The unmanned aerial vehicle was sent to deliver a small package to a neighboring village in a ceremony meant to showcase a new way to deliver mail in the sparsely populated Buryatia region located more than 4,400 km east of Moscow.

Video footage from the scene showed the drone lifting off from a miniature launch pad bearing Russian Post’s blue and white logo, buzzing through the air for several seconds before losing height and crashing into a three-storey residential building in front of a small crowd of spectators who were heard uttering expletives.

No one was harmed in the incident, which left debris from the drone in pieces on the ground.

Russian Post was quick to distance itself from the drone crash, saying it was present at the launch merely as a guest. It said the drone was made by a company called Rudron/Expeditor 3M, which had organized the testing. The company could not immediately be reached for comment.

Russia’s postal service had announced plans in 2016 to start using drones for parcel deliveries across the vast country.

Alexei Tsydenov, the head of the Buryatia region present at the crash site, said that the more than 100 Wi-Fi connections in the area could have disrupted the drone’s flight.

“We won’t stop with this, we will keep trying,” he said, adding that the device cost some $20,000. “Those who don’t risk don’t get a result.”

Logistics companies and retailers worldwide are starting to try out drones to reach remote customers or those paying a premium for speed.

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Source: Reuters

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US President Donald Trump has ordered 60 Russian diplomats to leave the country.

Germany, France, Ukraine, Canada and various European countries have also expelled envoys.

Russia called the moves a “provocative gesture” and vowed to retaliate.

Russia denies any role in the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury, southern England. The pair remain in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

EU leaders agreed last week it was highly likely Russia was behind the nerve-agent poisoning.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the show of solidarity gave a strong message.

“We welcome today’s actions by our allies, which clearly demonstrate that we all stand shoulder to shoulder in sending the strongest signal to Russia that it cannot continue to flout international law,” a statement from Mrs May’s office said.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the “extraordinary international response by our allies stands in history as the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers ever”.

Today’s extraordinary international response by our allies stands in history as the largest collective expulsion of

Russian intelligence officers ever & will help defend our shared security. Russia cannot break international rules with impunity.

The US action is also the biggest move against Russia since the Cold War era and the hostilities with the then Soviet Union.

The Russian foreign ministry said the moves demonstrated a continuation of a “confrontational path”.

“It goes without saying that this unfriendly act by this group of countries will not go without notice and we will react to it,” its statement said.

Who is expelling diplomats?

The UK announced it was expelling 23 Russian diplomats earlier this month.

Various countries announced they were making the same move in solidarity on Monday. These are:

US: 60 diplomats
Ukraine: 13
Poland: 4
France: 4
Germany: 4
Canada: 4
Czech Republic: 3
Lithuania: 3
Netherlands: 2
Italy: 2
Denmark: 2
Estonia: 1
Latvia: 1
Croatia: 1
Finland: 1
Romania: 1

Why are they doing it?

President of the European Council Donald Tusk said 14 EU states had decided to expel Russian diplomats as a direct result of a meeting, held last week, about the Salisbury poisoning.

“Additional measures, including further expulsions within this common EU framework are not to be excluded in the coming days and weeks,” he said.

The US state department said in a statement: “On March 4, Russia used a military-grade nerve agent to attempt to murder a British citizen and his daughter in Salisbury.

“This attack on our Ally the United Kingdom put countless innocent lives at risk and resulted in serious injury to three people, including a police officer.”

It called the attack an “outrageous violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and breach of international law”.

The US is expelling 48 envoys at the Russian embassy in Washington and 12 more at the UN in New York. It will also order the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle.

Remarkable show of solidarity

By Jonathan Marcus, BBC diplomatic correspondent

This is building into the most serious diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West since Moscow’s seizure of Crimea.

Whatever the denials, Britain’s allies have clearly accepted its view that the use of a military grade nerve agent in Salisbury was “highly likely” the work of the Russian state.

The collective expulsions from the US and 14 EU member states is a remarkable show of solidarity with Britain, even more so because it comes at a time when UK-EU relations are strained due to the Brexit negotiations.

Donald Tusk’s note that there could be “additional measures” is a signal to Moscow as it considers how it will respond.

It is a significant diplomatic victory for Prime Minister Theresa May – concerted action has now followed the strong rhetorical support from its allies. It also marks a significant toughening of the Trump administration’s stance towards Moscow.

