Free Republic

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is ah-live! Maybe. He sent a message giving his appreciation to people building a complex at his father’s hometown on the border of China although state radio didn’t say anything about the 36-year-old’s health. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported no photos of Kim have been published since his vanishing on April 11th amid speculation heart problems either felled or left him comatose. South Korea’s official stance is Kim remains in the realm of the living. South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s foreign policy adviser sent a statement to American media saying Kim is “alive...

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is 'alive and well', a South Korean official has said. Foreign policy adviser Chung-in Moon said his government's position is firmly that the despot is not dead. The aide said Kim had been living in the Wonsan area of the country since April 13, adding to Fox: 'No suspicious movements have so far been detected.' Rumours of his death emerged from the vice director of Hong Kong Satellite Television Shijian Xingzou, who claimed a 'very solid source' told her Kim was dead. She has 15million followers on Chinese social media Weibo, and is also the...

President Trump issued a symbolic joint statement Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a move that has stirred debate within the Trump administration and spawned concern among some lawmakers on Capitol Hill, according to people familiar with the document. The unusual declaration is intended to commemorate the 75th anniversary of a meeting between American and Soviet troops at the Elbe River on April 25, 1945. The broader intent is to underscore how the two nations can put aside their differences for a larger purpose, according to people familiar with its drafting. “The ‘Spirit of the Elbe’ is an example...

Kim Jong Un is rumored to be dead, according to a Hong Kong broadcast network, while a Japanese magazine is reporting that North Korea’s rocket man is in a “vegetative state” after he underwent heart surgery earlier this month.

The walls of Russia’s new Orthodox cathedral dedicated to the Armed Forces will be decorated with the faces of President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Soviet leader Josef Stalin, the MBKh News website reported Friday. The 95-meter Armed Forces cathedral, a symbol of close defense-church ties in Russia, is expected to open on May 9 — the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II — at a sprawling military-themed park near Moscow. Once completed, the building will become one of the tallest Orthodox churches in the world. Following MBKh News' report, the...

The walls of Russia’s new Orthodox cathedral dedicated to the Armed Forces will be decorated with the faces of President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Soviet leader Josef Stalin, the MBKh News website reported Friday. The 95-meter Armed Forces cathedral, a symbol of close defense-church ties in Russia, is expected to open on May 9 — the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II — at a sprawling military-themed park near Moscow. Once completed, the building will become one of the tallest Orthodox churches in the world. One of the cathedral’s mosaics...

President Trump shared a report that said indictments could be coming this week in U.S. Attorney John Durham's review of the Russia investigation. Part of a flurry of retweets late Monday evening, Trump's verified Twitter account, which has 77.8 million followers, shared a post from Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett's personal website with the headline: "More Russia Spygate Indictments Coming ‘This Week.’" The post, authored by "staff" and shared by Jarrett's verified Twitter account, focused on a recent interview conducted by Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, during which investigative reporter John Solomon said that "some criminal investigative activity" indicated...

"There’s not going to be a lot, don’t expect 10 or 12 indictments, but there could be a handful of indictments and much more information." John Solomon of Just The News joined Lou Dobbs on his Fox Business program just before the weekend with a declaration that Russia Spygate indictments could be coming “this week.” Solomon said on Dobbs’ program, “there is some fairly significant evidence that this week…there is some criminal investigative activity that I think will result in some actions coming out soon.” He added, “there’s not going to be a lot, don’t expect 10 or 12 indictments,...

Will the financial fallout from COVID-19 make European infrastructure vulnerable to the Chinese government's checkbook? Some experts warn that Europe is already in precarious straits. Teri Schultz reports from Brussels.

Foreign powers test US defenses amid coronavirus pandemic BY ELLEN MITCHELL - 04/19/20 08:00 AM EDT U.S. adversaries are probing America's defenses as the world is preoccupied with the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. In the past two weeks, Russia, China, Iran and North Korea have all moved to test Washington in the sea, in the air and on land as U.S. forces have become more restricted in movement amid concerns over the spread of COVID-19. “Exactly how distracted is the U.S. military? They want to know,” said Susanna Blume, the director of the defense program at the Center for...

