Free Republic

Less than three months after his arrest, former UVSC student Kidus Chane Yohannes has been declared mentally competent to stand criminal trial. A 4th District Judge made the decision on Thursday, Sept. 6. A preliminary hearing has been set for Sept. 20. "Yohannes is charged with two felony counts of providing false information for a gun background check and a third felony of possessing a credit card stolen from one of his roommates," said Joe Pyrah, a Daily Herald writer. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, prosecutors requested the competency examination of Yohannes because, as is stated in court documents,...

Subic Bay, about 55 miles northwest of Manila, sits within striking distance of China. The United States is moving forward with plans to establish what could become the world’s largest weapons manufacturing hub in the Philippines’ Subic Bay, once home to the biggest US naval base in Asia, to counter China’s expanding military presence in the region. The plans got a real push when Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. inaugurated HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Philippines’ new shipyard at the former Hanjin complex, now renamed Agila Subic by American investment firm Cerberus Capital Management. Backed by US and South Korean...

Nuclear weapons have played a crucial role in U.S. national security since their development in the 1940s. Over time, Presidents adjusted nuclear deterrence strategies, and the stockpile peaked at more than 30,000 warheads during the Cold War.1 In 1991, however, President George H. W. Bush cut the stockpile to about 10,000 warheads and entered a moratorium on nuclear testing.2 The Clinton administration subsequently signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and, despite the treaty’s lack of Senate ratification, the United States has continued to forgo nuclear testing. The United States once again finds itself having to deter Russia and China, two...

Waves of drones tumbled out of the sky above Camp Atterbury, Indiana, on Tuesday, their mechanical death throes punctuating what was otherwise a quiet morning.Why it matters: Drone swarms are a nightmare for security officials all over the world, whether they're overwhelming a Russian air base or hovering near an American airport.How it happened: Defense contractor Epirus this week demonstrated its drone-frying Leonidas to observers from various U.S. military services and foreign countries, including some in the Indo-Pacific. Axios was the only media on hand for the Atterbury tests, about 45 minutes south of downtown Indianapolis.In the climax of the...

"Wen obtained firearms, ammunition, and export-controlled technology with the intention of shipping them to North Korea — a violation of federal law and United States sanctions against that nation," the agency says An illegal immigrant from China was arrested for allegedly shipping "firearms, ammunition and other military items" to North Korea from California, according to a Justice Department indictment released on Tuesday. Shenghua Wen, 41, of Ontario, California, was arrested on Tuesday after hiding the weapons "inside shipping containers bound from Long Beach," the agency said. Wen, who was a Chinese national illegally residing in the United States, was expected...

Russian state propaganda has sharply intensified its bellicose rhetoric toward Azerbaijan amid reports of a possible lifting of Baku’s arms supply moratorium to Ukraine. A new “special military operation” could begin in the South Caucasus, propagandist Vladimir Solovyov stated on the program “Evening with Vladimir Solovyov” on the Russia-1 channel. According to him, NATO bases could appear in the Caspian Sea region, which he called “a very big problem.” With this, he was unmistakably alluding to Azerbaijan, which is close to Türkiye, a member of the North Atlantic Alliance. “And this is so dangerous that, from a geopolitical perspective, the...

NEW DELHI, Aug 8 (Reuters) - New Delhi has put on hold its plans to procure new U.S. weapons and aircraft, according to three Indian officials familiar with the matter, in India's first concrete sign of discontent after tariffs imposed on its exports by President Donald Trump dragged ties to their lowest level in decades. India had been planning to send Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington in the coming weeks for an announcement on some of the purchases, but that trip has been cancelled, two of the people said. Trump on Aug. 6 imposed an additional 25% tariff on...

Australia could become a supplier of weapons and munitions for the United States under a new radical proposal designed to better equip the world’s largest military to deal with any threat in the Indo-Pacific.The Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Enterprise, developed in partnership with the United States, is geared towards building local production facilities for missiles and munitions in Australia.Launched in 2021, the project is backed by a government commitment of $16–21 billion over the next decade.Despite some progress—including the release of the Australian government’s GWEO Plan in late 2024—the project still faces obstacles.As a result, its growth has...

Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, unilaterally halted an agreed shipment of military aid to Ukraine due to baseless concerns that US stockpiles of weapons have run too low, it has been reported. A batch of air defense missiles and other precision munitions were due to be sent to Ukraine to aid it in its ongoing war with Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022. The aid was promised by the US during Joe Biden’s administration last year. But the Pentagon halted the shipment, with NBC reporting that a decision to do so was made solely...

WASHINGTON -- Now that the festivities are over, it is time for the masters of the media to stop asking inane questions of the new folks in town -- such as, "How do you like your new office?" -- and for the Obama administration to get down to work on a clear and present danger. Notwithstanding the "day one" and "first week" coverage, the most pressing issue confronting the American people isn't closing "Gitmo" or the always ephemeral "Mideast peace process" in the aftermath of Gaza or even "fixing the economy." Item No. 1 ought to be preventing the world's...

