Free Republic

“The investments that Russia had have matured. So Russia’s funds are sitting in cash, but they’re generating income for the institution which Russia has no claim on,” she concluded. The G7 agreed on the American proposal Thursday during a summit in Italy. The move allows the world leaders to tap into the interest being accumulated at European banking institutions from the frozen assets to the tune of $50 billion. Yellen added that the G7 has made it clear to Moscow that the actual assets will remain frozen until Russia agrees to pay for the damages Ukraine has sustained over the...

S​ummer 2024 is likely to be one of the hottest on record in the United States, according to an updated outlook released Friday by The Weather Company and Atmospheric G2. The heat will be widespread. Above-average temperatures are expected from the Southwest and Rockies to the East Coast, with parts of the Midwest, Plains, northern New England and the Southwest being the most above average. "We've run out of superlatives to describe what we expect as an historic summer." - Todd Crawford, Vice President of Meteorology, Atmospheric G2 The lone exception may be the West Coast, from western Washington to...

The video appeared to confirm recent reports that dozens of Russian soldiers had been surrendering around Vovchansk, where heavy fighting has raged since Moscow launched a cross-border offensive towards Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, last month. The POWs were later filmed and interviewed, sitting in what appeared to be a school classroom. Several of the captured soldiers said they had been forced into the Russian army due to financial or legal trouble. Some said they had received as little as one week of training before being sent to the front. Food and water were limited, and often, they had to buy...

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces. Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today! ~ Hall of Heroes ~ James Elliott Williams Info from here. James Elliott Williams (November 13, 1930–October 13, 1999) was a sailor of the United States Navy during the 1950s and 1960s. He was the most highly decorated enlisted man in the history of the United States Navy. Williams was born in Fort Mill, South Carolina and moved two months later with his parents to Darlington, South Carolina where he...

Honduras announced on Friday night the construction of a mega-prison for 20,000 inmates, among more than a dozen measures, by declaring a “security emergency” to combat the overwhelming crime. In a national radio and television broadcast, President Xiomara Castro and other members of the National Defense and Security Council (CNDS) unveiled the “crime solution plan” in response to public outcry over the surge in violence. “Given this declared security emergency, the immediate construction of an Emergency Detention Center (CRE) with a capacity for 20,000 inmates in the unpopulated area between the departments of Olancho and Gracias a Dios (east) is...

Seven people were shot and another injured at a car meet in northern Massachusetts early Sunday morning, local police said. The shooting occurred just before 2 a.m. in Methuen, Mass., near the New Hampshire border. Police Chief Scott McNamara said officers arrived at the scene to find seven gunshot victims and an eighth person who suffered a head injury while attempting to flee the scene. Five of the gunshot victims are in stable condition, while two are in critical condition, authorities said in a Sunday press conference. The victims’ ages ranged from their late teens to early twenties.

Pro-Palestinian activists took credit for a felony arson attack outside of UC Berkeley’s Koshland Hall on Thursday. Details about the fire were scarce on Friday. But it is at least the second case of arson at Cal that pro-Palestinian activists have claimed responsibility for this month. A UC Berkeley police vehicle was set on fire on June 1. On Thursday morning, an anonymous “student intifada” post took credit for the latest incident. “UCLA students were attacked last night so we retaliated with a firebomb on UCB campus,” the post said. “We unloaded a firebomb on the side of a campus...

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) said Sunday on MSNBC’s “Inside” that former President Donald Trump did not love America. Host Jen Psaki said, “I’m sure you are aware of the controversy that broke out over some comments that Trump made about Milwaukee, which is hosting the Republican convention coming up later this summer. He reportedly called Milwaukee a horrible city. He called Washington a filthy and crime-ridden embarrassment. He has called Chicago worse than Afghanistan. He once called Baltimore a disgusting rat and rodent infested mess. These are America’s cities. what do you make of his comments, and what is driving...

Upstart Democratic Socialists, an underdog businessman seeking to topple Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and ex-con Hiram Monserrate are among those seeking office in New York’s primary elections June 25. The primary’s nine days of early voting started Saturday. Lefty Democratic Socialist incumbent Ocasio-Cortez faces off against little known moderate retired Wall Street banker Marty Dolan in the 14th Congressional District covering parts of The Bronx and Queens. AOC has tried to ignore her opponent — refusing to debate him — while running TV ads promoting her re-election bid.

The owner of a pair of upscale boutiques in Florida’s ritzy Palm Beach who hob-knobbed with the likes of former President Trump was nabbed peddling $2 million in phony goods, according to police. Olena Austin, 51, was charged with selling counterfeit clothing and jewelry at two Blesk Jewelry locations in the city — shutting down both locations, WPTV-TV News reported earlier this month. The stores were selling Fugazi knock-offs of top-shelf designer brands like Chanel, Tiffany, Rolex, Versace, Pucci, Bottega Veneta and Van Cleef & Arpel — and telling customers they were the real deal, police said. “We have to...

