Free Republic

Householders who flout air pollution rules on wood-burning stoves could face on-the-spot £300 fines and even a criminal record after the government promised to clamp down on the oldest and dirtiest appliances. Local authorities responsible for enforcing smoke control rules in urban areas have found it difficult to take people to court and provide evidence beyond reasonable doubt. English councils have issued only 17 fines over six years, despite more than 18,000 complaints. Now the government has instructed local authorities to consider using powers in the 2021 Environment Act to issue on-the-spot civil penalties, which can range from £175 to...

China’s state-run medicare program recently failed to reach an agreement with Pfizer to import more Paxlovid, claiming the COVID-19 treatment drug is too expensive. This is despite the drug being offered to the state at a reduced rate in comparison with that offered to other developed countries. Lack of Paxlovid will leave only Azvudine, an anti-HIV drug the Chinese communist regime rushed through development and re-branded as an anti-COVID drug, as a treatment option.An ivermectin bottle next to a positive blood sample of COVID-19. (Novikov Aleksey/Shutterstock)Given the recent explosive spread of COVID and the resulting skyrocketing rates of hospitalization, finding...

LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - A new song by a well-known Russian comic that satirizes Moscow's war in Ukraine and its supporters has been referred to prosecutors by a patriotic organization which believes it discredits the army, now a criminal offense. The song, by Semyon Slepakov, is called "Lullaby" and likens Russia, with dark irony, to a mother who glorifies the idea of dying on the battlefields of Ukraine and believes it is her sons' duty to lay down their lives for her own greatness. [skip] 'LATTE AND CHEESECAKE' In the song, which includes the line "there's nothing better than...

The great nightmare of the Cold War was that giant Russian tank armies would not only crush their immediate neighbours but also sweep across the north German plains, hug western cities like Hamburg and hold them hostage, confounding all our calculations about a cautious escalation ladder. Now we have promised to supply Ukraine with a Nato tank army, there is a new version of this bad dream: is the war set to run out of control? It is difficult to see the relatively small number of pledged tanks matching their billing of becoming a game changer. At the Battle of...

Jan 31 (Reuters)-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he would be willing to serve as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine if asked by both countries and the United States...

Hungary has proposed to nominate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the Nobel Peace Prize, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto during today's press conference with Turkish FM Mevlut Cavushoglu, Trend reports. Within this context, the efforts of the Turkish President peace between Ukraine and Russia were particularly noted...

In Egypt, homosexuality is highly stigmatised, and there have long been allegations that police are hunting LGBT people online. Now BBC News has seen evidence of how the authorities are using dating and social apps to do this. All victims' names have been changed Having grown up in Egypt, I am aware of the pervasive homophobia that permeates every part of its society. But friends there tell me that the atmosphere has recently become far more brutal, and the tactics for tracking down LGBT people more sophisticated. There is no explicit law against homosexuality in Egypt, but our investigation has...

@arbinot_jim Oh, Peking will build its forces to outmatch those of the USA and then encourage and pressure Taiwan to "request" reunion with the PRC. Ultimately Washington won't risk war fur Taiwan, or Japan. The contrasting obsession with decrepit Russia is weird

President Joe Biden, who is now sending tanks to Ukraine, warned in March that doing so would result in World War III. Biden announced last week that the United States would send 31 Abrams M1 main battle tanks to Ukraine in what amounts to an escalation of American support for Ukraine’s conflict with Russia. Biden said: With spring approaching, Ukrainian forces are working to defend the territory they hold and preparing for additional counter offenses to liberate their land. They need to be able to counter Russia’s evolving tactics and strategy on the battlefield in the very near term. They...

As a follow up to our previous item asking questions about our grand strategy toward Russia, Iran, and the Ukranian war (such as whether the Biden Administration has a grand strategy at all), this item from today’s Wall Street Journal jumps out:Yet the largest ground war in Europe since World War II isn’t translating into boom times for U.S. defense contractors. Hobbled by supply chain disruptions, a tight labor market and a Pentagon procurement process that can take years, arms makers have been struggling to respond to the soaring demand. . .When the Pentagon ordered new Stinger antiaircraft missiles—widely used...

