The European Union bans Russian LNG imports on 1st January 2027. In the first half of this year the EU bought a record 9.97 million tonnes of it, up 16% on the year, equal to roughly 97% of everything the Yamal plant produced in that period. The regulation imposing the ban also carries a carve-out. Its stated purpose, written into the Official Journal, is to avoid "any increase" in the export revenues Russia derives from those transfers. Not to reduce them. To avoid an increase. Article 3ra(6) entered force on 24th July. It permits EU operators to keep transferring Russian LNG to non-EU buyers, and to keep purchasing it for that purpose, under contracts signed before 24th February 2022 that run longer than a year and have not been amended since. Each operator is capped at whatever volume it moved in 2025. The mechanism underneath deserves more attention than the headline. Sanctions on Russia expire unless every member state votes to renew them, which is why the six-month rollover has been a recurring hostage negotiation since 2022. This exemption runs the other way. It lasts until 25th July 2027, then renews automatically for successive one-year periods unless the Council decides otherwise. Council decisions on sanctions require unanimity. So the sanction needs unanimity to survive, and the carve-out needs unanimity to die. One member state can collapse the ban. One member state can also keep the exemption alive indefinitely. The exception is structurally more durable than the rule it was carved out of. It arrived by the same route. Greece delayed adoption of the package until protections were included for its shipping industry, per Financial Times reporting picked up across European outlets. Euronews reported that other member states were aghast at reopening a text that had already become EU law, and feared the precedent it would set. Concentration is what gives it force. One company, Dynagas, operates five of the fifteen specialised Arc7 icebreaking carriers built for Yamal, vessels that cannot be casually replaced. The research group Urgewald calculates it moved 2.35 billion euros of Russian LNG to EU customers in the first seven months of this year, and carries roughly 22% of all Russian LNG exports. Then there is geography, which nobody legislated. Yamal sits in the Arctic. Rerouting its cargoes east becomes significantly more expensive when the Northern Sea Route is closed by ice, typically December through June. The import ban starts on 1st January, inside the ice window. For half of each year the cheap route for that gas points at Europe, and from January Europe is closed to it as a destination but not as a carrier. The disclosure regime is unusually sharp. Operators must report their 2025 transfer volumes to national regulators by 25th August, then file quarterly data identifying vessel, ports, buyer, destination, cargo value and gross revenue. That is a commercial map of the Russian LNG trade sitting inside member state files. The test is clean. After 1st January, EU imports should fall hard. If EU operator transfers fall with them, this reading is wrong. If imports drop while transfers hold near their 2025 cap, the ban will have changed where the cargo lands without changing who carries it, who earns the freight, or what Russia is paid. Europe spent four years learning to buy less Russian gas. It has now written into law the conditions under which its own companies keep selling it.

“Once again he has shown what a complete footballer he is. The recognition he should have had, he is getting now.” - Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente. Lamine Yamal receives most of the attention in Spain’s attack. But Mikel Oyarzabal, who has cultivated a hugely effective career in the peripheral view of most football fans, was once again the difference in Spain in their 3-0 win over Austria — their first win in the knockout stage at a men's World Cup since 2010. Since the start of 2025, Oyarzabal has 16 goals for Spain, with Erling Haaland the only European player with more across the same period (24). It would be wise for opposition defences in future, starting with Portugal, to pay closer attention to the 29-year-old. @lauriewhitwell

2025 vs. 2026: from rookie to agile runner. #humanoidrobots# have leveled up fast. 🤖✨ The second World Humanoid Robot Games will kick off in #Beijing# today. Watch the robot athletes shine!

2025. Eric Swalwell tells Charlamagne that the Chinese spy scandal was all BS and that Republicans lie about him because he is a white Christian. 🤣 No one enjoys being lied to more than Charlamagne the Clown.

2025. Eric Swalwell says the criminal justice system should focus on and throw the book at people who commit violent or sexual crimes. What a great idea Eric. As part of the sexual misconduct investigation into Swalwell, the FBI recently seized his electronics and searched his home.

2025 AltStar Expo: Day 1 Candid Gallery by Rick Garcia See the Post ► Featuring: @AltStarMag @industrybyrick @Stacyfiredoll2 @RobinCoffins @alterotic @iamivanxxx #altstarawards#

2025 global births by county (top 50): 1. 🇮🇳 India: 23.1M 2. 🇨🇳 China: 8.7M 3. 🇳🇬 Nigeria: 7.6M 4. 🇵🇰 Pakistan: 6.9M 5. 🇨🇩 DR Congo: 4.6M 6. 🇮🇩 Indonesia: 4.4M 7. 🇪🇹 Ethiopia: 4.2M 8. 🇺🇸 United States: 3.7M 9. 🇧🇩 Bangladesh: 3.4M 10. 🇧🇷 Brazil: 2.5M 11. 🇪🇬 Egypt: 2.5M 12. 🇹🇿 Tanzania: 2.4M 13. 🇲🇽 Mexico: 2.0M 14. 🇵🇭 Philippines: 1.8M 15. 🇺🇬 Uganda: 1.7M 16. 🇸🇩 Sudan: 1.7M 17. 🇰🇪 Kenya: 1.5M 18. 🇦🇫 Afghanistan: 1.5M 19. 🇦🇴 Angola: 1.4M 20. 🇾🇪 Yemen: 1.4M 21. 🇻🇳 Vietnam: 1.3M 22. 🇲🇿 Mozambique: 1.3M 23. 🇷🇺 Russia: 1.2M 24. 🇮🇶 Iraq: 1.2M 25. 🇿🇦 South Africa: 1.2M 26. 🇳🇪 Niger: 1.1M 27. 🇮🇷 Iran: 1.1M 28. 🇹🇷 Turkey: 1.1M 29. 🇲🇬 Madagascar: 1.0M 30. 🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire: 1.0M 31. 🇲🇱 Mali: 987K 32. 🇨🇲 Cameroon: 981K 33. 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan: 911K 34. 🇹🇩 Chad: 907K 35. 🇬🇭 Ghana: 898K 36. 🇲🇲 Myanmar: 888K 37. 🇩🇿 Algeria: 855K 38. 🇸🇴 Somalia: 822K 39. 🇯🇵 Japan: 748K 40. 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso: 742K 41. 🇿🇲 Zambia: 709K 42. 🇩🇪 Germany: 708K 43. 🇨🇴 Colombia: 693K 44. 🇲🇼 Malawi: 685K 45. 🇬🇧 UK: 680K 46. 🇫🇷 France: 635K 47. 🇲🇦 Morocco: 619K 48. 🇸🇾 Syria: 601K 49. 🇹🇭 Thailand: 572K 50. 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia: 565K Nigeria alone had 1M more births than the entire Europe