Free Republic

Story highlights Elon Musk said SpaceX restricted Starlink in Ukraine over its alleged use for offensive drone strikes, claiming the loophole had been closed and access restored. He warned that Ukraine’s frontline would “collapse immediately” if Starlink were switched off.

A 12-year legal campaign resulted in Norway’s seizing a Russian research vessel in Svalbard, deep into the Arctic Circle SVALBARD, Norway—This summer, Russia’s Geographical Society leased an ice-strengthened vessel for an expedition to map Russia’s historic presence on Norway’s Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.The sun shone and the waters were calm, the passengers on the Professor Molchanov recalled. What they didn’t know was that Norwegian police would board it at its first stop, the Russian-run mining town of Barentsburg, with a court order to seize the ship and its paperwork.The Russians were in no mood to cooperate.The episode last month in...

Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, has threatened flight bans, visa bans and the freezing of Pakistani nationals’ assets if Pakistan continues to refuse to take back Shabir Ahmed, the ringleader of the Rochdale child grooming gang, who is now free in England. “If Pakistan still refuses to take back Shabir Ahmed, I will not hesitate to impose flight bans, visa bans and even freeze their nationals’ assets,” Farage wrote on X, posting a video with the message. “If they want a fight, I’ll give them one.” In the video, he went further. “I’m sorry, Pakistan, but you need...

British Columbia has elected a Conservative government for the first time in 98 years in a landslide victory that could be a warning for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) was ousted in the key federal battleground on Saturday, after nine years in power, following the snap election called two years early by Premier David Eby.

Brazilians are going to the polls on Sunday in a highly unpredictable runoff in which the leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is attempting an unprecedented comeback against the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who won the first-round vote. Bolsonaro’s surprise victory despite not leading most polls made him the favourite three weeks ago, but since then Lula’s campaign has gained ground, and the two go into the contest virtually tied. The gap between them was the narrowest ever recorded in a first round, at less than 2% of the vote, and the 80-year-old president has spent much of the...

Russian drone and missile attacks on multiple Ukrainian regions killed at least four people on Saturday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post to social media on Sunday.Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 153 drones along with an unspecified number of cruise missiles into the country in its latest round of attacks. The air force said that 119 drones were shot down or otherwise suppressed, with impacts reported in 15 locations....snip...Zelenskyy has repeatedly criticized the U.S. for failing to ensure an adequate supply of missiles. The Ukrainian leader told ABC News during an interview in Kyiv last week...

Hundreds of protesters stormed the Roman Colosseum and clashed with police at the historic gates as the demonstrations in France spread to Italy over the weekend. The protesters, many of them young and waving Palestinian flags, were seen cheering and yelling inside the 2,000-year-old arena during the demonstrations in Rome as security forces pushed them out. The tense scene was one of many across the country on Saturday as thousands marched in the streets of Rome, Milan, Turin and other cities to protest the current cost-of-living crisis and the ongoing war in Gaza. The Colosseum had notably upped its security...

China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, known collectively as CRINK, are seeking to undermine U.S. leadership by weakening the rules-based international order. Human rights violations and trafficking at the Alabuga complex in the Russian town of Yelabuga illustrate the increasingly complex ties among the CRINK regimes. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 created a demand for drones that Moscow could not initially meet. Its answer was an arrangement to manufacture the Iranian-designed Shahed on Russian soil. This report contends that the burgeoning labor force that powers the Alabuga drone factory has become a site of gross human rights...

“ Palestinian Scholar Nidhal Siam At Al-Aqsa Rally: Macron, You Lowlife, Soon We Will Conquer Paris And Rome, Rule Europe With Islam Palestinian scholar Nidhal "Abu Ibrahim" Siam spoke at a rally at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, organized by Hizbu ut-Tahrir, and which was aired on Al-Waqiyah TV (Lebanon) on October 30, 2020. He said that the only response to France and President Macron is to declare Jihad and that the armies of the Caliphate will conquer Rome and France and remove Macron and his "corrupt" civilization. He added that the civilization of France and the West, which he said...

Wes Streeting has said Britain must be ready for war in 1,000 days as Russia intensifies its hybrid warfare against Nato. The Defence Secretary warned that Britain’s enemies could be in a position to attack the country by 2030 and it must “be ready with our allies to fight and win”. Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Streeting said: “My defining priority... is to make sure that this country is ready to fight and win a war. “To prevent the worst, we have to prepare for it. In the first instance, that means expanding our capabilities so our adversaries think twice...

