Free Republic

More than ten thousand people have been killed in Kiev’s punitive operation in southeastern Ukraine since April, said a Ukrainian parliamentary group. The MPs addressed the president urging to declassify information on citizens killed. The Ukrainian parliamentary group “For peace and stability” said on Friday that the figure was given by volunteer groups working in the east of the country, ITAR-TASS reported. “We have estimated that just in the first two weeks of July nearly 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the area of the ‘anti-terrorist operation’,” the group said in a statement in the Verhovnaya Rada (Ukraine’s parliament). “The...

Bergdahl, 28, "sent back" after years held by Suni Dominants. Obama agenda of the moment ordered Bergdahl's release from Haqqani in trade for five Taliban, some of the deadliest against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The federal government has awarded the University of California Los Angeles $193,989 in taxpayer funds to study skill-building as HIV prevention for male sex workers in Peru. The grant was issued by the National Institute of Mental Health, a part of the National Institutes of Health, and proposes “a pilot study for a group that has been neglected in the Peruvian HIV epidemic, namely male sex workers (fletes).” Men having sex with men in Peru have a “high burden of HIV” at 10 to 15 percent, compared to male sex workers, who have a 23 percent prevalence, researchers found. …

Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged his government to come up with countermeasures to Western sanctions imposed against Russia over the Ukrainian conflict. Putin stressed that Moscow’s response should be “cautious.” “Obviously we need to do it cautiously in order to support domestic manufacturers, but not hurt consumers,” he said on Tuesday. The president expects the government to present a response to the sanctions as soon as possible. Putin said that the political tools of pressure being used against the Russian economy are unacceptable, stressing that they go against international rules and norms. Putin’s comments come on the same day...

A Florida judge has denied an imprisoned sex offender's request that he be castrated at the expense of the state. The Ocala Star-Banner reports that the man is serving 10-year sentence after pleading no contest to second-degree felony sexual battery. In a hand-written motion, the 35-year-old inmate asked a circuit court judge to modify his sentence to include castration. The motion did not explain why the inmate wanted to be castrated. The court denied the motion saying it did not have jurisdiction in the case.

LuAyne Brown, who goes by the stage name Lulu, claims to be the world’s heaviest pole dancer, at 18 stone. While the 29-year-old mum-of-two from Maryland might be twice the size of her fellow female pole dancers, she reckons she boasts double the tricks. She’s got a whole repertoire of lifts, splits, knee-holds and spins in her arsenal and regularly competes on the pole dancing circuit. As she puts it, she’s got ‘it all in her locker’ and ‘there’s no move she can’t perform’. Go Lulu. She may be twice the size of other women but LuAyne Brown boasts double...

The Baltic Sea is not known for its flesh-stripping tropical fish, but this season, a close relative of the piranha reputed to have a fondness for nibbling on men's testicles has appeared in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic. A local fisher nabbed several South American pacu in a city pond and handed them over to marine biologists for identification, Interfax reported Friday. The pacu is a cousin of the omnivorous piranha. Unlike its fearsome relative, it mostly subsists on a pacific diet of nuts and algae, but last summer media dubbed the pacu the "ball cutter" when...

Unfortunately, competition is under attack in my beloved Wisconsin when it comes to energy choice. For the state where I grew up watching my father decry and fight like hell against the ruinous policies of Robert LaFollette Jr., who turned the state into a progressive “paradise” of which only Karl Marx and Gus Hall could be proud, I want nothing more than a vibrant competitive market. While Gov. Scott Walker has done more than any other Wisconsin governor in recent memory to undo policies that threaten competition, he’s missing the boat on energy choice in the state.

A 44-year-old married Zhejiang man went to the doctor after experiencing stomach aches and blood in his urine, only to discover he was on his period. Not only that, but he had a full set of female reproductive organs. Man-strual cramps Chen knew something was wrong when he found himself constantly feeling fatigued and having a swollen face and legs. Even worse, he found blood in his urine. However, he never expected the CT scan to reveal that he had a uterus and ovaries. Results from chromosome examination also showed that Chen had a pair of XX sex chromosomes, meaning...

