Paul Dallison writes Declassified, a weekly satirical column. Spare a thought for Louis Sarkozy, the son of former French president and legal trouble enthusiast Nicolas Sarkozy. He has a tough life. Sarkozy the younger was this week featured in the Financial Times’ How To Spend It section (which no one will ever convince me is not a spoof) and gave a guide to the delights of Washington. It’s ever-so relatable. Here are some of the best bits (incidentally, Louis’ mom Cécilia Attias tweeted out the story and later deleted the tweet for reasons that are unknown, but presumably involve the wo ..read more

OXFORD, England — As protests over the war in Gaza continue to roil U.S. college campuses, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met her own opposition at England’s prestigious University of Oxford Thursday night. The senior Democrat was in town to debate a motion by the university’s Oxford Union that “This house believes populism is a threat to democracy.” But as she took the podium — her first minutes mostly lost to broken microphones — two students wearing “Youth Demand” T-shirts walked in, holding up Palestinian flags, and stood in front of her. On X, the campaign group called her a “genocide ..read more

LONDON — Two British men have been charged with helping Russian intelligence after a suspected arson attack on a business linked to Ukraine. Prosecutors announced Friday that Dylan Earl, aged 20, and Jake Reeves, 22, had been charged with national security offenses after a blaze at a warehouse in east London in March. A statement from the U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Earl, who was arrested earlier this month, had been charged with “assisting a foreign intelligence service,” as well as aggravated arson and planning conduct which could endanger life or create “a serious risk to th ..read more

Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended three days of meetings in China on Friday with a stark warning to China’s leadership — stop exporting materials that allow Russia to rebuild its industrial base or face U.S. sanctions. Chinese state-owned firms are providing key components for Russia’s defense industrial base, including microelectronics and machine tools that have “a material effect against Ukraine” and constitute “a growing threat that Russia poses to countries in Europe,” Blinken told reporters in a press briefing in Beijing on Friday. Blinken said that, in his meetings with China ..read more

BRUSSELS — Chinese fashion app Shein will face stringent rules on how it handles content on its platform starting in late August, the European Commission said Friday. The move to oversee the popular but controversial platform, previously reported by POLITICO, comes as Europe has tightened its scrutiny of China-based tech companies. TikTok this week suspended a feature considered by the EU as “addictive” and potentially in breach of the bloc’s content-moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA). The EU executive said Shein was large enough to fall under more DSA rules, like detailed external ..read more

LONDON — Deep disagreements in the U.K. Conservative Party over Brexit? Surely not! Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch continued the Conservatives’ EU forever war Thursday night as she accused David Cameron of failing to prepare sufficiently for Brexit as prime minister. “One of the most disappointing things was becoming an MP a year later and finding out there had been no plans made about how this was going to happen,” Badenoch told business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry Thursday. “I think that was the real dereliction of duty.” “If you’re offering people Leave vs ..read more

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that America should stop “saying one thing and doing another,” calling on Washington not to treat Beijing as an enemy. “Our two countries … should be true to their words,” Xi said, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. “We should help each other flourish, not harm each other.” Xi, who Blinken’s boss U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly called a “dictator,” added: “While there has been communication on some fields, with some positive progress achieved, there are still many questions to be resol ..read more

Burkina Faso’s ruling military junta has temporarily suspended BBC Africa and Voice of America following the publication of news stories alleging the country’s soldiers killed hundreds of civilians in February. On Thursday, international outlets BBC and Voice of America published news stories about a Human Rights Watch investigation which alleged that Burkina Faso’s military killed more than 220 civilians, including at least 56 children, in two villages on Feb. 25. “The [Superior Council of Communications] found the content of the article to be full of peremptory and tendentious statements aga ..read more

The European Commission is considering sanctions against Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to two EU diplomats, a move that would mark the first time Brussels has dared to go after Moscow’s gas sector. The Commission, the EU’s executive, is currently preparing a 14th package of sanctions against Russia more than two years after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine. The new measures could include restrictions on three Russian LNG projects, and on the re-export of Russian LNG from EU ports, the diplomats said. So far, Brussels has imposed a blanket ban on ..read more

KYIV — Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities Friday arrested Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi, over allegations of graft. He will be held for two months in a pre-trial detention center, with bail set at €1.7 million. Solskyi is suspected of leading a group involved in the illegal acquisition of €6.9 million worth of state land and in an attempt to seize more property worth around €4.5 million between 2017 and 2021, when he was working as a lawyer. Even though Solskyi maintains his innocence, he submitted a letter of resignation to the Ukrainian parliament Thursday after the National An ..read more