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Putin Signs Decree on New Retaliatory Sanctions against West

A general view shows an empty embankment near the Kremlin, after the city authorities announced a partial lockdown ordering residents to stay at home to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in central Moscow, Russia March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina
A general view shows an empty embankment near the Kremlin, after the city authorities announced a partial lockdown ordering residents to stay at home to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in central Moscow, Russia March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina
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Putin Signs Decree on New Retaliatory Sanctions against West

A general view shows an empty embankment near the Kremlin, after the city authorities announced a partial lockdown ordering residents to stay at home to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in central Moscow, Russia March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina
A general view shows an empty embankment near the Kremlin, after the city authorities announced a partial lockdown ordering residents to stay at home to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in central Moscow, Russia March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on retaliatory economic sanctions in response to the "unfriendly actions of certain foreign states and international organizations", the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

According to the decree, Russia will forbid the export of products and raw materials to people and entities that it has sanctioned.

The decree also prohibits transactions with foreign individuals and companies hit by Russia's retaliatory sanctions and permits Russian counterparties not to fulfill obligations towards them.

The European Union hopes to pass the sixth round of sanctions against Russia at the next meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, the bloc's chief diplomat said on Monday.

Josep Borrell told a news conference in Panama City, where he is on an official visit, the bloc hopes to curb Russia's energy exports as part of its efforts to sanction Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

The European Commission, the executive branch of the union, is expected to propose the package of EU sanctions this week, including a potential embargo on buying Russian oil - a measure that would deprive Moscow of a large revenue stream, but that has so far divided EU countries.

Borrell, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Council meetings, said he hopes the EU will be able to take "measures to significantly limit these imports" but conceded so far there is no agreement from all the members.

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World

Confirmed Ebola Cases Top 2,000 in Congo, Including 754 Deaths

A doctor provides care to a patient with Ebola virus disease at the Rwampara Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC) in Bunia, Ituri, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo on July 13, 2026. (Photo by BENEDICTION MURHABAZI / AFP)
A doctor provides care to a patient with Ebola virus disease at the Rwampara Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC) in Bunia, Ituri, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo on July 13, 2026. (Photo by BENEDICTION MURHABAZI / AFP)
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Confirmed Ebola Cases Top 2,000 in Congo, Including 754 Deaths

A doctor provides care to a patient with Ebola virus disease at the Rwampara Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC) in Bunia, Ituri, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo on July 13, 2026. (Photo by BENEDICTION MURHABAZI / AFP)
A doctor provides care to a patient with Ebola virus disease at the Rwampara Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC) in Bunia, Ituri, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo on July 13, 2026. (Photo by BENEDICTION MURHABAZI / AFP)

Confirmed cases of Ebola in Congo have reached 2,011, including 754 deaths, according to government data released overnight in what authorities say is the fastest-growing outbreak on record even as some health workers have gone on strike over payment issues.

A total of 753 people remain in isolation or in hospitals, while 366 have so far recovered, according to data from Congo’s Ministry of Health.

Contact tracing remains a challenge, with coverage of those exposed still at 67%.

The Central African nation has been battling the Ebola outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus since May 15.

Two months since the onset, the outbreak continues to spread faster than health officials can track despite an expanding response. At least 80% of new cases are emerging from unknown chains of transmission, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

A key challenge is that health authorities have yet to identify the outbreak’s patient zero, while displacements from armed conflict as well as mining-related movements have made it difficult to trace thousands who have come in contact with infected individuals.

Many of the newly reported deaths are people who died in their communities without ever reaching a health facility and without receiving care, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, the WHO health emergencies chief, said Tuesday after returning from Bunia in Ituri, the worst-hit province in the outbreak.

Health workers are also going on strike in different parts of Ituri. Some have told The Associated Press they have not received any payment since they started work at the onset of the outbreak.

Response efforts have also been challenged by the lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus, unlike the more common Zaire virus for which there is a vaccine and which was responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease.

Enrollment for a highly anticipated study of two possible Ebola treatments recently kicked off in Ituri.

World

Russian Strike on Ukraine’s Odesa Kills Three as Moscow, Kyiv Battle Over Black Sea

A civilian vessel is on fire, as Ukraine's navy spokesman reported a Russian military strike on a civilian vessel, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the Black Sea port of Odesa, Ukraine, July 14, 2026. (Reuters)
A civilian vessel is on fire, as Ukraine's navy spokesman reported a Russian military strike on a civilian vessel, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the Black Sea port of Odesa, Ukraine, July 14, 2026. (Reuters)
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Russian Strike on Ukraine’s Odesa Kills Three as Moscow, Kyiv Battle Over Black Sea

A civilian vessel is on fire, as Ukraine's navy spokesman reported a Russian military strike on a civilian vessel, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the Black Sea port of Odesa, Ukraine, July 14, 2026. (Reuters)
A civilian vessel is on fire, as Ukraine's navy spokesman reported a Russian military strike on a civilian vessel, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the Black Sea port of Odesa, Ukraine, July 14, 2026. (Reuters)

Russia and Ukraine stepped up their battle over the Black Sea and key trade routes on Wednesday, with Moscow killing three people in an attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa and Kyiv's drone forces striking Russian shipping.

