Briefly

UNITED KINGDOM

Queen vows to deal with racism claims

Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday responded to explosive racism claims from grandson Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, voicing deep concern and sympathizing with their troubles with royal life. "The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately," she said in a statement. Buckingham Palace has come under mounting pressure to respond to the claims made in an Oprah Winfrey interview first broadcast on Sunday, which triggered a royal crisis unseen since the 1990s.

UNITED NATIONS

Iran denies attack on Israeli-owned ship

Iran has rejected what it says are Israel's unfounded allegations that Iran's Revolutionary Guards attacked an Israeli-owned cargo ship near the Gulf of Oman last month. Iran's UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi in a letter circulated on Tuesday accused Israel of "playing the victim to distract attention away from all its destabilizing acts and malign practices across the region". He was responding to a letter to the Security Council from Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan. It accused Iran of attaching an explosive device to the Helios Ray in international waters on Feb 25.

RUSSIA

Twitter restricted over 'illegal content'

Russia said on Wednesday that it planned to slow down Twitter for users in the country over the social media platform's failure to remove illegal content. Russia's media watchdog Roskomandzor said in a statement its decision to restrict Twitter's services was intended to "protect Russian citizens" and force the company to comply with Russian law. Roskomandzor said the disruption would begin on Wednesday and comprise a "slowdown in service speed" on all mobile users and a 50 percent drop for desktop users.

Agencies - Xinhua