Free Republic

BERLIN—For three years, a crack team of detectives gathered each weekday morning around a whiteboard at the German Federal Police headquarters in Potsdam, near Berlin. Now their investigation into who was behind the greatest act of sabotage in modern history—the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines—is threatening to splinter support for Ukraine, the country they hold responsible.Poland already has refused to extradite one of the suspects to stand trial in Germany. It instead views him a hero for destroying a vital source of revenue for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war machine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who has long questioned...

Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau said on Monday that it was conducting a large-scale operation to uncover corruption in the country's energy sector. "The activities of a high-level criminal organization have been documented," the bureau said about the investigation which involves 1,000 hours of audio recordings and took 15 months of work. "Its members have built a large-scale corruption scheme to influence strategic enterprises in the public sector, in particular JSC 'Energoatom'," according to the post on the Telegram messaging app.

Donald Trump has put the BBC 'on notice' that he plans to sue them for $1billion (£760million) after they doctored his speech and broadcast it on Panorama, it has been revealed today. The US President has set a deadline of 5pm EST (10pm in the UK) this Friday to 'comply' with his demands. A letter sent to BBC Chairman Samir Shah at Television Centre by his legal team in Florida said: 'President Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing...

The International Olympic Committee is set to announce a ban on transgender women in female competition early next year after a science-based review of evidence about permanent physical advantages of being born male. The IOC’s guidance to Olympic sports has until now been that transgender women can compete with reduced testosterone levels but leaves it up to individual sports to decide. That is now set to change under its new president, Kirsty Coventry, who has promised to protect the female category. The committee’s medical and scientific director, Dr Jane Thornton, last week presented to IOC members at a meeting in...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday he wants to order 25 Patriot air defense systems from the United States, as Ukraine desperately tries to fend off relentless Russian aerial attacks that have brought rolling blackouts across Ukraine on the brink of winter.Zelenskyy acknowledged that the Patriot systems are expensive and that such a large batch could take years to manufacture. But he said European countries could give their Patriots to Ukraine and await replacements, stressing that “we would not like to wait.”Combined missile and drone strikes on the power grid have coincided with Ukraine’s frantic efforts to...

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — U.N. climate negotiations were expected to begin Monday at a meeting on the edge of the Brazilian Amazon, with leaders pushing for urgency, cooperation and acceleration after more than 30 years fighting to curb global warming by drastically reducing the carbon pollution that causes it. André Corrêa do Lago, president of this year’s conference, known as COP30, emphasized that negotiators engage in “mutirão,” a Brazilian word derived from an Indigenous word that refers to a group uniting to work on a shared task. Complicating the calls for togetherness is the United States. The Trump administration did...

Madani, who has long warned of environmental mismanagement in Iran, said the current water crisis across the nation was predictable. "The water bankruptcy situation was not created overnight," he said. "The house was already on fire, and people like myself had warned the government for years that this situation would emerge." President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that without rainfall before winter, Tehran could face partial evacuation, according to The Associated Press. Iran is facing its worst drought in decades, raising fears of evacuations in Tehran while threatening the regime’s stability and nuclear ambitions, according to a leading environmental expert. Kaveh Madani,...

The quake that hit northern Japan on Sunday caused temporary power outages and train delays. No injuries or damage were reported, and a tsunami advisory was cancelled. A powerful 6.9 magnitude quake rattled northern Japan Sunday evening, followed by several aftershocks, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). A tsunami advisory was issued, but it was later cancelled. Waves measuring 20 centimetres were recorded in some areas. The earthquake hit off the coast of Iwate prefecture at a depth of 10 kilometres below the sea surface, at about 5 pm Japan time (9 am CET). There were no immediate reports...

The assassination of Carlos Manzo, known for defying cartels, has prompted massive protests throughout the country. His death exposed organized crime’s dominance in the state of Michoacán. Since his death, many Mexicans question whether the government will ever be able to stand up to the cartels. MEXICO CITY — Carlos Manzo blazed a maverick path as he battled both cartels and what he called skimpy federal support for his crusade against organized crime in his hometown of Uruapan, in western Mexico. The “man with a hat,” after his signature white sombrero, was an annoyance to the power structure in Mexico...

Social media influencer Naomi Seibt, a supporter of the nationalist AfD party, said she is being persecuted in Germany for her political views.BERLIN — A prominent far-right German activist has applied for political asylum in the United States, citing fears for her safety, as the Trump administration has signaled plans to prioritize protections for White refugees and Europeans who claim they are being targeted for their populist views.The activist, Naomi Seibt, is a social media influencer and supporter of the nationalist, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which German authorities have labeled extremist.Seibt, 25, said she is being persecuted in...

