Free Republic

China's central bank said on Tuesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on setting up yuan clearing arrangements in Brazil with the Central Bank of Brazil. The establishment of yuan clearing arrangements in Brazil will help Chinese and Brazilian firms and financial institutions with cross-border transactions using the yuan, further facilitating bilateral trade and investment, the People's Bank of China (PBC), the country's central bank, said in a concise statement on its website. The latest yuan clearing plan followed a slew of similar arrangements as the Chinese currency takes on a bigger role in the global foreign...

Solovyov made the comment during a program he hosts on Russia-1, a Russian state-owned television channel..."And in the 21st century the dream of the great thinker, Academician Sakharov, will come true," Solovyov said, likely referring to Andrei Sakharov, a Russian scientist who played a role in creating the first Soviet hydrogen bomb. "Yes, and on the territory of the United States there will be a strait in the name of Comrade Stalin," Solovyov added.

As the Russian army barreled toward Kyiv in the early days of Russia's wider war on Ukraine last February, the call went out for volunteers in the besieged capital city. These volunteers—thousands of them—formed a new territorial-defense unit. A year later, that unit—the 241st Territorial Defense Brigade—is in the thick of the fighting in what is, at present, the bloodiest sector of the wider war. The snowy hills and ruined city blocks in and around Bakhmut, 30 miles north of Donetsk, the seat of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region. The Russian army and its allies...

Avideo circulating on social media shows a group of women whose husbands died fighting for Vladimir Putin's forces in Ukraine expressing gratitude for receiving fur coats. This screen grab shows a group of women who reportedly received fur coats after their husbands died fighting for the Kremlin in the war in Ukraine. This screen grab shows a group of women who reportedly received fur coats after their husbands died fighting for the Kremlin in the war in Ukraine. © Via Telegram The clip was shared by the CHTD Telegram news channel which said the women were in Makiivka, in the...

Former President Donald Trump is ahead of his potential 2024 Republican challengers by double digits, a Tuesday Morning Consult survey found. The survey showed Trump leading his closest potential challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), by 18 percent, garnering 49 percent support compared to the governor’s 31 percent. No other potential challenger comes close, as former Vice President Mike Pence falls to third place with just seven percent support. Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, who is reportedly slated to announce a presidential bid this month, comes in fourth place with three percent support, followed by former Rep....

The heavy casualties suffered by Russian paratroopers in Ukraine has one Russian expert calling for a rethink of Russia's airborne units. Many of the recent criticisms about the performance of Russia's elite parachute force, known as the VDV, have been voiced about lightly armed airborne units since World War II. The problems range from poorly designed vehicles to parachute drops conducted without first suppressing enemy air defenses. -snip- Russia's huge airborne force, composed of 45,000 paratroopers in four divisions, is actually a separate military branch that serves as shock troops and a rapid-intervention force. Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February...

Seven more Memphis cops are now under investigation in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols last month - bringing the total number up to 13. City of Memphis Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Sink told a heated city council meeting that a statement of charges related to those under investigation could come as soon as this week. The widening of the investigation comes as the national outrage over Nichols' death led five officers who were filmed beating the 29-year-old to be charged with his murder. In total six officers have been fired in connection with the fateful traffic stop. The...

One of the five Memphis police officers charged with brutally beating a black man to death took photos of his bloodied body and sent it to at least six people. Newly released documents revealed the lengths of misconduct the Memphis police officers displayed after they stopped Tyre Nichols for allegedly driving recklessly - a claim for which no proof has been provided - before mercilessly pepper spraying him, tasing him, and then beating him to death when he tried to escape their assaults. The files show that Officer Demetrius Haley - who first forced Nichols out of his car -...

This was a few years ago in Michigan: This was last month, in Iowa: https://notthebee.com/article/this-iowa-woman-was-presumed-dead-sent-to-a-funeral-home-and-then-woke-up And now here's this week, in New York: https://twitter.com/GNewsTrending/status/1623008960226951168/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1623008960226951168%7Ctwgr%5Ea638481ced9fcad48dc6c727c8ccc61800addcd9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnotthebee.com%2Farticle%2Fi-think-we-need-to-shut-down-the-nations-funeral-homes-until-we-can-figure-out-what-the-heck-is-going-on Only three hours after she was pronounced dead, an 82-year-old woman was found to be breathing at a New York funeral home where she had been transported, police said. ... The unnamed woman from Long Island, N.Y., was declared dead at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday at the Water's Edge Rehab and Nursing Center, according to Suffolk County police. She was transferred to OB Davis Funeral Homes in Miller Place, N.Y., at 1:30 p.m. She was discovered...

The Center Square reports that Chief Border Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez held a meeting with local law enforcement in Weslaco, Texas in December. It was taped and secretly given to the publication. It describes the administration’s plan to release illegal foreign nationals into the U.S. en masse when Title 42 ends. Illegal aliens, potential terrorists up 600%. There will never be a way to assimilate these numbers. We can’t assimilate the millions Biden already let in and released. Chavez leads the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas, one of the most heavily trafficked areas, with more than 50,000 foreign nationals...

