STRASBOURG: The European Union’s executive arm proposed Wednesday new sanctions on Russia that would cut off goods worth 11 billion euros and target Iran’s drone producers over the war in Ukraine.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said she hoped the EU’s 27 member states would agree to the new package as part of a joint battery of G7 sanctions on the one-year anniversary of the invasion on February 24.
“We are targeting many industrial goods that Russia needs, and that it cannot get through backfilling through third countries,” she said, citing “vital goods such as electronics, specialized vehicles, machine parts, spare parts for trucks and jet engines.”
She said Brussels wanted export controls on 47 additional electronic components “that can be used in Russian weapons systems, including drones, missiles, helicopters.”
The new package of sanctions is also due to place further curbs on Iranian manufacturers that have supplied Russia with drones used to attack Ukraine’s infrastructure.
“Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have been providing Russia with Shahed drones,” von der Leyen said.
“Therefore, we are now adding seven Iranian entities to our dual use regime. They are now under a complete ban on selling sensitive items to Russia,” she said.
The EU has already imposed nine waves of unprecedented sanctions on Moscow since it launched its assault on Ukraine last February.
These have hit key Russian exports like oil in a bid to cut Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war chest.
But diplomats in the bloc admit they are running out of new areas to target with each new round of measures.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the new sanctions would also include putting almost 100 more individuals and entities on an asset freeze and visa ban blacklist.
“These include those responsible for military activities for political decisions, propaganda and disinformation,” he said.
“We are targeting those involved in the human kidnappings, deportation and forced adoption of Ukrainian children to Russia and also those enabling the looting of Ukrainian resources.”
EU targets Iran drones, Russian tech in new Ukraine sanctions
https://arab.news/2zp57
EU targets Iran drones, Russian tech in new Ukraine sanctions
- New package of sanctions due to place further curbs on Iranian manufacturers that have supplied Russia with drones used to attack Ukraine’s infrastructure
Trump sues the BBC for defamation over editing of January 6 speech, seeks up to $10 billion in damages
- A BBC spokesperson told Reuters earlier on Monday that it had “no further contact from President Trump’s lawyers at this point
- The BBC is funded through a mandatory license fee on all TV viewers, which UK lawyers say could make any payout to Trump politically fraught
WASHING: President Donald Trump sued the BBC on Monday for defamation over edited clips of a speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the US Capitol, opening an international front in his fight against media coverage he deems untrue or unfair. Trump accused Britain’s publicly owned broadcaster of defaming him by splicing together parts of a January 6, 2021 speech, including one section where he told supporters to march on the Capitol and another where he said “fight like hell.” It omitted a section in which he called for peaceful protest.
Trump’s lawsuit alleges the BBC defamed him and violated a Florida law that bars deceptive and unfair trade practices. He is seeking $5 billion in damages for each of the lawsuit’s two counts. The BBC has apologized to Trump, admitted an error of judgment and acknowledged that the edit gave the mistaken impression that he had made a direct call for violent action. But it has said there is no legal basis to sue.
Trump, in his lawsuit filed Monday in Miami federal court, said the BBC despite its apology “has made no showing of actual remorse for its wrongdoing nor meaningful institutional changes to prevent future journalistic abuses.”
The BBC is funded through a mandatory license fee on all TV viewers, which UK lawyers say could make any payout to Trump politically fraught.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team said in a statement the BBC “has a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda.”
A BBC spokesperson told Reuters earlier on Monday that it had “no further contact from President Trump’s lawyers at this point. Our position remains the same.” The broadcaster did not immediately respond to a request for comment after the lawsuit was filed.
CRISIS LED TO RESIGNATIONS
Facing one of the biggest crises in its 103-year history, the BBC has said it has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary on any of its platforms.
The dispute over the clip, featured on the BBC’s “Panorama” documentary show shortly before the 2024 presidential election, sparked a public relations crisis for the broadcaster, leading to the resignations of its two most senior officials.
Trump’s lawyers say the BBC caused him overwhelming reputational and financial harm.
The documentary drew scrutiny after the leak of a BBC memo by an external standards adviser that raised concerns about how it was edited, part of a wider investigation of political bias at the publicly funded broadcaster.
The documentary was not broadcast in the United States.
Trump may have sued in the US because defamation claims in Britain must be brought within a year of publication, a window that has closed for the “Panorama” episode.
To overcome the US Constitution’s legal protections for free speech and the press, Trump will need to prove not only that the edit was false and defamatory but also that the BBC knowingly misled viewers or acted recklessly.
The broadcaster could argue that the documentary was substantially true and its editing decisions did not create a false impression, legal experts said. It could also claim the program did not damage Trump’s reputation.
Other media have settled with Trump, including CBS and ABC when Trump sued them following his comeback win in the November 2024 election.
Trump has filed lawsuits against the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and a newspaper in Iowa, all three of which have denied wrongdoing. The attack on the US Capitol in January 2021 was aimed at blocking Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential win over Trump in the 2020 US election.
