“Right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori has been declared the winner of Peru’s tight presidential election, nearly a month after the vote took place. The 51-year-old won 50.135% of voters’ support in the runoff, held on 7 June, to 49.865% for left-wing candidate Roberto Sánchez – a margin of less than 50,000 votes, figures certified by Peru’s electoral court show. It is the fourth time the daughter of disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori has sought the South American nation’s presidency, promising this time to oversee a crackdown on organised crime.” (07/04/26)
“The founder of a prominent underground church in China has been released after months in detention, his family and a Christian rights group said. ChinaAid said Pastor Jin Mingri, also known by his English name Ezra Jin, landed in Los Angeles on July 4 after being held in detention centres in the southern Chinese city of Beihai since October. … Jin founded Zion Church in Beijing in 2007 and became one of the most recognisable figures in China’s underground Christian movement. The Zion Church is among the largest underground or house churches in China that are unregistered with authorities. They defy a requirement that believers worship only in registered congregations.” (07/05/26)
“House Republicans revisited long-standing questions last week about possible links between the CIA’s infamous MKUltra program and Charles Manson’s murderous cult, as lawmakers revealed newly discovered agency records are being prepared for declassification. Tuesday’s hearing before the House Oversight Committee’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets quickly delved into allegations that the CIA concealed the true scope of its Cold War-era mind-control program, with witnesses reviving claims involving Manson, Jack Ruby and decades of alleged government secrecy. Task Force Chair Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., opened the hearing by accusing the CIA of carrying out illegal human experimentation on unwitting Americans before destroying evidence to hide the program.” (07/05/26)
“Two members of Congress — Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., and Rep. Gil Cisneros, D-Calif. — have disclosed that they or their family members bought SpaceX stock in the days after the company’s historic initial public offering, according to publicly accessible House financial documents. Meuser recently disclosed that his dependent child made a June 15 purchase of between $15,001 and $50,000 of stock in the company. According to financial disclosures, it was the first time in several years Meuser or one of his family members has bought stock in an individual company. Cisneros disclosed a June 18 purchase of between $1,001 and $15,000 in SpaceX stock. SpaceX, Elon Musk’s aerospace and satellite company, went public on June 12 with a $2 trillion-plus market cap.” (07/03/26)
“The lawyer for a prominent Palestinian doctor who was [abducted] by Israeli forces 18 months ago said his client has been abused in captivity and is in critical condition, according to the human rights group representing him. Hussam Abu Safiya who served as director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, became the face of health workers struggling to treat patients throughout the Israel-Hamas war. He led the facility through an 85-day siege by the Israeli military, releasing videos in which he pleaded for help before he was [abducted] in December 2024. He has not been charged.” (07/05/26)
“Monaco authorities have issued an Interpol Red Notice for a Ukrainian woman believed to have carried out a parcel bombing earlier this week that seriously wounded a Ukrainian-born oligarch and two others, including a 13-year-old. An Interpol Red Notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest a suspect. It is not an international arrest warrant. The alert lists three charges: ‘attempted murder, placing an explosive device in a public place with criminal intent’ and ‘criminal conspiracy.’ The Red Notice identifies the suspect as a 39-year-old woman, Anastasiia Berezovska, a Ukrainian national.” (07/03/26)
Friday kicks off Independence Day weekend in the US, but we’re not taking the day off! We’ve got more than 100 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links lined up for you in “FIREHOSE FRIDAY” format here at the web edition.
I’m not sure the name “Independence Day” really reflects the American situation anymore, or that it has since at least as far back as FDR’s New Deal. The state revels in its hope of ruling a population of perpetually dependent serfs, not in securing our real independence as exercised in our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
I like to think that Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily is pretty independent, though.
As the freedom movement’s oldest and longest running daily news and commentary roundup, we do our best to keep you informed and energized without support from government or “the corporate establishment.” We’re funded solely by the willingness of our readers to reward us for our work.
If you’d like to use that support to celebrate “Independence Day,” might I suggest a contribution of $2.50, $7.04, or $17.76 (please feel free to move the decimal points) to mark “250 years of America,” 07/04, aka July 4, or the year of the Declaration of Independence? Just a suggestion, of course — any amount you think reflects the value you get out of RRND/FND is welcome.
Have a great weekend and we’ll be back on Monday!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily
“Iran’s ruling clerics are preparing days of mass funeral rites for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a show of public devotion to the Islamic Republic and proof that its revolutionary fervour still burns strong. Iran’s supreme leader was killed by U.S. and Israeli strikes in their first attack of the war and the funeral events will begin over the weekend in Tehran, with mass processions planned next week in Qom and Mashhad and ceremonies in Iraq. ‘The large public turnout at the funeral procession of the martyred leader and the other martyrs will, in effect, be another referendum for the Islamic Republic,’ Qom Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammad Saidi declared to state media. If they do see it as a referendum, authorities are not leaving the result to chance. They hope to mobilise millions of supporters to flood Iran’s cities, laying on transport, accommodation and food, to proclaim the might of their theocratic state after it survived what they saw as an existential war.” (07/03/26)
“A former Olympic canoeist who had been arrested in June on charges that he had vandalized the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been indicted, according to court documents. He is charged with ‘destruction of property $1,000 or more,’ a felony. President Trump blamed vandals for the problems following a quick and costly makeover of the pool, and the canoeist, David Carter Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Md., was among the first to be charged. The U.S. Park Police had arrested Mr. Hearn near the pool on June 19, and accused him of destroying government property. … Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, said in a news briefing that prosecutors had ‘tremendous evidence’ underpinning the indictment, and she condemned what she called ‘unchecked vandalism and civil disorder.’” (07/02/26)
“At least two people were killed in Russia’s border regions and several industrial sites suffered damage during Ukrainian drone attacks overnight, local authorities and media said on Friday. … Ukrainian officials said on Telegram that four people were killed and a further 10 people were injured in Russian overnight attacks on Ukraine.” (07/03/26)
