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CNN's Debate Rules

CNN Issues Controversial Presidential Debate Rules

CNN issued several controversial presidential debate rules over the weekend that will govern the encounter between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden on June 27.

The new rules come after Trump said in March he would debate Biden anywhere, anytime, and anyplace, putting pressure on Biden to participate in the event.

The Biden campaign agreed in May to a total of two debates that would be closely regulated. It demanded a ban on audiences and approved CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash as moderators. Tapper is one of Trump’s sharpest critics.
CNN announced additional parameters on Saturday:

Two commercial breaks (Likely to benefit Biden)
Campaign staff will not be able to interact with their candidate during the break
No opening statements, two-minute closing statements
Two-minute answer shot clock, one minute for rebuttals
Mics will be muted “except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak” (Likely to benefit Biden)
CNN reported its rules:

The 90-minute debate will include two commercial breaks, according to the network, and campaign staff may not interact with their candidate during that time. Both candidates agreed to appear at a uniform podium, and their podium positions will be determined by a coin flip.

Microphones will be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak. While no props or pre-written notes will be allowed on the stage, candidates will be given a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water.

Some aspects of the debate – including the absence of a studio audience – will be a departure from previous debates. But, as in the past, the moderators “will use all tools at their disposal to enforce timing and ensure a civilized discussion,” according to the network.

Biden is planning to spend about a week preparing to debate Trump, who believes his opponent should receive a drug test before the debates. The White House refused to confirm or deny in May whether Biden intends to use performance-enhancing drugs in preparation for the presidential debates.

Special counsel Robert Hur described as “an elderly man with a poor memory” in his report on Biden’s classified documents scandal.

Ron Klain, Biden’s former chief of staff who is going on vacation to help Biden prepare for the debates, did not respond to Politico Playbook’s request for comment about “whether any illegal substances are used as part of Klain’s debate prep.”

White House Against Reporting Biden's Income

Report: White House Whips Against Bill Requiring President’s Relatives to Disclose Foreign Income

Biden White House aides reportedly pressured House Democrats not to sponsor a bill that would force presidents, vice presidents, and their relatives to disclose foreign income.

Bipartisan backing of a bill could be used as a Republican campaign talking point to slam the Biden family for making millions during and after President Joe Biden was a public official.

The bill, if passed into law, would:

Require top executives to share their tax returns and disclose conflicts of interest
Require detailing of any loans made to family members
Require the documentation of when immediate relatives join the president on Air Force One
Require whether the relatives’ travel was for business purposes
Fulfill Rep. James Comer’s pledge to change laws needed to combat influence peddling
Three Democrats abandoned their sponsorship of the bill apparently due to White House pressure: Reps. Ro Khanna (CA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL), and Kweisi Mfume (MD).

“I was excited to come to Washington to introduce my bill. And was proud that I had found three senior Democratic co-sponsors,” Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) explained to the Hill. “I was really disappointed to learn that those co-sponsors had decided not to support the bill and had had conversations with the White House.”

“Mr. Comer and I did extensive publicity about the bill,” she continued. “And [during] all of that publicity … both Mr. Comer and I took great pains to make clear that this is not about any future president, it is about having the right set of rules to restore trust in the executive.”

The White House declined to comment to the Hill about Porter’s accusation.

Rand Paul & Fauci Ally

Rand Paul, GOP Senators Put Fauci Ally on Hot Seat During COVID Origins Hearing

Ranking Member Rand Paul (R-KY) and other Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee put Anthony Fauci’s ally, Dr. Robert Garry, on the hot seat during Tuesday’s coronavirus origins hearing.

Garry, who Paul dubbed a member of Fauci’s “inner circle,” was one of four witnesses at the hearing. He and Dr. Gregory Koblentz, another witness, said they did not believe a lab leak was the origin of the virus. The other two witnesses, Dr. Steven Quay and Dr. Richard Ebright, believe the virus was derived from a lab and not naturally.

