19 Mar 2019; DW: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told parliament on Tuesday that a gunman charged with a terrorist attack on two mosques that killed at least 50 people  will face the "full force" of the law.

At a special session of parliament to commemorate the victims of the attack, Ardern vowed never to mention the accused by name in order to deny him a platform.

GENEVA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the Palestinian Gaza Strip on Monday urged Israel to immediately ensure that its security forces' rules of engagement are revised to comply with international legal standards.

The commission presented its findings Monday to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), "after investigating all killings and many injuries occurring by the separation fence between Israel and Gaza during the demonstrations last year".

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. Russia has deployed squadrons of Tu-22M3 bombers in Crimea in response to the deployment of NATO’s anti-missile shield in Romania in 2015, the head of the Russian Federation Council’s Committee for Defense and Security, Viktor Bondarev, told journalists on Monday.

MOSCOW, March 18./TASS/. Crimea will forever remain part of Russia, and economic sanctions, pressure or military threats targeting Russia are pointless, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.

"Five years ago a treaty was signed between Russia and the Republic of Crimea on its accession to Russia and the establishment of new entities within the Russian Federation. The residents of the peninsula made a landmark decision at the referendum - to become part of the Russian Federation, thus making a crucial choice," the prime minister said.

WASHINGTON, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) were linked to risks of premature death, particularly death from cardiovascular diseases, according to a Harvard study published on Monday in the journal Circulation.

In the study, researchers analyzed data from 80,647 women and 37,716 men who answered questionnaires about lifestyle factors and health status every two years.

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. The United States still refuses to let through buses sent for evacuating refugees from the Rubakan camp in Syria, head of the Russian Center for reconciliation of the conflicting sides Viktor Kupchishin said on Monday.

"Refugees from the Rubakan camp still cannot leave as the US side does not let through buses for evacuating refugees and refuses to ensure security for humanitarian convoys inside the 55-kilometer zone around its Al-Tanf base," Kupchishin said.

18 Mar 2019; DW: A third vote by the UK parliament on the Brexit deal may be in jeopardy after the Speaker of the House in the UK parliament warned on Monday he could block the vote.

John Bercow cited a rule from 1604 that disallows parliament from voting on the same matter more than once in the same sitting.

Bercow said a third vote on the matter, if it was not substantially different, would fall afoul of this rule, last invoked in 1920, and he would therefore block it.

SIMFEROPOL, March 18. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he has arrived Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the opening of the Central Mosque in Crimea.

"I’ve invited Turkish President Erdogan. He knows about that and, as far as I understand, he is very positive about this invitation. We’ll wait and see if he has the time and opportunity to arrive here," Putin said.

He recalled that Russia would be developing relations with Turkey and friends in other countries.

MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. Russian and Syrian inter-agency coordination headquarters believe that Syrian citizens won’t receive a dime out of the $400mln assistance allocated by Washington, they said in a joint statement released on Tuesday.

"Out of nearly $400mln earmarked by the US side for Syria’s assistance, the Syrian people won’t get a dime," chiefs of the Russian and Syrian coordination headquarters, Mikhail Mizintsev and Hussein Makhlouf, said in the statement.

BAKU, March 19. /TASS/. Caracas views Russia and China as major oil exports destinations, Venezuela's Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo said at a meeting with Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov, the Azerbaijani Energy Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The minister said that Venezuela had suspended oil exports to India and stressed that Russia and China were considered to be major oil export destinations," the statement reads. Quevedo added that Venezuela "is working to diversify its exports."

19 Mar 2019; DW: Two Chinese fanciers battled it out in an online auction to buy the star racer, smashing the previous record of €376,000 ($425,000). New interest from Asian markets in recent years has given the flagging practice a lift.

Belgium's best long-distance racing pigeon, Armando, was the subject of a bidding war between two anonymous Chinese buyers, putting enthusiasts into a spin on Sunday.

MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. NASA's astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Kjell Lindgren have arrived at the Gagarin Space Training Center near Moscow for a series of training sessions.

"NASA’s astronauts will undergo a five-week course of instruction," the space training center said on its website.

Two of them - Hopkins and Glover - may become the first crew of the US spacecraft Crew Dragon (Crew-1) after the certification flight. Lindgren is being trained for a standby crew.

There will be three training sessions.