A Czech court has ordered the closure of the office of the Donetsk "people's republic" separatists in Ostrava.
EU officially extends Russia sanctions by six months:
By RFE/RL
BRUSSELS -- The European Union member states' ambassadors have officially extended the bloc's economic sanctions against Russia by six months.
The 28 EU heads of state and government agreed to extend the measures until January 31 during their two-day meeting in Brussels last week.
At the summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron gave a briefing on how Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine were adhering to the 2015 Minsk agreements aimed at putting an end to a conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people since April 2014.
EU diplomats told RFE/RL that there was broad agreement among member states to stay firm with Moscow on Ukraine, while at the same time being open to dialogue on other foreign-policy issues.
The EU sanctions, which mainly target Russia's banking and financial sectors, were first imposed by Brussels in the summer of 2014 as a response to Russia's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and its baking of separatists in the country's east.
The sanctions package has been renewed every six months since then.
Global ransomware attack hits Ukraine, causes worldwide turmoil:
Computers across the world have been struck by a major ransomware cyberattack, with Ukrainian companies among the worst hit.
Ukraine initially seemed to be the target of the cyberattack, which started on June 27, affecting Ukrainian government computer networks, websites of banks, major industrial enterprises, the postal service, Kyiv's international airport, and the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
But the attack also hit other countries and international companies around the world.
The virus's pace appeared to slow by June 28, partly because the malware appeared to require direct contact between computer networks, a factor that may have limited its spread in regions with fewer connections to Ukraine.
However, businesses in the Asia-Pacific region reported some disruptions on June 28 with the operations of several European companies hit.
The fresh cyberattack used the same intrusion tool as a similar assault last month.
The malicious software freezes the user's computer until an untraceable ransom is paid in the digital Bitcoin currency. (Reuters, AFP, BBC)