Tag: Embargoes and Sanctions

Venezuelan Opposition Blocked from Election, Dimming Democratic Hopes

First, it was María Corina Machado, a popular former legislator. Then, it was supposed to be Corina Yoris, a little-known philosophy professor. But now, an opposition coalition has been blocked from fielding any candidate to run against President Nicolás Maduro in elections scheduled in July. The coalition of opposing political parties, the Democratic Unity Roundtable, […]

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U.S. and Britain Accuse China of Cyberespionage Campaign

The United States and Britain imposed sanctions on China’s elite hacking units on Monday, accusing Beijing’s top spy agency of a yearslong effort to place malware in America’s electrical grids, defense systems and other critical infrastructure, and of stealing the voting rolls for 40 million British citizens. Taken together, the actions on both sides of […]

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U.S. Accuses Chinese Hackers of Targeting Critical Infrastructure in America

The United States imposed sanctions on Monday on Chinese hackers and accused them of working as a front for Beijing’s top spy agency, part of a broad effort to place malware in American electric grids, water systems and other critical infrastructure. The sanctions were a major escalation of what has become an increasingly heated contest […]

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U.S. Call for Gaza Cease-Fire Runs Into Russia-China Veto

A U.S. bid to have the U.N. Security Council call for “an immediate and sustained cease-fire” in the Gaza Strip failed on Friday, after Russia and China vetoed the American resolution that included some of Washington’s strongest language since the start of the war. The resolution reflected the Biden administration’s growing frustration both with the […]

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How Biden Could Try to Coerce Israel to Change Its War Strategy

As the Biden administration increasingly clashes with Israeli leaders over the war in Gaza, a question that often arises is whether U.S. officials will try to exercise some form of harder leverage as Israel ignores their pleas. They could do so, critics say, to try to get Israel to let more humanitarian aid into Gaza […]

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Israel Faces Tough Balancing Act on Russia and the West

Israel, though heavily dependent on support from the United States, Germany and other Western nations, has been noticeably out of step with them when it comes to relations with Russia during its war of conquest in Ukraine. Long before Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, the country refused Ukrainian requests to send arms […]

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Israel Raids Al-Shifa Hospital Again; Netanyahu to Send Team for Talks in D.C.

The acute food shortage in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip has become so severe that “famine is imminent” and the enclave is on the verge of a “major acceleration of deaths and malnutrition,” a report from a global authority on food security and nutrition said on Monday. The group, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification global […]

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Ukraine, Stalled on the Battlefield, Strikes Russia’s Oil Industry

With its army short of ammunition and troops to break the deadlock on the battlefield, Ukraine has increasingly taken the fight behind Russian lines, attacking warships, railways and airfields in an attempt to diminish Moscow’s military operations. Most recently, that campaign has focused on oil infrastructure, hitting refineries deep in Russian territory and driving home […]

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E.U. Removes Russian Tech Tycoon From Sanctions List

The European Union has lifted sanctions against a Russian technology tycoon, in a rare break from a policy of punishing the country’s elites for the invasion of Ukraine. Arkady Volozh, who co-founded Russia’s largest tech company, Yandex, was taken off the list of sanctioned individuals after condemning the invasion of Ukraine and taking public steps […]

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UN Aid for Gaza Is Turned Away Because of Scissors, an Official Says

A U.N. official said a truck carrying aid was turned around in Gaza this week because it contained scissors included in medical kits for children, calling attention to what aid groups have said is a laborious Israeli inspection process that is slowing down crucial humanitarian assistance. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the main U.N. […]

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Russia Pivots South for Trade Following Western European Sanctions

For centuries, trade with Europe was the main pillar of Russia’s economy. The war in Ukraine ended that, with Western sanctions and other restrictions increasingly cutting Russia off from European markets. In response, Moscow has expanded ties with the countries more willing to do business with it — China to the east, and, via a […]

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Zimbabwe, After Expelling U.S. Officials, Accuses Them of Promoting ‘Regime Change’

The government of the southern African nation of Zimbabwe detained, interrogated and deported officials and contractors working for the United States government last month, and this week accused them publicly of promoting “regime change” in their country. The incident is the latest in the Zimbabwean government’s aggressive efforts to thwart both domestic and international challenges […]

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Hard Lessons Make for Hard Choices 2 Years Into the War in Ukraine

Two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States has the capacity to keep Kyiv supplied with the weapons, technology and intelligence to fend off a takeover by Moscow. But Washington is now perceived around Europe to have lost its will. The Europeans, in contrast, have the will — they just committed another $54 […]

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Why Sanctions Haven’t Hobbled Russia

After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Western nations imposed the most extensive sanctions and trade restrictions in history on Moscow. Today, Russia appears to be doing OK. Its economy is growing steadily. Russia can’t buy much from the West but has found new providers for drones, surveillance gear, computer chips and other gear. Its oil […]

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Terrorists Are Paying for Check Marks on X, Report Says

X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, is potentially violating U.S. sanctions by accepting payments for subscription accounts from terrorist organizations and other groups barred from doing business in the country, according to a new report. The report, by the Tech Transparency Project, a nonprofit focused on accountability for large technology companies, shows […]

