Free Republic

Speculation has built for weeks over the presence of North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia inside Ukraine, and now President Zelensky has acknowledged their presence for the first time. North Korea, which on paper has one of the largest armies in the world and has been supplying munitions to Russia for months to feed what it calls its special military operation inside Ukraine for months may now be providing direct military aid, Kyiv states for the first time. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to admit what has been discussed by other world leaders and Ukraine war watchers for weeks in...

In the last month, two more major companies headquartered in the Bay Area announced that they would be leaving for presumably greener pastures out of state. One was the energy giant Chevron, and the other was X, the social media company that has been owned by Elon Musk since 2022. The Bay Area Council, a business advocacy group, seized on the moment to repeat a critique it has made on numerous occasions: “It’s an embarrassment for California that we’ve lost so many global companies because of misguided policies that make it incredibly difficult to do business here,” president and CEO...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian troops are locked in intense battles with the advancing Russian army in two border areas, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, while the death toll from a Russian apartment building collapse blamed on Ukrainian shelling rose to 15. Zelenskyy said “fierce battles” are taking place near the border in eastern and northeastern Ukraine as outgunned and outnumbered Ukrainian soldiers try to hold back a significant Russian ground offensive. “Defensive battles are ongoing, fierce battles, on a large part of our border area,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Sunday.

On Thursday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” White House Council of Economic Advisers member Heather Boushey stated that President Joe Biden is fighting inflation and its impact by “lowering the cost of student debt for all of those borrowers” with the student loan plan he announced earlier in the week. Boushey said, “[T]he President has been focused on using all the tools that he has at his disposal to make sure that he lowers costs for families. So, this is the first President to be negotiating with Big Pharma over prescription drug prices. That’s going to lower prices for...

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff said this week that there will be no “compromises” with Russia despite fears that Moscow will seek to capture more territory after the failures of the counteroffensive last year. Andriy Yermak, one of the most powerful figures in the Zelensky government, told POLITICO that Kyiv will not accept any terms in which the lines of conflict are frozen and that Ukraine will not accept any agreement that infringes upon its borders.

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that a key plank of President Joe Biden’s agenda to lower costs is by “creating incentives to dramatically improve the use of clean energy in the United States” and “over time, this will help lower household energy costs.” Host Andrea Mitchell asked, “[H]ow can you — I know you’re in Georgia today — help get the message to people that the economy is better and improve it even more, get those grocery prices down, help bring down the prices that people are feeling at their kitchen table?”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that her deepest condolences go out to the three U.S. service members killed in a drone attack by Iran-backed militants in Jordan, who she said were fighting on behalf “of this administration.” Co-host Mika Brzezinski said, “Is there anything new since we spoke with Admiral Kirby in the last hour in terms of the Biden administration’s plans to respond to what has happened?” Jean-Pierre said, “So nothing new to report back from what Admiral John Kirby shared with all of you about an hour or so ago. What...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited his country’s forces in Gaza on Monday as he insisted Israel would go full force with its attack amid international pressure for an end to the fighting. “With our heroic fighters in Gaza – fighting until victory!” Netanyahu’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter, stated Monday. The words accompanied a video that showed Netanyahu walking from a helicopter and then being escorted through scenes of bombed-out buildings with Israeli soldiers flanking him on both sides.

Chris Jankowski, the CEO of the PAC that has been footing the bill for much of DeSantis' bus travel around key battleground states, stepped down Wednesday, days after a group of other DeSantis allies announced the creation of a separate PAC, called Fight Right Inc. The move follows an account of vicious infighting between factions of DeSantis backers, NBC reported. Jeff Roe, the leading consultant for Never Back Down, reportedly got into a 'heated' argument with DeSantis advisor Scott Wagner during a budget meeting. a source told the network, in a stunning account of how the two men 'nearly came...

The governor of Oklahoma has been blocked by YouTube after posting a video in support of legalizing cockfighting. Republican Kevin Stitt threw his weight behind the blood sport with a filmed message to a rally and fundraiser for the state's gamefowl commission last week. 'Oklahomans like yourselves remain dedicated to the spirit of competition and comradery that runs deep in our communities,' he said in the clip that's still live on Vimeo. He added that while he couldn't attend the rally on November 12, the Republican would 'cheer them on from the sidelines.' YouTube has since flagged and taken down...

