Free Republic

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy Shandong Carrier Strike Group is operating in the Philippine Sea, being shadowed separately by Republic of China Navy and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyers, according to both countries. Meanwhile, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Wednesday – shortly before its leader, Kim Jong Un, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia – marking the first time North Korea has conducted such a launch while its leader was overseas. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense in a Wednesday social media post stated that a total of 35 PLA...

Daily dose of gloom and doom and propaganda, fog of war, gaslighting and whatever else you might want to know about Europe, Russia, and Ukraine that the mainstream media isn't tell you!! Putin, Kim, Zelensky, troop movements, two steps forward and one step back.

More than half of Germans believe work is not worthwhile after the government's planned increase in welfare payments and child benefits, a survey showed on Tuesday. The government said it was raising benefits, first introduced in 2005, to fight child poverty and help citizens cope with inflation, but added it did not want to deter people from work altogether. Welfare payments, dubbed "citizens' money", for more than 5.5 million jobless in Germany will rise to 563 euros ($605.06)from 502 euros per month for single people from next year. Rent and health insurance costs are also covered by the government for...

The controversial ultra-low emission zone was expanded to cover the whole of Greater London this week. Now, the Metropolitan Police has revealed the force received 159 reports of ULEZ cameras being stolen and 351 reports of cameras being damaged between April and August. More than 500 crimes relating to stealing and damaging ULEZ cameras have been committed in the last five months, the Metropolitan Police have revealed. A crime can include more than one offence and the number has almost doubled in the past month because by 1 August, the Met had recorded 288 crimes. The ULEZ was expanded to...

Aug 30 (Reuters) - Russia's military is repelling a drone attack at an airport in the airport in the city of Pskov in western Russia, where four transport aircraft were damaged, officials said early on Wednesday. "The Ministry of Defence is repelling a drone attack on Pskov airport," Pskov Governor Mikhail Vedernikov wrote on the Telegram messaging app. According to initial reports, he said, there were no injuries. Tass news agency, quoting emergency services, said four Il-76 transport aircraft, long the workhorse of the

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa have invited six other countries to join the BRICS grouping next year to create a geopolitical counterweight to the G7 and potentially a framework to reduce dependence on Western financial systems. The expansion of BRICS could have important implications for energy investment and trade, since it brings together large mineral resource holders and major oil producers, as well as some of the fastest growing energy consumers. Q1: What is the latest development? A1: BRICS was first formed with four countries in 2009, and one year later, South Africa joined the multilateral forum at...

Both the Treasury and the BOE knew when the APF was implemented that its early profits (£123.8 billion as of September last year) would become losses as interest rates rose. However, the pace at which the central bank has had to tighten monetary policy in a bid to tame inflation means the costs have risen more sharply than anticipated. Higher rates have driven down the value of the purchased government bonds — known as gilts — just as the BOE began selling them at a loss. uly’s public finances data showed that the Treasury transferred £14.3 billion over the month...

Peterson has generated controversy in recent years with several posts calling out transgender ideology, politicians, and other topics. Last year, the psychologist was suspended from Twitter, now X, for rebuking transgender actor Elliot Page. Peterson posted, "Remember when pride was a sin? And Ellen Page just had her breasts removed by a criminal physician." Peterson was let back onto the platform following Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media company. That same year, Peterson also trashed Sports Illustrated for featuring a plus-sized model on its May cover, posting, "Sorry. Not beautiful. And no amount of authoritarian tolerance is going to...

Citgo said it discovered contaminated gas at the Port Tampa Bay terminal on Saturday as a result of a “product routing issue” and immediately ordered a shutdown of the fuel “rack,” or pipeline, that was mixing the diesel fuel with gasoline.

Rite Aid Corp (RAD.N) is preparing to file for bankruptcy in coming weeks to address lawsuits the company is facing over its alleged role in the sale of opioids, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the plan. Shares of the pharmacy retail chain operator fell 35% to 94 cents in afternoon trade. The Chapter 11 filing would cover Rite Aid’s more than $3.3 billion debt load and pending legal allegations that it oversupplied prescription painkillers, the newspaper reported. Rite Aid did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Regionally focused Rite Aid operates...

The Biden administration has repeatedly prioritized policies critics argue are politicized environmental efforts which will make conservation and recreational activities on public lands more difficult. Rules coming down from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could make land unavailable for hunting, fishing and even hiking, outdoorsmen argue. "It really seems to show to me the lack of consideration and thought that is being put in from bureaucrats from D.C. making decisions about how public lands, in the West predominantly, are being managed," Sarah Montalbano, an education policy analyst at the Alaska Policy Forum told...