President Joe Biden’s deputies are on track to remove the loopholed Title 42 border barrier on May 11. In practical terms, the Title 42 barrier is “almost meaningless” because it is being used to delay a declining share of the migrants that Biden’s officials are welcoming, said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

The US military is leading a team that is helping to repair Ukraine's military hardware over the phone. These virtual exchanges often take place during battle, the Associated Press reported. Ukrainian troops, meanwhile, are pushing artillery systems to the limits to keep Russia at bay.

While Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been pushing back against demands of Ukraine for fighter jets now after the tanks, there have been those in Germany eager to support Ukraine to destroy Russia. They have filled their heads with such propaganda that Russia will conquer all of Europe if it is not completely destroyed NOW. They are placing not just the lives of European citizens at risk but the entire future of Europe as a whole. I know Ukraine very well and the Neonazis there will never stop. Russia must protect the Donbas for they would actually slaughter every ethnic Russian...

President Biden will welcome President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil to the White House on Feb. 10, the White House announced on Tuesday. The meeting is intended “to further strengthen the close relationship between the United States and Brazil,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. The two presidents are expected to discuss the United States’ support for Brazil’s democracy and how they can promote inclusion and democratic values around the world. Their focus on promoting inclusion and democratic values comes ahead of the upcoming Summit for Democracy in March. They also will discuss addressing issues like...

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Republican leadership and key players on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, lobbying to maintain support of Ukraine in its fight against Russia. Johnson met with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and is slated to speak to the Republican Study Committee on Wednesday. Johnson is making the rounds to Republican lawmakers as GOP support for the level of U.S. funding to Ukraine has started to falter. As Republicans have taken on their new majority in the House, conservative members have voiced concerns about the ongoing flow of U.S....

Eagerly awaiting the arrival of state-of-the-art tanks from Western allies, Ukrainian tank commander Ihor Levchenko told ABC News he's confident that compared to the "rusty and old" contraptions he now operates, the prized armored combat vehicles will give his country "a very significant advantage on the battlefield." Levchenko showed ABC News the Soviet-era-design tanks he and his battalion now use, concealed in a small woodland in eastern Ukraine and within earshot of the constant thud of artillery from the front lines a few miles away. He moved seamlessly and quickly around his T-72 tank, hopping on and off and maneuvering...

Democrats in Minnesota are moving forward with a plan to give driver’s licenses to potentially 77,000 eligible illegal aliens. On Monday, the Democrat-controlled Minnesota state house passed a bill that will eliminate the legal residency requirement for obtaining a driver’s license in the state. Instead, tens of thousands of illegal aliens, possibly 77,000, would be able to secure licenses to drive. Now, the bill heads to the state senate, where Democrats hold 34 seats and Republicans hold 33 seats. Already, Democrat Gov. Tim Walz has said he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

Border crossers, who arrived on buses from Texas, are still not leaving a New York City hotel where they were placed, for free, by Mayor Eric Adams (D). Instead of shelters, the border crossers are demanding to be set up in “vacant luxury apartments” on Billionaires Row. Last week, as Breitbart News reported, city officials sought to move single male adult border crossers out of the Watson Hotel in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan where Adams’ administration had initially placed them as part of his migrant hotels plan. Many of the border crossers, though, refused to leave and set...

A former Kremlin official has said that prior to Russian President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization order in September 2022, Russia's Airborne Forces had lost up to half of their personnel. Mikhail Zvinchuk, creator of the Rybar Telegram channel, and former Kremlin military press agent, was speaking on his state TV show. An excerpt of the program was posted on Twitter by Dmitri, a member of War Translated, an independent project that translates materials about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. "The creator of Rybar channel who now has a live TV program admits that Russian VDV forces lost 50% of personnel...

With the some in the Pentagon quietly pushing to send fighter jets to Zelenskyy, Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, told Newsmax's "Spicer & Co." on Monday that before long, the Ukraine president will be requesting American troops. "I think Joe Biden has made it clear, he'll send them anything," Nehls said. "We're sending them everything they seem to be asking for. "Eventually, [Zelenskyy] will be asking for the American warfighter, the American troops."