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Russia Receives New Sanctions From UK Over On-going War in Ukraine

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The United Kingdom has issued fresh sanction against Russia on Friday, targeting imports of diamonds and other minerals in a bid to choke Moscow’s ability to fund the war in Ukraine.

Before a G7 summit in Japan began, London said it would introduce “a ban on Russian diamonds”, copper, aluminium and nickel, and sanction more entities involved in Moscow’s “military industrial complex”.

Russia’s diamond trade is estimated to be worth $4-5 billion a year, netting the Kremlin much-needed tax revenues.

Later in the day, the UK foreign office said the new sanctions would freeze the assets of 86 people and organisations.

These include “companies connected to theft of Ukrainian grain, and those involved in shipment of Russian energy”, it said.

The new sanctions will also target “advanced military technology and remaining revenue sources”.

The summit in Hiroshima is expected to bring a series of new sanctions on Russia — including US measures that will put 70 more Russian and foreign entities on a trade blacklist.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Sky News on Friday that his “straightforward” message for Russian President Vladimir Putin was: “We’re not going away”.

“One of the topics of conversation I’ll be having and have been having with my fellow leaders is about the longer term security agreements… for Ukraine to deter future Russian aggression,” he added.

The G7 as a whole is expected to work to tighten existing sanctions, close loopholes, squeeze Moscow’s access to the international financial system and commit to keeping Russian assets frozen until the end of the war in Ukraine.

On Friday, European Council President Charles Michel said the bloc would target the lucrative trade in Russian diamonds, which he joked “are not forever”.

EU member Belgium is among the largest wholesale buyers of Russian diamonds, along with India and the United Arab Emirates.

The United States is a major end-market for the finished product.

AFP

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International

Trump deletes Jesus post of himself after outcry

The AI picture was posted late Sunday and removed Monday.Asked about the post, Trump denied that he was trying to look like Jesus Christ.

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US President Donald Trump on Monday deleted a social media image apparently depicting him as Jesus after an outcry from religious leaders that he was being blasphemous.

AFP reported that the image posted on Trump’s Truth Social platform showed him in flowing red and white robes, touching the forehead of what appeared to be a sick man and with light shining from his hand and head.

An American flag waved in the background while various figures gazed up at the president in reverence.

The AI picture was posted late Sunday and removed Monday.Asked about the post, Trump denied that he was trying to look like Jesus Christ.

“I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do Red Cross,” he told journalists.

“It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.

The post generated an outcry from several prominent conservative Christians who are among Trump’s biggest backers.

“I don’t know if the President thought he was being funny or if he is under the influence of some substance or what possible explanation he could have for this OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy,” Megan Basham, a conservative journalist and commentator wrote on X.

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Pope Leo reacts to Trump’s blasts “I have no intention to debate with Trump”

Trump said Leo is “Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not sit well with me

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President Donald Trump on Sunday blasted Pope Leo XIV over the Roman Catholic pontiff’s criticism of the U.S. war with Iran.

In reaction Monday Pope Leo XIV on Monday said, ” I no intention to debate” with Donald Trump on the US-Iran war.

“I am not a politician,” the pope told reporters aboard the papal plane as they headed to Algeria for the pontiff’s first visit to Africa.

“I have no intention to debate with (Trump). The message is the same: to promote peace”, Pope emphasised.

President said in a Truth Social post he does not “want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do.”

Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, and other church leaders have also at times been sharply critical of Trump’s domestic immigration policies.

Trump linked the pope’s ascension to his return to office as president.“Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise,” Trump said.

“He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”

Trump said Leo is “Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not sit well with me, nor does the fact that he meets with Obama Sympathizers like David Axelrod, a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested,” referring to a recent meeting between the pope and President Barack Obama’s former political aide.

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Hungarian opposition wins election landslide

Results based on 81.5% of votes counted showed the center-right, pro-EU Tisza party of Peter Magyar winning 137 seats for a crucial two-thirds majority in the 199-member parliament, defeating Orban’s Fidesz party.

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Photo: President of the Tisza Party, Peter Magyar / CNBC

Hungary’s veteran nationalist leader Viktor Orban conceded defeat on Sunday after a landslide election victory by the upstart opposition Tisza party, ending Orban’s 16-year rules.

Results based on 81.5% of votes counted showed the center-right, pro-EU Tisza party of Peter Magyar winning 137 seats for a crucial two-thirds majority in the 199-member parliament, defeating Orban’s Fidesz party.

“The election results are not final yet, but the situation is understandable and clear,” Orban, 62, said at the Fidesz campaign offices.

Some of his supporters who had gathered outside cried as they watched him speak on TV screens.

“The election result is painful for us, but clear.”Election officials estimated turnout at a record of 79% or more, in an election that many Hungarians saw as a watershed moment for their country.

Tisza’s Magyar, 45, had cast the vote as a choice between “East and West,” warning voters that Orban and his confrontational stance towards Brussels would take the country further away from the European mainstream.

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