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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – The Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne has been battered by fighting, drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows. The village has been a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Russian troops have been advancing in the area, pounding Kyiv’s depleted, ammunition-deprived forces with artillery, drones and bombs. Ukraine’s military has acknowledged the Russians have gained a “foothold” in Ocheretyne, which had a population of about 3,000 before the war, but says that fighting continues.

The U.S. manufacturing sector is getting battered by high levels of inflation of the costs of inputs that businesses are struggling to pass on to consumers. The prices of materials and components used by manufacturers rose in May by 2.4 percent compared with April, a blazing hot level of inflation rarely experienced before the current bout of rising prices.

The National Science Foundation has not heard from staff at the iconic Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria roared over the island. A spokeswoman for NSF, which owns the observatory, said the agency hadn't received any official communications from Arecibo since 8 a.m. Wednesday — before the eye of the storm passed over the telescope. Two of the groups that helps manage the observatory, SRI International and the Universities Space Research Association, also hadn't heard from their staff on site. One observatory staff member who weathered the storm in the town of Arecibo contacted the association via shortwave...

Betty Neumar, 79, dies in Louisiana after an illness. She was free on $300,000 bond on three counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder in the 1986 death of her fourth husband. CHARLOTTE, N.C.— An elderly grandmother who left a trail of five dead husbands in five states over decades has died, leaving a longer trail of questions for survivors of her spouses that might never be answered. Betty Neumar, 79, died late Sunday or early Monday in a hospital in Louisiana after an illness, her son-in-law Terry Sanders told The Associated Press. "She was tough country girl and fought...

Judge: 'Your belief is that you carried out a duty to your God and you did so with no mercy' Gang to get at least 19 years behind bars for grievous bodily harm with intent Jihadi fanatics thought they had got away with it but were caught following suspicions of terrorist plot Popular teacher: Gary Smith, 38, has been left traumatised after he was attacked by four men in East London Popular teacher: Gary Smith, 38, has been left traumatised after he was attacked by four men in East London He was an ‘able, enthusiastic and popular’ religious education teacher...

A western New York man accused of beheading his wife at the Muslim-oriented television station they founded will claim he was a victim of years of abuse at home. Muzzammil Hassan (moo-ZAHM'-mel HAH'-sahn) was in a Buffalo courtroom Friday, where he fired the lawyer who has been representing him for nearly a year and hired a new one with a different strategy. New lawyer Frank Bogulski says he'll pursue a battered-person defense.....

An Iranian man has filed for divorce and asked a court to protect him from his hefty wife, saying she lays into him every night when he gets home from work, the Etemad newspaper reported on Saturday. "Every night when I get home my wife, who is tall and strong, hits me," the paper quoted the man, identified only by his first name Behrouz, as telling the family court in Tehran. "I am a cleaner at a hotel and get home late at night. But my wife thinks I do other things after work." Behrouz, who is slightly built, said...

Battered Liberal SyndromeAugust 16, 2007 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Those of you liberals out there, I know you're out there, and I know you're battered. You are constantly upset. You're angry. The people you've been voting for, when they win, the problems don't go away. You don't have health insurance; you don't have this; you don't have that; destroying the planet, da-da-da. It's just miserable out there. Yet you keep voting for the same people and you end up being miserable. The cycle repeats. It's like Battered Wife Syndrome. This is Battered Liberal Syndrome. You get sweet talked, and then you...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2007 – About 100 troops from the New York Army National Guard are assisting in snow removal in upstate New York, where winter storms have left more than 10 feet of snow in some areas over the past two weeks. Soldiers of the New York National Guard's 827th Engineer Company wait aboard trucks in Syracuse, N.Y., for a convoy to begin during Feb. 14, 2007. More than 100 New York National Guard troops are helping remove snow in Oswego and Onondaga counties. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Peter K. Towse, USA  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image...

THESE ARE THE SENATORS WHO VOTED TO GIVE SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS TO ILLEGAL ALIENS REGARDLESS OF POLITICAL PARTY, THESE POLITICIANS NEED TO BE DEFEATED IN 2006, 2008 OR 2010, WHENEVER THEY NEXT COME UP FOR OFFICE. SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW; THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES NEEDS TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION -- THAT IS, UNLESS THEY DO NOT MIND SHARING THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY WITH FOREIGN WORKERS WHO NEVER PAID INTO IT AND AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE BEING LEFT OUT. Grouped by Home State Alabama: Alaska: Stevens (R-AK), Yea Arizona: McCain (R-AZ), Yea Arkansas: Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Pryor (D-AR),...

