Main News of September 3

A look at what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

*A senior United Russia official blasted the U.K.’s alleged enforcement of a visa blacklist for Russian officials involved in suspected human rights abuse.

*The current embargo on Iranian oil and political pressure on the Islamic Republic will result in higher oil prices on international markets, Petroleum Minister Rostam Qasemi said.

*Russia condemned the pardon given to an Azerbaijani army officer who was sentenced to life in prison for murdering an Armenian soldier in Hungary in 2004.

*Russia said it would work with other countries to ensure that the rebel Free Syria Army stops making “unacceptable” threats, following the announcement on Friday that the FSA now views Syria’s two biggest civil airports as “military targets,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its website.

 

RUSSIA

*Police in the Urals have brought criminal charges over the dumping of 248 human fetuses in the region in July.

*The ruling United Russia party confirmed it was ready to vote to expel opposition lawmaker Gennady Gudkov from parliament over charges of illegal business activity, a move slammed as political revenge by the outspoken Kremlin critic.

*One of the key issues in the work of Russia’s international humanitarian cooperation agency Rossotrudnichestvo should be the improvement of the country's image, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.

 

BUSINESS

*Russian aluminum giant Rusal has said it earmarked more than 200 million rubles ($6 milllion) to modernize an aluminum smelter in the Urals in the next two years, following demonstrations on Sunday about the future of the facility.