Sinn Féin leaders have announced that they will not be traveling to Washington DC for St Patrick’s Day events at the White House in protest over Donald Trump’s position on Gaza. 

Addressing a news conference, Sinn Féin party leader Mary Lou McDonald said she could not visit Washington “while there was a threat of mass expulsion hanging over the Palestinian people”. 

The new measures targeting Russia’s aluminium and oil exports come as Brussels fears Trump could ease US sanctions on Moscow as part of a peace deal struck with President Vladimir Putin without Europe’s involvement.

Following the conclusion of the first formal day of US-Russia peace talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. US secretary Marco Rubio hinted that EU restrictions on Russia's economy, defence industry and oligarchs who help to maintain the war could be part of the negations.