Russia seizes $50 billion in assets as economy shifts during war in Ukraine, research shows
Russian authorities have confiscated assets worth some $50 billion over the past three years, underscoring the scale of the transformation into a "fortress Russia" economic model during the war in Ukraine, research showed on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
The conflict has been accompanied by a significant transfer of assets as many Western companies fled the Russian market, others' assets were expropriated and the assets of some major Russian businesses were seized by the state.
In response to what Russia called illegal actions by the West, President Vladimir Putin signed decrees over the past three years allowing the seizure of Western assets, entangling firms ranging from Germany's Uniper to Danish brewer Carlsberg.
Besides the Western assets, major domestic companies have changed hands on the basis of different legal mechanisms including the need for strategic resources, corruption claims, alleged privatisation violations, or poor management, according to Reuters.
Judge blocks Trump's birthright citizenship order after Supreme Court ruling
A federal judge on Thursday again barred President Donald Trump's administration from denying citizenship to some babies born in the U.S., making use of an exception to overcome the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling that restricted the ability of judges to block that and other policies nationwide, BBC reported.
U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante ruled at a hearing in Concord, New Hampshire, after immigrant rights advocates implored him to grant class action status to a lawsuit they filed seeking to represent any children whose citizenship status would be threatened by the implementation of Trump's executive order curtailing automatic birthright citizenship.
The ruling is far from the last word in the legal battle over Trump's order, which he signed in January on his first day back in office. The judge paused his ruling for seven days to give the Trump administration time to appeal, which a Justice Department lawyer at the hearing indicated would certainly happen, according to BBC.
Laplante, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, agreed, opens new tab the plaintiffs could provisionally proceed as a class, allowing him to issue a fresh judicial order blocking implementation of the Republican president's policy nationally.
Brazil's Lula pledges retaliation to Trump tariffs but keeps diplomacy open
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he wanted to find a diplomatic solution to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports, but vowed to reciprocate like-for-like if they take effect on August 1, BBC reported.
"We'll first try to negotiate, but if there's no negotiation, the law of reciprocity will be put into practice," Lula said in an interview with Record TV, citing a law Congress recently passed giving the president powers to retaliate against trade barriers. "If they're going to charge us 50, we'll charge them 50."
The president is unlikely to announce any retaliatory measures until the tariffs are implemented, said a Brazilian diplomat who requested anonymity to describe internal government debates. "We have until August 1," the source said, according to BBC.
In a letter to Lula published on Wednesday, Trump linked the tariffs to Brazil's judiciary launching legal proceedings against former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial on charges of plotting a coup to stop Lula from taking office in 2023 after hundreds of pro-Bolsonaro supporters stormed Congress. Trump said Bolsonaro was the victim of a "witch hunt."
North Korean defector to sue Kim Jong Un for abuse
A North Korean defector is filing civil and criminal charges against the country's leader Kim Jong Un for abuses she faced while detained in the country, BBC reported.
Choi Min-kyung fled the North to China in 1997 but was forcibly repatriated in 2008. She said she was sexually abused and tortured after her return.
When she files the case in Seoul on Friday, it will be the first time a North Korean-born defector takes legal action against the regime, said a South-based rights group assisting Ms Choi.
South Korean courts have in the past ruled against North Korea on similar claims by South Koreans but such verdicts are largely symbolic and ignored by Pyongyang, according to BBC.