Hartland institute, the worldwide leader in "climate realism" is having conference in Orlando, FL, Feb23-25 Cost $499 per person which covers all meals. Hotel and air extra. Program is full, all leading "deniers" will attend. https://heartland.org/events/15th-international-conference-on-climate-change/ Sign at link https://heartland.org/events/15th-international-conference-on-climate-change/

A violent criminal who tried to murder a Florida cop has been sentenced to life in prison after shooting the officer four times. Now, video footage from inside the courtroom has gone viral after the cop showed up to deliver a special "going away gift" for the smug thug.The officer’s car Kevin Rojas was just 19 years old when he tried to kill an undercover Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officer who was in his car with his teenage son. When the off-duty officer, who was taking his son to school, saw Rojas driving erratically, the cop decided to make a traffic...

An encrypted letter from a correspondence with Mary, Queen of Scots. (BnF) A trio of codebreakers has accidentally stumbled upon a lost series of secret letters written by Mary, Queen of Scots in the years before her execution in 1587. The incredible, seven-year-long correspondence was encrypted so successfully, the documents were archived in an unmarked file and mistakenly placed in a part of France's national library involved with Italian affairs. When researchers randomly stumbled upon the 57 letters, however, it was clear none of them had anything to do with Italy. They were written in French and appeared to contain...

Peatland at Linnunsuo in North Karelia, Finland A peatland site at Linnunsuo in North Karelia, Finland. Legacy peat mining has degraded the wetland, as visible in the degraded soil in front. Credit: Rob Jackson A Stanford-led study finds global wetlands losses are overestimated, despite high losses in many regions. Sometime this spring or summer, the Supreme Court is expected to issue a case ruling that will legally define whether federal protections should be extended to wetlands outside of navigable waters. The justices might consider reading a new Stanford-led study that finds, although wetlands remain threatened in many parts of the...

President Joe Biden tried to sound tough on Chinese President Xi Jinping during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday but ended up blurting out a nonsensical demand and confusing viewers. During a section of the speech addressing foreign policy and China, Biden tried to diss Xi by implying there is no other world leader who would trade places with him. “Look. Let’s be clear: Winning the competition [with China] should unite all of us. We face serious challenges across the world. But in the past two years, democracies have become stronger, not weaker. Autocracies have grown weaker, not...

Ted Cruz’s presidential ambitions were no secret even before he became the first Republican to jump into the 2016 race. As 2024 approaches, though, he’s playing it uncharacteristically cool. The Texas senator isn’t explicitly ruling out another White House run. But asked about his considerations, Cruz described the Senate as “the battlefield right now,” with his seat up next year and a closer margin in his last reelection bid than is typical for the red state. “I have no doubt that Democrats will dump a whole lot of money into it,” Cruz said in an interview. “In 2018, it was...

The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday is holding a full committee hearing on government suppression of speech in regard to the Hunter Biden laptop report. The icommittee called in fired top Twitter officials James Baker, Vijaya Gadde, and Yoel Roth to the hearing. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) took the microphone early into the hearing and RIPPED INTO the fired Twitter officials who censored free speech on COVID and Hunter Biden’s laptop. Rep. Nancy Mace said she now suffers from asthma and tremors following her second COVID shot! Rep. Nancy Mace: I along with many Americans have long term effects from...

OCALA, Fla. (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to former President Donald Trump’s ‘ReTruth’ of a post claiming the Florida governor is a “groomer,” in reference to a photo from left-wing media outlet MeidasTouch. The response is one of the most direct ones he’s offered since Trump’s criticism began in late 2022, sparking with the former president’s nickname of the DeSantis being “Ron DeSanctimonious.” “Governor, former President Trump yesterday made a series of posts on TRUTH Social directed at you some were insinuating that…” a reporter asked. DeSantis chimed in, “I get it, I get you guys want the controversy.”...

Vice President Kamala Harris stumbled while trying to push back Wednesday against critics of President Biden’s likely re-election bid as she took a post-State of the Union tour of morning TV. Harris, 58, told ABC “Good Morning America” anchor George Stephanopoulos that Biden, 80, is fit to serve another term, even as polling shows most Democrats think the party should nominate another candidate in 2024. “I mean, George, I think that age is more than a chronological fact, to be very frank with you,” Harris told Stephanopoulos while touting Biden’s purported accomplishments. “It’s about, um, thinking about, ah, whether we...

While Joe Biden may not have a wooden heart, he definitely has a wooden head. Particularly given the number of whoppers he told during the State of Joe Biden’s Mind speech last night. Biden took credit for creating more jobs in two years than any administration had in four years. Well, that is incredibly misleading (but it is Joe Biden after all). The US economy saw an economic shutdown in 2020, then a “revival” after the government shutdowns ended. What Biden failed to mention in his SOTU address was that 12,539k jobs were added under Trump from May 2020 through...