Paul, who contends there is a “preponderance of evidence indicating” the virus may have come from a lab, highlighted in his opening statement that Garry was one of several of Fauci’s allies who helped author an article in March 2020 in Nature Magazine where they asserted, “We do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.”

However, private communications obtained through a Freedom of Information Act Request among some of the paper’s authors, including Garry, from the early days of the pandemic “differ greatly” from what they have said publicly, per Paul:

Bob Garry said, “I really can’t think of a plausible natural scenario where you get from the bat virus or one very similar to it to COVID-19, where you insert exactly four amino acids, twelve nucleotides, and all have to be added at the exact same time to gain this function. I just can’t figure out how this gets accomplished in nature.” According to Garry, “It’s not crackpot to suggest this could have happened given the gain of function research we know was happening at Wuhan.”

DOJ on Steve Bannon's Appeal

DOJ Demands Appeals Court Deny Steve Bannon’s ‘Emergency Motion’ Delaying Prison Sentence

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has requested that an appeals court deny an “emergency motion” that Steve Bannon, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump, filed as he attempts to delay an upcoming prison sentence.

In a court filing from Monday, the DOJ argued that Bannon’s emergency motion “seeking release pending the final resolution of his appeal” fails to “show a ‘substantial question likely to result in’ reversal or a new trial, as required for release.”

On June 6, a federal judge ordered Bannon, the host of the War Room podcast, to report to prison for a four-month sentence after being found in contempt of Congress. Days later, Bannon filed an emergency motion calling for a federal appeals court to allow him to stay out of prison as he continues to fight against his contempt of Congress conviction and seek an appeal, according to NBC News.

“Because Bannon cannot justify what would be an extraordinary exception to the general rule of detention following conviction and an unsuccessful appeal, his motion should be denied,” the DOJ wrote in the filing.

Bannon also previously served as the executive chairman for Breitbart News before he was hired as the CEO of the Trump campaign in August 2016. After joining the Trump administration as a chief strategist, Bannon left in August 2017 and rejoined Breitbart News until he departed again in early 2018.

A jury convicted Bannon in 2022, and he was given a four-month prison sentence.

This was put on hold as Bannon sought to appeal the decision. In May, an appeals court upheld Bannon’s contempt of Congress conviction for denying a subpoena from the Democrat-run committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

“Bannon’s release motion should be denied,” the DOJ added in the filing. “Release pending appeal is the exception to the general rule that a defendant ‘shall…be detained’ following a conviction and imposition of a sentence of imprisonment.”

The DOJ added that Bannon “cannot reconcile his claim for special treatment with the bedrock principle of equal justice under the law.”

“Even-handed application of the bail statute requires Bannon’s continued detention,” the DOJ added.

Senate GOP VS Schumer

Senate GOP Blocks Chuck Schumer’s Political Stunt on Bump Stock Ban

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) pushed a unanimous consent vote on a bump stock ban for the purposes of using Republican opposition to paint the GOP as favoring mass shooters, according to sources on Capitol Hill.

A unanimous consent vote can be blocked with one Republican in opposition, and that one Republican vote is what Democrats would highlight to then claim Republicans as a whole are against stopping mass shootings, against keeping Americans safe, etc.
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Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) called out Schumer for pressing for votes on “fake problems” instead of taking up serious issues that the Senate may play a role in solving.

Vance said, “This is week three of Chuck Schumer focusing on fake problems instead of real problems. We have real legislation. I have a rail safety bill that he promised he would bring up to the floor for a vote. Let’s do the things that actually have a chance of passing and actually making the country a better place.”

The Blaze’s Christopher Redford used an X post to echo Vance’s sentiment, saying, “Ridiculous and cynical. Saying the Senate should use its limited time on legislation that can actually pass and help Americans isn’t dishonoring the dead anymore than Schumer wasting time on Dem messaging votes honors the dead.”

