Free Republic

President Donald Trump's social media attacks on Vladimir Putin have prompted derision and a warning from Russian state media. Trump took to Truth Social to condemn Putin following last weekend's Russian missile and drone barrage on Ukraine which he followed up with a post that said the Russian leader is "playing with fire." But the state-run propaganda outlet RT said Trump changes his opinion frequently, while a Russian state television anchor warned that the U.S. president should keep in mind that Moscow can "destroy the world several times over."

The Kremlin said oil prices do not affect its national security decisions after U.S. President Donald Trump linked lower prices to Russia wanting to settle the Ukraine war. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, responded to Trump's remarks during a press briefing on Tuesday morning. Peskov said Russia will continue to work within the OPEC+ format on managing oil prices, the state news agency TASS reported. -snip- Trump had told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday: "I think Russia with the price of oil right now, oil has gone down, we are in a good position to...

Two European allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin have fallen ill, according to reports, days before they were set to attend a Victory Day parade in Moscow. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico have had their trips to Russia questioned amid reported health scares.

In a follow-up opinion, Rodriguez Jr. declared: "For these reasons, the Court concludes that the President's invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and, as a result, is unlawful. Respondents [the Administration] do not possess the lawful authority under the AEA, and based on the Proclamation, to detain Venezuelan aliens, transfer them within the United States, or remove them from the country." Rodriguez Jr. issued two opinions and orders on Thursday in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas, responding to a petition by individuals to allow them to certify as a class...

Every morning, one federal employee wakes up and wishes she had not. She has lost 20 pounds and says she is traumatized. Another employee, an Iraq War veteran with PTSD at the Department of Veterans Affairs, says he has gone from loving his work to considering taking his life. A third is struggling to sleep and has stress headaches, fearing the loss of a job he once thought was guaranteed as long as he met his targets. The three are among a growing number of federal employees who say their mental health is suffering as President Donald Trump's administration seeks...

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz doesn't talk much to Vice President Kamala Harris these days. The governor and his former running mate have spoken only "a couple times" since November's election, Walz revealed to The New Yorker's David Remnick in an interview published Sunday. Asked why the pair didn't call or text more frequently, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee joked to Remnick, "Well, maybe she doesn't want to talk to me after we got this thing done." He added that they left in a "good place" and that his daughter Hope missed her greatly. (snip) "I'm doing my job, and...

A fire erupted at one of Russia's largest oil refineries in the city of Ufa in Bashkortostan, approximately 900 miles from the Ukrainian border, following a reported drone attack. -snip- Videos circulating on social media showed a huge fire engulf the Bashneft-owned refinery, which is situated about 932 miles east of the Ukrainian border, and processes up to 168,000 barrels per day, according to Reuters. The Bashkortostan Ministry of Emergency Situations said the fire erupted "in the area of the incinerator." "There is no threat to residents of nearby areas. A laboratory is operating on site to monitor the air...

Russia is demanding control of cities in Ukraine that its forces don't currently occupy as part of a deal with President Donald Trump to potentially bring an end to the war, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said. -snip- Trump has suggested that both Russia and Ukraine must make concessions in the war. Kyiv has rejected any idea of ceding territory to Moscow, while Putin has demanded that Ukraine give up its aspirations of joining the NATO military alliance, and cede its Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. The ISW think tank, based in Washington D.C., noted...

ATO's British-led, rapid-response force is "ready" to be deployed if needed, a senior commander has said, after U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer signaled he was "ready and willing" to put British troops on the ground to enforce a ceasefire in Ukraine.Why It MattersStarmer said in an opinion piece published in U.K. newspaper The Telegraph on Sunday that contributing a British force to help maintain a possible ceasefire agreement was not something he took "lightly."Sweden has indicated it would consider a similar move, although other European countries quickly ruled out contributing troops. Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the deployment...

Migrant children in Tennessee could soon face a major barrier to education as Republican lawmakers push a bill that would allow public schools to deny enrollment to undocumented students. Why It Matters Tennessee is among an increasing number of Republican states looking to enact bills intended to help Trump's hard-line immigration agenda. The 1982 Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe guaranteed children of families living in the country unlawfully the right to attend public schools. In a 5-4 ruling, the court determined it was unconstitutional to deny children an education based on their immigration status. However, some conservative lawmakers...

U.S. President Donald Trump is proving to be somewhat popular within Russia, leaving the Kremlin to grapple with how to counter Russians' love of a leader who isn't President Vladimir Putin, recent media reports suggest. -snip- Alexander Baunov, the editor-in-chief of Carnegie Politika and a senior fellow at Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said in an analysis published on January 31 that in Russia, Trump is a new "anti-elitist president" who, "like a beloved Hollywood lone hero, is closer and more understandable to the generation of the Russian elite that lived through the 1990s or grew up watching American movies than...

Two Russian colonels are reported to have fallen out of windows in the space of two days, adding to a growing list of high-ranking officials who have died in mysterious circumstances since Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine began. Artur Pryakhin, 56, the head of a regional branch of Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) in the Republic of Karelia, died after falling from a fifth floor window of an office building at around noon on February 4. Local authorities said he left a suicide note in his office in which he apologized to his wife, asked his loved ones for forgiveness,...

From Professor Robert K Goldman: Trump's Gaza Plan Won't Work—The U.S. Does Not Recognize Palestine as a State, but 143 Countries Do Trump's plan would flagrantly violate numerous rules of International Law. While the U.S. does not recognize Palestine as a state, of which Gaza is a component, Palestine is a widely recognized as such by 143 countries. If the U.S. were to use military force to seize Gaza, we would become an Occupying Power under the laws of war and the forcible transfer of Gazans to third countries would constitute a serious war crime and given the scale of...

A Russian nuclear icebreaker has been damaged in a collision with a cargo ship in the Arctic Circle, according to Russian media. The 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory) icebreaker was attempting to free the freighter Yamal Krechet from ice which was preventing it from reaching the port of Sabetta, in the Kara Sea, according to an expert. Newsweek reached out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation for comment via email. Why It Matters The 50 Let Pobedy nuclear icebreaker is one of only two remaining vessels in the first-generation Arktika-class still in service, according...

President Donald Trump condemned a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) initiative to hire people with disabilities in the wake of the Washington, D.C., plane collision, despite a similar initiative being launched during his first term in office

Syria has demanded reparations from Russia in order to "rebuild trust" after a meeting between Damascus' new administration and a Moscow delegation, according to local news sources. Russia and Syria's meeting to discuss future relations comes as Moscow looks to retain its two military bases in the Middle Eastern country. -snip- In the meeting on January 28, Russia expressed its support for the changes taking place in Syria and Damascus' new administration pushed for reparations through "compensation, reconstruction, and recovery," according to the Syrian Arab News Agency. The two countries also spoke about finding "mechanisms for transitional justice aimed at...

A top ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin has advised him to remove Vladimir Lenin's body from a mausoleum in Moscow in order to seal his legacy as Moscow's leader. Alexander Dugin, a far-right political philosopher, has advised the president to remove Lenin's body from the burial site in order to "make room there for the real Emperor" and make other changes to the mausoleum, according to the Telegram post by the account Kremlin Snuffbox. -snip- The Russian philosopher also reportedly advised Putin to make improvements to the mausoleum by rebuilding the structure, decorating it with military trophies accumulated during...

President Donald Trump's sweeping executive orders have drawn comparisons to Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint aimed at reshaping the federal government under a Republican administration. Newsweek examines the similarities. Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment via email. Why It Matters Project 2025, a 900-page document spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, set out plans to expand executive authority, replace civil servants with ideologically aligned appointees, limit abortion rights and impose much tougher restrictions on immigration. Democrats have painted the initiative as a road map for Trump's second term in an attempt to portray him as ideologically extreme. Trump...

With 2024 going down as the globe's hottest year on record, and with devastating fires in California signaling a new climate-changing normal, President Donald Trump and his administration are doing exactly the thing a warming planet doesn't need. Trump is withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, again. Ten years ago, 195 countries thought it prudent to protect their populations from the increasingly deadly consequences of climate change. And that's why they joined the Paris Agreement, to work together to limit fossil-fueled global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius if possible. That warming limit was breached in 2024 for...

What To Know Fauci responded to the preemptive pardon in a statement reported by CNN's Jim Acosta. "It feels good and I'm grateful to the president for doing it," he told Acosta. "I have done nothing wrong. Certainly nothing criminal. No grounds at all." Fauci said the White House told him in December that Biden was considering a preemptive pardon, but that he did not know it was actually happening "until last night," Acosta posted on X, formerly Twitter. Newsweek reached out to Fauci via Georgetown University for comment