IN BRIEF (Page 11)

Russia

Retaliation against UK 'coming shortly'

The Kremlin said it is preparing to retaliate against Britain's decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats and halt high-level meetings between the governments. After Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Friday that Russia would expel British diplomats, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Moscow's response "will be coming shortly". Tensions between Britain and Russia mounted after ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury earlier this month. Britain blamed Russia for the attack. Russia denies being the source of the nerve agent, suggesting it could have been another country.

United States

Trump to oust security adviser

President Donald Trump has decided to sack National Security Adviser HR McMaster, in what would be the latest in a string of high-profile White House departures, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. The newspaper reported that Trump is discussing potential replacements for McMaster, but is willing to take his time because he wants to avoid humiliating him as well as to have a successor ready.

Sweden

Stockholm hosts DPRK top diplomat

Ri Yong-ho, foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, held talks in Stockholm with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven on Friday amid reports Sweden could play a role in setting up a proposed summit between DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump. "They had a meeting. We will not disclose what they talked about," Lofven's spokesman Jonatan Holst said. Ri arrived in the Swedish capital on Thursday evening with Choe Kang-il, deputy director general of the foreign ministry's North America section.

United Nations

'Least-developed' moving up a grade

Bhutan, Kiribati, Sao Tome and Principe, and the Solomon Islands will be recommended for "graduation" from the least-developed countries category, a UN expert committee announced on Thursday. Jose Antonio Ocampo, chairman of the UN Committee for Development Policy, described the development as a historic occasion. Currently, there are 47 least-developed countries which are home to around a billion people.

Peru

Proceedings start to impeach leader

The Congress voted on Thursday to allow a second impeachment vote against President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski for alleged "permanent moral incapacity". It's the second time lawmakers have threatened to remove the former Wall Street investor over his ties to the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, which is at the center of Latin America's biggest corruption scandal. The first impeachment vote happened in December, but he survived it, when the opposition only gathered 78 lawmakers against him, with a minimum of 87 needed to strip him of his power.

(China Daily 03/17/2018 page11)