Free Republic

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa has announced he will suspend tariffs on goods imported from the US in an attempt to build a "positive relationship" with President Donald Trump's administration. The move comes days after Trump imposed 18% tariffs on Zimbabwean exports to the US. "This measure is intended to facilitate the expansion of American imports within the Zimbabwean market, while simultaneously promoting the growth of Zimbabwean exports destined for the United States," he said on X. Zimbabwe has had strained diplomatic relations with the US since it adopted a controversial land policy about 25 years ago, and because of its...

Ukraine targeted five of Russia's air defense systems worth an estimated $350 million in a single day, serving a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin's exhausted military in the nearly three-year-old war. Russia lost two Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile and gun systems and one OSA air defense system, as well as two S-300 air defense systems, according to Ukraine's military and a war reporter. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian government for comment via email. Ukraine has frequently zeroed-in on Russia's advanced air-defense systems, and Monday's reported loss marks a success for Kyiv's military as both sides continue to sustain...

A massive unfinished cruise ship is likely to be sold for scrap after its maker declared bankruptcy because no one wants to buy it, the German cruise-industry magazine An Bord first reported. Attempts are being made to sell some of the fixtures and engines from Global Dream II, Christoph Morgen, an insolvency administrator at Brinkmann & Partner, said at a press conference, according to An Bord. After that, the vessel's half-finished keel — complete only in the lower-hull area — will be sold for scrap, Morgen said, according to An Bord.

Australian churches are demanding Scott Morrison scrap the idea of a vaccine passport and allow them to have vaccinated and unvaccinated people in their congregations.The declaration, which has been signed by more than 3000 church leaders, features signatures from members at some of the country’s most high-profile churches such as Hillsong and C3.In total there are more than 25,000 signatures on the document.The letter to the Prime Minister, titled “The Ezekiel Declaration”, expresses “significant concern” at the prospect of vaccine passports, which the authors claim would “inflict terrible consequences” on Australia.The idea of a vaccine passport has been flagged as...

Looking to cut costs as COVID-19 ravaged the cruise industry, Carnival Cruise Line sold six ships for scrap. At the Aliaga ship-breaking yard in Turkey, Carnival's Fantasy, Imagination, and Inspiration ships are in the process of being demolished. Here, workers cut apart and recycle every piece of these massive ships. It's one of most dangerous jobs in the world. And it's only gotten harder as more cruise ships arrive on Aliaga's shores.

The 1972 Act is the vehicle that sees regulations flow into UK law directly from the EU’s lawmaking bodies in Brussels.The announcement of the Act’s repeal marks a historic step in returning lawmaking powers from Brussels to the UK. We are taking back control of our laws, as the public voted for in 2016.The repeal of the European Communities Act 1972 will take effect when Britain formally leaves the EU on October 31.Speaking after signing the legislation that will crystallise in law the upcoming repeal of the ECA, the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU Steve Barclay said:...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The halt on China’s imports of wastepaper and plastic that has disrupted U.S. recycling programs has also spurred investment in American plants that process recyclables.U.S. paper mills are expanding capacity to take advantage of a glut of cheap scrap. Some facilities that previously exported plastic or metal to China have retooled so they can process it themselves. And in a twist, the investors include Chinese companies that are still interested in having access to wastepaper or flattened bottles as raw material for manufacturing. “It’s a very good moment for recycling in the United States,” said Neil...

Sixteen military transport planes bought by the United States government for the Afghan Air Force (AAF) at a cost of nearly $500 million were recently destroyed by the Afghan military and sold for scrap parts at around six cents per pound, prompting a government inquiry to determine why millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted on the ill-fated program. The Department of Defense purchased for the AAF a total of 20 Italian-made G222 military transport planes at a cost of $486 million. However, the fleet was grounded in March 2013 “after sustained, serious performance, maintenance, and spare parts problems” were discovered,...

They spent a year collecting used ammunition around Joint Base Lewis-McChord and melting it to sell as scrap metal – until one of the rounds exploded at a Tacoma home, injuring the couple and tipping police off to what they’d been up to. Pierce County prosecutors have charged Juliette Parker, 32, and Cody Hyman, 27, with possession of an explosive device, third-degree assault and reckless endangerment. The couple, who now live in Texas, is set to be arraigned June 23. Agents from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives joined the investigation and helped search the home....

Love Boat Goes To The Breakers For those of us of a certain age, we remember the cheesy, comedic voyages of the Love Boat as a staple of late 1970s TV. Captain Stubing, Gopher, Doc, Isaac and the blond chick would sleep their way through the passengers, smile and serve drinks. All this happened in a tidy hour format complete with laugh track. Well, the ship that was at the core of the show, the Pacific Princess, has finally sailed its last and is at the wreckers in Turkey. Unfortunately, the Turkish ship breakers are not known for saving furnishings...

