Free Republic

Within hours of opening an investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia in the summer of 2016, the F.B.I. dispatched a pair of agents to London on a mission so secretive that all but a handful of officials were kept in the dark. Their assignment, which has not been previously reported, was to meet the Australian ambassador, who had evidence that one of Donald J. Trump’s advisers knew in advance about Russian election meddling. After tense deliberations between Washington and Canberra, top Australian officials broke with diplomatic protocol and allowed the ambassador, Alexander Downer, to sit for an F.B.I....

In the fight against terrorist financing, drug trafficking, money-laundering and tax evasion, Australia has moved to ban the use of cash in any transactions over $10,000 by next year, moving the Down Under that much closer to becoming a digital currency society. In a move lauded by Treasurer Scott Morrison as “bad news for criminal gangs, terrorists, and those who just trying to cheat on their tax …”, the government is eyeing the surveillance potential of large transactions made by checks or credit cards connected to banks and hoping to cut down on crime in the process. The ban will...

Japan has 45 new high-energy, low-emission (HELE) coal-fired power plants on the drawing boards. These will probably burn high-quality Australian coal. And despite the tsunami that hit Japan, nuclear power still generates about 20% of Japan's electricity. Chinese companies have plans to build 700 new coal power plants all over the world, mostly in China. In addition, China will bring five new nuclear power reactors online in 2018 and has plans for a further six to eight units. India generates more than 65% of its electricity from thermal power plants, and about 85% of these plants are coal-fired. India's state-run...

ZTE, a Chinese telecommunications company with a record of systemic corruption, is bidding for major contracts in Australia, including Telstra's 5G mobile network and a transport contract in Western Australia, even after being criminally sanctioned in the United States. An investigation by Fairfax Media has found ZTE not only paid $US12.8 million ($17 million) in bribes to secure one contract in West Africa, but had a designated internal department and multiple layers of management to approve these payments, according to a former insider. Documents show the bribes were meticulously recorded and ran to more than 20 per cent of one...

A frightening flesh-eating disease is currently making its way across Australia, and puzzled scientists and officials aren’t sure how to stop this mysterious condition from wreaking havoc. Cases of an infection known as Buruli ulcer have spiked in recent years in the country, rising 150 percent from 74 cases in 2013 to 186 in 2016. It shows no signs of slowing down; last year saw a projected 286 cases. The infection causes unsightly skin ulcers that destroy the skin and the soft tissue around it. Complicating matters is the fact that scientists aren’t sure how it is spread or how...

PICTURED: The grandfather suspected of shooting dead his wife, their daughter and her four autistic children in horror murder-suicide - as police say his former son-in-law was not involved Grandfather Peter Miles is suspected of murdering his wife, their daughter and her four autistic children They were all found dead at the family farm in Osmington, 15km from Western Australia's Margaret River It is believed Peter Miles, called police at 5am (local time) before turning the gun on himself Children's father Aaron Cockman, is not being investigated by police despite marriage breakup with his wifePolice reportedly suspect a grandfather of...

She said she had been subjected to countless rape and death threats, as well as profanities on social media such as “b***h” and “c**t”. “The more successful a man becomes the more people like him,” Ms Clinton told the audience at Sydney’s International Convention Centre. “With women it’s the opposite. “Calling a woman incompetent or disagreeing might not be pleasant but it’s fair game ... But when it goes into the most foul, really horrible insults and accusations where there’s no argument or debate, and it’s just name calling of the most vile sort, that’s something different.”

Australia’s Liberal Party government has announced that it will soon be illegal to purchase anything over $10,000 AU ($7,500 US) with cash. The government says it’s, “encouraging the transition to a digital society,” and cracking down on tax evasion. But not everyone is happy with the move. “This will be bad news for criminal gangs, terrorists and those who are just trying to cheat on their tax or get a discount for letting someone else cheat on their tax,” Treasurer Scott Morrison said in a speech announcing the government’s new budget. “It’s not clever. It’s not OK. It’s a crime.”...

David Goodall listened quietly as his loved ones started to sing. Then he took a breath, made a wish and blew out the flames. But Goodall was not wholeheartedly celebrating the milestone this month in Perth, Australia. The botanist and ecologist, who is thought to be the country’s oldest scientist, said that he has lived too long. And now, he said, he is ready to die. “I greatly regret having reached that age. I would much prefer to be 20 or 30 years younger,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. When asked whether he had a nice birthday, he said:...

An ancient virus that is a cousin of HIV is infecting a large portion of indigenous people in Australia, and doctors are unsure how it got to be so prevalent. HTLV-1, or Human T-lymphotropic virus 1, is a human retrovirus that can cause harmful diseases such as bronchitis, leukemia, and lymphoma. Researchers have found traces of the virus in 1500-year-old Andean mummies. A recent preliminary study from the Baker Institute for Heart and Diabetes in Alice Springs found that 40 percent of adults living in a remote region in Australia are infected with HTLV-1. Less than 14 percent of the...