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Source: BBC

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After a goalless first half, Miranda opened the scoring at the Luzhniki Stadium, which will host seven matches at this summer’s tournament including the final.

Philippe Coutinho scored a penalty for Brazil’s second before Paulinho headed in a third from close range.

Five-time world champions Brazil are now unbeaten in eight games.

They showed no sign of missing Paris St-Germain forward Neymar, who faces a race against time to be fit for this summer’s tournament after undergoing surgery on an injured right foot.

Brazil dominated the first half but it wasn’t until after the break that they broke the deadlock, when Inter Milan defender Miranda slotted home a rebound after Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev made a good save.

Paulinho was pulled down in the penalty area by Aleksandr Golovin, with Barcelona team-mate Coutinho coolly scoring the spot-kick for his ninth international goal.

Midfielder Paulinho then found himself unmarked to head home Willian’s cross.

Brazil’s next friendly is against Germany on Tuesday in Berlin, while Russia face France in St Petersburg.

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Source: BBC Sport

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It came after he attacked Mr Mueller’s inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

In tweets at the weekend, Mr Trump reiterated that there had been “no collusion” between his team and Russia and called the probe a “witch hunt”.

He added that it was dominated by “hardened Democrats”.

Mr Mueller, a highly regarded former head of the FBI, is a Republican.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said Mr Mueller should be allowed to proceed without interference, and that many Republicans shared his view.

He also warned Mr Trump against any attempt to dismiss Mr Mueller.

“If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency, because we’re a rule of law nation,” Mr Graham said.

Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a frequent Trump critic, said it appeared the president’s latest comments seemed to be preparing the ground for the firing of Mr Mueller.

“I don’t know what the designs are on Mueller, but it seems to be building toward that, and I just hope it doesn’t go there… We can’t in Congress accept that,” he told CNN.

“I’m just puzzled by why the White House is going so hard at this, other than that they’re very afraid of what might come out.”

AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, said: “As the Speaker has always said, Mr Mueller and his team should be able to do their job.”

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer accused Mr Trump of “floating trial balloons about derailing” the investigation.

“Our Republican colleagues, particularly the leadership, have an obligation to our country to stand up now and make it clear that firing Mueller is a red line for our democracy that cannot be crossed,” he said in a statement.

The president’s comments came a day after his lawyer, John Dowd, said it was time for the special counsel’s investigation to end. Initially Mr Dowd said he was speaking for the president but later clarified he was “speaking for myself”.

Also on Sunday, White House lawyer Ty Cobb said in a statement: “In response to media speculation… the White House yet again confirms that the President is not considering or discussing the firing of the Special Counsel”.

Earlier the president berated former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was fired on Friday and former FBI director James Comey, whom Mr Trump sacked last year.

In a tweet, Mr Trump accused him of lying under oath before Congress, and described the contemporaneous notes that Mr McCabe and Mr Comey took following discussions with him as “fake memos”.

Mr McCabe has given memos about conversations he had with President Trump to the Mueller inquiry, US media say. The memos could support claims that Mr Trump sought to obstruct justice.

–

Source: BBC

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The Russian foreign ministry said staff from the UK’s Moscow embassy would be expelled within a week.

It also said it would close the British Council in Russia, which promotes cultural ties between the nations, and the British Consulate in St Petersburg.

The move comes in response to Britain’s decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats.

They were ordered to leave over the incident on 4 March which the UK government has blamed on Russia – but which Russia denies.

Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia Skripal, 33, remain critically ill in hospital, after they were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

The UK government says they were poisoned with a nerve agent of a type developed by Russia called Novichok, and PM Theresa May has said she believes Moscow is “culpable”.

On Friday, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was “overwhelmingly likely” that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the nerve agent attack.

Britain’s ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, was summoned to Russia’s foreign ministry on Saturday and was handed Russia’s response to the UK’s sanctions.

The foreign ministry, in a statement, said that the British diplomats would be “declared persona non grata”, adding that it “reserves the right to introduce other retaliatory measures in case of further unfriendly actions”.

Mr Bristow, after leaving the meeting, said that the UK had no quarrel with the Russian people and would “always do what is necessary to defend ourselves”.

