WASHINGTON, March 30 -- US State Secretary Mike Pompeo has informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Washington’s intention to introduce the second set of sanctions related to the Skripal case in a phone conversation in February. "As you know, the Secretary of State had a call with Russian FM Lavrov in February and informed him that the United States will be taking CBW Act related action," the official said. The US State Department press service refused to comment on reports by Bloomberg agency, which claims that the US officials have already prepared a sanctions package and are waiting for the White House’s confirmation. "We don’t preview sanctions actions,". In August 2018, the US introduced sanctions against Russia under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination act of 1991 due to Russia’s alleged involvement in the attempted assassination of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The same act establishes a second set of sanctions, which hasn’t been introduced yet. The Russian Foreign Ministry informed earlier that an introduction of a second package of US sanctions against Russia would be "absolutely unsubstantiated". "Concerning the US intention announced by the Secretary of State to impose new sanctions on Russia under the far-fetched pretext of last year’s murky incident with the poisoning of Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, whom nobody has seen since then, Sergey Lavrov pointed out that this absolutely unsubstantiated decision would further complicate bilateral relations and the international environment," the ministry’s press service stated. The Skripal case On March 4, 2018, ex-GRU colonel Sergei Skripal, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain, and his daughter Yulia suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury. Claiming that the substance used in the attack had been a nerve agent allegedly developed in Russia, London rushed to accuse Moscow of being involved in the incident. The Russian side flatly rejected all of the United Kingdom’s accusations, saying that a program aimed at developing such a substance had existed neither in the Soviet Union nor in Russia. Britain’s military chemical laboratory at Porton Down has failed to identify the origin of the substance that poisoned the Skripals. The Russian Investigative Committee initiated criminal proceedings in connection with an attempt on Yulia Skripal’s life.
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BANGKOK, March 29 -- Bangkok-based renewables company Thai Solar Energy PCL (BKK:TSE) has signed a cooperation agreement with China’s Huawei for the 150-MW Onikoube solar project in Japan. The signing of the deal took place in Bangkok on March 26 and marks the start of a cooperation between the two companies on utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) plants in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a press release from Friday. The two parties also worked together on a pilot project in July 2014. Huawei has agreed to supply its 1500V Smart PV Solution with Smart I-V Curve Diagnosis for the Onikoube project, which will be realised at a site in Miyagi Prefecture. Huawei's offering uses an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to improve operation and maintenance efficiency and reduce the operating cost of the plant, the company noted. BAHRAIN, March 29 -- Full results from Free Practice 2 for the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sakhir International Circuit, round two of the 2019 Formula 1 season. Formula 1 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix - Free Practice 2 Results: 1. Sebastian Vettel GER Scuderia Ferrari 1m28.846s 2. Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari + 0.035s 3. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport + 0.603s 4. Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport + 0.711s 5. Nico Hulkenberg GER Renault F1 Team + 0.823s 6. Max Verstappen NED Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda + 0.879s 7. Kevin Magnussen DEN Rich Energy Haas F1 Team + 1.154s 8. Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team + 1.171s 9. Romain Grosjean FRA Rich Energy Haas F1 Team + 1.222s 10. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda + 1.247s 11. Carlos Sainz ESP McLaren F1 Team + 1.346s 12. Pierre Gasly FRA Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda + 1.583s 13. Alexander Albon THA Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda + 1.612s 14. Sergio Perez MEX SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team + 1.870s 15. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Renault F1 Team + 2.002s 16. Kimi Raikkonen ITA Alfa Romeo Racing + 2.242s 17. Lance Stroll CAN SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team + 2.283s 18. Antonio Giovinazzi ITA Alfa Romeo Racing + 2.298s 19. George Russell GBR ROKiT Williams Racing + 3.058s 20. Robert Kubica POL ROKiT Williams Racing + 4.086s A handful of Labour MPs in Leave areas backed the agreement but too few to make a difference. Downing Street was taking advice on whether she could have a fourth attempt at getting her deal over the line. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the Standard yesterday that the EU might be flexible for a vote next week.
