Free Republic

U.S. President Trump has made a deal with some OPEC producers to keep prices high as they support the U.S. economy and boost federal taxes. This is what Iran’s Energy Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on state TV this week as quoted by Bloomberg, adding that Trump was engaging in “shenanigans” on the oil market. It’s not too hard to guess which the OPEC producers Zanganeh mentioned are. Saudi Arabia has been a strong opponent of the Iran nuclear deal and was now quick to offer to fill any gap that new U.S. sanctions would leave on international oil markets by...

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. (AP) — Three Korean-Americans who were detained in North Korea for more than a year were greeted by President Donald Trump beneath a giant American flag after they returned to the mainland U.S. early Thursday. Despite a middle-of-the-night landing, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and a host of senior administration officials joined Trump to celebrate the occasion. The men, Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song and Tony Kim, had been released Wednesday amid a warming of relations between the longtime adversaries. The president and first lady boarded the medical plane on which the...

“If the United States imposes sanctions on us or takes such a step, Turkey will absolutely retaliate,” Cavusoglu said. “What needs to be done is the U.S. needs to let go of this.” .. Turkey plans to buy more than 100 of Lockheed Martin’s (LMT.N) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets, and is also in talks with Washington over the purchase of Patriot missiles. Turkey signed an agreement with Russia in December to buy S-400 surface-to-air missile batteries as part of Ankara’s plans to boost its defense capabilities amid threats from Kurdish and Islamist militants at home and conflicts across its...

As global oil markets shift their attention from U.S. shale oil production back to a resurgent Saudi Arabia and Russia and geopolitical concerns bearing down on oil prices, Citigroup said last Wednesday that the U.S. is poised to surpass Saudi Arabia next year as the world’s largest exporter of crude and oil products. The U.S. exported a record 8.3 million barrels per day (bpd) last week of crude oil and petroleum products, the government also said Wednesday. Top crude oil exporter Saudi Arabia’s, for its part, exported 9.3 million bpd in January, while Russia exported 7.4 million bpd, the bank...

Warships from Britain, America, France and Germany have gathered over the wreck of a World War One troopship to pay respect to the 700 men who died in two disasters off Islay. More than 200 US soldiers died when the Tuscania was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Islay in February in 1918. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-43988158

All newly manufactured vehicles to be sold in the U.S. are required as of Tuesday to have backup cameras equipped as a standard feature. Advocates for the rule, which was mandated by the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency in 2014, hope today’s milestone will lead to fewer instances of drivers backing into people due to a lack of visibility. “This day is so important because we don’t have a choice” when it comes to children’s safety around cars, said Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, an advocacy group that works to prevent accidents involving children and motor vehicles. “This...

KYIV -- The United States has confirmed to RFE/RL its delivery of American-made, Javelin antitank missile systems to Ukraine in a move that is welcome in Kyiv but will almost certainly enrage Moscow amid a four-year conflict that pits Russia-backed separatists against Ukrainian national troops. "They have already been delivered," a U.S. State Department official confirmed on April 30 in response to an RFE/RL query on the handover of Javelins. In a statement posted on Facebook, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also confirmed the delivery and said his country continues "to strengthen our defense potential in order to repel Russian aggression."...

Jewish group calls on Republican state lawmaker from Kansas to refrain from comparing abortions to Nazi genocide of Jews in World War II. JTA - A group of rabbis is urging a Republican politician from Kansas City to stop comparing abortion to the Holocaust. The Rabbinical Association of Kansas City wrote a letter to State Sen. Steve Fitzgerald saying his words “abuse the memory of the murdered victims of the Nazi regime,” the Kansas City Star reported Thursday. MainAll NewsUS & CanadaRabbis urge Kansas lawmaker not to compare abortion to Holocaust Rabbis urge Kansas lawmaker not to compare abortion to...

Yes, I know there are other things going on in the Church and the world, but the Alfie Evans story continues to eat up the majority of my attention, whether I want it to or not. We are watching one of the milestones in the descent of Western Civilization into madness play out before our very eyes, and despite the massive worldwide attention, nothing seems capable of staying the hand of evil. Court arguments have been tried and failed; appeals have been exhausted. International medical professionals and ethicists have weighed in. Diplomatic efforts have been attempted.But Alder Hey Hospital and...

BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- China Tuesday published a report on the United States' human rights situation. The report, titled "Human Rights Record of the United States in 2017," was released by the Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017 issued by the U.S. State Department on April 20 local time. A Chronology of Human Rights Violations of the United States in 2017 was also released by the office Tuesday. China's report said the United States posed once again as "the guardian of human rights" and a...

Russian state-owned television is urging the country’s residents to stock their bunkers with water and basic foodstuffs because Moscow could go to war with Washington. Warning that the potential conflict between the two superpowers would be “catastrophic,” an anchor for Russia’s Vesti 24 showed off shelves of food, recommending that people buy salt, oatmeal and other products that can last a long time on the shelves. Powdered milk lasts five years while sugar and rice can last up to eight years, the newscaster explained before showing videos of pasta cooking in a bomb shelter. The channel's newscasters also displayed charts...

Jets observed flying over Lebanon into Syria. Could be Israel or US.

(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Friday it might formally enter a lawsuit accusing Harvard University of discriminating against Asian-American applicants as the agency probes its admissions policies for potential civil rights violations.The department disclosed its plan in a brief urging a federal judge in Boston to not allow the Ivy League school to file pre-trial court papers and documents provisionally under seal. Harvard had cited the need to protect the privacy of applicants and students as well as the inner workings of its admissions process, arguing that various documents should be initially filed under seal pending the...

Will you tone it down, Maverick? A driver in Colorado felt the need for speed, which initially attracted, and later repelled responding red-and-blue. The Denver Post reports that an unknown individual, in an older, dark-colored Ford Mustang, blitzed along a stretch of Interstate 70 that follows the contours of the Colorado River, west of the mountain town Glenwood Springs. Their speed scratched 140 miles per hour, and when the Colorado State Patrol began pursuit with full sirens and flashing lights around 12:30 a.m., the errant driver's speed increased to 150 miles per hour. "They tried to catch up. They weren’t...

The U.S. has lots of leverage – let’s use it. The Trump administration is trying to walk a fine line between Turkey, which it still refers to as a NATO ally, and our Kurdish allies on the ground in northern Syria, and it has become increasingly painful and disheartening to watch. For the past two months, as Turkish troops have pounded civilians in the northern Syrian city of Afrin, Turkish President Recip Tayip Erdogan has verbally assaulted and taunted America. After initially threatening to kill U.S. liaison officers working with the Kurds, Erdogan then warned the U.S. commander in Syria,...

A U.S.-Turkish business conference set to be held at Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., next month has been postponed in order to “facilitate greater attendance” for the annual conclave.The decision comes amid thawing diplomatic and business relations between the American and Turkish governments.The conference, hosted by the American-Turkish Council (ATC) and Turkish-American Business Council (TAIK), was scheduled for the end of April. Ahval, a news outlet that covers Turkish politics, reported on Monday that the conference was being postponed because of attendance issues. Ahval’s sources said that some major American defense companies have decided to end their sponsorship of the...

Turkey’s lira weakened beyond the psychologically important level of 4.0 to the US dollar yesterday, bringing it close to a record low, as concerns about double-digit inflation, and politics, continued to weigh on sentiment.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Turkey’s National Security Council headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday threatened that Ankara would “take action” to drive out Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq if the United States and Baghdad failed to do so.The council’s monthly meeting in Ankara, comprised of civilian and military Turkish leadership, lasted four hours.“Turkey will not hesitate to use initiative if terrorists in Manbij are not driven away,” a statement on Erdogan’s presidential website read, warning the US whose special forces there in the northern Syrian town continue to work with Kurdish-led groups. .. In sterner...

US State Department refuted claims of a deal with Turkish government over Northern Syrian town on Manbij. In today’s daily press briefing U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert was asked about Turkish Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin’s claims about a deal between the US and Turkey over Manbij “Well that’s funny because no agreement has been reached” she said. Nauert said her department did not have anything to announce in response to a Turkish statement. Yesterday Turkish Presidential Spokesperson Kalın said that the U.S. and Turkey have reached an agreement over Manbij and he said the implementation of Manbij deal would...

DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria — Standing on a windswept mound, Brig. Gen. Jonathan Braga pointed to the spot just a mile away from where Russian mercenaries and fighters loyal to the Syrian government fired at his soldiers. "Those artillery rounds could have landed and killed Americans, and that's why we continue to prepare our defenses," said Braga, the director of operations for the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition. U.S. troops who came under fire from Russian mercenaries prepare for more attacks Only steps away sits a sprawling oil and gas refinery that American forces captured from ISIS last year and that is...