Free Republic

Senior Russian officials, including lawmakers, judges and the heads of state corporations, as well as their spouses and underage children, are no longer allowed to keep their money in foreign bank accounts or financial instruments abroad as of Monday. The legislation, initiated by the Kremlin to “nationalize elites” and deter corruption, originally envisioned a ban on owning any assets abroad, but the bill was softened in parliament to allow ownership of foreign real estate. The law came into force in early May, but officials were given three months to get rid of the respective assets or resign. The only penalty...

The Muslim Brotherhood may be banned in Egypt, says a spokesman for the country’s interim prime minister’s. The threat comes after the Islamist movement called for a week of protest against a military crackdown which has left hundreds dead. Struggling to stamp its authority on Egypt following the ousting last month of President Mohammed Morsi, the country's new rulers have upped the rhetoric, saying the Arab world's most populous nation is at war with terrorism. More than 700 people have died, most of them backers of Morsi, in four days of violence. That has earned Egypt stiff condemnation from Western...

A defendant in the ongoing murder trial of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot and wounded in the center of Moscow on Wednesday evening, his lawyer said. Dzhabrail Makhmudov, who is currently on trial accused of involvement in the 2006 shooting death of Politkovskaya, was taken to a hospital and operated on, his lawyer Murad Musayev wrote on Facebook on Thursday. “The bullet hit Dzhabrail Makhmudov in the left thigh and passed through [his leg] just millimeters from his femoral artery. The doctors say Dzhabrail was ‘unbelievably lucky:’ Just a fraction of a difference in the bullet’s trajectory could...

Eye-catching numbers have emerged on the expected trade boom from the Arctic route to Europe for Chinese business.Cosco Shipping - part of China's state-owned shipping giant Cosco Group - announced its maiden voyage with a multi-purpose vessel last week. 'The ship left Dalian port in Northeast China's Liaoning province and is scheduled to take 33 days to reach Europe,' reported China Daily. 'It is the first time a Chinese merchant ship has travelled to Europe via the Arctic Northeast Passage. The total deadweight tonnage of the multipurpose vessel is 19,461 tons. The ship is expected to arrive in the Bering...

The parent company of the San Francisco Examiner sued the Hearst Corporation Tuesday, accusing its San Francisco Chronicle of illegally targeting Examiner advertisers with secret, below-cost rates in an attempt to bleed the smaller paper. The San Francisco Newspaper Company, which owns the Examiner, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian, alleges that the Chronicle offered ad space to advertisers for a fraction of its cost on the condition that the advertisers not buy ads in the Examiner. "Hearst has demanded and obtained agreements from key advertising customers, which preclude those customers from purchasing any advertising space from the...

<p>Two Rancho Cordova strip clubs are receiving thousands in tax credits due to a loophole in a job creation program.</p> <p>California's Enterprise Zone program allows companies including at least these two strip clubs to receive millions of dollars in tax breaks. Qualifying businesses can claim a $37,000 tax credit for each worker hired.</p>

Putin said last Friday, "The Russian Orthodox Church together with the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad are on a very special mission in Russia and across the world." A "special mission" in the West means KGB, nuclear strikes or Cold War. In reality, last February 1st, Putin met with the Church in this video to say:(Link to Video at this point) It 's certain as the sun rises that Friday's meeting between Russian Christians leaders and Putin will be ignored by the Western media. Putin has real world power, which causes the liberal media to fearfully ignore or warp his image....

With Democrats controlling the Legislature, California’s government has been managed since the late 1990s primarily for the financial benefit of government employees, at the expense of children’s education, vital infrastructure and public safety. This abuse of power has been destructive and fundamentally immoral. Nowhere are the consequences more acute than in our penal system. Last week, The Associated Press reported that prisoner advocates are suing local governments – including Riverside County – claiming that Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision last year to shift inmates to county jails already has caused overcrowding and health care atrocities similar to those that prompted a...

“Los Angeles and Torrance police were involved in two shootings in Torrance early Thursday when police came across vehicles similar to the one sought by authorities in a massive manhunt for an ex-LAPD officer suspected of shooting three other officers,” lablog.latimes.com reports. “Neither incident actually involved the suspect, said Torrance police Lt. Devin Chase.

MOSCOW, January 31 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow is “deeply concerned” over reports of Israeli air strikes on Syrian territory on Wednesday and is seeking confirmation of what could be a serious violation of the UN charter, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. Moscow said it is looking into reports that Israeli fighter jets carried out an air strike on a military research center near Damascus on Wednesday. If the reports of “unprovoked strikes” hitting a sovereign country’s territory are confirmed, this would constitute a violation of fundamental United Nations principles, the Foreign Ministry said. Such attacks are ”unacceptable, no matter...