Bump stocks were used in one high-profile shooting in American history: The October 1, 2017, Las Vegas shooting.

In other words, a bump stock ban would not have hindered any of the other highly publicized public shootings since 2007:

Chicago Alderman on Crime

Dem Chicago Alderman: We Must Ignore ‘White Progressives’ on Crime, They’re Getting Rich off Hurting Us

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” Chicago Alderman David Moore, who also serves as a Democratic Committeeperson, stated that the city must “stop listening to all of these activists” and the “white progressives” who “are making a whole bunch of money to tell black people what to do in their community and telling them to stop things like car stops in order to get guns and drugs off the street.”

Moore stated that the city needs “this administration and certain policies to uncuff — to take the handcuffs off of our police. We have to make sure that they have the tools, including the item called ShotSpotter that detect[s] gunshots, making sure that they have the tools that they need to combat these problems. We need to stop listening to all of these activists, who, I have to be honest with you, where white progressives are making a whole bunch of money to tell black people what to do in their community and telling them to stop things like car stops in order to get guns and drugs off the street. And so, these type[s] of policies are hurting our communities, are keeping young people from being able to come out and play, and seniors able to sit on their porches.”

Co-host Lawrence Jones then asked, “So, Alderman, you just made a great point, and I think everybody should listen. The people that are advocating for these policies don’t live in the community where they have to deal with the consequences. Did I get that right?”

Moore answered, “If I can say a church word, amen, hallelujah. You’re absolutely right, and that’s what this is about.”

Moore added that there are “rich white progressives, who want their policies pushed in order to keep poor people down, because there’s profit in poverty.”

Pizza Hut Closing Restaurants in Indiana

Pizza Hut Closes 15 Locations in Indiana with 120 More at Risk

The restaurant chain Pizza Hut reportedly closed 15 eateries in Indiana on Friday while 120 other locations are in danger of the same fate.

The restaurant company is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with a franchisee, the New York Post reported on Tuesday.

The outlet continued:

EYM Group, which owns and operates 142 Pizza Hut locations in Illinois, Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina and Wisconsin, was accused of defaulting on millions of dollars in payments that were allegedly owed to Pizza Hut by a June deadline.
…
EYM has accused Pizza Hut of failing to modernize its menu as well as its digital ordering system — thus putting it at a disadvantage against the stiff competition in casual dining, including from Little Caesars and Domino’s.

In the midst of these difficulties, Pizza Hut recently revealed it would be offering Chicago tavern-style pizza that customers can enjoy in four recipes, 9 News reported Tuesday.

The outlet added that the brand now also features eight additional toppings and sauces.

“These menu additions represent a bold step forward as part of our culinary mission to bring our guests modern innovation that embraces what we know our customers are loving and looking for in a pizza,” explained Rachel Antalek, the restaurant chain’s Chief Food Innovation Officer. “Tavern is not just a pizza; it is a culinary trend that reflects the excitement of today’s pizza scene.”

Wildfire in Southern California

Firefighters Gain Ground Against Southern California Wildfire But Face Dry, Windy Weather

Firefighters have increased their containment of a large wildfire that is burning in steep, hard-to-reach areas and threatening critical infrastructure in mountains north of Los Angeles, officials said. But hot, dry, windy weather could challenge their efforts Tuesday.

The Post Fire was 20% contained Monday night after wind caused explosive growth over the weekend along Interstate 5, the main north-south route on the West Coast.

“Fire weather conditions are making it difficult to control the fire,” the Los Angeles County Fire Department said in a Monday night update. “Important structures like power lines, dams, and oil pipelines are at risk.”

Strong winds from the north mean the fire is expected to keep moving south, the department said. High temperatures and low humidity were forecast for Tuesday. Wind gusts could reach 55 mph (88 kph).

Officials had earlier warned residents of Castaic, home to about 19,000 people, that they should prepare to leave if the fire pushed south.