Bolsonaro, the son of jailed ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro, is the narrow favorite to win Sunday's runoff after nabbing 47 percent of the vote over Lula's 45 percent in the first round. Saturday's polls published by the Datafolha institute and Quaest give Bolsonaro 51 percent of voting intentions, while Lula has 49 percent. Both polls show a difference between the candidates that falls within the margin of error, locking them in a statistical tie. No first-round loser in the history of Brazilian democracy has bounced back to win the runoff, but Lula's campaign has regained momentum with massive protests and an...

Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be. Starshield, a different system, is controlled by the US government. What they decide to do is up to them. Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week. Starlink remains critical to the defense of Ukraine, as it is the only system that cannot be jammed or blown up, at least for now. Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse...

Adolf Hitler's Alpine mountain retreat, known as the Eagle's Nest, was engulfed in flames on Friday night while police arrested a 33-year-old male suspect. The residence, called the Kehlsteinhaus, is above the town of Berchtesgaden. It was one of several buildings in the area used by the Nazi dictator and his entourage during World War Two. Hitler also used the area as a backdrop for propaganda films portraying him as a lover of animals and nature. Local media reported that site had been "largely destroyed", with the public urged to avoid the area.

Strikes and blockades by truckers in Southern Italy this week have left many supermarket shelves bare. Those strikes and blockades in the south were matched by protests, which turned to riots in the north. Both movements were protesting the same issue: affordability. In the north, students marched against low wages, high taxes, and quickly rising grocery and fuel costs. In the south, farmers and truckers have blockaded ports and highways in protest of those same high fuel costs. The high costs are associated with fuel shortages stemming from the war in Iran, and, on Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s...

Two foreign nationals have been detained for the burning of Star Link antennas at a secret facility near Sofia, Bulgaria in what authorities are investigating as a terrorist attack, Faktor.bg reported, citing Prosecutor’s Office sources. The two men were arrested on Monday on suspicion of intentionally setting fire to antennas supporting Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite communications system. They hold German passports but are not ethnic Germans, and entered Bulgaria legally through the Kulata border checkpoint.Find Embassies The incident occurred overnight between October 9 and 10, when masked individuals set fire to 11 antennas, destroying them completely. Security cameras recorded the...

US President Donald Trump renewed calls for a change in Ukraine’s leadership on Monday as his war of words with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy continued to intensify. “I think it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine,” Trump stated in Washington DC following criticism from Zelenskyy over the US leader’s decision to ease sanctions pressure on Russia. These latest comments followed on from Trump’s recent accusation that Zelenskyy “doesn’t want to end this war,” and his suggestion that Ukraine should get a new president “who can make a deal.” Many of Trump’s most prominent supporters have backed...

First Lady Melania Trump successfully secured a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, localized to the city of Oleshky. Both nations agreed to temporarily stop all military action in Oleshky to allow for humanitarian aid to enter and to prepare a civilian evacuation through a designated safe passageway. The localized ceasefire will begin on October 29, 2026. “The situation in Oleshky is dire. Oleshky is a front-line war city on the brink of disaster. Oleshky’s remaining population is comprised primarily of elderly residents who urgently need medical attention, medicine, food, and clean water,” said First Lady Melania Trump. “The people of...

Behind a wire fence lies a vast gaping wound of earth. Before Google’s arrival a few months ago, an estimated quarter of a million trees occupied the 330 hectares (815 acres) of forest near the town of Muhos in rural northern Finland. Now they are all gone. After the tech company illegally stripped the entire area to build a datacentre – taking even the top soil with it – all that remains is a vast expanse of mud indented with the trail marks of machinery, puddles and mounds of earth, roots and branches. Residents say that brown water flowing off...

As arsonists, rioters and looters swarmed the streets of Paris Sunday night, French police were completely ineffective and President Emmanuel Macron and his wife were off attending a concert, which featured Céline Dion.Well-planned rioting and thievery are taking place throughout France and other European countries. Some say the actions are coordinated by the extreme far left and will continue unabated. France is still six months away from its next presidential election.Europe is on fire.Its victims are on their own.Extreme anti-gun laws throughout the continent have helped fuel the fires.France has some of the strictest anti-gun laws in the world.For a...

Gunmen attacked during funeral procession, state-owned TV says Witness says assailants fired for several minutes King says attack will be met with 'harshest retaliation' Authorities say extremists carried out terrorist attack UN chief condemns attack AL-MUSHAIRFEH, Jordan, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Seven people were killed on Friday when gunmen opened fire ​during a funeral at a church in Jordan, said the head of the country's Public Security Directorate, in a rare attack ‌on Jordan's Christian minority that authorities described as a terrorist act by extremists. Speaking at a press conference, Major General Abdallah al-Maaytah said most of those wounded in...