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The White House said President Biden would soon issue an executive order that would ban new investment, trade and financing by US people and entities in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. “This EO [executive order] will also provide authority to impose sanctions on any person determined to operate in those areas of Ukraine,” said Jen Psaki, White House press secretary. “We will also soon announce additional measures related to today’s blatant violation of Russia’s international commitments.” Psaki said the measures were separate from the economic sanctions the US has threatened to impose if Putin invades Ukraine. “We are continuing to...

The greatest threat the digital yuan poses to the United States is that it endangers the international financial system America has led since World War II.The greatest threat the digital yuan poses to the United States is that it endangers the international financial system America has led since World War II.Communist China became the first major economy to create a government-sanctioned digital currency — digital yuan. Such a move will significantly impact the great power competition between the United States and China and may reshape the dollar-dominated global financial structure forever.When Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party General Secretary, talked...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called for economic sanctions against Turkey after a Russian jet was downed earlier this week on the Syrian border. The sanctions were announced in a decree published on the Kremlin's website and comes as Turkish President Recep Tayipp Erdogan voiced regret over the incident, saying he wished the event hadn't happened. The decree calls for bans on some goods and forbids extensions of labor contracts to Turkish individuals working in Russia, The Associated Press reported. It also calls for ending chartered flights from Russia to Turkey and for all Russian tourism companies to stop...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — President Hassan Rouhani has praised a landmark nuclear deal struck in Geneva as his country's victory, telling a home crowd it effectively means the "surrender" of Western powers to Iranian demands.

President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this week urged reluctant members of the United Nations Security Council to quickly pass sanctions against Iran. But that is highly unlikely, as Obama himself acknowledged: “Do we have unanimity in the international community? Not yet. And that’s something we have to work on.” In the absence of decisive action from the U.N., the Obama Administration should work with allies to impose strong sanctions outside the U.N. framework, where effective action is hampered by the veto power of China and Russia. Diplomatic Foot-DraggingPredictably, the U.S. push for another round of sanctions at...

The US administration is heading towards placing "paralyzing" sanctions on Iran, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren said Tuesday. Speaking to Army Radio, Oren added that although it was "too early," the US had also not yet abandoned the military option. "The Americans attribute the highest importance to the Iranian issue," he said during the interview. "The US, along with other countries, is preparing to impose paralyzing sanctions on [Iran], and preparations are happening even now." Oren went on to reject claims that US President Barack Obama was trying to downgrade relations between Washington and Jerusalem, saying, "The man is...

WASHINGTON, March 1 - Senior members of Congress from both parties emerged from a meeting with President Bush on Tuesday warning Europe that if it lifts its ban on arms sales to China, the United States may retaliate with severe restrictions on technology sales to European companies. The warning came after Mr. Bush, on his trip to Europe last week, twice cautioned the Europeans not to lift the restrictions, in place for 15 years. His insistence was based, at least in part, on a new American intelligence assessment that Beijing is rapidly becoming better equipped to carry out a sophisticated...

North Korea yesterday said it wanted talks with the US about its nuclear weapons programme but only if Washington softened its hostile stance. The comments signalled North Korea's desire to use its nuclear capabilities as a bargaining tool in negotiations with the US. However, James Kelly, US undersecretary of state, said there would be no talks until North Korea "verifiably" scrapped its weapons programme. Washington has warned there will be "no replay" of 1994, when the US offered billions of dollars of energy aid in return for North Korea halting weapons development. North Korea's stance means it remains on a...