The fire scorched more than 24 square miles (61 square kilometers) and forced the evacuation Saturday of at least 1,200 campers, off-roaders and hikers from the Hungry Valley recreation area.

The fire erupted Saturday afternoon near I-5 in Gorman. Two structures burned within the evacuated recreation area.

The majority of the more than 1,000 firefighters assigned to the blaze were focused on its southern edge, near popular Pyramid Lake, which was closed as a precaution on Sunday and Monday.

The fire broke out as weather turned hot and windy in a region where grasses brought by a rainy winter have now dried out and become fuel.

Smoke has drifted eastward, causing a slight haze in the Las Vegas area. Officials there advised children, older adults, and people with respiratory and heart disease to stay indoors.

About 75 miles (120 kilometers) to the east, the nearly 2-square-mile (5-square-kilometer) Hesperia Fire was more than 70% contained by Monday night. The fire erupted Saturday and forced road closures and evacuation warnings in San Bernardino County.

In Northern California’s Calaveras County, a new fire, the Aero Fire, burned nearly 8 square miles (20 square kilometers) and led to evacuation orders for some residents, officials said.

CANADA

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Canadian Warship On its Way to Cuba

‘Morally and Strategically Unjustifiable’: Trudeau’s Canada Sends Warship to Cuba

The government of radical leftist Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a Canadian warship to visit Havana, Cuba, this weekend, a move detractors told Breitbart News on Monday is “morally and strategically unjustifiable” given the Castro regime’s close ties to Canada’s enemies.

“I consider this decision a ratification of the failure and inconsistency of the Prime Minister’s foreign policy on Cuba,” Michael Lima Cuadra, the director of the Canadian human rights organization Democratic Spaces, told Breitbart News.

Democratic Spaces, founded by the Cuban-Canadian researcher, focuses on pressuring the traditionally Cuba-friendly Canadian government to confront and condemn the over half-century of human rights atrocities the Communist Party has committed and continues to do so against its people.

“Cuba is more repressive today than decades ago and has the highest number of political prisoners in the Americas and its inner power circle actively collaborates with regimes like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s in the asymmetric war against Ukraine (in its propaganda efforts, diplomatically and militarily),” Lima Cuadra observed.

Canadian Joint Operations Command confirmed on June 12 that the Canadian Navy would send the HMCS Margaret Brooke to Havana “in recognition of the long-standing bilateral relationship between Canada and Cuba.”

LATIN AMERICA

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Mexican Government Says US Consulate is Lying

Mexican Government Rejects U.S. Consulate’s Travel Warning About Targeted Kidnappings

Mexican government officials publicly rejected a recent travel warning issued by the U.S. Department of State in the border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The warning advised U.S. citizens not to travel by bus, citing targeted kidnappings of American citizens and residents in the neighboring border city of Reynosa. Mexican officials continue to claim the border region is safe, even though the region is under the control of the Gulf Cartel and continues to go through a hyperviolent turf war.

Over the weekend, Jorge Cuellar, the Public Safety Spokesman for Tamaulipas, said the travel warning does not match the government’s statistics. The official falsely claimed his state is one of the safest in the nation.

As Breitbart Texas reported, the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros issued a Security Alert specifically pointing out a series of kidnapping cases centered around the border city of Reynosa. The alert claimed the kidnappings focused on intercity buses leaving Reynosa. The alert stated that the kidnappers demanded thousands of dollars for each victim. The U.S. Department of State labels Tamaulipas as a level 4 region, the same level used for active warzones.

In his response, Cuellar claimed that U.S. diplomats likely acted on “the opinion of some people and not statistical data.” According to Cuellar, in the last five months, Tamaulipas has not had any bus kidnappings, and the state has the second-highest crime deterrence rate in northern Mexico.

