Europe

KIEV, March 29. /TASS/. The Central Election Commission prohibited local election commissions to make any changes to the ballot papers, the Central Election Commission (CEC) press service reported on Friday.

The CEC stressed that after March 7 presidential candidates have no right to refuse to run for presidency. Thus, as of March 29 the Central Election Commission registered 39 candidates to the post of Ukrainian president who were included in the ballot paper for the March 31 election.

KALININGRAD, March 29. /TASS/. More than 450,000 forcibly displaced refugees from Ukraine have sought shelter in Russia since 2014. Kirill Adzinov, head of the Directorate for the Organization of Visa Issuance of the Main Directorate for Migration Issues of the Russian Interior Ministry, said about it at a session of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) in Kaliningrad on Friday.

KRASNOYARSK, March 29. /TASS/. The Russian Export Center, Rail Cargo Logistics-RUS and the Fesco Group have signed a trilateral agreement to launch a joint service for the delivery of export cargos to China, President of the Fesco Group, Aleksandrs Isurins, told TASS.

Signed at the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum, the agreement provides for delivery of non-oil and gas exports in container trains from the Siberian Federal District, in particular, the cities of Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk, to China by railroad and via the Vladivostok Commercial Sea Port.

WASHINGTON, March 30. /TASS/. A package of documents for deporting to the home country Russian national Maria Butina, charged with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent in the US, has been submitted to the judge, according to the court’s electronic database.

"It is hereby ordered… that the defendant is ordered removed from the United States to the Russian Federation promptly upon her sentencing," reads the draft order of judicial removal, submitted for signing to Judge Tanya Chutkan.

TIRANA, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Albania's economy grew by 4 percent in 2018, former Minister of Finance and Economy Arben Ahmetaj said on Friday.

"Consumption and investments remain the main generators of economic growth, reflecting on the consumer confidence and Albania's economic growth, thanks to the reforms we have undertaken over the past years, as well as the appropriate fiscal consolidation," Ahmetaj said.

DUBLIN, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The direct shipping of goods between Ireland and the continental Europe has witnessed a marked increase as more companies choose to bypass British ports amid Brexit fears, local media RTE reported on Friday.

The report quoted local port authorities as saying that currently two-and-a-half times more goods move on direct routes from Dublin than via the UK landbridge and that number is expected to increase.

The UK landbridge refers to Britain as a bridge linking Ireland and the European mainland over the sea.

LONDON, March 29 (Xinhua) -- British lawmakers on Friday voted to reject Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal, dealing a third blow since January to the Withdrawal Agreement, which sets out the terms of Britain's departure from the European Union (EU).

THIRD DEFEAT

MPs voted 286 to 344 to turn down the Brexit deal. Britain now is facing a real possibility of no-deal Brexit on April 12 unless the prime minister can win a new agreement from Brussels, where EU leaders are set to meet in a summit on April 10.

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s interior minister has accused the incumbent president and a former premier of waging campaigns that involve bribing voters ahead of Sunday’s presidential election.

In a statement issued late Thursday, Arsen Avakov said that his ministry is looking into hundreds of claims that campaigners for President Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko were offering money to voters who would promise to cast a ballot for their candidate.

28 Mar 2019; DW: The British government's plan to hold a third parliamentary vote on Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal on Friday has been approved.

House Speaker John Bercow said MPs would vote on a motion to approve the Brexit withdrawal agreement, which sets the divorce terms. Unlike the two meaningful votes already held, it will not cover the political declaration which deals with the future relationship between the UK and the European Union.

28 Mar 2019; DW: Two Iraqi terror suspects have been detained in Prague in connection with attempts last year to derail high-speed trains in Germany, Czech police said Thursday.

The man and woman were detained at Prague airport on an Austrian arrest warrant following the arrest on Monday in Vienna of a 42-year-old Iraqi and his wife.

Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl said Thursday that the two suspects detained in Prague "formed a cell" with the man detained in Vienna.