The Love Boat sails on final voyage to Aliaga shipbreakers 8/8 - The MS Pacific, a cruise ship made famous by its appearance in the popular U.S. 1970s television show “The Love Boat,” has sailed its final voyage to a ship-breaking yard on Turkey’s Aegean Sea coast, a shipping group said on Wednesday. Called the Pacific Princess when it was on the long-running comedy, the iconic 13,500 tonne, 171-m-long (561-foot-) vessel will be stripped for its metal and parts, said Ersin Ceviker of the Ship Recyclers’ Association of Turkey. Aaron Spelling’s “The Love Boat,” starring Gavin MacLeod as the ship’s...

The massive disposal effort, which U.S. military officials call unprecedented, has unfolded largely out of sight amid an ongoing debate inside the Pentagon about what to do with the heaps of equipment that won’t be returning home. Military planners have determined that more than $7 billion worth of equipment — about 20 percent of what the U.S. military has in Afghanistan — will not be shipped back, because it is no longer needed or would be too costly to send home. That has left the Pentagon in a quandary about what to do with the items. Bequeathing a large share...

~snip~ Since May, several dozen catalytic converters have been stolen from vehicles in the Milwaukee area by thieves who have targeted the equipment for its scrap metal value. Converters contain platinum, or palladium, and rhodium. There's only a fraction of an ounce of platinum in them, but once processed, the metal is worth about $1,450 an ounce. Thieves get from $50 to $200 for a converter when they sell it to a metal recycler. Some of the thefts have occurred in the daytime, while vehicles were parked at restaurants and hotels. Other thefts have occurred at night - sometimes on...

Greece examining ‘free’ US tank offer ATHENS — Cash-strapped Greece is considering a free offer of hundreds of redundant M1A1 Abrams tanks extended by the US government, the Greek army said on Wednesday. “This is a free offer,” army spokesman Yiannis Sifakis told AFP. “A delegation of officers has travelled to the United States to examine tanks in storage; we are departing on the premise of picking 400 of them,” he said. “The only cost will be that of transport, which is estimated in the region of eight million euros ($11 million),” the spokesman added. Ta Nea daily reported that...

Efforts to save the SS United States — a storied former ocean liner that has been mothballed in South Philadelphia — have apparently fallen through. Two Washington, D.C.-based foundations that seek to preserve the ship are sounding the alarm that the historic vessel may be sold for scrap metal. Robert Westover, who heads the SS United States Foundation, said this week that plans for refurbishment by Norwegian Cruise Line appear to be dead, and that the ship may be sold to a scrap dealer. “I’m hoping this does not have a sad end, but it’s shaping up as an American...

SUFFOLK Police have filed more than 150 charges against three people accused of stealing dozens of catalytic converters from vehicles in Suffolk and Chesapeake.Late Friday, police announced that the three were arrested Wednesday, after a Suffolk officer saw them near a car at King’s Fork Middle School, city spokeswoman Debbie George said.David Christopher Bone, 27, and Nicholas Edward Villi, 26, both of Windsor, and Tiffany Nicole Holt, 22, of Chesapeake are being held without bond at Western Tidewater Regional Jail, a jail spokesman said.Bone and Villi each face 27 criminal charges in Suffolk; Holt faces 12 charges. All were charged...

Patterson grower Dave Santos of Lucich/Santos Farms switched over to plastic irrigation ­fittings after thieves stole the brass ones that were likely sold to a scrap yard for cash. Patterson farmer Mike Lara stands at the scene of the crime--at his pump station along the Delta Mendota Canal where thieves rammed the junction box for his irrigation pump, ripped off the power meter and stripped the copper wiring, leaving live electrical wires exposed and several thousand dollars worth of damages. It was another case of metal theft on agricultural lands, a crime spree of growing proportions that spares no county...

SOUTH BEND — Two bodies were found Friday in a manhole not far from where two other men were discovered dead earlier this week. Police found the bodies of two men in the hole above a railroad viaduct east of the 600 block of South Scott Street — near Coveleski Stadium — about noon while investigating Tuesday’s homicides. The most recent deaths also appear to be homicides, South Bend police Capt. Phil Trent said. Autopsies will determine for certain the cause of death and who they are. The deaths appear to be connected in what could be a quadruple homicide,...

The 9/11 attacks may have occasioned anxiety around the planet, but for this small town on the Delhi-Amritsar highway in the Fatehgarh Sahib district, it has meant a boom for the scrap and metal remoulding business. Overcoming health concerns and superstitions, the dealers here have made it a habit to track international terrorist strikes, simply to pick up the scrap from such incidents. In 2002, about 70,000 tonnes of scrap found its way to India, amid fear of toxicity, and of that, 10,000 tonnes reached this town. Parveen Kumar, a former manager at Patiala Castings, which imported the scrap, says...

Scrap theft is pushing the stats higher, as more and more vacant houses are stripped of metals like copper. A pound of copper a year ago went for about $1.75, now scrap dealers are paying upwards of $3.00 per pound. It’s enough to make police rethink their tactics. Division Chief Darryl Boykins of the South Bend Police Department says, "There’s been a spike in the price of metal and so that's caused a whole new different type of crime now that we have to look at, that, we didn't have to look at that 10 years ago, or even five...