In late December, the Gulf Cartel kidnapped 32 migrants from a passenger bus in Reynosa. It wasn’t until the incident drew national attention that the Gulf Cartel released the kidnapped migrants — a fact admitted to by Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Breitbart Texas reported.  However, in his recent comments, Cuellar falsely claimed that the migrants had been rescued by a large-scale operation by state police forces.

As Breitbart Texas reported, Cuellar is the same public official who has actively tried to downplay the raging cartel violence in Tamaulipas and has publicly lied in the past by denying various high-impact incidents or shootouts.

The region where the kidnappings have been taking place is undergoing a fierce turf war between two rival factions of the Gulf Cartel for control of lucrative drug and human smuggling routes. Despite the claims by Cuellar, the Gulf Cartel has been able to not only fight the hyperviolent turf war using armored vehicles, explosives, and land mines, but the criminal organization has been able to operate with almost complete impunity while carrying out kidnappings, targeted murders and forced disappearances throughout the state.

EUROPE

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NATO on China

NATO Chief: West Should ‘Impose a Cost’ on China for Supporting Russia

Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said on Monday that China should be penalized for supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Beijing cannot have it both ways. At some point — and unless China changes course — allies need to impose a cost. There should be consequences,” he said.

“China is fueling the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II, and, at the same time, it wants to maintain good relations with the West,” he pointed out.

Stoltenberg was speaking at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC. His remarks were dismissive of “isolationism,” which he saw as illogical in a deeply interconnected world.

“The vast Atlantic and Pacific Oceans do not protect the U.S. in an age of rising global challenges: intercontinental ballistic missiles, strategic submarines, the weaponization of space, and increased cyber and terrorist attacks,” he observed.

Stoltenberg saw Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin joining forces to oppose NATO and the United States, using the invasion of Ukraine as a hammer blow to shatter the post-World War II international order. He suggested the best way to make Putin look for an exit from Ukraine was to make it clear that he cannot outlast NATO’s resources or wear down its resolve.

“It may seem like a paradox, but the path to peace is, therefore, more weapons for Ukraine. I strongly welcome the $60 billion package that the U.S. Congress passed in April. This is significant and complements efforts by other NATO allies,” he said.

Stoltenberg blasted China for “sharing high-end technologies, like semiconductors and other dual-use items,” with Russia. He suggested China’s support was a major factor in Putin’s calculations that he might be able to outlast NATO and Ukraine.

“Russia is receiving support from others, too. North Korea has delivered over one million artillery shells, and Iran has delivered thousands of deadly Shahed drones. In exchange, Pyongyang and Tehran are receiving Russian technology and supplies to help them advance their missile and nuclear capabilities,” he said, contending that stronger NATO unity was the best way to push back against this malign alliance.

Stoltenberg said he had invited Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea to July’s NATO summit in Washington to discuss how they can work together to “uphold the international rules-based order and protect our shared values.”

This is actually one of China’s common talking points: the U.S. is scheming to build an “Asian NATO” with countries like Japan and South Korea, so China must forge closer ties with its own allies to push back.

Iran Nuclear Deal Means Nothing

‘Nobody Follows It’: U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Says Obama’s 2015 Iran Deal ‘Means Nothing’

Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Monday that former President Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal with Iran “exists only on paper and means nothing.”

“Nobody applies it, nobody follows it. There have been attempts to revive it here in Vienna. But unfortunately, although they were relatively close to success, they failed for reasons unknown to me, because I was not involved in the process,” Grossi complained to Russia’s Izvestia newspaper.

The 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was never submitted to Congress for ratification. Critics of the deal accused Iran of cheating from the start. Israeli intelligence obtained documents in 2018 that showed the Iranian government secretly violated its non-proliferation commitments under the agreement.

Former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the JCPOA in May 2018. Trump said it was clear that “we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement.”

Iran was nominally still bound to its agreement with the European powers that signed the JCPOA, but Tehran has largely treated the agreement like a dead letter since Trump withdrew, and arguably for quite some time before that.