I am curious why none of the media covers the most important aspect of the Malvo shootings. If you look at Newspapers on the dates when the shootings are underway you discover something I find quite interesting. The shootings begin to dominate the news the day before the debate on the Iraq war starts and they catch them the day after the declaration of war??? If you ask most people "do you remember the debate about starting the second Iraq war", they will all answer "yes of course". But if you followup with the question "name one point in the...

I recently received a reply to a post that stated: "This should be beneath a "freeper". Sad." So I asked.. what is it that makes a FReeper? My reply (and I will admit was tasteless) was also questioning. It stirred controversy and was removed? Why Moderators? Can you not tell me? Did it not meet with your "FReeper" mentality? According to all posted guidelines it should be listed but no, you chose to delete it. Yes.. I'm the first one IBTZ, I'm sure you'll nick me for speaking up..

Darlene Hilker is an unusual woman. It is not because she was caught up in domestic violence; that's a common crime. Nor is it because she was the abuser; research increasingly reveals that men are often victims of domestic violence. She is unusual because, on a judge's order, the Florida woman became one of the first to be enrolled in the Women Who Batter intervention program run by Domestic Abuse Shelter Homes. The 26-week program is being watched as a potential model for use nationwide.

Fellow Americans, there comes a time every mans life when we must give up ourselves before we are worthy to recieve. There comes a time in this war on terror when in order to protect liberty, we have to give it up in the mean time for safty. That's right folks. Today, Americans have forsaken the creator for the creation and have decided that they would value our "civil liberties" than protecting western civilization and rich white people from the tender mercies of radical Islamic terrorists. Selfish liberals insist and whine that Bush has no right to spy on Americans...

Yaa, you repukes are not doing so well, huh? Imagine, you repukes control the presidency, both houses of Congress, and appointed 7 of the 9 Supreme Court justices. Yet the Supreme Court thre out sodomy laws in all 50 states and recognized the right of government to seize land for any reason. And you couldn't pass your Social Security changes could you? Sorry, that was your last shot. Come November, we're going to start seeing more Democratic faces in the House. It's the end for you guys. You guys are celebrating when Bush's numbers go *up* to 45%. Then Faux...

Bush’s giant Right Wing Noise Machine (RWNM) loves to preach about the Bush economic miracle. In fact, the RWNM’s current thinking is Bush doesn’t spend enough time talking about his economic triumphs. If only he did, then everyone would fall in line and believe in the great Bush economic miracle. There is one problem with this argument: it’s a lie. Any way you look at the Bush economy, it comes up short. Today, I want to compare Bush’s job creation record with other economic recoveries. As usual, Bush comes up way short. The national Bureau of Economic Research has identified...

Why does anybody support George w Bush as President? He is clearly the worst President I have ever seen -- a complete disaster. And before you say anything, I have been a registered Republican for 25 years.

After reading all of the crap that people have been saying regarding Adult Private Social Clubs, I felt that I had to post an article and give my opinion. I am sick and tired of all the religous groups that are saying that there are drugs, prostitution, minors, non-consenting people, and just immoral people at these clubs! First of all, who do these people think they are to decide what is morally right or wrong for me? I believe that I have a good set of morals. I am a law abiding, tax paying citizen, I work full time and...

Lies of omission about 9/11 -- stoking fears of terrorism THEY WANT YOU TO BE AFRAID The following post was censored by freerepublic.com shortly after it was posted on their "public" forum on 9/11/04. That forum is designed to appear as though it is a community forum open to all, but this post only received three responses before it and its replies were deleted, and a repeat posting at 4 am PST on 9/20/04 didn't stay online for 5 minutes! Someone is apparently watching closely over the content of the freerepublic.com forums and censoring them 24/7 (though they might have...

Many argue that communism will never be possible because of "human nature". The essence of this false argument is the belief that a communist society would consist of an all-powerful central government that would tell everybody what to do--and would therefore undermine the creative initiative of individuals and the search for happiness. • This argument is based on two false assumptions: (1) It assumes that a communist society will look like the former Soviet Union, or the current China, North Korea, etc (ie: corrupt police states with a feudal-style ruling class) (2) It assumes that people will only work in...