VOA News for Monday, March 29th, 2021

VOA News for Monday, March 29th, 2021
Thanks to gandalf.ddo.jp/ for transcribing
This is VOA news. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says there will be "costs and consequences" for Russia for its allegedly malign activities against the United States.
Blinken said in a CNN interview that aired on Sunday that the United States will "take the steps necessary" to defend its interests.
He said there was "a shared commitment" among Western allies to be "clear-eyed" about Moscow's action and hold the Kremlin accountable.
The top U.S. diplomat said officials "are in the process" of considering what sanctions or actions Washington plans to take against Moscow and in consultation with other NATO countries.
While the U.S. and Russia agreed quickly to extend a nuclear arms control deal that was set to expire shortly after U.S. President Joe Biden took office in January. Washington is blaming Russia for other actions, including allegedly placing a bounty on U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as well as for meddling in the November presidential election and hacking into U.S. computer systems.
Blinken's remarks echoed those of President Biden, who has taken a tougher stance against Russia than that of his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Russia has denied meddling in the U.S. election and orchestrating the cyber hack that used U.S. tech company SolarWinds to penetrate U.S. government networks. In addition, it has rebuffed reports it offered bounties to Taliban militants to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan or tried to poison Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny.
A U.S. intelligence analysis concluded that [put...] Putin likely [dis...] directed a campaign to try to help Trump win a second four-year term in the White House.
It's not clear what actions President Biden could be considering against Russia but he could invoke any of several penalties, including freezing U.S. assets of any entities found to have interfered in a U.S. election.
VOA news.
North Korea said Monday that the U.N. Security Council [sowed] showed a double standard as its sanctions committee criticized the country's recent missile test as a violation of U.N. resolutions.
North Korea launched a new type of tactical short-range ballistic missile last week, prompting Washington to request a gathering of the U.N. Security Council's sanctions committee.
At the meeting, the United States called for imposing additional sanctions and tightening the implementation of existing measures, denouncing the test as a violation of U.N. resolutions, according to Jo Chol Su, director-general for international organizations at North Korea's Foreign Ministry.
Jo said the meeting was "designed to negate the right of our state to self-defense." He said North Korea would devise a "countermeasure.”
The statement came after North Korea said Saturday that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden had taken a wrong first step and revealed what it called "deep-seated hostility" by criticizing Pyongyang's self-defensive missile test.
Five people were killed and one injured in a helicopter crash at a glacier near Anchorage, Alaska, Alaska State Troopers said Sunday.
Searchers found the crash site and a lone survivor late Saturday night after the helicopter failed to return to its base on time. This is according to troopers in a written statement. The injured person was rescued and reported to be in serious but stable condition.
The crash site is Knik Glacier northeast of Anchorage. It was not clear from the trooper report on Sunday whether the helicopter crashed on or next to the glacier.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
Names of the passengers have not been released.
Knik Glacier and other glaciers in the area have been the sites of numerous military and civilian air crashes over several decades.
The Sudanese government and a major rebel group from its southern Nuba Mountains on Sunday signed a document which paves the way for a final peace agreement by guaranteeing freedom of worship to all while separating religion [and ste...] and the state.
The signing is viewed as a crucial step in efforts by the power-sharing government to reach accords with rebel groups across the country and end decades of conflicts that left millions displaced and hundreds of thousands of people dead.
Sharia law was first imposed in Sudan in 1983. It was maintained by the now deposed president Omar al-Bashir for his entire 30 years of rule.
The so-called "Declaration of Principles" signed on Sunday in South Sudan's capital, Juba, between Sudan and the rebel faction means talks on a final accord can now begin.
Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton, VOA news.

[@maazahmad4787]

🇵🇰🇵🇰