Tag: Region Asias

Researchers say the pipeline explosions stirred up chemical waste and threaten cod and porpoise populations. The destruction of Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines did not just cut off the flow of Russian natural gas to western Europe, it killed and poisoned the already endangered fish and marine mammal species in the Baltic Sea, says a new report by Danish, Polish and German scientists.

Oil supplies to Poland were halted due to the failure to pay for transit, Russian oil transport company Transneft has announced

Crypto exchanges Huobi and KuCoin, both based in Seychelles, failed to take steps to prevent sanctioned Russian banks from using their platforms, according to a report from the blockchain analytics firm Inca Digital provided to POLITICO. Both exchanges still allow traders to transact with debit cards issued by sanctioned Russian banks, including Sberbank, on their peer-to-peer platforms, according to the report, which will be published later today.

While neither exchange actually accepts funds from blacklisted banks, letting crypto buyers trade with each other using accounts with sanctioned institutions represents a “direct violation of U.S. and European sanctions with a little bit of a loophole,” Inca CEO Adam Zarazinski said in an interview.

Support for Kyiv serves the US’s ‘strategic interests’ against security threats posed by Putin’s Russia, analysts say.

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 367th day, we take a look at the main developments.

Finance leaders of the world’s top economies sought on Friday to bridge differences over how to deal with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine a year ago, as the West stepped up sanctions against Moscow.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York has filed a civil forfeiture complaint against six real properties located in New York, New York; Southampton, New York; and Fisher Island, Florida, worth approximately $75 million. The complaint alleges that the properties beneficially owned by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg are the proceeds of sanctions violations and were involved in international money laundering transactions. The case arises in the wake of the indictment of Vekselberg’s alleged strawman, Vladimir Voronchenko, a fugitive previously charged in the Southern District of New York. In the Eastern District of New York, a five-count indictment was unsealed today charging Ilya Balakaev, 47, of Moscow, with various offenses related to a years-long scheme to illegally smuggle sensitive devices used in counterintelligence operations from the United States to Russia for the benefit of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB), the principal intelligence and security agency of the Russian government.

Balakaev is further charged with illegally exporting a gas detector and related software from the United States to Russia for the benefit of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea). Concurrent with today’s action in the Eastern District of New York, the Department of Commerce separately issued a Temporary Denial Order denying the export privileges of Balakaev and his company, Radiotester OOO (aka Radiotester LLC), for 180 days with the possibility of renewal.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to CBS television on Sunday of information that China was “considering providing lethal support” to Russia. When asked what he meant by that, Blinken replied, “Weapons, primarily weapons.”

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday he had ordered the formation of a new volunteer territorial defense so everyone knows how to “handle weapons” and be ready to respond to an act of aggression and keep public order in peacetime.

Below-normal rainfall is expected over the next three months in parts of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.

SAO PAULO, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Germany’s Bayer has been ordered by Brazil’s Supreme Court to return to Brazilian soybean farmers the royalties they were charged for a GMO soybean seed, the Mato Grosso farmer lobby Aprosoja-MT said in a statement on Friday. The Feb. 13 ruling by Supreme Court Justice Nunes Marques relates to a GMO technology commercially known…

Former Defence Minister Linda Reynolds has broken her two-year silence, saying she has “a very different story” to tell about the Brittany Higgins rape scandal. The former Liberal cabinet minister was Ms Higgins’ boss when the political staffer alleges she was raped in Parliament House in 2019. In a four-hour interview with The Weekend Australian, Senator Reynolds claimed to be…

Binance is considering ending business relationships with banks and services firms amid heightened scrutiny.

Critics questioned the timing of the searches, which came after BBC aired show critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

  A Brisbane-based digital lender has been slapped with two infringement notices by ASIC for its false and misleading repayment estimate calculator. The corporate watchdog took action against Jaracanda Finance, which offered loans up to $15,000, typically for 12 to 36 months, because it was concerned that the credit licensee’s repayment estimate calculator: used an annual percentage rate that was…

The crackdown on opponents of President Saied has sparked international criticism and fears of a return to autocracy.