"Israeli forces are now operating, going from house to house looking for tunnel entrances, when they find one of those, they they usually destroy them." Hamas leadership is starting to fracture as IDF troops go from house to house, under intense mortar fire, blowing up tunnels, says Anshel Pffeffer who has been with IDF troops in Gaza reporting for The Times.

The Biden administration is ratcheting up pressure on the Israeli government to declare a “pause” in fighting against Hamas — even as Israel continues to push the terror organization into a corner. On Friday, as Breitbart News reported, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu firmly and publicly rejected calls for a “pause,” saying there would be no stop to the fighting until Hamas released the 240 hostages it still holds in Gaza.

EXCLUSIVE: Data shows assaults at KFCs nearly every day in England and Wales Most violent branch of the chain has been revealed as in Brixton, south London KFC fast food restaurants in England and Wales were the scene of a violent assault nearly every day of the year in 2022, new police crime logs reveal. Staff at the fried chicken takeaway joints face year-round aggression from angry and irate customers, and have to deal with punch-ups breaking out between diners. Now, new police data has revealed the most violent KFC branch is the one in Brixton, south London. The data...

Fighting between the army and paramilitary forces continued in Sudan Wednesday with air strikes and explosions heard throughout the capital, despite a US-brokered ceasefire that was due to come into effect on Tuesday evening.

EXCERPTS: KHARTOUM, Sudan -- A 24-hour cease-fire reportedly reached between Sudan's rival generals went into effect on Tuesday, but fighting continued in the capital and it was unclear whether it would hold. "The fighting remains underway," Atiya Abdulla Atiya of the Sudan Doctors' Syndicate told The Associated Press. "We are hearing constant gunfire." The truce between Sudan's military and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces came into effect at 6 p.m. local time on the fourth day of heavy fighting. The RSF immediately accused the military of violating the cease-fire, while there was no comment from the...

Most of us have seen highly-skilled Shaolin monks in movies, where they punish their opponents with an array of slick moves. Well, in a recent kung fu boxing championship match in Guangdong, a Chinese man claiming to be a Shaolin monk was unceremoniously knocked out by his opponent in under two minutes. The self-claimed Shaolin monk, Shi Yongjun, was up against a boxing amateur known as Ah Jun. The match took place at a shopping mall in Guangdong last Friday (April 7), reported Chinese media. Among the participants were professional boxers, traditional martial artists and even influencers. Videos of Shi's...

China’s Zhilei Zhang inflicts shock defeat on Joe Joyce to set up potential Usyk world title fight By Chris King • 16 April 2023 • 1:38 Image of British boxer Joe Joyce. Credit: Twitter@JoeJoyceBoxing British heavyweight boxer Joe Joyce fell to a shock defeat by China’s Zhilei Zhang after being stopped in the sixth round due to an eye injury. British heavyweight boxer Joe Joyce fell to his first-ever professional loss this evening, Saturday, April 15. His fight with China’s Zhilei Zhang was stopped on the advice of the doctor in the sixth round after suffering a nasty cut to...

A Texas substitute teacher named Natally Garcia has been fired and is facing criminal charges after turning her middle school classroom for 12 and 13-year-olds into a fight club where she urged them to engage in bloody brawls. Garcia, 24, was referred to police by the school after the incident, according to an official with Mesquite Independent School District who spoke with the Daily Mail on Saturday. The brutal and shocking scene played out on Wednesday at Kimbrough Middle School in Mesquite, which is on the outskirts of Dallas. It was partially recorded by a student on a cell phone...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday night that fighting in Bakhmut and throughout eastern Ukraine remains “very tough.” “It is very tough in the east, very painful,” Zelensky said in his nightly address to the Ukrainian people. “We need to destroy the enemy’s military might, and we will. Bilohorivka and Maryinka, Avdiivka and Bakhmut, Vuhledar and Kamyanka — and all other places where our future is being decided. Where our future, the future of all Ukrainians, is being fought for.”

The NHL has a culture problem. It oversees the only professional sport that condones fighting during games among its players, so much so that extracurricular fights are part of the game’s identity, its DNA. Case in point: It has a designated major penalty for fighting because fighting has always been prevalent. The time has arrived to stop such egregious endorsement and end fighting for good. Skill, rather than fights, has served other professional sports well, with fights during games frowned upon. Other sports leagues have instituted policies that address and deter fighting, using combinations of suspensions, fines and buy-in from...