Situation Reports

EU ambassadors approved a new package of sanctions on Russia, the 17th since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with measures including visa bans and asset freezes on senior Russian officials, export bans on dual-use chemicals and restrictions targeting dozens of companies accused of sanctions evasion, Politico reported May 14.

Georgia's Parliament approved a legislative package allowing the country's Constitutional Court to ban political parties "whose aim is to overthrow or change Georgia's constitutional order by force, undermine the country's independence, violate its territorial integrity, engage in war or violence propaganda, incite national, regional, religious, or social strife," Civil Georgia reported on May 13.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would soon lift U.S. sanctions on Syria, though he did not mention specific demands Syria had met to earn such sanctions relief, Al Jazeera reported on May 13.

Newly reelected Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will make a state visit on May 14-15 to Indonesia, the Jakarta Globe reported on May 13.

The White House announced that Saudi Arabia committed to investing $600 billion in the United States and signed other deals to expand trade and economic cooperation, especially in key areas such as artificial intelligence, transformative technologies and the U.S. healthcare sector, Reuters reported on May 13.

The U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security announced on May 13 that it had initiated a rescission of the Biden-era AI Diffusion Rule, which set export quotas on the number of AI chips exported to certain countries, and would issue a replacement rule in the future.

A mutiny broke out at a Nigerien military garrison based in Termit, a remote desert area in northeastern Niger, after hundreds of angry soldiers denounced chronic malnutrition, lack of adequate equipment, and delays in the payment of salaries and bonuses, citing the deterioration of their living conditions, Radio France Internationale reported on May 13.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration welcomed 59 white South Africans to the United States as part of its resettlement program for South Africa's Afrikaner community, Reuters reported on May 13.

Deadly clashes in the southern Abu Salim neighborhood of Libya's capital, Tripoli, erupted late on May 12 and lasted into the following morning after the 444 brigade assassinated Abu Salim-based Stabilization Support Authority commander Abdel-Ghani al-Kikli, better known as Gheniwa, earlier in the day, Al-Wasat reported on May 13.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a new delegation to Doha, Qatar, to restart stalled hostage negotiations with Hamas after the Palestinian militant group released Israeli-American Edan Alexander on May 12, The Times of Israel reported on May 13.