I really...

A former Miami-based DOJ attorney was indicted for stealing a copy of Jack Smith's report on Trump's classified documents investigation. Carmen Lineberger, the former Managing Assistant US Attorney, in Fort Pierce, Florida, was indicted on two counts of theft of government money or property, valued less than $1,000; destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; and concealment, removal, or mutilation of public records. Federal prosecutors alleged that Lineberger, 62, stole a copy of Jack Smith's report, which was previously ordered by Judge Aileen Cannon to be kept secret, and sent it to her personal email account. The indictment...

Tulsi Gabbard's speech from Rededicate 250 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The World Cup was supposed to provide a tourism boom for the US, but now the fear is it may never materialise. A report, external produced by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) has found that bookings are well below expectations in almost every host city. The AHLA said this does not align with Fifa's statement that more than five million tickets have been sold,, external and it creates a risk that "the anticipated economic lift may fall short". The AHLA is the largest hotel association in the US, representing more than 32,000 properties and over 80% of all...

Seven years ago, Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner cruelly mocked an American soldier who was caught on camera taking fire from the Taliban in Afghanistan. The viral helmet footage showed how Pfc. Ted Daniels moved into the open as a diversion tactic to help his squad mates get to safety. But Platner saw him as a “dumb motherf—er” who “didn’t deserve to live.” “This video never gets old. Dumb mother—er didn’t deserve to live. At least his stupidity and fat ass wheezing are available for all future infantrymen to witness and hold in contempt,” Platner, then a 34-year-old, chided...