According to insiders, NBC political director and chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd is the rightful heir to Gregory, but he has not been officially offered the job. Other names said to be in the frame include “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie, who comes from a political background but is unlikely to be released from the flagship morning show where she’s hugely popular. Guthrie is also due to give birth to her first child next month and will return to “Today” after maternity leave. MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” team of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have also been said to be angling...

The Libyan charged over the deadly attack on the US mission in Benghazi pleaded not guilty in a US court on Saturday. Ahmed Khatallah has been indicted on a charge of conspiracy to provide material support... FBI Director James Comey hailed Khatallah's capture as a "major step forward", US officials suggest that the suspect was "hiding in plain sight"...

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford urged to back off plans to cut funding ($550 million contract for Rosoboronexport, Russian supplier of the Mi-17), claiming it would have a “catastrophic” effect on Afghanistan’s ability to conduct operations. By the end this year, U.S. will abandon its position in Afghanistan. Russian forces who will replace US are flight ready with the Mi-17, though many would prefer American class equipment.

The U.S. military has grounded all its new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters following an incident on June 23, when one of the high-tech warplanes caught fire on the runway of a Florida air base. The no-fly order — which affects at least 50 F-35s at training and test bases in Florida, Arizona, California and Maryland. F-35 is on track to become by far the military’s most numerous warplane. It was designed to replace almost all current fighters in the Air Force and Marine Corps and complement the Navy’s existing F/A-18s.

Every year since 2001, the Sonoma County grand jury has reviewed what police call “critical incidents” – officer-involved shootings and the deaths of suspects or criminal defendants in custody. Until this year. The 2013-14 grand jury, whose term ended June 30, declined to examine such cases. That includes the October fatal shooting of teenager Andy Lopez by Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputy Erick Gelhaus, among other deaths involving law enforcement in the past year. Citing a lack of expertise, financial support and public misconceptions about their role, Sonoma County grand jurors decided to diverge from the longstanding custom.

BAGHDAD — Kurdish security forces took over two major oil fields outside the disputed northern city of Kirkuk before dawn Friday and said they would use some of the production for domestic purposes, further widening a split with the central government of Prime Minister Maliki. The president of the Kurdish (prior, no fly) zone has said the areas won't be returned — including the highly disputed, flashpoint city of Kirkuk — and he called for Kurdish lawmakers to prepare to hold an independence referendum in the area, a move strongly opposed by Baghdad, Turkey and the United States. //Snip// http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/7/11/iraq-parliament-dysfunction.html,...

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a decision to reinterpret the Japanese constitution, allowing Tokyo to militarily support partners that are under attack.

Middleweight Championship Chris Weidman (c) (11-0) vs Lyoto Machida (21-4) Women Bantamweight Championship Ronda Rousey (c) (9-0) vs Alexis Davis (16-5) Heavyweight Stefan Struve (29-6) vs Matt Mitrione (7-3) Middleweight Uriah Hall (9-4) vs Thiago Santos (9-2) Bantamweight Marcus Brimage (6-2) vs Russell Doane (13-3)

One-time Wu-Tang Clan-affiliated rapper Christ Bearer says that, despite the fact that he cut his penis off in a much-written about incident in April, his member has reunited with his body and is now fully functioning. In fact, he hopes to prove both points by doing a porno film. -snip- TMZ’s crack interviewer asked the rapper if any drugs were involved in his self-castrating incident, which led to a series of bleeped-out expletives; however he does say, “PCP was involved!” and adds, “Kids, say no to drugs!”

The owners of a chain of stores called Hobby Lobby don't like Obamacare. In particular, they really don't like the part that requires insurance companies to cover contraceptives. Normally, people who don't like a law petition the government to change that law. That's how a nation of laws works. But these men are Christians. The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Christian business owners are special. Their deeply held religious belief that some particular form of contraception is immoral carries more weight than the force of law, five conservative Christian justices ruled. The court -- in a fairly bald admission that...

A gang threw excrement at the office of a gay organization in Rome, while shouting death threats against people inside, Italian media reported on Friday. \Di Gay Project (DGP) in southern Rome was attacked on Wednesday night, with the crime being reported to police on Friday, Corriere della Sera said. A mob threw excrement and other items, such as wooden boxes and vegetables, at the organization’s office, as people were rehearsing a theatre performance inside. Members of the gang, estimated to be aged between 15 and 40, also shouted threats such as “We’ll set you alight” and “you deserve to...