BEREZNIKI, Russia — A Russian court on Wednesday turned down an attempt by an imprisoned Pussy Riot band member to defer serving her sentence for hooliganism until her preschool son becomes a teenager. Maria Alekhina asked the court in Berezniki, a Urals Mountain city near her prison, to let her serve the rest of her two-year sentence after her 5-year-old son turns 14. She argued that separation from her young child now would do irreparable psychological damage to him. Alekhina and two other female members of the punk band were convicted last year of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for...

Charlie the death row dog is the talk of the town, but the American Staffordshire terrier’s victim is mending his wounds and has finally returned to work after more than two months off. Stoney, the horse who was bitten by Charlie in August, is a retired thoroughbred. He joined the U.S. National Park Service mounted patrol four years ago in Washington, D.C., before transferring to San Francisco in May with his rider, Officer Eric Evans. Evans, who trained Stoney, has been a horse trainer for the Park Service for years. He’s been with the U.S. Park Police for 23 years...

Russia will not allow a repetition of the Libyan scenario in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday. “We’ll not allow the Libyan experience to be reproduced in Syria. Unfortunately our Western partners have departed from the Geneva accords and are seeking the departure of [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad,” Lavrov said, adding Russia was not clinging to any individual leaders in Syria. Russia and China vetoed a Western-backed UN resolution on Syria on July 19 over fears that it would lead to foreign military intervention in the Middle East country. The resolution was tied to Chapter 7 of...

The US and NATO are set to invade Syria, something many of us have been warning about for a while now. It has been obvious that they have been looking for a pretext and that pretext has already been injected into the public debate. That pretext: chemical weapons, revealed by Fox News and the Director of the CIA, the same two sources that brought us all of the Iraq invasion lies. Sadly no matter how questionable or fabricated the pretext is, it appears that there is nothing we can do except sit back and watch the US and its surrogates...

Let everyone reporting on the situation in Syria agree upon one thing: the situation is hideous, it is unacceptable, it is disgusting, it is a disgrace to humankind, it is an insult to our collective intelligence at the turn of the century and...video evidence that Obama is totally wrong. The ones preparing to use chemicals are the terrorists. We may begin by discounting ninety-five per cent of what we read in the crispy-clean reports from the corporate media - you know, that pile of bullshit pressed and ironed on your morning newspaper on your breakfast table in Europe or slung...

Now that Barack Obama is firmly enconsed in office, re-elected for a second term, it appears that the hounds of hell are desperately barking for some action on Syria. Frustrated by the successful efforts of the Syrian government to turn back the western backed and armed terrorists, their stooges and proxies, they have gone back to old tactics again. You would think after having been caught out the last time they started agitating about chemical weapons before a false flag attack, they they would give up the ruse. However, here they go again, trying to put the international community in...

A federal judge has issued three key rulings over a four-year period that favored companies in which he owned stock, a California Watch analysis has found. Measures are in place to prevent judges from violating federal conflict-of-interest laws. But Judge Manuel Real, a 46-year veteran of the bench appointed by President Lyndon Johnson, appears to have skirted those safeguards, records and interviews show. Judges are supposed to disclose everything from their investments to their attendance at expenses-paid seminars. When a financial conflict arises, no matter how small, they are required to step aside, by federal law and the Code of...

Hostess Brands Inc. said it likely won't make an announcement until Friday morning on whether it will move to liquidate its business, after the company had set a Thursday deadline for striking employees to return to work. The maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread had warned employees that would file a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to unwind its business and sell off assets if plant operations didn't return to normal levels by 5 p.m. EST Thursday. That would result in the loss of about 18,000 jobs.Snip The Teamsters meanwhile are urging the smaller union to hold a...

Scavengers who illegally collect bottles and cans from recycling bins in San Francisco are being blamed for recent window-smashing burglaries at the Civic Center Community Benefit District offices on Van Ness Avenue. Jim Haas, a board member for the district, a nonprofit tasked with making the area safer and cleaner, believes the break-ins are payback for his organization’s recent efforts to crack down on the seedy recycling trade and the mess it leaves behind. On Saturday morning, Haas said, thieves smashed the window of the district’s office at 234 Van Ness Ave. and stole a desk and computer. “None of...

What began as an upbeat and raucous celebration in The City after the Giants’ World Series-clinching win Sunday in Detroit devolved into a chaotic scene of fights, vandalism and dozens of fires throughout San Francisco. Citywide, 36 arrests were made, and two of the 23 felony arrests were on firearms charges. Police Chief Greg Suhr said his department did not anticipate the destructive behavior, but said police have plans to ensure nothing similar happens at Wednesday’s parade for the team. Suhr said the destructive behavior was “a one-up” on San Francisco’s celebration of the Giants’ World Series win over the...