The SCO members have issued a statement backing efforts to reach a full peace settlement in Ukraine.
Poroshenko says hopes to secure 'special status' with US as non-NATO ally. -- AFP
Poland's Gaz-System has resumed full natural-gas deliveries to Ukraine, ending the halt that began after an apparent reduction in gas coming to Poland from Russia, AP reports.
From AP:
The chief Dutch prosecutor overseeing the criminal investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 says that the plane being shot down from the ground is the "most likely" scenario being probed by dozens of investigators.
Fred Westerbeke of the Dutch National Prosecutors Office told reporters Friday that the shooting-down scenario "is the one getting the most attention now" in the international criminal investigation into the July 17 downing of the Boeing 777 over eastern Ukraine.
Here is the English-language text of the EU sanctions on Russia that came into effect today with their publication in the "Official Journal of the European Union." Go to page 9 for the firms affected, including United Aircraft Corporation, JSC Kalashnikov, Rosneft, Transneft, Gazprom Neft, and 15 other companies. Go to page 11 for the list of individuals targeted, including Aleksandr Zakharchenko and other Donetsk and Luhansk "People's Republic" leaders, annexed-Crimea leaders, and Vladimir Zhirinovsky and other Russian political and military figures.
Russian agencies quote State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin as calling U.S. sanctions "already disconnected from reality."