BBC News:北约称将重审与俄罗斯的所有关系
Nato says it's reviewing all ties with Russia because of the continuing crisis in Ukraine. Thedefence organization announced its decision after meeting with Russian officials in Brussels.From where Matthew Price reports.
The Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the situation in Ukraine presentsserious implications for the security of the Euro-Atlantic area. He says Russia continues toviolate Ukraine's sovereignty, because of that, the entire range of Nato-Russia cooperationis under review, planning for the first Nato-Russia joint mission has been suspended. Bothwere to have been involved in putting Syria's chemical weapons beyond use. Other contactsbetween Nato and Russia will also be stopped, for now Russia's envoy to Nato accused thealliance of applying Cold War stereotype to his country.
The Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has left Paris without talking to members of Ukraine'sinterim government. Mr. Lavrov met the American Secretary of State John Kerry and Europeanforeign ministers and agreed to continue talks in the coming days. He said that pressure frominternational bodies such as Nato was not helpful.
“These actions are not helpful in creating atmosphere of dialogue and constructivecooperation. John Kerry admitted that this atmosphere needs to be created that underconditions of threats and ultimatums, it is difficult to work on honest agreements that couldhelp the Ukrainian people to stabilize the situation.”
Later Mr. Kerry told a news conference they had initiated a process that he hoped would leadto a de-escalation in Ukraine.Separately, the Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed thecrisis in a phone call with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The United Nations chief representative in Crimea has been forced to cut short his missionafter he was threaten by armed men in the regional capital Simferopol. A British televisionreporter said Robert Serry was trapped in a cafe by a hostile pro-Russian crowd before beingescorted to the airport.
The lead investigator in the trial in Egypt to three journalists from the Al Jazeera televisionnetwork has taken the stand for the first time. The journalists are accused of spreading falsenews and helping the Muslim Brotherhood which the Egyptian authorities say is a terroristgroup. The investigator said that Al-Jazeera's bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy belongs to theBrotherhood because he helped to broadcast news that benefits the group. A defence lawyer, FF said today's testimonies showed that the charges against the three journalists wouldn'tstand.
“Today, the session was to hear witness testimonies, and the most important of thesetestimonies is that of a national security officer who is in charge of investigating the journalists.From the questions directed to him, it could be said that the accusations directed towards thesethree defendants have completely collapsed.”
World News from the BBC
Thousands of government supporters and troops have marched through Venezuela's capitalCaracas to mark the first anniversary of the death of the former President Hugo Chavez.Foreign leaders joined the commemoration. In a speech, President Nicolas Maduro blamedright-wing radicals for the unrest that his country has seen in the last three weeks. Eric Lemusreports.
It was always going to be difficult to replace a charismatic leader like Hugo Chavez. But maybeeven President Nicolas Maduro didn't realize how tall an order that was. Mr. Chavez'sendorsement won him last year's elections, but only just then he had to fight off accusationsof fraud. In today's speech, Mr. Maduro praised the loyalty Venezuelans have shown to theirdead leader. Many said the governing party would fall apart after the death of Hugo Chavez.And yes, despite the pressures, potential disputes have been kept well under wraps so far.
The United States says it's frozen more than $450m in assets hidden in European accounts bythe former Nigerian leader Sani Abacha and his conspirators. The US Justice Department saidthat this is the largest action ever to seize funds linked to foreign official corruption. It saidthe assets were the proceeds of corruption during and after the military leader's time inpower.
A theme park in southern England is to close temporally following threats by far-rightorganizations. The amusement park Legoland near London had been due to host a private funday organized by the Muslim Research and Development Foundation. But this was cancelledfollowing discussions with police.
Kosovo has played its first international football match 15 years after Nato intervened duringthe territories fight for independence from Serbia. Kosovo is not officially recognized byfootball's world governing body Fifa, because it's not a member of the United Nations. Thematch in Mitrovica against Haiti finished 0-0.
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