Free Republic

While a hardline ally 'holds the Kremlin reins', opposition source claims Public appearances by Vladimir Putin were reportedly staged to mask absence Old footage was used in video appearances for several meetings, it was alleged Nikolai Patrushev - a former FSB chief - is now in virtual control of the Kremlin Public appearances by Vladimir Putin were 'staged' last week to mask an absence from duties, raising new speculation about his health, an opposition source claimed. Old footage was used in video appearances for several meetings, it was alleged. Trusted aide Nikolai Patrushev - a former FSB chief - is...

Something isn’t right.

Pet lovers are being warned against a cut-price scam which could leave them with an "ex-parrot" on their hands.Trading standards officers across the country have received a catalogue of complaints worthy of the famous Monty Python sketch. In each case, exotic birds sent to people who responded to internet or newspaper advertisements have died soon after arrival. In the 1969 “Dead Parrot Sketch”, Mr Praline, played by John Cleese, returns a Norwegian Blue to a pet shop within half an hour protesting it “has ceased to be”. The shopkeeper, played by Michael Palin, tries to convince him the parrot...

Tyranny: After five decades of absolute power, we're now supposed to believe Cuban dictator Fidel Castro intends to meekly relinquish the reins to the younger set? Over Castro's dead body.A mysterious letter purportedly from the missing Cuban dictator stressed that Castro, 81, didn't intend to cling to power much longer. "My elemental duty is not to hold on to positions and less to obstruct the path of younger people," it said. After 49 years of ruling without an election, followed by a year and a half of terminal illness, this sounds more like the fluttering of circling vultures than any...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran's U.N. ambassador denied on Friday reports circulating on the Internet that Tehran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had died. "We checked last night and there is no truth to it," Javad Zarif, Iran's chief envoy to the United Nations, told Reuters about the reports, which first appeared on Web sites on Thursday. The Internet rumors were circulating among traders in energy and other financial markets, but had not moved prices.