Free Republic

“I started scorpion smoking in the mid-'60s,” recalls 74-year-old Sohbat Khan. It was during General Ayub Khan’s era, and Khan was only 20 years old. He would frequent the famous Jalil Kabab house in Peshawar, which is how he met the vendor who sold scorpions worth Re 1 or Rs 2 right next to the eatery. The men got their supply from the Matani area, which is rich in scorpions because of its insufferably hot weather. Khan says he has quit smoking scorpions. His eyes are sunken from years of addiction, and his pale face and hollow cheeks betray a...

The imminent delivery of from Russia of two Sukhoi Su-30MK2 twin-seat versions to Vietnam will make the end of production for the “classic” version of the Flanker multirole fighter. But production of advanced “generation 4++” versions—the Su-30SM, Su-34 and Su-35—featuring markedly different airframes and more powerful engines will continue through at least 2020. Vietnam previously took delivery of 30 out of the 32 Su-30MK2s that it ordered in three batches during 2009, 2012 and 2013. Delivery of the final pair will bring its total fleet to 48, including Su-27SKs, Su-27UBKs as well as Su-30MK2s. Indonesia and Uganda were also recent...

MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. The body of senior lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko killed when carrying out a combat task in Syria has been delivered to Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday. "Following special joint steps taken with the participation of representatives of the Syrian authorities and the Kurdish militia, the officer’s body has been delivered to Moscow," the ministry said. The farewell ceremony with military honors will be held as agreed with his relatives.

When federal officials talk about a flood of heroin entering the country, they are not exaggerating. In recent years the amount of heroin produced in Mexico has more than doubled – from less than 60 tons to more than 140 tons last year. It’s cheap. It’s plentiful. And all of it is destined for buyers in the United States. [snip]New Mexico, as a border state, is a transit state for all drugs coming north from Mexico, whether the drugs are smuggled into California, Arizona or through the ports of entry in southern New Mexico or El Paso.

Russia's Catholic, Orthodox to rebuild church buildings in Syria A painting of Mary and the Christ Child is is seen in 2014 at the damaged St. Thecla Orthodox monastery in the predominantly Christian town of Maaloula, Syria. Russia's Catholic Church has launched a joint project with Russian Orthodox leaders to rebuild churches and monasteries destroyed during the war in Syria.CNS photo/Courtesy of Youssef Badawi, EPA BY JONATHAN LUXMOORE, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE April 28, 2016 WARSAW, Poland – Russia's Catholic Church has launched a joint project with Russian Orthodox leaders to rebuild churches and monasteries destroyed during the war in Syria....

Treasurer Scott Morrison has made a “preliminary decision” to block the proposed $371m sale of Australia’s largest single landholding, the S. Kidman & Co cattle empire, to a Chinese-led consortium citing national interest concerns. This is the second time Mr Morrison has blocked the sale of Kidman, rejecting a Chinese-led offer in November amid concerns about the sheer scale of the landholding — 10 cattle stations encompassing 101,000sqkm — and the proximity of Kidman’s Anna Creek station to the Woomera weapons testing range in South Australia. The investors have been given a “natural justice period” of until next Tuesday to...

The pro-immigrant, anti-Trump 7-time Billboard Latin Music Awards finalists make a return appearance in Washington Mexican rock superstars Maná will perform at the White House on May 5, at the presidential Cinco de Mayo celebration.

You could see this aspect of Trumpism—I’m about America, end of story—in his much-discussed foreign-policy speech this week. I have found pretty much everything said about it to be true. It was long, occasionally awkward-sounding and sometimes contradictory. It was interesting nonetheless. He was trying to blend into a coherent whole what he’s previously said when popping off on the hustings. He was trying to establish that there’s a theme to the pudding. He was also trying to reassure potential supporters that he is actually serious, that he does have a foreign-policy framework as opposed to just a grab bag...

In a stunning reversal, the U.S. Army decided late Thursday to retain a decorated Green Beret it had planned to kick out after he physically confronted a local Afghan commander accused of raping a boy over the course of many days. *snip* "In SFC Martland’s case, the Army Board for Correction of Military Records determination modified a portion of one of SFC Martland’s evaluation reports and removed him from the QMP list, which will allow him to remain in the Army," said Lt. Col. Jerry Pionk.