BAHRAIN, March 29 -- Full results from Free Practice 1 for the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sakhir International Circuit, round two of the 2019 Formula 1 season. Formula 1 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix - Free Practice 1 Results: 1. Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari 1m 30.354s 2. Sebastian Vettel GER Scuderia Ferrari +0.263s 3. Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport +0.974s 4. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport +1.247s 5. Max Verstappen NED Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda +1.319s 6. Pierre Gasly FRA Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda +1.461s 7. Carlos Sainz ESP McLaren F1 Team + 1.598s 8. Nico Hulkenberg GER Renault F1 Team +1.686s 9. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda +1.985s 10. Kimi Raikkonen ITA Alfa Romeo Racing +2.031s 11. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Renault F1 Team +2.047s 12. Kevin Magnussen DEN Rich Energy Haas F1 Team +2.248s 13. Alexander Albon THA Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda +2.520s 14. Sergio Perez MEX SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team +2.531s 15. Lance Stroll CAN SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team +2.591s 16. Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team +2.595s 17. Antonio Giovinazzi ITA Alfa Romeo Racing +2.640s 18. Romain Grosjean FRA Rich Energy Haas F1 Team +3.164s 19. George Russell GBR ROKiT Williams Racing +3.834s 20. Robert Kubica POL ROKiT Williams Racing +3.899s CAIRO, March 29 -- Alaa Abdel Fattah, a leading pro-democracy activist in Egypt, has been released from prison after serving a five-year sentence for inciting and taking part in protests, according to his family and lawyer. The influential blogger and software engineer was a leading voice amongst the young Egyptians who initially led the 2011 uprising that ended the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak. "Alaa got out," his sister, Mona Seif, wrote on Facebook and Twitter on Friday. His other sister, Sanaa Seif, posted a video on Facebook of Abdel Fattah playing with a dog. His lawyer, Khaled Ali, confirmed the release by posting on Facebook: "Thanks God, Alaa Abdel-Fattah at home." Facebook pages set up in support of Abdel Fattah posted videos of him grinning, hugging and shaking hands with friends as he walked out of a police station in Cairo. In the background, women were ululating. His release from the notorious Tora prison will not bring him complete freedom. As part of his parole, Abdel Fattah must sleep every night at a local police station for the next five years and will be under police surveillance. BAHREIN, March 29 -- There is a glimmer of good news for Williams with the legendary Sir Patrick Head returning to the team as a consultant. Williams have been in turmoil right from the word ‘go’ this season, arriving and setting up late in Barcelona for pre-season and creating another car which has some fundamental problems which need to be addressed. The uncertainity continued with chief technical officer Paddy Lowe placed on leave for ‘personal reasons’ and very unlikely to return to his position. Williams, who remain comfortably the slowest on the Formula 1 grid, could do with a wise old head and some guidance in tough times. Step forward Sir Patrick. Head co-founded the Williams team with Sir Frank Williams in 1976 and has remained a shareholder ever since.Head also played an integral role as technical director and later director of engineering in helping Williams collect seven Drivers’ Championships and nine Constructors’ titles before stepping away from the frontline in 2011. Williams confirmed in a short statement: “We can confirm that Sir Patrick Head is currently offering some support to our engineering team on a short-term consultancy basis.” THE HAGUE, March 28 -- Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has filed an appeal against the verdict made by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals on March 20, tightening his sentence from 40 years behind bars to life imprisonment. The appeal was made public by the Mechanism’s press service on Thursday. The document lists eight grounds for filing an appeal and contains the demand to invalidate the previous court decision. "The Majority erred in law by violating President Karadzic’s right to appeal when itself imposing a life sentence, rather than remanding the issue of the appropriate sentence to the Trial Chamber." "Each error of law invalidated the decision to impose a life sentence and occasioned a miscarriage of justice. The relief sought is an order vacating the life sentence and remanding the matter to a Trial Chamber for re-sentencing," the document states. Karadzic trialKaradzic, the former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, spent 13 years as a fugitive before being captured by Serbian intelligence services in a Belgrade suburb in July 2008. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) launched a trial against him in October 2009. In March 2016, Karadzic was found guilty on 10 out of 11 counts, particularly concerning the Srebrenica massacre, and sentenced to 40 years in prison. Karadzic’s defense earlier requested that his 40-year prison sentence be overturned and the case be reviewed. In response to the appeal, the court has increased Karadzic’s sentence to life in prison on March 20. "China’s Interference in United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms" Even as it engages with U.N. human rights institutions, China has worked consistently and often aggressively to silence criticism of its human rights record before U.N. bodies and has taken actions aimed at weakening some of the central mechanisms available in those institutions to advance rights. Because of China’s growing international influence, the stakes of such interventions go beyond how China’s own human rights record is addressed at the U.N. and pose a longer-term challenge to the integrity of the system as a whole.
DEN HAAG, March 28 -- The United States has got cart blanche from The Netherlands to use the Curacao island (which is part of the kingdom) as a springboard for aggressive intervention in Venezuela, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday. "We’ve taken note of the agreement signed between the Netherlands and the United States on using the infrastructures of the Curacao island for humanitarian supplies to Venezuela," she said. "At first sight this agreement merely opens access for US officials to Curacao’s infrastructures exclusively for providing humanitarian aid, but, as it has turned out, this deal does not rule out the possibility of using not only civilian but other means of delivery. Of what type? Clearly, military ones." "In the context of the current realities The Hague has in fact given the Americans a free hand to use its former colony as a springboard for aggressive intervention in Venezuela’s affairs under the cover of humanitarian slogans," Zakharova stated. "We hope that the Curacao authorities will not allow the island’s territory to be used as a springboard for another Western adventure capable of destabilizing the situation in the region." |
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