Even before the U.S. withdrawal, Iran complained that it did not receive the vast economic benefits it envisioned when international sanctions were lifted under the agreement. After U.S. sanctions snapped back into place, the regime in Tehran blamed all of its economic woes on the United States, and no concessions by the Europeans were good enough to bring the deal back to life.

Grossi told Izvestia that he finds it frustrating to deal with Iran, which has blocked IAEA inspectors from investigating key sites and refused to hand over documents demanded by the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

“I continue to tell my Iranian colleagues that we must provide the agency with at least minimal access to help return to the second version of the JCPOA or any other agreement,” Grossi said.

“There are problems, I’ll be honest with you. We do cooperate with Iran. I don’t deny this. This is important for inspection. My Iranian colleagues often say that Iran is the most inspected country in the world. Well, it is, and for good reason. But this is not enough,” he said.

Grossi has spent the last few years trying to hold the unraveling nuclear deal together, frequently criticizing Iran’s intransigence but always stopping short of statements or actions that might anger Iran enough to make it stop cooperating with his agency entirely.

Kremlin on American Journalist

Kremlin Claims It Has ‘Contacts’ with U.S. About Swap for Hostage Journalist Evan Gershkovich

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that American officials have been in contact behind the scenes to work out a prisoner swap deal that might free Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter indicted for espionage on Thursday after being held captive by Russia for more than a year.

“I want to remind you again of the president’s conversation with the heads of information agencies in St. Petersburg – he confirmed that there are such contacts,” Peskov said on Monday, referring to how Russia’s authoritarian President Vladimir Putin claimed on June 5 that the Biden administration was “taking vigorous steps” to work out a deal for Gershkovich.

“But such issues are not resolved through the media. They like a quiet, calm, professional approach and dialogue between intelligence agencies. And, of course, they should be resolved only on the basis of reciprocity,” Putin said on June 5, making it clear that he would demand a heavy ransom for the kidnapped reporter.

Peskov, on Monday, echoed Putin by saying negotiations would be “conducted in complete silence,” without “announcements, statements, or information” provided to the public.

Peskov claimed he could not “comment” on the “court decision” to subject Gershkovich to a secret trial. That unsurprising decision was announced by the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in Yekaterinburg on Monday.

“The process will take place behind closed doors,” the court said, scheduling the first Gershkovich hearing for June 26.

Providing the first meager public details of the charges against the 32-year-old American prisoner, the court said:

According to the investigation authorities, the American journalist of the Wall Street Journal, Gershkovich, on the instructions of the CIA, in March 2023, collected secret information in the Sverdlovsk region about the activities of the defense enterprise JSC NPK Uralvagonzavod for the production and repair of military equipment.

Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg in March 2023 while on a reporting trip, becoming the first American journalist arrested in Russia since the end of the Cold War. The Wall Street Journal and U.S. government officials have denounced the charges against him as “ridiculous.” Russia claims he was caught spying “red-handed” but has not revealed a single bit of evidence against him.

French Far-Left Politician on Eradicating the Right-Wing

French Far-Left Politician Suggests ‘Eradicating’ Right-Wing Populists

Right-wing populist politicians should be “eradicated”, a leading member of the far-left New Popular Front election alliance in France said in a supposed slip of the tongue.

Clémentine Autain has come under criticism for appearing to suggest on national television in France a preference for violence against right-wing populist politicians for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party.

“If we could eradicate them all that would be great,” she said on broadcaster LCI as reported by the Entrevue magazine while stressing the need for a majority in the National Assembly for the leftist New Popular Front, comprised of her own leftist La France Insoumise (LFI) party, the Socialists, the green Écologistes, and the French Communist Party.
[X Post]
The longtime LFI member of the French National Assembly parliament and current candidate in the snap elections for the 11th constituency of Seine-Saint-Denis quickly backtracked from the apparent violent rhetoric.