Rhode Island’s Democratic-controlled state House on Friday approved legislation that would ban the sale and manufacturing of many semiautomatic rifles commonly referred to as assault weapons. The proposal now heads to the desk of Democratic Gov. Dan McKee, who said in a post on the social platform X on Friday evening that he plans to sign the bill into law. If that happens, Rhode Island will join 10 states that have some sort of prohibition on high-powered firearms that were once banned nationwide and are now largely the weapon of choice among those responsible for most of the country’s devastating...

PARIS/JERUSALEM, June 16 (Reuters) - France shut down the main Israeli company stands at the Paris Airshow on Monday for refusing to remove attack weapons from display, sparking a furious response from Israel and inflaming tensions between the traditional allies. Stands including those of Elbit Systems (ESLT.TA), opens new tab, Rafael, IAI and Uvision were blocked off with black partitions before the start of the world's biggest aviation trade fair. Smaller Israeli stands, which didn't have hardware on display, and an Israeli Ministry of Defence stand, remained open. France, a long-time Israeli ally, has gradually hardened its position on the...

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was not a “big fan” of Saturday’s parade celebrating the 250th birthday of the Army. Host Kristen Welker said, “Let’s turn to what we witnessed in Washington, D.C., the Nation’s Capitol on Saturday, a military parade celebrating the 250th birthday of the Army here in Washington yesterday. You expressed some doubt ahead of the parade. President Trump was to showcase the army’s military might, and even to inspire a new generation to sign up for military service. Senator, what do you say about that argument? Could the...

The FBI has identified the protestor filmed hurling cinder blocks at law enforcement vehicles during the anti-ICE riots, and Pam Bondi warns he and others will be hunted down. The suspect, who has so far only been named as 'Reyes', has been added to the bureau's most wanted list after a $50,000 reward was announced for information leading to the suspect's arrest and conviction. 'That guy has just been identified, and they are doing a search warrant on his house as we speak,' Bondi told Fox News. The brute was photographed wearing a green and orange Los Angeles Lakers cap...

For decades, the bedrock rationale for NATO’s existence has been the formidable conventional and nuclear threat Russia posed. However, recent geopolitical realities necessitate a critical re-evaluation of this foundational premise.Russia, the very reason for NATO’s enduring vigilance, increasingly reveals itself as a waning power. Its protracted and costly war against Ukraine has demonstrably exposed severe limitations in military capability, logistical resilience, and strategic foresight. Despite its historical might and nuclear arsenal, Russia has failed to decisively defeat a significantly smaller neighbor after years of brutal conflict.This protracted stalemate suggests that Moscow’s capacity for conventional expansion is severely diminished, and its...

Despite efforts by the United Nations to impose isolating sanctions on North Korea in response to the country's continued development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles, trade between Russia and North Korea soared more than 85 percent in the first four months of the year.

Massive security breach reveals over two million sensitive documents exposing Russia’s entire nuclear weapons modernization plan and underground tunnels.A catastrophic security breach has exposed Russia’s nuclear weapons infrastructure blueprints, revealing extensive modernization and expansion efforts at multiple strategic missile sites.Over two million sensitive documents containing architectural plans, security system details, and internal layouts of nuclear facilities were discovered in publicly accessible databases.The leaked information includes details of the Avangard hypersonic missile system sites and underground tunnels, representing what experts call “a huge breach of security.” • • Western materials from companies like Knauf were used in modernizing Soviet-era nuclear facilities,...

North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons and missile programs despite UN Security Council sanctions and high-level diplomatic efforts. The country’s ballistic missile testing, military parades, and policy statements suggest that North Korea is continuing to build a nuclear warfighting capability designed to evade regional ballistic missile defenses.North Korea has tested a nuclear explosive device six times since 2006. Each test produced underground blasts progressively higher in magnitude and estimated yield. North Korea conducted its most recent test on September 3, 2017. A North Korean press release stated it had tested a hydrogen bomb (or two-stage thermonuclear warhead) that...

(AFP) — Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that Germany along with Ukraine’s other key Western backers had lifted range restrictions on weapons they send to Kyiv to fight against Russia. Merz, who took office early this month, also vowed that “we will do everything in our power to continue supporting Ukraine, including militarily”, in close coordination with other supporters. “There are no longer any range restrictions on weapons delivered to Ukraine — neither by the British nor by the French nor by us nor by the Americans,” he said. “This means that Ukraine can now defend itself, for example, by...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz Merz said that Germany, France, Great Britain and the United States have lifted range restrictions on military supplies to Ukraine - Kyiv can attack positions throughout Russia with long-range weapons This opens the way to the supply of German Taurus cruise missiles