The European Union is expected to indefinitely freeze hundreds of billions of Russian funds held in Europe in line with a plan to use the cash to support Ukraine. The bloc's members were expected to approve the plan on Friday to immobilise 210 billion euros ($246bn) worth of Russian sovereign assets for as long as necessary, through a qualified majority vote, instead of voting every six months on extending the asset freeze.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Friday, once again shunning efforts by his European Union partners to isolate Moscow over its invasion of neighboring Ukraine nearly four years ago. The trip to Moscow is the second since last year for Orban, who is widely considered Putin's closest partner among all EU leaders.
He said that the new sanctions "will introduce new and comprehensive measures on oil and gas, the shadow fleet and Russia's financial sector." A new system for limiting the movement of Russian diplomats within the 27-nation EU will also be introduced. The move comes a day after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration announced new sanctions against Russia's oil industry that are aimed at moving Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table and ending Moscow's war on Ukraine.
Two former senior EU officials, speaking separately, criticised the decision not to move forward with sanctions. Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff, a former EU representative to the Palestinian territories, told the Guardian that Kallas missed the point on legal accountability. Sanctions are not just a measure to induce or coerce a third party to change or adjust its behaviour. Restrictive measures are part of the tools the EU has given itself to react to breaches of both European and international law, he said.
SAP is committed to the highest standards of ethics and compliance, including adherence to regulations regarding export control and sanctions laws across jurisdictions. Our policy is to carry out all company activities in accordance with the letter and spirit of applicable laws in more than 180 countries in which we operate. We deeply value our customers; and will continue to engage with our customers, government authorities, and regulators in a responsible and law-abiding manner.
The conservative German chancellor insisted that Germany stood "firmly" with Israel but described its military response in Gaza as "disproportionate". "Criticism of the Israeli government must be possible, but we must never allow it to be used to incite hatred against Jews," he said, adding that he and Sanchez agreed on this point. But unlike Sanchez, Merz avoided calling the Israeli offensive in Gaza a "genocide" and made clear that Germany currently had no plans to recognise a Palestinian state, as Spain has done.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
GPS jamming involves transmission of radio waves in the same frequencies used by GPS satellites. As those sats are around 20,000kms above Earth, the signals they send are quite weak. A terrestrial transmitter can overwhelm GPS info. It's also possible to spoof info from GPS satellites in an effort to lead those who rely on satnav astray. Neither Podestà nor Itkonen described the exact nature of this jamming incident, or how the presidential plane addressed it.
The EU is implementing duties aimed at making imports of Russian and Belarusian nitrogen fertilizers economically unviable, increasing pressure on Moscow amid the Ukraine conflict.
