8. What is not permitted during the Hajj?

“I thought it was much easier to buy online than searching for a store in an unfamiliar country.”Nearly 1,400 companies, including many of the most internationally recognisable brands, have since February 2022 announced that they would cease or dial back their operations in Russia in protest of Moscow’s military aggression against Ukraine.

But two years after the invasion, many of these companies’ products are still widely sold in Russia, in many cases in violation of Western-led sanctions, a months-long investigation by Al Jazeera has found.Aided by the Russian government’s legalisation of parallel imports, Russian businesses have established a network of alternative supply chains to import restricted goods through third countries.The companies that make the products have been either unwilling or unable to clamp down on these unofficial distribution networks.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine prompted an international backlash that, by some estimates, resulted in the country becoming the most sanctioned in the world.Russia also experienced a huge voluntary exodus of brands, comparable in scale only to the boycott of South Africa that was credited with hastening the fall of apartheid.

More than 1,300 companies announced they would exit Russia or curtail their operations there, according to a tally by the Yale School of Management.

Russia’s economy, however, has weathered the pressure campaign better than expected and there is a growing acknowledgement that the expectations sanctions would bring Moscow to heel were misplaced.new visa interview appointments for students and exchange visitors, according to an internal cable seen by news agencies on Tuesday.

In the memo, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the pause is in place because the State Department plans to expand the screening of student applicants’ social media.Here is all we know about what this pause could mean.

Rubio signed a cable, obtained by multiple news agencies, asking US embassies all over the world to pause new visa interviews for foreign students.The cable says: “The Department is conducting a review of existing operations and processes for screening and vetting of student and exchange visitor (F, M, J) visa applicants, and based on that review, plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting for all such applicants.