US President Joe Biden on Tuesday blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin's stated plan to deploy nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, branding it "dangerous" talk. "This is dangerous kind of talk and it's worrisome," Biden told reporters at the White House. The Kremlin leader announced on Saturday that he was ordering the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, run by fellow authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko as one of Russia's closest allies.

Washington has denounced the plan, which follows more than a year of Moscow's attempt to conquer pro-Western Ukraine -- a neighbor of both Russia and Belarus.However, US officials say they have seen no sign of Russia actually moving nuclear weaponry. "They haven't done that yet," Biden said. Israel 'cannot continue down this road'

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned Israel it "cannot continue" pressing for deeply controversial judicial reforms -- now on hold -- which have prompted months of unrest and criticism among Western allies."Like many strong supporters of Israel I'm very concerned.... They cannot continue down this road, and I've sort of made that clear," Biden told reporters during a visit to North Carolina.

"Hopefully the prime minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) will act in a way that he will try to work out some genuine compromise, but that remains to be seen," Biden said, adding he was not considering inviting the Israeli leader to the White House, at least "not in the near term."

Arriving back in Washington, Biden repeated his concern over the situation in Israel, where Netanyahu has been accused by opponents of riding roughshod over Israeli democracy in an attempt to strengthen his own power. Asked if Israel's democracy is at an inflection point -- a phrase Biden frequently uses to describe the danger facing democracies worldwide -- the US president said: "I don't know that they're at an inflection point but I think that's a difficult spot to be in and they've got to work it out."

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP