Free Republic

The Kremlin said on July 8 that it was shocked by the sudden death of Russia’s former transport minister Roman Starovoit, news of which broke hours after President Vladimir Putin had sacked him. Mr Starovoit was found dead in his car outside Moscow with a gunshot wound and the principal hypothesis is that he took his own life, state investigators said on July 7. Asked about Mr Starovoit’s death, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Mr Putin had been briefed on the incident and described the news as “tragic and sad”. Mr Peskov declined to speculate on the cause of...

Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama publicly condemned the Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), joining legendary singer Bono in an emotional farewell via videoconference to the shuttered aid service. Obama, a Democrat, called the decision "a colossal mistake," while the Republican Bush denounced the cuts to his signature HIV/AIDS relief program, asking, "Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you." Bono, appearing as a surprise guest, fought back tears as he honored the agency's workers, calling...

Minnesota authorities admitted they let a gunman who shot a Democratic lawmaker and her husband dead slip away despite engaging him in a firefight immediately after the murders. State Representative Melissa Hortman was shot along with fellow Democrat John Hoffman, a state senator, in a chilling assassination spree in the early hours of Saturday morning. Local police, sheriff's deputies, and the FBI have since launched an extensive manhunt, as authorities say multiple gunmen may be at large... The first shooting occurred just after 2am at Hoffman's home in Champlin, about 20 miles from Minneapolis. Hoffman and his wife were shot...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia wouldn’t agree to an immediate end to the fighting in Ukraine, as Moscow’s army made rapid gains toward expelling Ukraine’s forces from its Kursk region.Any pause in fighting at this point would be in Ukraine’s interests, he said, adding that Russia wanted a truce that led “to a lasting peace and the elimination of the root causes” of the war, which he described as a crisis. Putin’s comments were the first official response from Moscow to a U.S.-backed proposal agreed by Ukraine this week to pause the war, now in its fourth year. They...

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she would vote against the nomination of Kash Patel to serve as the FBI director, citing a string of political comments that call into question his ability to apolitically lead the bureau. Collins noted recent actions at the Justice Department and FBI, from prosecutors resigning after facing pressure on how to handle certain cases to FBI agents facing firing over their work on Jan. 6 cases.

Trump said that he is not a supporter of sanctions against RussiaUS presidential candidate Donald Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg that he is not a supporter of sanctions.“I don’t like sanctions,” he said, commenting on the policy of the current White House administration towards Russia.At the same time, as the agency specifies, the former president made it clear that he is equally cool to the idea of protecting Taiwan from a possible invasion of mainland China and attempts to “punish” Russia for the special operation in Ukraine.

(KTXL) — Retail crime has been on the rise in the U.S., forcing some major retailers to even close locations in response. A new report shows some U.S. cities have been especially hard-hit by organized retail crime. The National Retail Federation (NRF) — the world’s largest retail trade association, according to its website — recently released its 2023 Retail Security Survey. The report contains insights from 177 retail brands, which accounted for $1.6 trillion of annual retail sales in 2022 and represent more than 97,000 retail locations across the U.S. Overall, retailers that participated in the survey reported that inventory...

“ the former South Carolina governor went after her former boss Monday on Fox News, and said the contents of the indictment suggest he was “incredibly reckless with our national security.”

California Sen. Kamala Harris is suspending her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Fox News has learned. The Democratic senator informed her staff of the decision on Tuesday.