Free Republic

US President-elect Donald Trump did not send an invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his inauguration in January, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed. "No, he didn’t send an invitation," the spokesman said, News.Az reports, citing Russian media. Previously, the CBS News TV channel reported citing its sources that Trump invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the inauguration. The Chinese embassy in Washington has not yet confirmed this report to TASS. According to the TV channel, several high-ranking foreign representatives are expected to attend the ceremony, potentially including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Tens of thousands of residents in the Russian city of Orenburg and neighbouring Kazakhstan have been told to evacuate immediately as flood waters inundate homes. -snip- Orenburg is home to half a million people, and the city's mayor Sergei Salmin said the situation was extremely dangerous. "Over the last 10 hours, the water level in the Ural River has risen by 40cm … these levels are dangerous," he wrote on the Telegram messenger app. He called on residents to gather essential items and to abandon their homes. Emergency workers said water levels in the Ural River were more than two...