Free Republic

The decapitated corpse of a mining company boss has been found in the latest episode of a grizzly string of mysterious deaths among senior Russian executives since the war in Ukraine started. The body of Alexey Sinistyn, CEO of potassium and magnesium mining firm K-Potash Service, was found near Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave on Monday, Russian media reported. The deceased was “found without a head,” state-run news agency RIA Novosti cited law enforcement officials as saying, adding that the body was found under a bridge with a tow rope attached to it.

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has faced a fierce backlash for claiming that Hamas is 'more like a political organization' than a terror group. The 56-year-old commentator made the comment while speaking with Shahed Ghoreishi in the latest episode of The Tucker Carlson show clipped by Mediate. Speaking about Hamas, Carlson said 'They're Islamist extremists... I don't know if that's true, by the way. Seems more like a political organization.'

Qatar “strongly condemns” the Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Doha, calling it “cowardly.” Saying that the strike “targeted residential buildings housing several members of the Political Bureau of Hamas,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari says that the “criminal assault constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms, and poses a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents in Qatar.” Ansari adds that Qatar “will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and the ongoing disruption of regional security, nor any act that targets its security and sovereignty.” Qatar is investigating “at the highest...

US Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) has repudiated popular right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson for claiming he would like to share “condolences” with the family of Osama bin Laden, the late al Qaeda leader who organized the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. “Something is wrong with Tucker Carlson,” Cruz said during an episode of his podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz” that was released on Monday. Cruz was responding to Carlson, a controversial commentator and online provocateur, who said in a recent episode of his own podcast that he would have no problem expressing sympathy to the family...

Russia on Wednesday strongly condemned the Israeli attack on Qatar's capital Doha, calling it "a gross violation of international law and the UN Charter," and "an assault on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent state." In a statement, the Foreign Ministry emphasized that Israel targeted Qatar's residential district, purportedly aimed at high-ranking members of the Palestinian Hamas movement who were reportedly located there, killing at least six people, including a Qatari police officer and injuring several people. "Russia views this incident as a gross violation of international law and the UN Charter, representing an assault on the sovereignty...

The Ukrainian military said on Saturday it had killed scores of Russian soldiers and destroyed two ammunition dumps in fighting in the Kherson region, the focus of Kyiv's counter-offensive in the south and a key link in Moscow's supply lines. Rail traffic to Kherson over the Dnipro River had been cut, the military's southern command said, potentially further isolating Russian forces west of the river from supplies in occupied Crimea and the east. Defence and intelligence officials from Britain, which has been one of Ukraine's staunchest allies in the West since Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion, portrayed Russian forces as struggling...

A police officer in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson was killed on Wednesday by an explosive device planted by the Ukrainian "resistance movement" and another one was injured, Ukraine's defence ministry said. The reported killing is the latest in a series of attacks on local officials in regions captured by Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February. "The resistance movement clears Kherson of traitors," the ministry's defence intelligence directorate said a statement. The device was set off by radio control on a street just north of the city centre, it said. On Saturday, the directorate urged citizens in the Kherson...

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a cabinet meeting on Monday with senior officials, amid concerns about Ukraine's High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from the United States that Western officials claim hamper Moscow's war efforts. The rocket systems first arrived in Ukraine in June from the U.S and have been seen as crucial to helping Kyiv's forces repel the Russian military. The Russian state-backed TASS news agency reported on Monday that Putin will hold the cabinet meeting via videoconference on Monday, with the main topics being the development of air transport and aircraft manufacturing. Deputy Prime Minister and Trade...

A four-year-old girl with Down's Syndrome has become the latest innocent victim of Putin's war in Ukraine after she was killed in her pram by a Russian cruise missile which also left her mother fighting for life. Liza Dmitrieva was accompanying mother Irina on a day out in the city of Vinnystya - in western Ukraine, hundreds of miles from the nearest frontline - when a Russian Kalibre missile launched from a submarine in the Black Sea crashed down on top of them around 10.50am local time. The pink pram that Liza had been filmed pushing an hour earlier was...

The lower house of the Russian parliament will gather on July 15 for an extraordinary session, its council decided on Monday, just days after President Vladimir Putin warned that he had not even started to get serious in the war in Ukraine. Putin used a meeting with parliamentary leaders on Thursday to dare the United States and its allies to try to defeat Russia in Ukraine, which Russia invaded on Feb. 24. Parliamentary leaders all thanked Putin for his decisions.

Stunned by today’s press conference? So were the broadcast and cable news network anchors who led special coverage. Here’s what they had to say right after Pres. Trump finished his remarks: ABC: “What a remarkable window into the state of mind of the President of the United States right there.” – George Stephanopoulos, 2:12 p.m. ET. CBS: “Well, a remarkable news conference…” – Scott Pelley, 2:12 p.m. ET. NBC: “Pres. Trump concluding an hour and 10 minute long session with reporters in the East Room…” – Lester Holt, 2:12 p.m. CNN: “Wow, what an amazing an hour and 15 minute...