“Well, eradicate them is not a good word, but if we could drastically reduce the score of the extreme right that would be wonderful,” she said.

Responding to her comments, populist right-wing Member of the European Parliament Gilbert Collard said: “No to hatred! These madmen are dangerous!”

While the left has been deeply divided over the past year in France, with fissures breaking out over Israel and the conflict in Gaza, the left-wing parties finally coalesced last week under the banner of the ‘New Popular Front’ — a reference to a similar leftist alliance in France ahead of World War II — in order to combat the supposed threat posed by the “extreme right” as Le Pen’s National Rally is on course for a victory in the snap elections called by President Macron after his defeat to Le Pen’s party in the European Parliament elections earlier this month.

ASIA

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Putin in North Korea

Vladimir Putin Praises ‘Dignity and Courage’ of North Korea, Vowing Russia’s Support on Eve of Visit

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin praised the “dignity and courage” of the communist regime of North Korea, one of the most repressive governments on Earth, in an article published in the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Tuesday.

Putin is expected to arrive in Pyongyang on Tuesday night after a brief stop in the far-east Russian city of Yakutsk. Moscow and Pyongyang both confirmed that Putin would visit the country on Monday, squeezing in a stop to meet dictator Kim Jong-un before a planned visit to communist Vietnam.

Reports in Russian state media indicate that Putin and Kim will engage in “intensive” discussions on trade and defense and that Putin is planning on signing a “comprehensive” agreement with North Korea on various issues. The reports did not offer any specificity on what the agreement would include.

North Korea has enjoyed friendly relations with Russia for years that have grown in the past two years in response to Kim Jong-un vocally supporting Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Kim made his first trip outside the country to Russia, meeting with Putin, in September in the eastern city of Vladivostok and inviting him to Pyongyang.

“Putin accepted the invitation with pleasure and reaffirmed his will to invariably carry forward the history and tradition of the Russia-DPRK [North Korea] friendship,” North Korean state media reported at the time.

The Korean "Demilitarized" Zone

DMZ Landmines Kill North Korean Troops Despite South Korean Warning Shots

Landmines reportedly killed North Korean troops working near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on Tuesday despite South Korean troops firing warning shots at North Korean intruders for the second time in June.

South Korean military officials reported “multiple explosions” that “maimed or killed” North Koreans who were “clearing land and carrying out mine-related operations” in or near the DMZ. The statement did not provide further details about the explosions or casualties, although it said smoke from the explosions could be seen on closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras.

South Korea warned in April that North Korea had been planting landmines on all of the roads leading through the DMZ since relations between the two Koreas grew more tense in 2024.

The mines appeared to be one of several angry symbolic gestures Pyongyang made to indicate that peaceful “reunification” was no longer the goal of the regime. Dictator Kim Jong-un, in January, ordered his forces to block all cross-border passages to an “irretrievable level.”

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Tuesday that 20 to 30 North Korean troops briefly crossed into South Korea’s side of the DMZ on Tuesday morning, the second border violation in less than two weeks.

The JCS said South Korean forces “conducted warning broadcasts and fired warning shots, prompting the North Korean soldiers to return to their side of the border.”

As with a similar brief incursion on June 9, the JCS was willing to characterize the border violation as an “accident.” In both cases, the North Korean squads appeared to be carrying tools and raw materials for constructing walls, guard posts, and tank barricades.

“These activities appear to be measures to strengthen internal control of the North Korean military and residents and fend off their attempts to cross the border,” the JCS said.

“They are burying landmines mainly in areas where people have crossed the border in the past. The ‘barren land’ is being created to facilitate surveillance,” the statement said.

The landmine explosions occurred just hours before Russian strongman Vladimir Putin arrived in Pyongyang for his first visit to North Korea in 24 years. In remarks before his departure, Putin said he would thank North Korea for supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and congratulate its rulers for successfully evading Western sanctions.