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Source: BBC

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It says the FBI and justice department did not – as the Republicans allege – abuse powers to spy on Carter Page, Donald Trump’s former campaign aide.

Mr Page is suspected of being an agent of the Russian government.

Mr Trump dismissed the new memo as a “total political and legal bust”.

He has repeatedly denied any collusion between his campaign and Russia.

The 10-page Democratic memo was released on Saturday. Parts of the document were redacted to avoid revealing intelligence gathering sources.

It calls a Republican memo published by Republican members of the Intelligence Committee earlier this month a “transparent effort to undermine” the FBI, the justice department and investigations into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The Republican document alleged that the FBI used unsubstantiated evidence to spy on Mr Page, who was put under electronic surveillance by the intelligence agency.

Central to that claim was the charge that, in its application for a surveillance warrant against Mr Page in 2016, the FBI had relied upon evidence contained in a dossier complied by former British spy Christopher Steele – without revealing that his findings had been funded in part by the Hillary Clinton campaign.

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Source: BBC

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The Saratov Airlines An-148 regional jet was en route to the city of Orsk when it went missing.

An emergency services source has told Interfax news agency the plane crashed and there was “no chance” of survivors.

It reportedly fell near Argunovo, about 80km (50 miles) south-east of Moscow.

According to another news agency, the jet vanished from radar screens two minutes after it left Domodedovo Airport.

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Source: BBC

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Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson told the Daily Telegraph Moscow was spying on energy supplies which, if cut, could cause “total chaos” in the country.

But Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Mr Williamson had “lost his grasp on reason”.

The comments were worthy of a Monty Python sketch, Mr Konashenkov added.

He accused Mr Williamson of trying to scare the British public in an effort to get more money for the armed forces.

The UK has four undersea energy connections for electricity linked to mainland Europe and a further four for gas.

Mr Williamson, who became defence secretary last November, said Russia had been researching these types of connections and would be willing to take action “any other nation would see as completely unacceptable”.

He told the paper: “The plan for the Russians won’t be for landing craft to appear in the South Bay in Scarborough, and off Brighton Beach.

“They are going to be thinking: ‘How can we just cause so much pain to Britain?’

“Damage its economy, rip its infrastructure apart, actually cause thousands and thousands and thousands of deaths, but actually have an element of creating total chaos within the country.”

It is a “real threat”, he added.

Responding to the comments, Mr Konashenkov said Mr Williamson’s “morbid fear” of Russian activities belonged in a children’s comic book or an episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

“It would seem that in his fiery fight for banknotes in the defence budget, the British defence chief has lost an understanding of the boundaries of common sense,” he said.

“For the minister’s information, all data regarding the location of British power stations and pipelines is as secret as, for instance, photographs and the location of Westminster Abbey or Big Ben.”

The warning comes after the chief of the National Cyber Security Centre, Ciaran Martin, said earlier this week that Russia had already staged attacks against Britain’s media, telecommunications and energy sectors over the past year.

And head of the British army, Sir Nick Carter, has warned the UK is struggling to keep up with Russian capabilities.

The Ministry of Defence is under pressure to avoid cuts that could be coming from the Treasury.

Mr Williamson has already been told there could be a Tory revolt over reductions to army numbers and naval capability, and suggested he will be asking the chancellor for more money.

–

Source: BBC

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Russia’s envoy Vassily Nebenzia said involving the council in an “internal affair” damaged the top UN body.

Minutes earlier, US Ambassador Nikki Haley praised the protests as a “powerful exhibition of brave people”.

Iran’s ambassador said the US was abusing its power as a permanent member of the council. At least 21 people have been killed in the protests.

They broke out in one Iranian city in late December against the state of the economy and quickly spread to dozens of cities, with slogans chanted against the government and ruling clerics.

On Wednesday, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards declared the defeat of what he described as “sedition” in the country.

A number of countries criticised the US for convening the emergency meeting of the Security Council.

The US had “lost every shred of moral, political and legal authority and credibility in the eyes of the whole world”, Iranian envoy Gholamali Khoshroo told the gathering.

His Foreign Minister Javad Zarif tweeted to say that the Security Council had “rebuffed the US’ naked attempt to hijack its mandate”.

At the meeting, France said any interference in Iran’s affairs would be counter-productive and that recent protests there, while worrying, did not threaten international peace and security.

