Free Republic

Electric car batteries could be used to boost power storage in the future, injecting electricity into the grid during times of scarcity or storing electricity during periods of excess, a new study found Tuesday. Renewable energy is essential for the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to well below two degrees Celsius, but the need to scale up quickly and the intermittency of wind and solar have raised concerns about meeting electricity demand. One way to help solve this problem is boosting the storage capacity of electricity grids, so that even when there is no sun or wind energy...

Senator Mitch McConnell blocked an attempt by Democrats on Tuesday to hold an immediate vote on increasing stimulus checks to $2,000 from $600, leaving the fate of the measure unclear as President Trump continued to demand the larger payouts and more Republicans publicly endorsed the idea. Instead, Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, provided vague assurances that the Senate would “begin the process” of discussing $2,000 checks and two other issues that Mr. Trump has demanded lawmakers address: election security and removing legal protections for social media platforms. Mr. McConnell would not say whether he planned separate...

Saudi authorities have arrested nine American citizens among 33 "terror" suspects rounded up over the past days, the Saudi Gazette newspaper reported on Jan. 31. Four Americans were arrested on Jan. 25 and five others over the past four days, the paper reported citing an unidentified source.

Terrorist Propaganda Picture of the Week. An elderly Iraqi woman shows two bullets which she says hit her house following an early coalition forces raid in the predominantly Shiite Baghdad suburb of Sadr City.

Who knew? First lady Laura Bush took over the podium from her husband at Saturday night's annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner and knocked 'em dead, keeping Washington's most powerful politicos in stitches as she worked the ballroom like a seasoned stand-up comic. CUT Although Washington's movers and shakers laughed at Mrs. Bush's performance, some in the press woke up with a Sunday morning hangover and began to criticize her monologue as immodest at best and downright bawdy at worst. "Laura Bush cracks risque jokes at the White House Correspondents' dinner," sniffed Agence France-Presse. CNN reporter Elaine Quijano, who attended...

Bad news for those of us who were using Compuserve's French web site to get fast access to Agence France Press (AFP) French language newswire. Compuserve and AFP have discontinued their hosting arrangement (http://hosting.afp.com/clients/compuserve/francais/der/), which allowed almost instantaneous access to the AFP newswire. It was a great source for breaking news, often beating AP, Reuters and other competitors. Compuserve users in France are now directed to AOL's slower version of the newswire packaged for Internet sites, which virtually all of the other French web sites carry. The articles are more detailed, but not hot-off-the-wire like the Compuserve-AFP site was. And...