Tag: All Regions

EU countries have agreed on a new round of sanctions against Russia, diplomats said Wednesday, as the bloc looks to maintain pressure on Moscow ahead of the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The wide-ranging package, which includes a ban on imports of Russian aluminum, will be formally adopted by EU foreign ministers on Monday. “The EU is clamping down even harder on circumvention by targeting more vessels in Putin’s shadow fleet and imposing new import and export…

U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance met the leader of a German far-right party during a visit to Munich on Friday, nine days before a German election and after lecturing European leaders about the state of democracy. Vance met with Alice Weidel, the co-leader and candidate for chancellor of the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party, his office said. Mainstream German parties say they won’t work with the party, a stance often referred to as a “firewall.” Polls put Alternative for Germany, or AfD, in second place going into…

MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. Russia addressed the issue of its diplomatic property located in the US during negotiations with the American delegation in Riyadh, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated. “We handed over a list of issues which should be resolved with regard to the work of our diplomatic representatives. Among these problems is, of course, the property issue,” Russia’s top diplomat said at a media session following a plenary session of the State Duma. Lavrov clarified that during the…

MOSCOW, February 19. /TASS/. Guccio Gucci, an Italian company, filed the Gucci trademark with the Russian Federal Intellectual Property Service, according to the authority’s data. The application was submitted on June 2, 2023, and the state registration was completed on February 18, 2025. The trademark holder is Guccio Gucci, based in Florence. The trademark was approved under the International Classification of Goods and Services and allows for the production and sale of branded dresses and bags, fabrics, women’s underwear, swimwear,…

President Donald Trump this week falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war that has cost tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives, causing outrage and alarm in a country that has spent nearly three years fighting back a much larger Russian military. Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “ a dictator without elections” and claimed his support among voters was near rock-bottom. Zelenskyy said Wednesday that the disinformation is coming from Russia, and some of what Trump has said does echo Russia’s own narrative of the conflict….

The relationship between the United States and Ukraine, which has helped Kyiv fend off the Russian invasion for the past three years, appeared on the verge of collapse Wednesday as the presidents of the two countries publicly traded insults. The furor has the potential to leave Ukraine – which is already losing ground along the front line – without the support of its biggest ally, as U.S. President Donald Trump called Ukraine’s future existence into question. The relationship between Mr….

YAPP USA Automotive Systems Inc., a corporation with its principal place of business in Michigan, has agreed to pay $14,208,496 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to obtain a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for which it was not eligible. Congress created the PPP in March 2020 to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans suffering from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the PPP, eligible businesses could receive forgivable loans…

Brazil’s prosecutor-general said Tuesday that former leader Jair Bolsonaro knew and agreed to a plan to poison his successor and current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as part of an attempted coup that would have allowed him to remain in power. Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet formally charged Bolsonaro and 33 others with participating in a plan to keep Bolsonaro in power following his 2022 election defeat. The alleged plot also included a plan to poison Lula and shoot dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre…

RIYADH, February 18. /TASS/. Moscow and Washington have agreed to appoint their ambassadors as soon as possible, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after a meeting with senior US officials in Riyadh. He expanded on the agreements that were reached during the talks. “The first one, and probably the most pressing and difficult one, is to ensure the soonest appointment of the Russian ambassador to the United States and the US ambassador to Russia. We need to remove the hurdles…

ROME, February 18. /TASS/. The United States made it clear at the Munich Conference that America no longer wants to play big brother to Europe, distancing itself from any kind of leadership role on the continent, Tiberio Graziani, the president of the International Institute for Global Analyses Vision & Global Trends, told TASS. In his view, the Munich forum highlighted the inherent contradictions in transatlantic policy, as well as the weaknesses of the EU and its member states. “The leading…

Note: View the settlement agreement here. Health Net Federal Services Inc. (HNFS) of Rancho Cordova, California and its corporate parent, St. Louis-based Centene Corporation, have agreed to pay $11,253,400 to resolve claims that HNFS falsely certified compliance with cybersecurity requirements in a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to administer the Defense Health Agency’s (DHA) TRICARE health benefits program for servicemembers and their families. In 2016, Centene acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Health Net…

DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, has temporarily paused downloads of its chatbot apps in South Korea while it works with local authorities to address privacy concerns, South Korean officials said Monday. South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission said DeepSeek’s apps were removed from the local versions of Apple’s App Store and Google Play on Saturday evening and that the company agreed to work with the agency to strengthen privacy protections before relaunching the apps. The action does not affect…

On Sunday, Mumbai Police arrested Dharmesh Paun, private developer from Kandivali, in connection with the New India Cooperative Bank scam (NICB). According to the police, Paun allegedly received illicit funds from the bank’s General Manager and Account Head, Hitesh Mehta, who was also arrested Saturday. The scam was uncovered during an audit at the bank’s headquarters in Prabhadevi last Wednesday, when RBI officials discovered funds missing from the vault. Mehta, who has been with the bank since 1988, reportedly confessed…

Video: Trump’s tariff policies are straining US-Canada relations. After imposing and then suspending tariffs, Canadian leaders are reassessing their ties with the US. Some are now looking to the European Union as a potential alternative. Major publications, including The Toronto Star and The Economist, are openly questioning whether Canada could align more closely with Europe. European politicians are also weighing in. Could this mark a significant shift in global alliances?

MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. Europe will “forgive and swallow with disgust” the criticism from US Vice President JD Vance, according to Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council. Medvedev noted that Vance is “a brave guy, though still an inexperienced vice president.” The previous day, Vance, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, criticized EU commissioners for censorship, stating that Europe was afraid of its own voters and needed a democratic mandate to take any substantial action in the…

CAIRO, February 15. /TASS/. Hostages held by Palestinian radicals in the Gaza Strip, including Russian Alexander Trufanov, have been handed over to the staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Egypt’s Al-Qahira Al-Ekhbariya TV channel reported on Saturday. According to the footage provided by the Egyptian TV broadcaster, doctors and representatives of the radical party signed the relevant documents approving the transfer of hostages. The ICRC vehicles, carrying the released people, left the town of Khan Yunis…