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell (Calif.) wrote an op-ed for USA Today calling for the government to ban and confiscate assault weapons across the United States. In the article published Thursday, Swalwell argues that a measure similar to the 1994 federal assault weapons ban is not enough to combat gun violence, because it would only prevent new sales of assault weapons. He suggests the government should institute a buy-back program, which would take existing assault weapons out of possession. The congressman also advocates the prosecution of any individual who decides to keep their firearm. "Reinstating the federal assault weapons ban that...

The search consists of a 65-man vessel Seabed Constructor equipped geared to scouring the depths of the Indian Ocean for any sight of plane debris from the MH370 aircraft. But, four years after the plane went missing, the latest searches through the Indian Ocean has revealed nothing -- after 16,000sq km of the planned 25,000sq km area was combed through. The search location was pinpointed by an Australian Oceanographer as the most likely spot the plane would be. The Malaysian government paid Ocean Infinity $20 million for 5,000 square km of a successful search, $30 million for 15,000 square km,...

I’ll keep this short. I’m against gun control. Why? We tried it in Australia. By punishing law abiding citizens, we empowered criminals. Australia was safer in the 1950s when guns were treated as tools. But I digress. Here’s another unique pro-gun argument made by the satirist P.J. O’Rourke in 2010’s Don’t Vote! It Just Encourages The B******s (page 165, if you must know): Gun ownership is crucial to the preservation of American freedoms. We may have to shoot Democrats. It happened in 1861 and it could happen again. Just kidding. Sort of. But there are other important arguments in favor...

CHINA is waging a “campaign of psychological warfare” against Australia, an Aussie academic has warned. Professor Clive Hamilton, author of the controversial book Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia, gave a talk to US Congress overnight in which he warned of dire consequences if Australia gives too much leeway to the rising superpower. “Beijing knows that it cannot bully the United States — in the current environment the consequences would be unpredictable and probably counter-productive — so it is instead pressuring its allies,” Prof Hamilton said. “Last week the PLA Navy challenged three Australian warships sailing through the South China...

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull says US President Donald Trump “absolutely” deserves credit for bringing about historic talks between the leaders of North and South Korea. South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have engaged in a historic meeting in the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, seeking an agreement to establish peace on the peninsula. “I’ve given him that credit because Donald Trump has taken a very, very strong, hard line on the denuclearisation issue and he has been able to bring in the support of the global community and, in particular, China,” Mr Turnbull told...

 THE RED CHIEF AS TOLD BY THE LAST OF HIS TRIBE by Ion L. Idriess,  ANGUS AND ROBERTSON SYDNEY - LONDON, 1953 226 pages. The Red Chief by Ion L. Idriess is about a legendary Australian aboriginal chief that lived from about 1650 to 1745, long before any European presence. His life and times were passed down in oral history, from what may have been the last full blood of his tribe, to Senior Sargent John P. Ewing, mentioned in Gunneday in 1886.  (1829-1911) The recounting of the stories about Cumbo Gunnerah were conscientiously written down from about a...

It's not just the double helix! For the first time, scientists have identified the existence of a new DNA structure never before seen in living cells. The discovery of what's described as a 'twisted knot' of DNA in living cells confirms our complex genetic code is crafted with more intricate symmetry than just the double helix structure everybody associates with DNA – and the forms these molecular variants take affect how our biology functions. "When most of us think of DNA, we think of the double helix," says antibody therapeutics researcher Daniel Christ from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research...

SUCH A GOOD BOY, MAX! He stayed with his 3-year-old human who was lost near Warwick last night while we frantically searched for her. A deaf and partially blind old blue heeler named Max kept a three-year-old girl safe while she spent the night lost in Queensland bushland. Aurora was reported missing after she wandered away from her family property at Cherry Gully, south of Warwick at about 3pm on Friday. Max, 17, followed Aurora and stayed by her side as she slept overnight in bushland while temperatures dropped to 15 degrees Celcius. About 100 police, State Emergency Services workers...

Two people in Australia have been diagnosed with 'super gonorrhoea,' an STI resistant to treatment and fulled by sex tourism. The cases are the first for Australia and were reported last month, one in Queensland and one in Western Australia. Both of the cases were discovered after pathology tests and it is believed one was contracted in south-east Asia.

<p>If someone had told me a few months ago that I’d be writing a piece for Front Page on this theme, I would’ve dismissed him as a lunatic. After all, then I was supporting the positions expected from those on the so-called antiwar right. I was harshly critical of Israeli defense initiatives, more willing to talk up for Noam Chomsky than the sitting President, and insistent upon baiting “neo-conservative” Michael Ledeen of National Review into admitting that he sought to see the regime in Tehran overthrown by any means necessary, including US Military involvement.</p>