The only way to fix the faulty engine is to lift it out of the hull and replace it with a new one, a work that will cause another year of delay for Russia’s new prestigious nuclear-powered icebreaker. It was during sea trials in the Baltic Sea in February a short circuit caused serious damage to the winding in one of the three electro engines onboard the “Arktika” icebreaker. Sea trials continued with only two of the engines working. Newspaper Kommersant can now tell, with reference to the investigative commission’s work, that it is considered impossible to repair the broken...

The Russian government has authorised the use of an anti-malarial drug to treat coronavirus patients despite international concerns over its safety and effectiveness. The government published an order late Thursday allowing the use of hydroxychloroquine on patients after China donated more than 68,000 packs of the tablets to Russia. The order was published after President Vladimir Putin had a phone conversation with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday evening. It said the drug would be distributed to hospitals that are caring for patients who have tested positive for coronavirus or are suspected of having it. It said the drug’s safety...

Russian President Vladimir Putin defended China's record on responding to the novel coronavirus outbreak amid U.S. attacks in a phone call with his counterpart in Beijing. Putin and President Xi Jinping of China held "a thorough exchange of views on the situation around the coronavirus pandemic" in a telephone conversation Thursday, according to a readout shared by the Kremlin. The two men have sought to boost their strategic partnership by working closely together amid the crisis and the pair emphasized efforts to "further strengthen cooperation in this area, including through the exchange of specialists, the supply of medical equipment, medicines...

Since the beginning of its intervention in Syria in September 2015, Russia has not only sought to keep in place its most faithful Arab ally, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. It has also wanted to regain the regional and global influence that it lost since the fall of the Soviet Union. Vladimir Putin has sought to use the turmoil in the Middle East to erase international norms and advances in international humanitarian law made since the second world war. In fact, creating the humanitarian disaster that has turned almost 6m Syrians into refugees has not been a byproduct of the Russian...

A fire has engulfed large parts of a prison in Russia's Siberia region following a riot by inmates who accused guards of mistreating them. The area around the high-security Penal Colony No 15 in Angarsk has been sealed off and security forces deployed. There are reports of casualties but their number is unclear. Russia's penal service said inmates had "attacked a guard" who had to be taken to hospital. Officials said the unrest was under control and investigators had opened an investigation.

...So it is no coincidence that when the opportunity arose, we chose the Pasvik River, the river that forms the border between Norway, Russia and Finland. For one simple reason: the Pasvik River alone tells the story not only of the High North, but also of the continent. Nothing less. We followed it from Lake Inari in Finland, where it originates, to Kirkenes, where it flows into the Barents Sea. From the depths of Lapland, where it tells History, to the Arctic Ocean, where it meets future. The Pasvik border can be summed up like this, stories of reindeer and...

The Trump administration reportedly plans to designate the far-right Russian Imperial Movement as a terrorist organization, the first time the designation has been applied to a white supremacist group. The designation will allow the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to seize assets belonging to the organization in the U.S. and prohibit Americans from financial dealings with the group. Officials said the U.S. will also designate three of the organization’s leaders, Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev, Denis Valliullovich Gariev and Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov, as terrorists, making them subject to similar sanctions at a personal level. The group, an ultranationalist Russian...

Moscow (AFP) - Russia is ready to cooperate with Saudi Arabia and the United States to cut oil production, President Vladimir Putin said Friday. Putin said Russia was willing to make agreements within the framework of the OPEC+ group and that "we are ready for cooperation with the United States of America on this issue," according to a statement published by the Kremlin. "I believe that it is necessary to combine efforts in order to balance the market and reduce production." Oil prices have tumbled in recent weeks in the face of a drop in demand and global economic uncertainty...

MOSCOW - Ventilators delivered by Russia to the United States to help treat patients of the new coronavirus were manufactured by a Russian company that is under U.S. sanctions, Russia’s RBC business daily reported on Friday. A Russian military plane carrying the ventilators landed in New York on Wednesday after U.S. President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone. Russian state television footage of the plane’s unloading showed boxes of “Aventa-M” ventilators, which are produced by the Ural Instrument Engineering Plant (UPZ) in the city of Chelyabinsk, 930 miles east of Moscow, RBC reported. UPZ is part of...