U.S. refuses to recognize Maduro’s presidential win in Venezuela pollsApril 18, 2013 - 19:41 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The US government is refusing to recognise Venezuela's President-elect Nicolas Maduro's victory in disputed elections in Venezuela, BBC News reported. Secretary of State John Kerry said the US was not yet ready to validate the results of Sunday April 14 poll. Maduro's narrow victory has been challenged by the opposition leader, Henrique Capriles. Capriles is insisting on a vote-by-vote recount and has now submitted a formal request for one. However, the National Electoral Council in Venezuela has so far refused to order one, and the Supreme Court said on Wednesday that there was no legal basis for it. The Union of South American Nations (Unasur) has called an emergency meeting for Thursday to discuss the situation in Venezuela. Unasur members Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Peru have already recognised the election results. Washington has not, and Kerry on Wednesday told members of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee that "if there are huge irregularities we are going to have serious questions about the viability of that government". Maduro responded by accusing Washington of interfering in Venezuela's internal affairs. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |