Free Republic

The Defense Ministry says Iron Beam is now operational at scale, offering low-cost laser interception of drones, rockets, missiles, and mortars, and reducing reliance on costly interceptors.The Defense Ministry on Sunday announced that the Iron Beam paradigm-shattering laser anti-air defense has been rolled out in the field. Already in June, the ministry and Rafael, the lead company of multiple defense tech companies involved, including Elbit and others, had announced that Lite Beam, a smaller relative of Iron Beam, was operational. In mid-September, the Defense Ministry announced that Iron Beam was operational and that a full series of batteries would be...

Peak oil once struck fear into policymakers, businesses and consumers as a looming moment when the world might suck the last drops of black gold from the ground, like a straw reaching the bottom of a milkshake. The idea was popularized in the 1950s by geologist M. King Hubbert, who warned that US oil production would follow a bell‑shaped curve and eventually hit an unavoidable peak as fields matured and declined. Climate change has flipped the narrative. Instead of the fear of scarcity, the debate now centers on when demand will finally peak as the shift to electric vehicles (EV)...

For over a year, Elías Padilla had been saving up to make the journey from Honduras to the United States as an undocumented immigrant. As an Uber driver in the snarled streets of the capital, Tegucigalpa, it hasn't been easy for him to put money aside. On bad days he makes as little as $12 (£9) in 12 hours. Now, though, his plans are on hold. The images of undocumented immigrants in major US cities being dragged away by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, their wrists in zip-ties, have deterred at least one would-be immigrant in Central America from...

After its emergence from the Soviet collapse, the new Russia grappled with the complex issue of developing a national identity that could embrace the radical contradictions of Russia’s past and foster integration with the West while maintaining Russian distinctiveness. The Ukraine War has significantly changed public attitudes toward this question, and led to a consolidation of most of the Russian population behind a set of national ideas. This has contributed to the resilience that Russia has shown in the war, and helped to frustrate Western hopes that economic pressure and heavy casualties would undermine support for the war and for...

Labour’s attack on the oil and gas industry means no new wells have been drilled in the British North Sea this year, for the first time in more than half a century. Activity in UK waters has dried up as energy firms reel from the windfall tax on profits and Ed Miliband’s ban on licences for exploratory drilling in new areas. And analysis of Budget documents shows the so-called Energy Profits Levy is raising billions of pounds less than expected – leading to calls for it to be scrapped to save the industry from collapse. The levy was forecast to...

The UN Security Council will convene an emergency session on Monday to discuss Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, with members slated to condemn Jerusalem’s move. Israel announced the step on Friday, days before Somalia is slated to take over the presidency of the Security Council. In the announcement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the recognition was “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords,” and that the countries would cooperate in “economic fields, on agriculture, [and] in the fields of social development.” The decision was met with anger from several regional powers who accused Israel of undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday announced today the official recognition of the Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state. Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, and the President of the Republic of Somaliland signed a joint and mutual declaration. “This declaration is in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, signed at the initiative of President Trump,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office. Prime Minister Netanyahu congratulated the President of Somaliland, Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdallah, and praised his leadership and commitment to promoting stability and peace. The Prime Minister invited the President to pay an official visit...

~A happy third day of Christmastide to you. Waking on Boxing Day to hear that President Trump had dispatched the USAF across the Atlantic to take out the compounds of "scum", I naturally assumed he was referring to 10 Downing Street: A teacher in an English school was accused of posing a risk to children and referred to the Government's counter-terrorism programme after showing Donald Trump videos to his US politics class... Henley College, a sixth-form in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, with more than 2,000 students, reported the politics lecturer to the local child safeguarding authority, which concluded a referral to Prevent,...

Europe stands at a crossroads: compete meaningfully in the AI race or stick to its world-leading climate goals. “It’s like a fork in the road moment for Europe,” Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives told CNBC. The bloc can either “play in the future” or risk “missing a big part of this technology wave.” The dilemma is compounded by the region’s mandates for green energy. Globally, energy is the biggest bottleneck for building out AI-related data center projects. While the U.S. fires up fossil-fuel plants to power its build-out, Europe requires developers to disclose energy and water efficiency measures, adding red tape...

More than four years ago, the military ousted Myanmar’s freely elected government at gunpoint. The upcoming polls will be a total sham.On December 28, Myanmar’s military will hold the first phase of a long-promised election. But don’t be fooled: The voting is set to be a total sham. Military chief Min Aung Hlaing, who led the 2021 coup, has urged his enemies to put down their weapons and take part in the election. He has also promised that the military administration will transfer power to whatever government is formed after the vote. But few observers are putting much stock...

The Washington Post editorial board continues to challenge its progressive readers today with an editorial taking a shot at socialized medicine in the UK. As the paper notes, the UK's National Health Service is in the midst of an annual winter crisis reminiscent of COVID. The cause this year is the regular flu which is overwhelming hospitals and causing the nation's health secretary to warn sick people to stay home unless absolutely necessary.The NHS has existed for years in a perpetual state of emergency. This was the case before the pandemic hit, and it has only gotten worse. Hospital corridors...

President Donald Trump on Friday cast himself as the ultimate arbiter of any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, in an exclusive conversation with POLITICO.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Trump in Florida on Sunday and told reporters he’s bringing with him a new 20-point plan for peace. The framework includes a proposed demilitarized zone and the meeting is expected to focus on U.S. security guarantees. But in an interview, Trump appeared lukewarm to Zelenskyy’s latest overture and in no rush to endorse the Ukrainian president’s proposal.“He doesn’t have anything until I approve it,” Trump said. “So...

Nigeria government says it backed US strike on Thursday Nigeria says no specific religion targeted Trump had threatened to strike Nigeria to protect Christians Lakurawa sect possibly targeted, linked to past attacks LAGOS, Dec 26 (Reuters) - By publicly cooperating with the United States on a Christmas Day airstrike, Nigeria's government may have averted humiliating unilateral military action threatened a month ago by President Donald Trump. But security experts say it is unclear whether such strikes can do much to hinder Islamist militants who have long menaced communities in the area. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news...

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky has said he will meet US President Donald Trump in Florida at the weekend, as talks continue on ending Russia's full-scale war. Zelensky said he expected the meeting to take place on Sunday and to focus on a US-brokered 20-point peace plan, as well as separate proposals for US security guarantees. However, in a sign of the gulf between Moscow and Kyiv, a senior Russian official said that plan was "radically different" to the one it was negotiating with Washington. Russia has spoken of "slow but steady progress" in talks but has not commented on Zelensky's offer...

The US comedian whose late-night show was briefly cancelled after pressure from Donald Trump’s government is to urge UK audiences to stand up for free speech. In a defiant alternative Christmas message on Channel 4, Jimmy Kimmel will liken the first year of Trump’s second administration to the rise of fascism. Sitting beside a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits, Kimmel will quip: “From a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year.” He is also expected to warn that press freedoms can be snuffed out quickly, and urge UK viewers to resist attacks on free speech....

American troops may be deployed on the ground after President Trump's bombing of ISIS targets, a Nigerian official has suggested. Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar said his government had not ruled out working with American troops, something Trump has suggested in recent weeks. Tuggar said the issue would be something for the Nigerian government to 'consider', when asked by CNN about Trump's threats to send in the US military 'guns-a-blazing' this week. On Thursday, the Pentagon said the Nigerian government approved the strikes and collaborated with the US military to carry them out. However, the official also pushed back on...

New revelations this week supercharged two scandals in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, drawing unprecedented criticism from political allies. At the heart of the controversy sit the so-called Qatargate scandal and an investigation into the leak of classified intelligence to the German Bild tabloid. Seemingly separate affairs, both involve Eli Feldstein, a former spokesman for the premier, and Jonatan Urich, a close Netanyahu aide. In the Qatargate affair, Urich and Feldstein are suspected of taking money to spread pro-Qatari messaging to reporters, in order to boost Qatar's image as a mediator in hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, all while...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is preparing to dash to Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate for an urgent meeting, just days after declaring in a Christmas message that he hoped Vladimir Putin would perish. It comes as the Russian dictator suffered a humiliating Christmas Day defeat after Ukrainian forces took back full control of a city the Kremlin had claimed two months ago. Ukrainian media reports suggest the high-stakes meeting with Trump could take place as soon as December 28, if final arrangements are agreed. The Kyiv leader confirmed that preparations are underway after receiving an update from his chief negotiator, Rustem...

The Department of Homeland Security and ICE revealed earlier this week that they're giving illegal immigrants a lucrative incentive to leave our country voluntarily. On December 22, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced a program that would give illegal immigrants a one-time payment of $3,000 if they self-deported. That's a $2,000 increase from the $1,000 incentive the Trump administration has been offering since the start of his second term. "Well, it's home for the holidays season so, you know, not only are we returning those kiddos back to their families that Biden lost, we also are saying that if you...

Indonesia has a reputation for being a “moderate” Muslim nation, but the wind in the Islamic world as a whole is blowing in the opposite direction, as a group of Christians has just discovered. Morning Star News, which tracks the persecution of Christians worldwide, reported Tuesday that “as police looked on, Muslims in West Java Province, Indonesia on Dec. 14 formed a human wall to block Christians from attending a Christmas service, according to local media.” Notice that it has now been nearly a quarter-century since 9/11, and while we have seen heroic individual Muslims such as Ahmed al-Ahmed, who...