Russia Debt: US Treasury says all buying of Russian debt and equity banned under sanctions

The US Treasury Department has advised US money managers that Washington’s sanctions on Moscow bar any secondary market purchases of debt or stocks...

The Treasury’s guidance published yesterday said executive orders imposing sanctions on Russia “prohibit US persons from purchasing both new and existing debt and equity securities issued by an entity in the Russian Federation.”“Consistent with our goal to deny Russia the financial resources it needs to continue its brutal war against Ukraine, Treasury has made clear that US persons are prohibited from making new investments in the success of Russia, including through purchases on the secondary market,” a Treasury spokesperson said.

Read more at: US Treasury says all buying of Russian debt and equity banned under sanctions - Russia Debt

USA - Florida: Judge Blocks Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ Order Banning Mask Mandates

School districts in Florida may impose mask mandates, a judge said Friday, ruling that Gov. Ron DeSantis overstepped his authority by issuing an executive order banning the mandates.

Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper agreed with a group of parents who claimed in a lawsuit that DeSantis’ order is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. The governor’s order gave parents the sole right to decide if their child wears a mask at school.

Cooper said DeSantis’ order “is without legal authority.”

Read more at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/judge-florida-mask-mandate-ron-desantis_n_61291290e4b02be25b5b8d8c

USA:Jan. 6 Commission Fails In Senate Following GOP Opposition - by Brian Naylor

Bipartisan legislation to establish an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has failed in the Senate, as Republicans staged their first filibuster since President Biden took office to block the plan.

The final vote was 54-35, but Republicans withheld the votes necessary to bring the bill up for debate. Just six GOP senators joined with the Democrats on Friday, leaving the measure short of the 60 votes needed to proceed.

The proposed commission was modeled on the one established to investigate the 9/11 attacks — with 10 commissioners, five Democrats and five Republicans, who would have subpoena powers. A Democratic chair and Republican vice chair would have had to approve all subpoenas, with a final report due at the end of the year.

The measure was approved by the House 252-175 earlier this month, with 35 Republicans joining all Democrats in support of the plan.

Note EU-Digest: Scandalous.... "Republicans" protecting the principal "instigator" of this assault on US Capitol and democracy.

Read more at: Jan. 6 Commission Fails In Senate Following GOP Opposition : NPR

The Netherlands: Ferries from UK banned from sailing to Netherlands

Ferry lines which transport passengers from the United Kingdom across the North Sea to the Netherlands will not be permitted from Monday as the Dutch government attempts to prevent a highly-contagious variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus from spreading through the Dutch population. After a considerable rise in infections in the UK, many parts of that country went back into a strict lockdown over the weekend.

At the very start of Sunday, Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge sent a letter to Parliament announcing that the Netherlands banned passenger flights from the UK effective immediately, and for an initial duration of about ten days. Belgium followed suit with a ban that included trains, meaning Eurostar rail service from the UK could no longer reach the Netherlands.

Read more at:Ferries from UK banned from sailing to Netherlands: Reports | NL Times

Social Media: Twitter briefly restricts Donald Trump's tweets about 'election fraud'

Twitter briefly tightened restrictions on US President Donald Trump's official Twitter account on Saturday, as some users reported the inability to like, retweet, or reply to his tweets. This phenomenon was observed for tweets marked as "disputed." For such tweets, users could neither copy the URL, nor search the text of the tweet to yield results.

A Twitter spokesperson wrote to The Verge on Saturday, informing the platform "inadvertently took action to limit engagements" on Trump's tweet, but had since reversed the action

Read Moreat: Twitter briefly restricts Donald Trump's tweets about 'election fraud'

Crises in the EU caused by Hungary and Poland: EU budget blocked by Hungary and Poland over rule of law issue

Ambassadors of the 27 member states meeting in Brussels were unable to endorse the budget becauseHungary and Poland vetoed it.

Note EU-Diges;: Right wing nationalist Polish and Hungarian governments, which have done away with the independent status of their legal systems,and politicized it, must not be allowed to call the shots in the EU, and do not deserve to be members of the E.U if they do not comply with the rule of the majority. Hopefully the EU Commission will not sit on their hands ,and take immediate action, including, in the worst case scenario, expulsion of these countries from EU.

Read more at: EU budget blocked by Hungary and Poland over rule of law issue - BBC News

Coronavirus: Beijing Has Blocked WHO from Investigating COVID Origins - by Zachary Evans

The coronavirus was first reported to have originated at an animal market in Wuhan, China, however numerous observers have already questioned this account of the virus’s origins. Among other issues, the original host animal—a species of bat—was not sold at the particular animal market, and the city of Wuhan is home to virology labs where coronaviruses were studied.

While an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus could help prevent future pandemics, China is not allowing the W.H.O. to conduct an independent probe of the matter, according to internal documents and interviews by the Times.

Read more at: Beijing Has Blocked WHO from Investigating COVID Origins

Germany: Thousands demonstrate against right-wing extremist NPD rally

National Democratic Party supporters in Getmany have come together in Hanover to protest against journalists, but they were vastly outnumbered by counterdemonstrators. There were no serious clashes between the groups, police said.

Read more at:
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-thousands-demonstrate-against-right-wing-extremist-npd-rally/a-51382691

The Facebook Libra Currency: Major EU countries preparing to block new Facebook digital currency

European countries move to block Facebook's Libra digital currency France, Italy and Germany are together preparing measures to block Facebook's new Libra cryptocurrency from use in Europe, French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire announced Friday. 

Read more at:  

https://www.france24.com/en/20191018-european-countries-move-to-block-facebook-s-libra-digital-currency-1

Middle East - !srael: The Supreme Court bars far right candidate to participate in elections

Israel bars far-right candidate from standing in election Israel's supreme court on Sunday disqualified the controversial leader of the extreme-right Jewish Power party, Michael Ben-Ari, from running in next month's elections.

Read more at:
http://www.france24.com/en/20190318-israel-bars-far-right-candidate-michael-ben-ari-standing-election

Britain - Brexit: UK speaker of the house blocks third vote on Brexit deal

UK speaker blocks third vote on Brexit deal

Read more at:
https://p.dw.com/p/3FGdr

USA: House Democrats Vote to Block Consideration of Trump Impeachment- by William Boardman

On December 6, a majority of Democrats in the House joined all House Republicans in voting to prevent the House of Representatives from even debating articles of impeachment against President Trump. The House voted 364-58 (with 10 non-votes) to table impeachment articles (H RES 646) sponsored by Texas Democrat Al Green. Over the strong objections of Democratic leaders (an oxymoron), Green had brought his impeachment resolution to a vote by invoking his personal privilege as a House member. Green’s resolution began:

Note EU-Digest:Participants in a question on real-money prediction website PredictIt on Thursday gave an 18 percent chance that Trump would be impeached by the end of next year. The percentage on the site, which allows users to make and trade predictions on the future, has been level for the past 90 days, dipping above and below 20 percent. The percentage could rise next year based on a number of factors.

Bottom line: Trump will probably sit out his 4 years term as President.
 
Read more: House Democrats Vote to Block Consideration of Trump Impeachment | Global Research - Centre for Research on Globalization