News of the World

[kyonides]

Putin Says Russia Will Place Nuclear Weapons in Belarus Next Month

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow will start deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus when the necessary special storage facilities in the former Soviet republic are completed early next month.

The announcement comes several months after Putin first described plans to move tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus in March, pointing to U.S. deployment of similar weaponry at NATO bases in a number of European countries over many decades.

Belarus’ longtime authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, recently described the development as a unique chance for Minsk and Moscow to unite. Belarus, along with Kazakhstan and Ukraine, relinquished its nuclear weapons to Russia in the 1990s in exchange for security guarantees.

“Everything is proceeding as planned,” Putin said in televised remarks of his meeting with Lukashenko at his Bocharov Ruchey resort in Sochi on Russia’s Black Sea coast.

“Preparations of the relevant facilities will be completed on July 7 or 8, and we will immediately begin the activities related to the deployment of the corresponding types of weapons on your territory,” he added, according to a Kremlin transcript of his remarks.

If everything goes as planned, the deployment will mark the first time Russian tactical nuclear weapons are placed outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.

Judge Who Ruled in Trump’s Favor Assigned to Mar-a-Lago Documents Case

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon was assigned to the criminal case, which was lodged in federal court in southern Florida, according to the court docket.

Assignment of new cases is chosen randomly to one of 26 judges who operate in the district, according to the court’s internal rules.

Cannon, a former U.S. prosecutor who was appointed as a judge in 2020, sided with Trump in a previous case brought by the former president against the government following its execution of a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Trump asked for an independent person called a special master to be appointed to help adjudicate disputes over the documents the FBI seized, many of which were not marked classified, because he said many of the documents were not allowed to be seized under the warrant.

Department of Justice (DOJ) officials opposed the request, alleging that appointing a special master would harm natural security and would impede its criminal investigation into Trump.

Cannon ruled on Sept. 5, 2022, that a special master would be helpful in identifying personal documents that Trump may be entitled to, such as tax documents that the government had acknowledged seizing.

Mary Trump Scores Legal Victory on the Same Day He’s Charged by DOJ

The lawsuit by the former president against his niece Mary Trump, who is a fiery critic of him, could advance, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled on Friday.

Mary Trump filed a motion to dismiss all Trump’s claims, but Judge Robert Reed refused to dismiss the part about breaching of contract.

“ORDERED that defendant Mary Trump’s motion to dismiss the complaint is denied to the extent that it seeks to dismiss the first cause of action (breach of contract),” Reed wrote in the ruling.

Mary Trump was sued in 2021 for providing Trump’s taxes information to The New York Times who later published an over 13,000-word article claiming that Trump potentially engaged in tax schemes.

The New York Times was also one of the defendants, but Reed dismissed the complaint against The New York Times in May, citing the First Amendment.
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In a statement to multiple outlets, the NY Times said it was “pleased” with Reed’s decision.

Paxton’s Lawyers Take Legal Action Against Impeachment Prosecutors

Attorneys representing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have taken legal action against several Texas House Republicans and two Houston attorneys prosecuting Paxton, demanding they stop covertly contacting witnesses related to what they say is a meritless impeachment proceeding.

The letter was sent on June 8 to Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, the co-chairs of the Texas House General Investigating Committee Reps. Andrew Murr ® and Ann Johnson (D), and to Houston attorneys Rusty Hardin and Dick DeGuerin.

Paxton’s attorneys accused the recipients of the letter and their agents of “improper contact” with potential witnesses, including employees of the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

“There can be no doubt that your efforts to have ex parte contacts with witnesses are wholly improper,” Paxton’s attorneys wrote.

Ex parte contacts with witnesses refer to direct communications between one party—or their legal representatives—and a witness, without the knowledge, presence, or consent of the other parties involved in a legal dispute.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Dismissal of China Military Threat
‘Dangerously Naive’: Retired Colonel

In a Twitter Spaces conversation earlier this week with the platform’s owner Elon Musk, the Democrat presidential candidate called for the United States to engage with China in talks and compete with the country economically but not militarily.

“The Chinese cannot and do not want to compete with us militarily,” Kennedy said. “So it’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy that says, ‘Oh, the Chinese want to be our enemy and have a military competition,’ they don’t. What we should be doing is de-escalating military pressure on China.”
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“We think the world is on our side, but it isn’t. All we’ve got—the only people who are supporting this pugnacious, bellicose relationship with China are Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, Britain, Canada,” he said. “We’re pretty much alone in the world. The rest of the world is looking at us and saying, What the heck are you doing? Why are you trying to create a war with China? Why are you fighting them over?”

“They don’t want war, they want peace and they want prosperity, and that cannot happen where there’s a war,” he said, adding that the United States should “de-escalate the war talk” on issues such as Taiwan and seek “a smart negotiation where we do better because of China.”
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While the CIA director William Burns made a secret trip to China last month to thaw relations with Beijing, Kennedy said he wanted to have a “real political and economic discussion” with the Chinese side...
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To John Mills, a retired Army colonel who previously oversaw cybersecurity policy and international affairs at the Department of Defense, the remarks indicate that Kennedy is “almost dangerously naive as to the malign behavior of China.”

“I’m a little puzzled by his comments,” Mills, a contributor to The Epoch Times, said in an interview. “He has strong opinions on the virus and the vaccine. Well, where does he think the virus came from? It’s kind of incongruent.”

Japan to Allow More Skilled Foreign Workers to Reside Amid Labor Shortage

Japan’s cabinet approved Friday a plan to increase the number of industries that can offer a long-term work visa for skilled foreign workers in a move to tackle the country’s acute labor shortage.

During a meeting, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida emphasized the need for Japan to promote the smooth acceptance of foreign workers in order to address “the severe labor shortage,” Kyodo News reported.

At present, only skilled workers in the construction and shipbuilding sectors can apply for a Class II visa, which grants an unlimited length of stay and allows holders to bring family members into the country.

The approved plan expands the sector from two to 11 industries, including fishery, agriculture, and hotel, enabling Class I visa holders from the 11 sectors to apply for long-term residency.

However, workers must pass Japanese language and skill examinations before being qualified for the upgrade. Class I holders are allowed to stay in Japan for five years but cannot bring family members to the country.

The plan will come into effect by this fall. According to the Immigration Services Agency, about 150,000 foreign workers in Japan are Class I holders as of March, while the number of Class II holders was only 11.