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The United States has announced fresh economic sanctions on Cuba’s president and some of his immediate family, alongside members of the Castro family, in Washington’s latest ramping up of pressure on its communist-led neighbour.

Among those targeted were the son and a grandson of former president Raúl Castro, who no longer holds an official position but remains a key figure on decisions about the future of the island.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel, his wife and stepson were also hit by the latest Treasury department sanctions issued on Thursday, as was the ministry of the revolutionary armed forces and several other entities.

The US has had an embargo on Cuba for decades, but US President Donald Trump has drastically ramped up pressure on the island in recent months and openly muses about taking it over.

A de facto fuel blockade has deepened the island’s energy crisis and hit its already fragile economy.

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North Korea on Thursday unveiled a new facility to produce nuclear bomb fuels, with leader Kim Jong Un announcing plans to bolster the country's nuclear forces "at an exponential rate."

Some experts still question whether North Korea has functioning nuclear missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland. But the nuclear plant's disclosure implies that Kim is eager to cement his country's status as a nuclear power and has no intentions of placing his bomb program on a negotiating table.

After visiting the site on Wednesday, Kim said he and other top officials "confirmed the order of priority for implementing the ambitious future plan designed to beef up our state's nuclear forces at an exponential rate," according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

KCNA said the facility used "more sophisticated technology" but didn't provide further details like its location. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff assessed the site as a uranium enrichment plant and said it was closely coordinating with the United States to monitor North Korean nuclear activities.

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Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said Thursday that his country would cut ties with the U.N. secretary general and his office, after the office’s decision to include Israel on an upcoming sexual violence blacklist over alleged sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees.

Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador, said that he had been officially informed by the secretary general’s office that Israel and its security services would be included in an annual report on conflict-related sexual violence. He called the decision “disconnected from the facts and reality.”

Hamas is also included on an associated list of countries and groups accused of using sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Mr. Danon denounced the decision, denied the accusations and accused the U.N. chief, António Guterres, of lying and of choosing not to fully investigate claims against Israel. “To put us and Hamas terrorists on the same list,” Mr. Danon said in a video. “That’s unacceptable.”

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The EU is exploring emergency interventions to its maritime trade restrictions, moving to temporarily freeze the price cap on Russian crude oil to prevent global energy market disruptions from handing an unintended financial windfall to the Kremlin, Bloomberg reported.

Last year, the EU established a dynamic, automatic mechanism designed to continuously squeeze Russian oil revenues. The rule mandates that every six months, the price cap must be recalculated and legally set exactly 15% below the prevailing average market price of Russia’s benchmark Urals crude.

The current price ceiling is fixed at $44.10 per barrel, with the next formal adjustment scheduled for late summer. Under this restriction, European maritime firms are legally barred from providing vital logistics, shipping, or insurance services for any vessel carrying Russian oil sold above the threshold.

However, the war in Iran and the physical closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz have induced severe instability across global energy networks, causing international crude prices to skyrocket.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent diplomatic push into Central Asia yielded high-minded rhetoric but few substantive gains, as Kazakhstan resisted Kremlin pressure on trade and labor, foreign policy expert Paul Goble told Kyiv Post.

Faced with limited returns in Astana, Putin dedicated a significant portion of his post-visit press conference to lecturing Armenia – a move Goble described as a sign of Moscow’s anxiety over its fading influence in the former Soviet space.

The remarks came as Moscow has intensified pressure on Yerevan over its pro-European course. Russia has warned Armenia that it could lose preferential fuel and energy arrangements if it continues its EU path, while the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union has raised the possibility of suspending Armenia over its European ambitions.

While Moscow hoped to secure critical concessions during the high-level talks, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev used his diplomatic experience to protect Astana’s strategic autonomy, Goble said.

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Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia and the country’s former president, cautioned the European Union on Friday to be “vigilant” amid the “war with Russia” that Europe has entered, after an errant Russian drone crashed in Romania.

“Citizens of EU countries, You should realize your authorities have unilaterally ehttps://thehill.com/policy/international/5901241-dmitry-medvedev-eu-russia-drone-attack/ntered into a war with Russia,” the senior Russian official wrote in a post on social platform X. “So be vigilant and don’t be surprised by anything. The peaceful sleep is over. But you know who to ask why.”

The warning from Medvedev, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, came after Romanian authorities said a Russian drone that was part of an overnight attack on Ukraine crashed into an apartment building in eastern Romania, injuring two people.

NATO condemned the incident in its member country as reckless and reaffirmed its commitment to defend its alliance territory.

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