Free Republic

President Moon Jae-in’s government is seeking ways to circumvent international sanctions against North Korea to reopen an inter-Korean industrial park. The Kaesong industrial complex north of the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas was shut down in February 2016 after Pyongyang conducted its fourth nuclear test. The ensuing moves by Seoul officials suggest the Moon administration is seeking to resume the inter-Korean projects, particularly the joint industrial park, as a catalyst for the North’s denuclearization rather than a step to be taken after a significant progress is made. But it would prove practically impossible to bypass sanctions imposed by a...

LUKEVILLE, Ariz. - They crossed just before dawn. And there was little to stop them. At around 5 a.m. last Monday, a group of 84 migrants hurried off a large tour bus on a Mexican highway, crawled under a small fence and walked into the United States. Customs and Border Protection videotaped the migrants, all families from Central America, crossing the border in Quitobaquito Springs in Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Park, a four-hour drive from Tucson. Border agents used a mobile surveillance capability truck to capture images of the crossing. Fernando Grijalva, CBP’s patrol agent in charge of the...

When Pope Francis visits Panama this week, he arrives not only as the first Latin American pontiff to visit Central America but as perhaps the world's most prominent advocate for migrants at a time when migration has become a pressing political issue in the region and elsewhere. The Argentine-born son of Italian immigrants has long held the issue dear to his heart and has signaled that it will be a central theme during the trip, which comes as the latest caravan of Central Americans is wending its way toward the U.S.-Mexico frontier. Francis' emphasis on fundamental Christian teaching about welcoming...

Western culture and society pose more health risks to migrants and refugees than they do to host nations, according to a World Health Organization study. The first report on refugee and migrant health in the west by WHO Europe suggests new arrivals are at risk of falling ill while in transit to another country, but face further dangers when they arrive in a host nation because of unhealthy living conditions, poor diet and the obesity epidemic. The report on the health of refugees and migrants in the WHO European region says they do not transmit diseases or place a disproportionate...

El Paso, Texas — The U.S. government has issued a security alert for U.S. citizens in Juárez and Chihuahua City. The announcement comes after a wave of cartel violence left at least eight Juarez police officers injured on Jan. 17. "Authorities believe that members of organized criminal groups are carrying out these attacks, which are expected to continue," reads the alert posted on the U.S. government website one day later. Video posted by the tabloid news site, LaPolaka.com shows a public bus in flames. Mexican police say gang members allegedly set the bus ablaze and then used it to block...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela plunged deeper into turmoil on Monday as security forces put down a pre-dawn uprising by national guardsmen that triggered violent street protests and the Supreme Court outlawed the opposition-controlled congress’ defiant new leadership. The mutiny triggered protests in a poor neighborhood just a few miles (kilometers) from Venezuela’s presidential palace. It was dispersed with tear gas as residents set fire to a barricade of trash and chanted demands that President Nicolas Maduro leave power. The military said in a statement said that it had recovered all the weapons and captured those involved in what it...

MISSION, Texas - U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley encountered 130 undocumented immigrants in a single incident. Friday night, McAllen agents working near Mission, Texas, apprehended 130 subjects after they crossed the Rio Grande. The group is comprised of family units, unaccompanied children, and adults from the countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Border Patrol is processing the subjects accordingly.

A man was taken into custody this weekend in connection with four "brutal" murders that shook communities in the Reno, Nevada, area, officials said. Wilbur Ernesto Martinez-Guzman, 19, was apprehended Saturday, Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said at a joint news conference Sunday. "We feel confident we have evidence that will link him to all four homicides," Balaam said. "The information we have now indicates there are no outstanding suspects." Martinez-Guzman "was likely in the United States illegally and was detainable," immigration officers verified Saturday afternoon, said Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong. The first of the four victims, 56-year-old Connie...

The timing of this revelation is rather disconcerting, all things considered. NBC News is reporting that a new study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) indicates the North Koreans have a previously undisclosed ballistic missile base hidden away in the mountains. And making matters worse, they think this might be one of as many as twenty such sites the country has never admitted to owning. With a second U.S.- North Korea nuclear summit looming in February, researchers have discovered a secret ballistic missile base in North Korea — one of as many as 20 undisclosed missile...

Full header: "GLOBAL WARMING UPDATE: Montreal’s Fête Des Neiges (Winter Snow Festival) Cancelled Due To Extreme Cold!" BEING careful not to confuse ‘weather’ with ‘climate’, even though our warmist friends have no problem finding a direct link between heatwaves and ‘climate change’, every summer, there’s no escaping the irony of cancelling a snow festival due to extreme cold in the era of extreme global warming climate change alarmism! THE extreme irony highlighted by a support comment from Christine Muschi of the Montreal Gazette, before the cancellation – “It’s never too cold for Fete des Neige…”!