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As U.S. Weighs Aid, Ukraine Turns to European Allies for Support

President Volodymyr Zelensky is redoubling his diplomatic outreach to Europe in the hopes of starting to fill the void left by months of American indecision, as the debate over providing renewed military assistance for Ukraine continues to play out in Washington. The Ukrainian leader was quick to praise the bipartisan group of U.S. senators who […]

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Halted Deportation Flights to Venezuela Set Back Biden’s Migrant Strategy

When deportation flights from the United States to Venezuela resumed last fall after four years, it was a move meant to show that President Biden was aggressively tackling the record numbers of crossings at the U.S. southern border. The expulsions were also meant to deter other Venezuelans who might be considering the journey. But on […]

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A Russian Bank Account May Offer Clues to a North Korean Arms Deal

Russia has allowed the release of millions of dollars in frozen North Korean assets and may be helping its isolated ally with access to international banking networks, assistance that has come after the North’s transfer of weapons to Moscow for use against Ukraine, according to American-allied intelligence officials. The White House said last month that […]

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Top U.S. Treasury Officials to Visit Beijing for Economic Talks

The Biden administration is dispatching a high-level delegation of Treasury Department officials to Beijing this week for a round of economic talks as the world’s largest economies look to continue engagement efforts that President Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed to pursue last year. A Treasury official, speaking on the condition of anonymity […]

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U.S. Hits Back at Iran With Sanctions, Criminal Charges and Airstrikes

In the hours before the United States carried out strikes against Iran-backed militants on Friday, Washington hit Tehran with more familiar weapons: sanctions and criminal charges. The Biden administration sanctioned officers and officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Iran’s premier military force, for threatening the integrity of water utilities and for helping manufacture Iranian […]

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Who Are the Israelis Under U.S. Sanctions Over West Bank Violence?

The United States issued financial sanctions on Thursday against four Israelis accused of escalating violence against civilians, intimidating civilians or destroying property in the West Bank. “The United States has consistently opposed actions that undermine stability in the West Bank and the prospects of peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” the U.S. State […]

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China Meets the U.S. to Discuss Fentanyl, But the Détente Has Limits

China and the United States are back at the negotiating table. Whether they can agree on much is another matter. In Bangkok, China’s top diplomat last week discussed North Korea and Iran with President Biden’s national security adviser. Days later, in Beijing, officials restarted long-stalled talks on curbing the flow of fentanyl to the United […]

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Israelis and Palestinians See Problems With Sanctions on West Bank Settlers

Among Israeli and Palestinian leaders, reactions to Biden administration sanctions against West Bank settlers fell predictably along ethnic and ideological lines, from far-right Jewish nationalists who denounced the penalties as unjust to Arabs who said they did not go far enough. The sanctions announced on Thursday came in response to violence by Jewish settler extremists, […]

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Iran Tries to Avoid War With U.S. After Stoking Mideast Conflicts

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council held an emergency meeting this week, deeply worried that the United States would retaliate after an Iran-aligned militia in Iraq killed three American soldiers and wounded more than 40 others in Jordan. The council, including the president, foreign minister, chiefs of the armed forces and two aides to the country’s […]

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Where Is Hamas Getting Weapons? Increasingly, From Israel.

Israeli military and intelligence officials have concluded that a significant number of weapons used by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attacks and in the war in Gaza came from an unlikely source: the Israeli military itself. For years, analysts have pointed to underground smuggling routes to explain how Hamas stayed so heavily armed despite an […]

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Venezuela Court Bars Opposition Leader From Running for President

Venezuela’s highest court ruled on Friday that a top opposition leader cannot run for president, dealing a crippling blow to prospects for credible elections that the government had agreed to hold this year in exchange for the lifting of crippling U.S. economic sanctions. The court’s decision bars the opposition figure, María Corina Machado, from taking […]

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U.S. Is Watching North Korea for Signs of Lethal Military Action

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, could take some form of lethal military action against South Korea in the coming months after having shifted to a policy of open hostility, U.S. officials say. The officials have assessed that Mr. Kim’s recent harder line is part of a pattern of provocations, but that his declarations have been […]

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Is North Korea Planning a War?

North Korea fired hundreds of artillery shells in waters near South Korean border islands on Jan. 5. Last week, it said it no longer regarded the South as inhabited by “fellow countrymen” but as a “hostile state” it would subjugate through a nuclear war. On Friday, it said it had tested an underwater nuclear drone […]

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Ukraine Targets Russian Oil Plants, Aiming to Disrupt Military Operations

Ukraine hit an oil depot in Russia in a drone attack on Friday, officials on both sides said, the latest in a series of recent assaults targeting Russian oil facilities as Kyiv increasingly seeks to strike critical infrastructure behind Russian lines. Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Russian region of Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, said […]

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With Harsh Anti-L.G.B.T.Q. Law, Uganda Risks a Health Crisis

For decades, Uganda’s campaign against H.I.V. was exemplary, slashing the country’s death rate by nearly 90 percent from 1990 to 2019. Now a sweeping law enacted last year, the Anti-Homosexuality Act, threatens to renew the epidemic as L.G.B.T.Q. citizens are denied, or are too afraid to seek out, necessary medical care. The law criminalizes consensual […]

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