South Korea’s ousted conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol faces more criminal charges on Monday as prosecutors allege that he flew drones over North Korea in a deliberate bid to stoke tensions and justify his plans to declare martial law. Yoon set off the most serious political crisis in South Korea’s recent history when he imposed martial law on Dec. 3, 2024 and sent troops to surround the National Assembly. He was later impeached and removed from office, and is in jail standing trial on charges including masterminding a rebellion. His successor and liberal rival, President Lee Jae Myung, approved legislation...

BEIJING, Nov 9 (Reuters) - China has granted exemptions to export controls on Nexperia chips for civilian applications, the commerce ministry said on Sunday in a move that will help to relieve supply shortages for carmakers and automotive suppliers.The announcement is the strongest signal yet from Beijing that it will ease pressure on the global auto industry caused by export curbs imposed after the Dutch government took control of Nexperia, a large manufacturer of basic chips used in automotive electrical systems.Nexperia is based in the Netherlands but owned by Chinese company Wingtech (600745.SS). China's commerce ministry did not specify what...

Power will be cut for between eight and 16 hours across most regions of Ukraine on Sunday, state transmission system operator Ukrenergo has said, after Russian attacks targeting energy infrastructure reduced the country’s generating capacity to “zero”.Moscow, which has escalated attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure in recent months, launched hundreds of drones at energy facilities across the country from Friday into Saturday, which killed at least seven people, according to Ukrainian officials.The Russian attacks have disrupted electricity, heat and water supplies in several Ukrainian cities, with state power firm Centerenergo warning generating capacity “is down to zero”.While the situation had somewhat...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired or sidelined at least two dozen generals and admirals over the past nine months in a series of ousters that could reshape the U.S. military for years to come. His actions, which are without precedent in recent decades, have come with little explanation. In many cases, they have run counter to the advice of top military leaders who fought alongside the officers in combat, senior military officials said. The utter unpredictability of Mr. Hegseth’s moves, as described in interviews with 20 current and former military officials, has created an atmosphere of anxiety and mistrust...

Sergei Lavrov has been sidelined by Vladimir Putin after his failure to organise a summit with Donald Trump in Budapest, according to reports. The Russian daily Kommersant, a privately owned pro-Kremlin outlet, said that Russia’s long-time foreign minister was “deliberately absent” from a key security council meeting earlier this week. The 76-year-old will also no longer represent Moscow at the upcoming G20 summit, which is scheduled for November 22 and 23 in Johannesburg. Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, did not give any explanation for Mr Lavrov’s absence from the key summit, which will be attended instead by Maxim Oreshkin, Putin’s deputy...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is not “afraid” of Donald Trump unlike other western leaders and dismissed reports that their last meeting in Washington was volatile, adding that he had good relations with the US president. He also said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian that King Charles had helped build relations with Trump and described the British monarch as “very supportive” of Ukraine. The Ukrainian president denied claims Trump had tossed maps of the battlefield aside in a stormy exchange in October at the White House, where he had arrived hoping to secure supplies of US Tomahawk cruise...

Christians in Nigeria have welcomed Donald Trump's threat to send the US military to the West African nation 'guns-a-blazing' - but its leaders are wary. Nigeria has been roiled by internal violence in the wake of a jihadist insurgency spearheaded by extremist group Boko Haram in the northeast since 2009. Trump, 79, had already designated Nigeria a 'country of particular concern,' but he took his condemnation of the situation in the country even further last week after hearing about it on Fox News, threatening to cut aid and even send in US troops. Some Christian communities have welcomed the US...

Donald Trump has exempted Hungary from sanctions the US has placed on top Russian oil producers as he met Viktor Orbán, the country’s prime minister, at the White House on Friday. The US president’s decision will be a huge relief for Orbán, a fellow rightwing populist, who had been angling for a reprieve after Trump imposed sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft last month out of frustration with Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s reluctance to offer concessions for a peace deal in Ukraine. A White House official confirmed the exemption for Hungary on Friday evening, adding it would last one year. Trump...

The vessel had left Myanmar's Buthidaung with about 300 people on board.Hundreds were missing on Sunday (Nov 9) after a boat sank near the Thailand-Malaysia border, as 10 survivors and one body were recovered, the Malaysian maritime authority said. More victims might still be found at sea about three days after the sinking of the vessel, which left Buthidaung, Myanmar, with about 300 people on board, said First Admiral Romli Mustafa, the maritime authority director of the northern Malaysian states of Kedah and Perlis. Among the survivors found in the waters off Langkawi were three Myanmar men, two Rohingya men...

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — The world has changed dramatically in the decade since leaders celebrated a historic climate agreement in Paris a decade ago, but not quite in ways they expected or wanted. Earth’s warming climate has gotten nastier faster than society has been able to wean itself from burning the coal, oil and natural gas that emits carbon pollution that triggers global warming, several scientists and officials said. There’s been progress — more than a degree Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) has been shaved off future warming projections since 2015 — but the lack of enough of it will be...