Ambassador François Delattre said the international community must commit to fully implementing the nuclear agreement with Iran – which the Trump administration has refused to recertify.

Ms Haley’s call for the emergency meeting took Security Council members by surprise, and she had to lobby against Russian opposition to get it, says BBC UN Correspondent Barbara Plett-Usher.

For an issue to be added to the council’s agenda for discussion, it must be supported by at least nine of its 15 members.

The US envoy told the council that Washington stood “unapologetically with those in Iran who seek freedom for themselves, prosperity for their families and dignity for their nation”.

But Mr Nebenzia of Russia said that if the US “logic” was followed, a Security Council meeting should also have been held after protests in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014 sparked by the killing of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer.

US President Donald Trump has issued numerous messages of support to the protesters via Twitter.

His administration has taken a tough line against Iran, which is competing for influence across the Middle East with Saudi Arabia, a key US ally.

Iranian officials have blamed the demonstrations on foreign meddling and at the UN on Friday Mr Khoshroo said Tehran had “hard evidence” that they were “very clearly directed from abroad”.

Ms Haley earlier said that “no dishonest attempt to call the protestors puppets of foreign powers” would deter the US from speaking out.

On Friday, tens of thousands of government supporters again took to the streets across Iran, state TV reported.

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Source: BBC

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In a Twitter tirade, Mr Trump said the FBI’s reputation was “in tatters”.

His attack came amid a flurry of developments in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into alleged Russian interference in the US election.

Mr Trump denies that his team colluded with Russia to get him elected.

Reports emerged over the weekend that Mr Mueller, a former FBI director, had dismissed an FBI officer from the investigation during the summer after he was discovered to have made anti-Trump remarks in text messages.

The president seized on the officer’s dismissal, tweeting: “Report: ‘ANTI-TRUMP FBI AGENT LED CLINTON EMAIL PROBE’ Now it all starts to make sense!”

A spokesman for Mr Mueller said the officer was dismissed from the investigating team as soon as the messages were discovered.

Michael Flynn, the president’s former national security adviser, announced on Friday that he was co-operating with Mr Mueller’s investigation, in return for pleading guilty to a lesser charge.

The former general admitted lying to the FBI and has been offered a reduced sentence of six months. Analysts say the deal indicates that Mr Flynn has incriminating information about one or more senior members of the Trump administration.

In a series of tweets posted on Sunday morning, Mr Trump again attacked his former rival for the presidency, Hillary Clinton, who was investigated by the FBI ahead of the election after it emerged she had used a private email server to conduct state department business.

No charges were brought against Mrs Clinton or her team.

In another tweet, the president accused ABC News of “horrendously inaccurate and dishonest reporting”, after one of the network’s reporters acknowledged making an error in a story about the president.

Chief investigative reporter Brian Ross reported that Mr Trump was a candidate when he directed Michael Flynn to make contact with Moscow.

He later corrected his report to say Mr Trump was president-elect when he gave the order to Mr Flynn. Mr Ross has been suspended by the network for four weeks.

The Comey-Flynn controversy
The president fired Mr Flynn in February for misrepresenting the nature of his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak to Vice-President Mike Pence.

Then-FBI director James Comey alleges that in a private meeting the day after Mr Flynn was fired, the president asked him to show leniency to the dismissed aide, saying, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go.”

Mr Comey took notes immediately after the meeting and shared copies with senior FBI officials. President Trump fired Mr Comey in May.

Tweeting on Sunday, Mr Trump issued a fresh denial that he had pushed Mr Comey to drop the investigation into Mr Flynn.

“I never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn. Just more Fake News covering another Comey lie!” he wrote.

Legal experts say Mr Trump could theoretically have obstructed justice if he had attempted to have the FBI investigation into Mr Flynn squashed.

The president’s surprising admission in a tweet on Saturday – that he knew Mr Flynn had lied to the FBI when he fired him – contradicted his own account from the time, and may have added weight to accusations that he obstructed justice.

White House lawyer John Dowd later told the Axios news website that he had drafted the controversial tweet and sent the text to White House social media director Dan Scavino.

The revelations soured what should have been a celebratory weekend for the president, after his sweeping tax reform bill scraped through the Senate early on Saturday morning.

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Source: BBC

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