Trade

The European Union on Thursday formally adopted its much delayed 20th package of restrictive measures against Russia and the bloc’s biggest package of designations in two years. Here’s what’s in it.

Proposed European anti-money-laundering (AML) standards could place a “significant operational burden” on banks by potentially requiring customer due diligence checks on counterparties that are not traditional bank clients, a trade finance industry body has warned.

European Union member states have agreed a new sanctions package against Russia after Hungary lifted its veto, clearing the way for measures targeting Russian oil transport, banks, crypto platforms, and trade in restricted goods.

China has rolled out tough new rules aimed at countering foreign sanctions, explicitly linking the measures to U.S. threats of secondary sanctions on Chinese banks over Iranian oil purchases and warning that further retaliation tools are likely to follow.

The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions on 14 individuals, entities, and aircraft in Iran, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates that it said were involved in arming Iran with missiles and drones.

Five of the world’s largest banks have been drawn into allegations that they unwittingly processed payments tied to a sanctions-evasion and money-laundering scheme benefiting Iran.

South American governments are deploying soldiers, drones, sniffer dogs, artificial intelligence, and expanded port surveillance to try to stem a record flow of cocaine, but the crackdown is having little impact as traffickers change up routes and tactics.

Indian companies shipped more than 320 million tapentadol pills to West Africa over the past three years, even though the synthetic opioid has not been approved by regulators in most countries in the region, according to a Bellingcat investigation.

Iran has built a more complex trade system under years of Western sanctions, relying increasingly on China, barter arrangements, and covert financing channels that help it keep goods moving even as formal restrictions target its oil exports, banking access, and foreign trade.

Ukraine is seeing early signs that sanctions are disrupting Russia’s access to some foreign technology used in Shahed drones, although newly manufactured Western and Asian components are still being found in the weapons.