Free Republic

A high-ranking Russian law official believed to be the authority behind attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya, who took part in the notorious Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr during the presidential campaign, has been killed in a mysterious helicopter crash. Deputy prosecutor-general Saak Karapetyan - a long-time ally of President Vladimir Putin - died last night when his AS-350 came down in Kostroma region northeast of Moscow during an unauthorized flight. Karapetyan had been in charge of Russian criminal investigations into the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the UK, and the deaths of Putin critic...

Although Peng Shuai’s story has sex and sports, making it media fodder, a more significant person vanished from view in 2018—and no one seems to care. Much media coverage has been devoted to Peng Shuai, a Chinese women’s tennis player, whom her Communist Chinese government apparently “disappeared.” However, the head of Interpol disappeared too, and that deserves more attention. Because Peng was an international figure and used social media to claim a “high-ranking government official” in China sexually assaulted her, the media was eager to cover her disappearance—mostly because of the political popularity and sensitivity to the #MeToo movement. After...

The US Central Command announcing on the first day of the impeachment trial opened in Washington that more US troops serving at the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq when Iranian missile struck the base earlier this month have been taken to Germany for treatment of concussion related injuries.... A former inspector with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) told the UN Security Council that the group's report about an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria in April 2018 ran contrary to the findings of its own fact finding mission....... Speaking to the UN Conference on Disarmament...

The wife of Meng Hongwei, the Interpol president held in China since September, has sought asylum in France for herself and her twin children. Grace Meng and the seven-year-olds live in Lyon, the international police agency's headquarters. Meng Hongwei disappeared during a visit to China. In October the Chinese authorities said Mr Meng was being investigated over suspected bribe-taking. His wife and children are under police protection, having received threats. Quoted by France Inter radio on Friday, she said, "I fear they will kidnap me."

President Trump visited Pittsburgh Tuesday to offer condolences following Saturday's massacre at a synagogue... If the polling data is any indicator and if one assumes its a bit biased towards the Democrats, the Republicans will certainly improve their majority in the US Senate in the mid-term elections with some losses in the House likely. Convicted Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger was found dead in a federal prison in West Virginia beaten "nearly beyond recognition"..... Word today that the United States is pressuring Saudi Arabia to agree to a cease fire in Yemen's civil war... The "Sunday Express" in the...

The Turkish police conducting the murder investigation involving Saudi write Jamal Khashoggi have searched a forested area. They believe the pieces of his body were taken there or perhaps to farmland after his murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul October 2nd. President Trump has said it appears that Khashoggi was murdered but the US would like to have any audio or video evidence the Turks have...... What is Turkey's end game for the Khashoggi matter? A commentary in the pro-government "Yeni Safak" newspaper says the matter provides an opportunity for Saudi Arabia to align itself with the Turkish regime......

The international police agency Interpol announced Sunday that its missing president had resigned "with immediate effect" after China said the man was under investigation over unspecified legal violations and his wife told reporters that he had texted her an image of a knife, leading her to believe he was in danger. Grace Meng told reporters that she had not heard from her husband, Meng Hongwei, since Sept. 25. That day, he sent her the knife image from an Interpol phone four minutes after sending an initial message saying, "Wait for my call." She said the call never came and she...

At the crest of his political career Meng Hongwei, the first-ever Chinese president of Interpol, was proudly hailed by state media as a testimony to the international community’s “full recognition” of China’s law enforcement capacity and status as a country based on the rule of law. Less than a year after he took the helm of the global policing body, Meng hosted its general assembly in Beijing – only the second time in the country’s history. At the opening ceremony, he was given the rare privilege of sitting next to the country’s most powerful man, President Xi Jinping, who –...

The man dubbed the "far-right candidate" had a very strong first round finish in Brazil's presidential election..... Two Israelis were killed and a third injured in a terrorist attack in the West Bank Sunday morning at an industrial park...... Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met from North Korea's ruler Kim Jong-un for more than three hours Sunday..... The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an accident involving a stretch limousine in upstate New York that killed 20 people..... The Turkish regime believes that Saudi government critic Jamal Khashoggi was murdered when he visited the Istanbul consulate of Saudi Arabia last...

Global police cooperation agency Interpol elected a senior Chinese public security official as president, Chinese state media said on Thursday, in what could be a boost to Beijing’s domestic anti-graft crackdown.

The missing Interpol chief, Meng Hongwei, who it was revealed on Sunday has been detained in China for 12 days unknown to his family or employer, has resigned from the international police agency. Interpol said it had received his resignation “with immediate effect” late on Sunday. It was the latest twist in the mystery of Meng’s disappearance last month after he flew from France to China. In a terse statement on Sunday evening, the Chinese authorities had admitted they were holding Meng under investigation by a new government anti-corruption unit for suspected “violations of the law”.

PARIS (AP) — The president of Interpol has been reported missing after traveling to his native China, a French judicial official said Friday. Meng Hongwei's wife reported Friday that she had not heard from her 64-year-old husband since the end of September, when he left Lyon, France, where Interpol is based, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of an ongoing investigation. The official said Meng did arrive in China.

Meng Hongwei was not on French soil when he was last seen, according a senior French law enforcement official, who declined to say whether he was in China. Meng's wife went to police in Lyon, where Interpol is based, Thursday night to report his disappearance, according to a statement released by the French Interior Ministry on Friday. The spouse told police that she had last heard from him 10 days ago and had recently received threats via social networks and by telephone, according to the statement. "France is looking into the situation of the President of Interpol and is concerned...