The threats are ‘no longer speculative’ and ‘not longer hypothetical,’ Rep. Mike Turner said.House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said Sunday that the United States is currently at its “highest level” for the possibility of a terrorist attack occurring on American soil.During an interview with CBS News, Mr. Turner was asked about reports of recent arrests with individuals with ties to the ISIS terrorist group in the United States.“What’s important about these reports and what we’re seeing, especially in conjunction with [FBI] Director [Christopher] Wray’s public statements, that we are at the highest level of a possible terrorist threat,...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some of Hollywood’s brightest stars headlined a glitzy fundraiser for President Joe Biden on Saturday night, helping raise what his reelection campaign said was $28 million and hoping to energize would-be supporters for a November election that they argued was among the most important in the nation’s history. George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand were among those who took the stage at the 7,100-seat Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel interviewed Biden and former President Barack Obama, who both stressed the need to defeat former President Donald Trump in a race that’s...

CHARLESTON – West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner and chief election officers in eight other states have joined to bring legal action to try to stop an executive order issued by President Joe Biden they say would federalize state elections. Warner – along with the secretaries of state of Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Wyoming – filed an amicus brief May 28 asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule Executive Order 14019 is unconstitutional and violates the authority granted to the states to regulate elections by the United States Constitution. Specifically, the secretaries of state...

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — The leader of Armenia on Wednesday declared his intention to pull out of a Russia-dominated security alliance of several ex-Soviet nations as tensions rise between the two allies. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said his government will decide later when to leave the Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO, a grouping that includes Russia and the former Soviet Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Amid the widening rift with Russia, Armenia earlier froze its participation in the alliance, canceled its involvement in joint military drills and snubbed CSTO summits. Pashinyan said Wednesday for the...

The New Jersey AFL-CIO will not take sides in the hotly contested race for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district between Republican incumbent Tom Kean, Jr. and Democrat Sue Altman. That means national Democrats head into one of the races that could determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives without the backing of the state’s largest labor union. Altman was likely a casualty of her past disputes with the South Jersey Democratic machine and with the New Jersey AFL-CIO president, Charles Wowkanech. The New Jersey Globe has learned that leaders of the building trades unions had pushed for no...

AUGUSTA, Maine — Former NASCAR driver Austin Theriault easily defeated fellow state lawmaker Mike Soboleski in Tuesday’s Republican primary for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, setting up a showdown with U.S. Rep. Jared Golden in November. *** While Soboleski argued he had a stronger conservative voting record than Theriault, the Trump endorsement was important in the race between two candidates who each touted their support for the ex-president …. Theriault repeatedly highlighted Trump’s endorsement in debates, interviews and ads. His pugnacious primary campaign was far different against the one he crafted during his 2022 race for the St. John Valley seat...

An ex-Biden White House appointee and current Democratic candidate for a county commissioner seat in Texas allegedly created a dummy social media account to post bogus racist comments about himself. Taral Patel, 30, the challenger running for county commissioner in Fort Bend County Precinct 3 just outside of Houston, was arrested for online impersonation last week after an investigation initiated by his opponent, incumbent Andy Meyers. The Fort Bend District Attorney’s Office started the probe in October, shortly after a lengthy Facebook post Patel made in September in which he painted himself and his family as victims of a vicious...

Western leaders rejected Vladimir Putin’s framework for a ceasefire while backing Ukraine’s demands that Russia return all occupied territories as the basis for any potential peace agreement. The “first annual Global Peace Summit” held in the luxury Swiss resort of Burgenstock, which did not include any representatives from Moscow, concluded with the status quo essentially remaining the same, with Ukraine continuing to demand that Russia cede territory in the East and Crimea as a prerequisite for actual peace talks to begin, a likely non-starter for Vladimir Putin.

KYIV, Ukraine — (AP) — Several hundred LGBTQ Ukrainian servicemen and their supporters marched in central Kyiv Sunday to demand more rights and highlight their service to their country in its war with Russia. They argue that an improvement in gay rights would create a further distinction between Ukraine and Russia, where LGBTQ rights are severely restricted. Staff from the U.S. Embassy and several European embassies attended the pride rally.

President Biden appeared to freeze up on stage and had to be led off by Barack Obama at the conclusion of a star-studded campaign fundraiser in Los Angeles Saturday night.The awkward moment took place after Biden and his predecessor sat for a 45-minute interview with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.As the men stood for applause, Biden’s gaze seemed to become fixed on the crowd for a full 10 seconds until former President Barack Obama took his wrist and led him offstage.The incident follows a spate of caught-on-camera moments where Biden appeared dazed or confused about where he was, including when he...