- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
UK to freeze all Russian banks' assets, bars ships
The UK on Monday said it would freeze the assets of all Russian banks over the invasion of Ukraine, tightening the international economic stranglehold on Moscow over its "unjustified aggression".
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the UK wants "a situation where they (Russia) can't access their funds, their trade can't flow, their ships can't dock and their planes can't land".
More than 50 percent of Russian trade is denominated in dollars or sterling and the new powers "will damage Russia's ability to trade with the world", she told parliament.
At the same time, British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps ordered all UK seaports to turn away Russian vessels, having already barred Russian aircraft, including oligarch jets.
Britain last weekend joined the United States and Western allies in preventing the Russian central bank's ability to use reserves to support the plummeting ruble.
And it also cut selected banks from the SWIFT international money transfer system, which Truss said was only the first step in a "total SWIFT ban".
As Truss spoke in parliament, the Treasury announced asset freezes on Russia's state development bank VEB, and commercial lenders Otkritie and Sovcombank, with the rest of the freeze to come into effect "in days", Truss said.
The sanctions add to those announced last week on a series of Russian banks, businesses, billionaires, President Vladimir Putin himself and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
- Three million businesses -
The assets freeze on Russian banks will stop the Kremlin from raising debt in the UK and will prevent more than three million businesses from accessing UK capital markets, Truss said, also promising a ban on "high-end technological equipment such as micro-electronics, marine and navigation equipment".
"This will blunt Russia's military industrial capabilities and act as a drag on Russia's economy for years to come," she said.
UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom meanwhile said it had opened 15 new investigations into the "due impartiality" of state-funded Russian broadcaster RT since the invasion of Ukraine.
London has long been accused of turning a blind eye to illicit Russian money, but Truss promised new measures would target oligarchs' "houses, their yachts and every aspect of their lives".
"I say to our Ukrainian friends, we are with you. In Britain and around the world we're prepared to suffer economic sacrifices to support you however long it takes," she added.
"We will not rest until Ukraine sovereignty is restored."
London's tough talk was blamed by the Kremlin for provoking Putin into raising the readiness level of Russia's nuclear forces -- a claim dismissed by UK officials as risible.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman was forced to backtrack after telling a daily briefing that the swingeing set of sanctions imposed by Britain, Europe and the United States was intended "to bring down the Putin regime".
Downing Street said that he had misspoken, and the spokesman clarified that he was talking about "how we stop Russia seeking to subjugate a democratic country".
- 'Moving and courageous -
In his latest call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday evening, Johnson praised the "heroic" resistance of Ukrainians, according to Downing Street.
Johnson was to visit Poland and Estonia on Tuesday, two NATO allies bordering Russia where Britain has been stepping up military support.
The prime minister released a further £40 million ($54 million) in humanitarian aid for Ukraine, after giving an emotional address at London's Ukrainian Catholic cathedral on Sunday.
"Never in all my study, my memory of politics and international affairs, have I seen so clear a distinction between right and wrong, between good and evil, between light and dark," he told the congregation.
The cathedral's Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski said that he had been blessing Ukrainian men and women who were en route to defend their homeland.
"People have come and told us they're returning back to Ukraine to fight and wanting us to pray for them and give them our blessings," he told journalists.
"It's very touching, very moving and very courageous," he said on Monday.
E.Ramalho--PC