Category: Blog

(TRNS) – As tensions between the United States and Russia continue to rise over the situation in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin will impose his own sanctions on high-ranking U.S. officials, according to a report from The Daily Beast.

U.S. Senators and Obama administration officials are said to be on the list in a direct response to the new round of sanctions imposed on Russia by President Obama on Monday. Among those included is Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the second ranking Democrat in the Senate.

“My Lithuanian-born mother would be proud her son made Vladimir Putin’s American enemies list,” Durbin told The Daily Beast. Durbin is assumed to be on the list because of his recent actions in the Senate where he helped write a resolution that criticized Russia’s military intervention in Crimea.

Durban is the only U.S. official that was confirmed in the report, but Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said that he expects to be named as well.

“You think I’m not going to be on it?” McCain said. “I would be honored to be on that list.”

McCain went on to dismiss the effects any potential sanctions would have on him personally, joking that he was “going to have to try to withdraw my money from my secret account in St. Petersburg.”

The sanctions are sure to only increase with Russia’s declaration today that they had annexed Crimea.

talkSPORT 2, a new 24-hour sports radio station and part of the UTV Media (GB) brand portfolio, has today announced that the station will start broadcasting on the opening day of The Cheltenham Festival, from the festival itself, on Tuesday 15th March 2016.

Bringing the much-loved talkSPORT style to a wide range of sports, talkSPORT 2 will concentrate on coverage of live sport, including rugby, cricket, tennis, golf, football and horseracing, plus some US sport. It will also offer a range of specialised magazine programming that hasn’t had a home on national commercial radio before, bringing listeners and sports fans a wider variety of sporting news and features than ever before.

talkSPORT 2, which will be available nationally on DAB digital radio and online, has already secured a number of major partnerships for rights to live sporting commentary, many of which have never been broadcast on commercial radio before. Individual partnerships will be announced in due course.

In addition, the launch of talkSPORT 2 signifies the beginning of an exciting new partnership with Sky Bet, which is also today announced as the station’s official betting partner. The opening broadcast from talkSPORT 2 will take place live from Sky Bet’s box at The Cheltenham Festival.

Liam Fisher, National Radio Controller for UTV Media, said: “talkSPORT 2 is going to bring sports fans across the UK a much wider choice of sports coverage than they have ever had before. This is going to include live coverage from some of the world’s greatest sporting events, some of which we’ll be bringing to British commercial radio for the very first time.”