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🇪🇺 Hungary blocked the EU from approving a ~$19 billion aid package for Ukraine yesterday. The move came a week after the European Commission recommended freezing ~$8 billion in economic development funds intended for Hungary over corruption risks, though Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán said the two events weren’t related. EU officials said they’re working on a new solution to fund Ukraine via a process that works around Hungary’s veto.
🇺🇦 In other Ukraine news, local farmers said a Russian oligarch has seized control of 400,000 acres within the country. The farmland, covering an area more than twice the size of NYC, previously belonged to three of Ukraine’s biggest farming operations before the war began. These firms recently told the WSJ that shortly after Moscow invaded in February, the family company of a former Russian agriculture minister took control of the land and instantly became one of largest farm operators in Ukraine.
🇮🇩 Indonesia passed a new criminal code yesterday outlawing sex outside of marriage. Under the new code, which takes effect in three years, premarital sex will carry a jail term of up to one year for all residents and foreigners. Another new measure criminalizes unmarried couples who live together, making it punishable by up to six months in jail. For prosecutions to start in either scenario, a complaint must be filed by the children, parents, or spouse of the accused couple.
🌍 Iranian anti-government protesters began a three-day national strike yesterday, Germany is backtracking on previously-announced defense spending increases, and two Russian airbases hundreds of miles from the Ukrainian border were hit with missile strikes.
🌍 Around the world: Iran’s attorney general said the nationwide law requiring women to wear hijabs in public is under review, OPEC+ will stick with its previously-agreed-to oil production cuts amidst new Russian sanctions, and Russia is burning through missiles in Ukraine faster than it can produce them.
🌍 China loosened some Covid restrictions following anti-gov't protests, passengers on flights within the EU next year won’t be required to place any 5G-enabled device into airplane mode, and nearly 7.9 million Ukrainians have moved to neighboring countries since February.
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