Free Republic

Two US officials involved in negotiations over renewing the 2015 Irn nuclear deal have stepped back from the talks and a third has left the team altogether amid internal discord over how firm the White House should be with Tehran, according to a report. Richard Nephew, the State Department's deputy special envoy for Iran who pushed for a tougher approach, has not been part of the talks since early December, Wall Street Journal reported Monday. A State Department spokesman told Reuters late Monday that Nephew was no longer in the envoy role, though he was still at the department. Two...

On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security announced new COVID-19 vaccine mandates for non-U.S. travelers entering the country via land ports and ferry terminals. The new requirements take effect on Saturday, and they include essential and non-essential travelers.According to the DHS press release:“Starting on January 22, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security will require that non-U.S. individuals entering the United States via land ports of entry or ferry terminals along our Northern and Southern borders be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and be prepared to show related proof of vaccination,” said Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “These updated travel requirements reflect the...

The man who took four hostages at a synagogue in Texas on Saturday is a 44 year-old British citizen, the FBI said Sunday. In a statement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation identified the man as Malik Faisal Akram. Mr. Akram died late Saturday after a standoff that lasted more than 10 hours in the Dallas suburb of Colleyville. Officials didn’t say how he died. An elite FBI rescue team that flew in from Quantico, Va., stormed the synagogue and freed three of the hostages, authorities said. One hostage was released earlier, and none were harmed. A law-enforcement official with knowledge...

There is growing outrage and demand for answers as to how the British terrorist gunman who took four hostages at a Texas synagogue on Saturday was even able to enter the US on a tourist visa when he was known to intelligence agencies in the UK. Malik Faisal Akram, 44, flew to New York City from the UK on January 22, despite being known to MI5.

Police in Britain said they have detained two teenagers in relation to the hostages being taken at Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville on Saturday. Greater Manchester Police tweeted the information on Sunday that two teenagers were detained in South Manchester by Counter Terrorism Policing North West. They remain in custody for questioning. No further details were released about the suspects.

"We all have a problem .... they're putting a pre-fab concrete wall around the White House right now. I'm sure you might have some conclusions .... especially when the News Organizations are silent." Fuzzy Tom Cat Twitter

An undersea fiberoptic cable located between mainland Norway and the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean has been put out of action in a still-mysterious incident. The outage on the subsea communications cable — the furthest north of its kind anywhere in the world — follows an incident last year in which different cables linking an undersea surveillance network off the Norwegian coast were severed, a story that we covered in detail at the time. The latest disruption involves one of two fiberoptic cables that enable communications between the Norwegian mainland and Norwegian-administered Svalbard that lies between the mainland and...

Hunter Biden referred to Massimov in a 2016 email as a "close friend." Former Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov, a known Biden family business associate, was detained Saturday on suspicion of treason, according to an announcement from the Kazakhstan National Security Committee, a body he chaired until this past week. Local media report at least 164 people have died as a result of riots that broke out Jan. 2 following an increase in fuel prices. An unverified photo shows then-Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden flanked by then-Prime Minister Massimov and Kazakh oligarch Kenes Rakishev in the...

A Florida man was arrested Thursday with a homemade explosive near a rally held by the Oath Keepers, police said Friday. Deputies with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office spotted Garrett Smith, 22, running from the direction of the protest while carrying a backpack around 7:24 p.m. on January 6, the anniversary of the riot at the U.S. Capitol. About 85 members of the Oath Keepers were holding a rally in the parking lot of the Pinellas County Courthouse to support Jeremy Brown, a member of the far-right militaristic movement who was arrested for participating in the riot at the U.S....

Explanation: Named for a forgotten constellation, the Quadrantid Meteor Shower puts on an annual show for planet Earth's northern hemisphere skygazers. The shower's radiant on the sky lies within the old, astronomically obsolete constellation Quadrans Muralis. That location is not far from the Big Dipper, at the boundaries of the modern constellations Bootes and Draco. In fact north star Polaris is just below center in this frame and the Big Dipper asterism (known to some as the Plough) is above it, with the meteor shower radiant to the right. Pointing back toward the radiant, Quadrantid meteors streak through the night...