Odesa region Governor Oleh Kiper said that a "massive" Russian drone and missile attack on the southern region continued for a fifth day, with civilian, industrial and port infrastructure ‌coming under attack.

Three ‌people were killed and at least three more ‌injured after ⁠a Russian missile ⁠strike on a seven-storey residential building in Odesa, Ukrainian authorities said.

Russia in recent days has stepped up attacks on Ukraine's deepwater Black Sea ports in the Greater Odesa area, which handle much of the country's grain and other cargo and are vital to its wartime economy, while Ukraine has expanded its campaign to disrupt logistics for Russia's forces in areas Moscow occupies in southern Ukraine and to isolate Crimea, ⁠which Russia annexed in 2014.

Ukrainian drones hit 20 Russian vessels ‌in the Black Sea overnight, Kyiv's top drone ‌forces commander said on Wednesday.

"Now Black Sea," Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine's Unmanned ‌Systems Forces said on Telegram, adding that 116 vessels have been struck in ‌the Sea of Azov this month.

STRIKES DISRUPT SEA OF AZOV SHIPPING

The Ukrainian attacks have forced Russia, the world's top grain exporter, to restrict shipping in the Sea of Azov — a route that handles about a quarter of its grain exports, sources told Reuters. ‌Shipping remained restricted on Tuesday, they said.

Russia's defense ministry said on Wednesday that Moscow's forces continued overnight strikes on Ukrainian ⁠ports it said were ⁠handling cargoes for the Ukrainian military.

It said a number of targets in the ports of Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk port had been hit, as well as four vessels it said were delivering cargoes for Ukraine's forces in the ports of Chornomorsk and Dnipro-Buh.

Kiper said on Tuesday that two people were killed in an evening drone attack on port infrastructure in the region. A civilian vessel under a Marshall Islands flag had been damaged in the attack, he said.

Ukraine's top grain exporter Kernel halted operations at Chornomorsk port after Russian attacks, while another Russian strike damaged its vegetable oil terminal in the Odesa region, it said late on Tuesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the attacks on shipping in the Sea of Azov as "terrorism" while Russia's agriculture ministry acknowledged that exports may get diverted to other routes.

World

Israel Jails Soldier for Sending Missile Intercept Videos to Iran Agent

Interceptors rise into the sky after Iran launched missiles into Israel, as seen from central Israel, February 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Interceptors rise into the sky after Iran launched missiles into Israel, as seen from central Israel, February 28, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israel Jails Soldier for Sending Missile Intercept Videos to Iran Agent

Interceptors rise into the sky after Iran launched missiles into Israel, as seen from central Israel, February 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Interceptors rise into the sky after Iran launched missiles into Israel, as seen from central Israel, February 28, 2026. (Reuters)

The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had sentenced an active-duty soldier to five years in prison for sending videos of missile interceptions to an Iranian agent.

The soldier sent two such videos during the 12-day war with Iran in June last year and "received payment for them," the military said. It added that he had also shared several videos filmed in civilian locations with the Iranian agent.

The footage sent from civilian locations included one documenting a missile impact that the soldier had found online, the military said.

"Eventually, after feeling pressured, the defendant informed someone in his military unit that he had been in contact with a foreign agent," the military said.

"The following day, he was arrested by the Shin Bet," it said, without specifying exactly when the arrest took place.

The soldier was contacted through his Telegram account, where he received messages that included job offers.

The messages also included an offer from an Iranian agent asking whether he would like to earn money "by carrying out photography-related tasks," it said.

Military prosecutors had sought a seven-year prison sentence for the soldier, whose identity was not disclosed.

"The court took into account that the defendant had not transmitted military information or information obtained through his military duties, that he himself terminated the contact with the foreign agent, and that he promptly reported the contact to his commanders," the military said.

"The court sentenced the defendant to five years' imprisonment, along with a suspended prison sentence, a fine of 1,000 shekels ($335), and reduction in rank to Private."

In June 2025, Israel attacked its arch-foe Iran in a war that lasted 12 days and also saw Tehran firing missiles at Israel.

Israel's ally, the United States, entered the war during its final days.

The two allies struck Iran for the second time on February 28, killing the country's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of the campaign.