One month after a judge declared Google’s search engine an illegal monopoly, the company faces another antitrust lawsuit that threatens to break up the company — this time over its advertising technology. The U.S. Justice Department, joined by a coalition of states, and Google each made opening statements Monday to a federal judge who will decide whether the firm holds a monopoly over … Read more
The comments came after Kyiv indicated it would not engage in direct negotiations with Russia, but is working to build a coalition of intermediaries to help end the war. There is hope in Kyiv that a broad coalition, including some Russia-leaning countries, can push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace formula and get Moscow to … Read more
The Russian psy-ops team identified Germany as a particularly vulnerable target for Russian influence. “The Germans are more dependent than the French,” reads one of the Russian documents, presumably referring to Germany’s economic dependence on Russian gas and exports. “First and foremost, we need to discredit the USA, Great Britain and NATO, and secondly,” convince Germans to … Read more
Coca-Cola and rival PepsiCo spent hundreds of millions of dollars over decades building demand for their soft drinks in Muslim-majority countries including Egypt to Pakistan. Now, both face a challenge from local sodas in those countries due to consumer boycotts targeting the brands as symbols of America, and by extension Israel, at a time of war in … Read more
Legislators in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang say they will increase support for US-sanctioned enterprises, including via the legal system and overseas promotions. In a resolution released and taking effect on Monday, the regional legislature denounced US sanctions against Xinjiang enterprises over the alleged use of forced labour, calling for the creation of “a … Read more
Johnson has been a long-standing ally of Israel, calling any consideration to end arms sales “insane” and “shameful” earlier this year. Britain has just over 350 export licenses with Israel. The U.K. has stressed that its move does not amount to an arms embargo, but said the number of civilian deaths and the scale of … Read more
There is no indication as yet that Mongolia plans to arrest Putin. If it fails to, it will likely face prosecution over its inaction, a legal expert told POLITICO. “Mongolia will most certainly be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court for breaching its duty of cooperation,” said Tamás Hoffmann, senior research fellow at the Institute … Read more
“Energy security is a matter of national security! That’s why I’m going …” the Hungarian foreign minister wrote in an early morning Facebook post, ending the sentence a few hours later: “… to St. Petersburg.” After his three-hour meeting with Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller — who has been sanctioned by the United States and United … Read more
The morning meeting of EU ministers was also attended by Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. An official familiar with the talks told POLITICO that Kuleba had informed his counterparts that “all signs point” to Russia continuing with its recent missile onslaught against Ukraine. The Ukraine diplomatic chief, the official related, urged the EU ministers to … Read more
An even bigger problem, the western diplomats said, is that several countries in the region, including Bahrain and Libya, have locked arms with Lebanon in opposing international regulators’ push for a crackdown, making it all but impossible to effectively target Hezbollah’s illicit financing. FATF declined to comment for this article. The current battle within FATF … Read more
