EUROPEAN UNION: Members of EU countries agreed a new package of sanctions today against Russia for its war in Ukraine. 

The latest measures are aimed at countering third countries and businesses from getting around the sanctions. 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the new package will “deal a further blow to Putin’s war machine with tightened export restrictions, targeting entities supporting the Kremlin.”

GERMANY: A German woman, identified as Nadine K, was convicted on Wednesday of keeping a Yazidi woman as a slave during her time with the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, and sentenced to nine years and three months in prison.

The state court in Koblenz convicted the woman of crimes against humanity, membership in a foreign terrorist organisation and being an accessory to genocide after abusing the young woman for three years “as a household slave.”

PAKISTAN: Pakistani authorities said today that they have arrested seven alleged key figures in a human trafficking ring following last week’s sinking of an overcrowded smuggling vessel off Greece that left more than 500 migrants missing, including Pakistanis.

Police said that the ring was engaged in smuggling Pakistanis into Europe and that the arrests took place over the last two days, as part of a government crackdown on traffickers.

NORWAY: Threats from right-wing extremist groups have increased against next week’s LGBT Pride festival in Oslo following a deadly shooting last year at the annual event, the Norwegian Police Security Service said today.

The head of its counterterror unit, Lars Lilleby, said the threats might be an attempt to force the cancellation of the July 1 parade.