Full Header: "Factor or Fiction? Retired Border Patrol Agent Sets The Record Straight on MSM Claims About Illegal Immigration" Americans across the country have continually debated whether or not illegal immigration is an issue that severely impacts our nation. Hector Regalado, a recently retired Border Patrol agent, decided to help set the record straight. Mr. Regalado spent 23 years with the Border Patrol. He’s been stationed in Imperial Beach, California; Naco, Arizona; Nogales, Arizona; Grand Forks, Minnesota; and Spokane, Washington. He’s held various positions, including Senior Patrol Agent, Resident Agent, Supervisor for the Resident Agent Program, Special Operations Supervisor, Special...

A man apparently in the United States illegally is the primary suspect in four Northern Nevada murders, and no one else is being sought. January 20, 2019, Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam hosted a multi-agency news conference to announce the arrest of 19-year-old Wilbur Ernesto Martinez-Guzman. Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong says the suspect had lived in the Carson City area about a year, but has no local record. The suspect is so far charged with burglary, possession of stolen property and obtaining money by false pretenses, and he is on an immigration hold. District Attorneys from Washoe County and...

A quick survey of news from around the world show the screws are tightening on China. First, news broke that Chinese tech company Huawei is now likely to face a criminal probe for stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile. This case is the result of civil lawsuits files against Huawei, primarily one where a Seattle jury found the Chinese company guilty of misappropriating robotic technology from T-Mobile. Although the judgement was a modest $4.8 million, it set a precedent for the Justice Department to use Huawei's behavior that was previously outlined in civil lawsuits as a basis for possible criminal prosecution....

The undeclared war between Israel and Iran is heating up as, in a nearly unprecedented move, the Israeli government announced it had struck Iranian targets in Syria. Iranian troops belong to the Quds Force were hit along with targets near the Damascus airport. We have started striking Iranian Quds targets in Syrian territory. We warn the Syrian Armed Forces against attempting to harm Israeli forces or territory. The Quds Force is an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards that operates almost exclusively on foreign soil. Iran deployed the Quds Force to work closely with the Lebanese terrorist group Hezb'allah,...

<p>Wealth inequality around the world is “out of control” and doing particular harm to women, anti-poverty campaigner Oxfam warned Monday ahead of the annual gathering of business and political leaders in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.</p>

China’s 2018 economic growth fell to a three-decade low, adding to pressure on Beijing to settle a tariff war with Washington. The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6.6 percent over a year earlier, down from 2017′s 6.9 percent, official data showed Monday. Growth in the three months ending in December dipped to 6.4 percent — the lowest quarterly level since the 2008 global crisis — from the previous quarter’s 6.5 percent. Communist leaders are trying to steer China to slower, more self-sustaining growth based on consumer spending instead of trade and investment. But the deceleration has been sharper than expected,...

The three-time Italian premier, who has made a career out of rebounding from legal woes, personal scandal, heart trouble and political setbacks, is running for the European Parliament in May elections. The 82-year-old Berlusconi announced his candidacy with his center-right Forza Italia party Thursday in Sardinia. He said he wanted to “bring my voice to a Europe that should change, a Europe that has lost profound thinking about the world.” Berlusconi had been barred from running for public office for nearly five years due to a tax fraud conviction. Citing his good conduct, a court last year ruled that he...

CHINA is a potent threat to security in Asia as it rapidly expands and modernises its terrifying military, according to a shock US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) report. -- A 140-page report called “China Military Power: Modernising a Force to Fight and Win” claims the ongoing tension over Taiwan is a major reason for China’s huge investment in its military. -- Please see full article at the link. Pretty good, pretty long article.

The vigilante group Soldiers of Odin has begun patrolling streets and public places in Oulu, in response to several cases of rape and sexual assault committed against Finnish children by migrant men. The patrol visits, among other things, shopping centres in the city, as these have been identified as places where foreigners are looking for victims to rape and molest. The initiative comes shortly after the police have warned the population against taking the law into their own hands, Ålands Nyheter reports. Soldiers of Odin (SOO) is an anti-immigrant group founded in Kemi, Finland, in October 2015. The group was...

Marine Le Pen delivered a speech in Paris to thousands of her National Rally party supporters, who chanted “Macron, resignation!” as she spoke. She denounced Macron and the EU as agents of globalisation with contempt for ordinary people. She also said the European Parliament elections in May ought to be a referendum on whether Macron stays in office. “If Macron does not have the wisdom to go back to the people by dissolving parliament, then let the political arbitrage come from European elections,” she said. “The European Union as it stands is a menace to our identity and to our...