U.S. investments in around 50 blacklisted Chinese companies have drawn the attention of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. The committee on Tuesday announced it sent separate letters to MSCI and BlackRock asking for more information about the firms’ facilitation of U.S. investments into those Chinese companies. The Chinese companies were blacklisted over claims of supporting China’s military or alleged human rights abuses, the committee said. It noted the initial review did not include one of the largest blacklists, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Entity List. “The true scale is likely much larger,” the...

The Bureau of Labor statistics just revised the number of jobs recently gained in the US downward by hundreds of thousand of jobs. This is on top of hundreds of thousands of monthly revisions that we've already seen this year. This is yet more proof that the narrative of the "strong labor market" is a lie. They can hide behind rosy headlines and political grand standing, but as always the proof is in the data.

Aug 22 (Reuters) - S&P Global cut its credit ratings and outlook on multiple U.S. regional banks on Monday, saying higher funding costs and troubles in the commercial real estate (CRE) sector would likely test their credit strength. A sharp rise in interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve is fueling liquidity concerns as costs tied to funding deposits surge, the S&P said in a summarized note. The agency cut its ratings on Associated Banc-Corp (ASB.N) and Valley National Bancorp (VLY.O) on funding risks and higher reliance on brokered deposits, while UMB Financial Corp (UMBF.O), Comerica Bank (CMA.N) and KeyCorp...

HONG KONG/NEW YORK, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Embattled developer China Evergrande Group (3333.HK) has filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection as part of one of the world's biggest debt restructurings, as anxiety grows over China's worsening property crisis and its impact on the weakening economy. China unexpectedly lowered several key interest rates earlier this week in a bid to shore up struggling activity and is expected to cut prime loan rates on Monday, but analysts say moves so far have been too little, too late, with much more forceful measures needed to stem the economy's downward spiral. Once China's top-selling developer,...

The Walker Art Center has received millions of dollars in taxpayer funds through Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. The Walker Art Center held a pagan ritual geared toward families last weekend, with a performance called “Lilit the Empathic Demon.” “Demons have a bad reputation, but maybe we’re just not very good at getting to know them,” an event description reads. The event, which took place at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, was part of the Walker’s Free First Saturdays program and featured artist Tamar Ettun who creates “demon traps.” “Families are invited to create a vessel to trap the demon...

On Monday, Hawaiian governor Josh Green announced that his administration was considering acquiring properties in the seaside resort town of Lahaina that had been destroyed by the recent wildfires. He vowed to prevent foreign buyers from swooping in to exploit the tragedy, suggesting the state was better suited to take control of the land "I'm already thinking of ways for the state to acquire that land so that we can put it into workforce housing, to put it back into families, or make it open spaces in perpetuity as a memorial to the people who were lost," Green said while...

— Tyson Foods Inc. is closing four chicken processing plants as it looks to lower costs. The company said Monday that the plants being closed are located in North Little Rock, Arkansas; Corydon, Indiana; Dexter, Missouri and Noel, Missouri. Tyson said that it will shift production to other facilities and halt operations at the four plants in the first two quarters of fiscal 2024. The company currently estimates having $300 million to $400 million in total charges, based on a preliminary analysis. Tyson launched a plan in fiscal 2022 where it targeted $1 billion in productivity savings by the end...

Prospect Medical Holdings, a chain that owns hospitals, as well as more than 165 outpatient facilities, said ransomware hackers had breached its system. Sixteen hospitals and more than a hundred other medical facilities across the United States are offline after the largest cyberattack on a U.S. hospital system since last year. Prospect Medical Holdings, a chain that owns hospitals, as well as more than 165 outpatient facilities, in California, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island has taken its main computer network offline, a spokesperson said Friday. The company first took its national computer systems offline Tuesday after discovering a ransomware attack,...

US officials are searching for Chinese malware hidden in various defense systems that could disrupt military communications and resupply operations, The New York Times reported Saturday. The administration believes malicious computer code has been hidden inside “networks controlling power grids, communications systems and water supplies that feed military bases,” officials told the Times. The discovery has heightened concerns that hackers could “disrupt US military operations in the event of a conflict,” according to the Times. The two nations have been increasingly at odds over Taiwan as well as over China’s actions in the Indo-Pacific. One congressional official told the newspaper...