Donald Trump may be okay with using nukes to destroy ISIS. Here’s his comments to the TODAY show on NBC:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO It’s true he says he would be “the last to use” nukes, which could be taken as two different ways. On the one hand, Trump could be saying he doesn’t want to use nukes at all, and would wait until no other option existed (kinda like George W. Bush saying war is the last option, and we all know how that turned out). It could also mean Trump is saying he would be the...

Cities across Venezuela are increasingly agitated, as government offices closed their doors for the rest of the week in the face of a worsening energy crisis that is causing daily blackouts. Venezuela is among the world's most violent countries, and crime generally spikes here when the lights go out. Looting and fiery protests starting spreading Wednesday in Caracas, as hundreds of angry voters lined up to sign a petition beginning the process of recalling the deeply unpopular President Nicolas Maduro. The socialist administration began imposing a four-hour daily blackout around the country this week to save electricity. Then, Maduro announced...

Police make four arrests after intercepting communications between jihadist group and Moroccan-born man. Italian prosecutors said Thursday they had thwarted plans by at least three people to carry out terror attacks against the Israeli Embassy in Rome and the Vatican.

BBC staff will be asked to disclose details of their family income and upbringing, as part of new plans to ensure that the corporation is not dominated by the middle classes. The BBC will announce today that all new employees will be asked to answer a range of questions about their socio-economic background, including whether they were entitled to free school meals as a child, which the broadcaster says will allow it work out whether its workforce reflects modern Britain. The BBC has faced pressure from ministers, during the ongoing talks over the corporation’s new royal charter, to increase the...

Former prime minister Tony Abbott doesn't expect the Liberal Party to ever reverse its decision to vote him out of the top job. However, he believes what he achieved during his two-year prime ministership will stand the test of time. "I accept that the party made a decision," he told Sky News. "I don't expect the party to ever go back on that decision." The former prime minister says he stuck by his chief of staff and dumped treasurer despite warnings from colleagues because he doesn't "throw people overboard" to save himself. Mr Abbott refused to sack Peta Credlin or...

Illegal immigrant families are streaming across the border at record pace, according to new Border Patrol statistics released Friday morning that show more than 32,000 have been caught trying to sneak into the U.S. That’s nearly 40 percent higher than the previous record of 2014, and it’s well more than double last year’s pace, suggesting that the government’s relaxed enforcement policies have backfired and invited a new wave of illegal crossers.

Donald J. Trump Foreign Policy Speech Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you, and thank you to the Center for the National Interest for honoring me with this invitation. I would like to talk today about how to develop a new foreign policy direction for our country – one that replaces randomness with purpose, ideology with strategy, and chaos with peace. It is time to shake the rust off of America’s foreign policy. It's time to invite new voices and new visions into the fold. The direction I will outline today will also return us to a timeless...

CIA employee Edward Snowden leaks thousands of classified documents to the press.

Thursday on CNN’s “Wolf,” while discussing Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s statement that “We have to be unpredictable” to our enemies during his foreign policy speech yesterday, former governor of Florida Jeb Bush said, “The idea that a president should be unpredictable is not really the way history has been written.”

Italian police issued arrest warrants on Thursday for six people suspected of conspiring to join Islamic State, and court documents said three of them had been discussing possible attacks on the Vatican and the Israeli embassy in Rome. Four of the suspects - a couple living near Lake Como, a 23-year-old-man and a woman, all of them Moroccans - were detained in Italy on Thursday, Milan prosecutor Maurizio Romanelli told a news conference. The other two - a Moroccan man and his Italian wife - left Italy last year, traveled to Iraq and Syria and are still on the loose,...

Fierce clashes between U.S.-backed Syrian fighters and insurgent groups north of Aleppo killed dozens of combatants, a spokesman and a monitoring group said on Thursday. The Syria Democratic Forces alliance, which includes the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, has been fighting insurgents, some also supported by foreign states via Turkey, in northern Aleppo province for several months. Washington, which is leading an aerial campaign against Islamic State, supports the SDF in the separate fight against the jihadists around areas they control farther east. The YPG has proved the most effective partner on the ground for the U.S.-led campaign. SDF spokesman Talal...