CNN
 — 

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal are urging quick action by the US as Russia escalates its war in Ukraine, including the passage of a bipartisan bill they’ve introduced implementing sanctions on Moscow that they say could be the “sledgehammer” President Donald Trump needs to end the conflict.

The legislation, which would allow the president to levy a 500% tariff on imports from countries that purchase Russian uranium, gas and oil, has gained momentum in the Senate as Trump has signaled he will escalate US action against Russia.

“(Blumenthal) and I have got 85 co-sponsors in the United States Senate for congressional sanctions with a sledgehammer available to President Trump to go after Putin’s economy and all those countries who prop up the Putin war machine,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two lawmakers just returned from Rome, where they attended a conference focused on Ukraine’s recovery and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders. Blumenthal said European allies expressed to the lawmakers that any potential US sanctions would “have to be tough and rigorous to change behavior.”

Russia conducted its largest drone assault on Ukraine since the start of its full-scale invasion last week, launching 728 drones and 13 missiles in strikes that killed at least one person, according to Ukrainian officials.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters last week that he could bring the bill to the floor by the end of the month, something he had indicated he would not do without the Trump’s approval.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday he would bring a bill to crack down on Russia to the House floor if it passes in the Senate, telling Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo” there’s a “big appetite” in his chamber for tough sanctions.

Still, Trump has not yet publicly endorsed the bill, saying last week that he was “looking” at it and that the legislation will advance at his “option,” though Graham has said the president gave him the go-ahead.

In recent days, Trump has announced a deal to send US weapons to Ukraine through NATO and floated sending another Patriot air defense system to the war-torn country. He has also recently ramped up his rhetoric against Putin, a stark reversal from his previous, sometimes conciliatory, approach as his frustration with the leader grows.

The president told NBC on Thursday that he will have “a major statement to make on Russia on Monday,” and he also plans to meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during his visit to the US early in the week, according to the alliance.

Graham and Blumenthal, who will also meet with Rutte during a dinner with lawmakers on Monday, predicted that Trump will soon allow NATO allies to tap into seized Russian assets to help aid Ukraine.

“Just stay tuned for tomorrow’s announcement; the idea of America selling weapons to help Ukraine is very much in play,” Graham said on “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

“We want to make use of the seized assets, again, in a unified way. I think a multifaceted approach here is the only way to bring Putin to the table, because he’s a thug,” Blumenthal said.

He noted that European countries are already planning to mobilize their Russian assets, and that “it’s time” for the US to also allow access to its $5 billion in seized assets.

Graham said Putin “has calculated that we would get tired and Europe would get weary. He made a huge mistake,” adding, “NATO is bigger and stronger and we’re more committed to ever to make sure he does not take Ukraine by force.”

“Congress is on the verge of passing the most consequential sanction package in the history of the of the country,” the South Carolina Republican said. “It will give President Trump tools he doesn’t have today, a literal sledgehammer.”

London
CNN
 — 

A man has escaped from a prison in France by hiding in a bag belonging to his cellmate who was being released after finishing his sentence, an official told local media.

Sébastien Cauwel, director of France’s prison administration, told CNN affiliate BFMTV Sunday that the man “took advantage” of the release of his fellow inmate to escape from the Corbas prison near Lyon, a city in the country’s southeast.

Cauwel told the broadcaster that prison officials had noticed on Saturday morning that the man had escaped. He acknowledged an “accumulation of errors,” noting that an investigation into the incident had been opened.

“This is an extremely rare event that we have never seen in this administration and which clearly shows a whole series of serious failures,” Cauwel said, noting that the Corbas prison is overcrowded.

The prison has an occupancy rate of around 170%, he told the broadcaster. “That makes the working conditions of our officers more complicated.”

The inmate who escaped was serving several sentences, France’s prison service said in a statement cited by European news agency AFP. He was also under investigation in a case connected to organized crime, AFP reported, citing an unnamed source close to the matter.

Last year, another prisoner in France escaped after gunmen ambushed a prison convoy transporting him to a jail in the northern region of Normandy. The fugitive, Mohamed Amra – also known as “The Fly” – was rearrested in Romania in February this year, according to Reuters.

Reuters
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Violent clashes erupted between far-right groups, local residents and North African migrants in a town in southeastern Spain late on Saturday following an attack on an elderly man by unknown assailants earlier in the week.

Five people were hurt and one was arrested during the unrest in Torre-Pacheco, local officials told Reuters, in one of the worst such episodes in the country in recent decades. The town was quieter on Sunday, but government sources said more arrests were expected.

Videos posted on social media showed men dressed in clothes bearing far-right symbols and migrants carrying Moroccan flags hurling objects at each other in Saturday night’s violence, which followed several days of lower intensity unrest.

Tensions flared up between local residents and migrants after the elderly man was attacked in the street on Wednesday, causing injuries from which he is recovering at home. The reasons behind the assault are unclear and no one has been arrested.

The central government’s representative in the area, Mariola Guevara, told Spanish public TV the attack was being investigated.

She also denounced “hate speech” and “incitement to violence,” as far-right groups moved into the town, and said additional Guardia Civil officers would be deployed to deal with the violence.

Nearly a third of Torre-Pacheco’s population is of foreign origin, according to local government data.

The area surrounding the town, which is located in the Murcia region, also hosts large numbers of migrants who work as day laborers in agriculture, one of the pillars of the regional economy.

Less than two weeks ago, Murcia’s government had to backtrack on a proposal to buy housing to accommodate unaccompanied migrant minors as the ruling conservative People’s Party (PP) was threatened by far-right Vox, whose support the PP needs to pass laws.

In 2000, violent anti-immigration protests broke out in the Almeria town of El Ejido in southern Spain after three Spanish citizens were killed by Moroccan migrants.