The U.S. and the U.K. this week released a new round of sanctions against people and entities helping to finance the terror group Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The designations target various PIJ and Hamas officials, a Lebanon-based money exchange company and others.

Canada last week announced another set of Russia-related sanctions, targeting nine people and six entities involved in the “Kremlin-backed orchestration of disinformation and war propaganda.” Canada said some of the designated entities are either directly funded by the federal government or receive state grants distributed by Kremlin agents to “spread false narratives and propaganda as if it were expert opinion in an attempt to legitimize” Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week released updated Russia-related General License 76A, which replaces General License 76, to clarify that the license applies to Public Joint Stock Company Saint Petersburg Exchange. OFAC said the license previously listed the entity’s name as “Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange.” The license “otherwise remains unchanged,” OFAC said.

The Treasury Department and DOJ this week convened a meeting of Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs (REPO) Task Force deputies to “coordinate lines of effort” involving seized Russian assets, Treasury said Nov. 7. The meeting, held the previous day, brought together “experts across the U.S. government and international community” to explore ways the REPO task force -- including officials from Australia, Canada, the EU, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and the U.K. -- can use seized Russian assets to compensate Ukraine for damages incurred during its war with Russia. Treasury said REPO members committed that Russian assets in REPO jurisdictions “will remain immobilized until Russia pays for the damage it has caused to Ukraine.” The deputies plan to meet again later this year.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned 13 Sinaloa Cartel members and four Mexican companies for their ties to fentanyl trafficking. The designations, coordinated with the Mexican government, target several high-ranking cartel officials, including Sinaloa's Sonora-based “plaza boss” Juan Carlos Morgan Huerta and his adult family members.

Multinational banks are more often choosing not to authorize payments involving sanctioned jurisdictions or people, even if those payments are authorized by a general license or not subject to restrictions, said Richard Newcomb, a DLA Piper lawyer and former director for the Office of Foreign Assets Control. “Even if authorized, banks increasingly will not process a transaction involving or touching a sanctioned country or do business with anyone that has unlawfully done business with a sanctioned person or country,” Newcomb said.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned Ekaterina Zhdanova, a Russian national who the agency said has laundered money and moved funds on behalf of wealthy Russians using virtual currency.

President Joe Biden this week renewed a national emergency authorizing certain sanctions related to the proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, the White House said. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the "means of delivering them" continues to pose a threat to the U.S., the White House said. The emergency was renewed for one year from Nov. 14.

Senior Treasury Department officials this week met with humanitarian groups, non-governmental organizations and others in Europe and the U.S. to stress that transactions involving Gaza-related aid aren’t prohibited by U.S. sanctions. Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson met with groups in Brussels and Washington, respectively, to hear about the “challenges in delivering aid in Gaza,” Treasury said. The officials shared the agency’s “commitment to ensuring that U.S. sanctions do not stand in the way of legitimate humanitarian activities.”

The U.S., the U.K. and Canada issued new sanctions this week against Myanmar, targeting various entities and officials with ties to the country’s military regime and its purchase of weapons.