Free Republic

Heeere we goooo. Fingers toes and eyes crossed for a successful test flight of the 33-Raptor engine Superheavy booster and Starship first time into space. Both vehicles are planned to splash down...the booster in the Gulf of Mexico and Starship off of Hawaii.

President Trump appeared to confirm reports that a US drone killed the leader of al Qaeda’s Yemen branch by posting - without comment - a series of retweets Saturday. Qassim al-Rimi, head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was the target of a January airstrike in Yemen, soon after another US strike killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, CNN reported Friday. Al-Rimi, a veteran terror chief, was implicated in the 2008 attack on the American embassy in Sana, Yemen that killed 14, as well as in an “underwear bombing” plot in 2009, according to the New York Times. He was...

KABUL (Reuters) - The commander of the Taliban’s “special forces” branch, known asthe “Red Unit,” was killed last week in Helmand province by Afghan forces, according to Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency. The National Directorate of Security (NDS) said Mullah Shah Wali, also known as Mullah Naser, was killed in an air operation in Helmand. The province is a Taliban stronghold in the heartland of Afghanistan’s lucrative drug trade. [snip]

The U.S. Coast Guard unleashed cannon fire Thursday at a Japanese vessel set adrift by last year's tsunami, stopping the ship's long, lonely voyage across the Pacific Ocean. A Coast Guard cutter fired on the abandoned 164-foot Ryou-Un Maru in the waters of the Gulf of Alaska and more than 150 miles from land, spokesman Paul Webb said. Soon after the cannon fire started, the ship burst into flames, began to take on water and list, Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow said. About two hours later, the vessel hadn't sunk and the cutter resumed shelling, Lt. Veronica Colbath said. The...

This is an image made from video originally posted Tuesday, April 25, 2006 on the Internet showing al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced at a news conference Thursday June 8, 2006, that al-Qaida in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed. This image was provided via the IntelCenter, which is a private contractor working for intelligence agencies. (AP Photo/via IntelCenter)