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KYIV, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Ukraine's Energoatom state nuclear company said on Friday Russian forces planned to switch off the functioning power blocks at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and to disconnect them from the Ukrainian power grid. In a statement, Energoatom said it believed Russia, which controls the power plant in southern Ukraine, was preparing to conduct a "large-scale provocation" there. Moscow itself accused Kyiv of preparing a "provocation" at the site on Thursday. (clip) Turning the plant off would pile new pressure on Ukrainian supplies, particularly in the south. Ukraine is already bracing for its most difficult winter...

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — After working as an overnight security guard at a church in Harare’s impoverished Mabvuku township, Jeffrey Carlos rushes home to help his wife fetch water to sell. Prolonged water shortages mean most residents of the capital city of more than 2.4 million must source their own water. Carlos is lucky because the property he rents has a well and his family can haul up buckets of water to sell to neighbors. “This is our gold,” he says of the well water. “If we are lucky, we can sell up to 12 buckets of water (per day)...

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ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s central bank on Thursday lowered its key interest rate despite inflation surging to nearly 80% and making it difficult for people to buy what they need, falling in line with the unorthodox economic views of the country’s president. In a statement following a monetary policy committee meeting, the bank said it decided to reduce the policy rate from 14% to 13%. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pressured the bank into lowering borrowing costs in a bid to boost economic growth, investment and exports, insisting that interest rate hikes cause inflation. That contradicts established economic thinking,...

REVEALED: San Francisco, Cleveland and Portland have America's most deserted downtown areas as soaring crime in Democrat-run cities scares workers, tourists and homeowners away San Francisco's downtown activity was down to 31 compared to 2019 as the city contends with high crime despite finally agreeing to shut down its controversial open-air drug market by the end of the year Cleveland's downtown activity was down to 36 percent, a blow to the city making strides to fight back decade high crime rates and giving police more leeway to crack down on crime Portland had the third worst downtown activity since its...

According to the American Declaration of Independence, people enter into political society for the sake of protecting their inalienable rights, which are otherwise insecure. The question then arises: what can the people do if the government betrays its trust, and violates their rights? The Declaration’s initial answer is “that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government.” [The Declaration of Independence devotes more space to the right of revolution than to any other single concept.] The people create the government,...

A Milwaukee woman claims she was defending her children when she fatally shot an intruder who entered her home. The mother of two, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was showering before work Monday morning when she heard her 12- and 14-year-old screaming from the living room, news station TMJ4 reported. She immediately ran to her room, grabbed her gun, and confronted the intruder, who was undeterred by the family’s two pit bulls. She then shot him multiple times.

Auction sales at the Monterey Car Week are expected to total between $300 million and $490 million, according to Hagerty Automotive Intelligence, the classic-car insurance and collector-lifestyle company...Here are the top five cars, by estimated value, expected to sell this week in Monterey...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The prosecution rested Thursday, Aug. 18 in the trial of two men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The prosecution rested after testimony from an undercover FBI agent with supposed access to explosives. Barry Croft Jr., 46, of Bear, Delaware, and Adam Fox, 38 of Wyoming, Michigan, are on trial in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. Special agent Tim Bates, known as “Red,” said he joined alleged conspirators – in three vehicles - in a night-time reconnaissance mission in September 2020 to the governor’s place in Elk Rapids. He said Fox took photos...

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...Bannon, who was the chief strategist of Trump's 2016 campaign and of his administration during 2017, said of Pence: 'This is an individual who has done more damage to this country than any other person in modern political history. He's gutless.' 'Just even the sight of you bugs me,' he said of Pence. 'Just a disgusting coward. Of course, we're the party of law and order, right. But this is not what we're talking about. We're talking about a police state. And you don't have the guts to stand up to it.' Trump accused the FBI of corruption after it...

On Thursday, August 18, for the first time since July 6, Russia did not declare "territorial achievements in Ukraine. Ukrainian official sources also did not declare new losses of territories. This is reported by the American Institute for the Study of War (Institute for the Study of War, or ISW). At the same time, it is noted that Russian troops continue to make limited and unsuccessful ground assaults in eastern Ukraine. Also, the Institute for the Study of War draws attention to Russian reports of explosions throughout the Crimea on the night of August 18, probably caused by Russian air...

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Defenders of Ukraine again staged an "enchanting evening" for the Russian invaders in the temporarily occupied Kherson region. "Cotton" in the evening of August 18 again happened in the city of Novaya Kakhovka. This was announced by the deputy of the Kherson Regional Council and military Territorial Defense Sergey Khlan on his Facebook page. He noted that now it is worth waiting for the count of the Russian invaders destroyed by the strike of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "Kherson region. Apu in Novaya Kakhovka again arranged an enchanting evening for the Russians. We are waiting for the morning and...

On Wednesday morning, August 17, and on the night of August 18, explosions occurred in the southern part of Melitopol, Zaporozhye region. It was the Ukrainian partisans who blew up the electrical support to prevent the ZAES from being reconnected to the Russian power This is reported by the local newspaper "RIA-Melitopol". It is noted that after the explosions, the invaders blocked the southern exit from the city and allowed transport to detour through Sadovoye. "On August 17, at 10: 58, an explosion occurred in the southern part of the city, after which the invaders blocked the southern exit from...

Dr. Mehmet Oz, who earned former President Donald Trump’s primary-race endorsement in April, is going down in flames according to a new GOP poll. Republican-affiliated Public Opinion Strategies reports that surgeon-turned-TV-host Dr. Oz trails Democrat John Fetterman by nearly 20 points!Trump gave Oz his “complete and total endorsement” before the wide-open GOP primary of six candidates, a move that probably sealed the deal with Pennsylvania Republicans. The doc won in a squeaker, barely beating out second-place finisher David McCormick, 31.2% to 31.1%. The former president praised Oz’s positions on abortion, crime, the Second Amendment, border security, the military, education, energy...

In case you missed earlier installments of this story, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is in territory controlled by Russia; however, the Ukrainian energy company, Energoatom, is still operating the plant. There have been reports that Russia is using the site to launch artillery attacks on the Ukrainian front lines, knowing the Ukrainians don’t dare fire back for fear of damaging the reactor.Earlier this month there was a report from Energoatom claiming that Major General Valerii Vasyliev, the Russian in charge of the surrounding area, had mined the facility and was threatening to blow it up rather than leave. He was...

The Biden Department of Justice must release part of the affidavit that provided probable cause for the federal ransacking of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on August 8. Katie had the story earlier this afternoon. It’s a little shocking since most were probably expecting the judge to side with the federal government, who moved to block its full release citing damage to the investigation’s integrity and potential risk to the witnesses involved. Every update about this raid has done nothing to cast off the stench that this wasn’t a politically motivated hit job. Spencer has written extensively about the judge, Bruce...

(The opinions expressed in guest op-eds are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.)The U.S. Tax code should be scrapped, and the IRS abolished, and in its place, a flatter, simpler and fairer single tax rate system should be created. We can call it the Tax Code Complication Act to gain approval from the Democrats. Meanwhile, if you need me, I’ll be over here holding my breath.And now, with the Inflation reduction Act, a total farce that funds 87,000 new IRS agents, get ready, find that lunch receipt from 7 years ago because they're...

The FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s home is still a hot-button topic as the talking heads and politicos debate and speculate over the matter. But on the political stage, it does not appear to have made much of a splash so far.One would think the fact that the FBI conducted a search of Trump’s home would do at least a modicum of political damage to Republican candidates – especially those linked to the former president. But the first poll taken after the raid shows that this is not quite the case.An Emerson College poll conducted between August 15...