Europe

The Obama administration will likely approve a limited number of politically controversial natural gas export projects despite some fears on Capitol Hill about a massive expansion, according to a Moody's report released Wednesday.

It said the Energy Department (DOE) would likely approve three out of the 20 applications under review for exporting natural gas to nations that lack a free-trade agreement with the United States. One such application already has received the go-ahead from the DOE.

Those projects have alarmed some lawmakers, who are tussling over whether to allow a major expansion of natural gas exports.

The Obama administration says it's “very concerned” with the first conviction under Russia's new law targeting non-governmental organizations that receive foreign funding.

The election monitoring NGO Golos has been fined 300,000 Rubles – a little less than $10,000 – for failing to register as a “foreign agent” under a law passed last November. The law is seen as part of a larger crackdown on pro-democracy groups funded by the United States.

“We're troubled by this and other recent laws that impose restrictions on NGOs in Russia and have been used to justify hundreds of raids on civil society groups and other organizations since early March,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said. 

House lawmakers will investigate Islamist extremism in Chechnya in the wake of last week's Boston bombings, which are believed to be the work of two ethnic Chechen suspects.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee's subpanels on Europe and Terrorism will hold a joint hearing at 10:30 a.m. Friday, The Hill has learned.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Wednesday addressed the House in Armenian to mark the 98th anniversary of Genocide Memorial Day, a day that marks the victims of Armenian Genocide from 1915 to 1923.

"I speak to you from the floor of the House of Representatives in the language of your grandparents and your great grandparents — the language they used to speak of their hopes, their dreams, their lives and their loves in the years before 1915," Schiff said in Armenian.

A Polish newsweekly on Tuesday mistakenly republished a satirical story about former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin calling for an attack against the Czech Republic in the wake of the Boston bombings.

Wprost promptly took down the news item from its website after realizing that its source, The Daily Currant, is a fake news publication. 

The Senate approved the resolution with no debate by unanimous consent, just in time for Thatcher's funeral on Wednesday.

Sens. Menendez and McConnell have stopped working together on a resolution to honor the former British prime minister.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced Monday that the U.S. House delegation to the funeral of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher would be let by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).

“Margaret Thatcher was one of the greatest champions freedom has ever known, and her funeral gives Americans and friends around the world an opportunity to pay final respects,” Boehner said in a statement. “I’m pleased that Congressman Blackburn will lead a House delegation to Baroness Thatcher’s funeral to communicate our prayers and condolences to her family and the British people.”

Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and George Holding (R-N.C.) will also attend on behalf of the House of Representatives. 

Former Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will be knighted Tuesday in recognition of his leadership on foreign affairs and his efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. 

Lugar will become an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire during a ceremony Tuesday at the British Embassy, the Lugar Center announced Monday. The 36-year senator launched the bipartisan nonprofit organization that focuses on non-proliferation, food security and foreign-aid reform earlier this month.

Long considered the Republican foreign-policy dean on Capitol Hill, Lugar is best remembered for co-authoring the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program that helped secure and eliminate 7,600 nuclear warheads in the former Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. He also led U.S. efforts to bring new members into the NATO alliance and has long worked closely with the British.

Lugar was defeated in last year's Senate Republican primary by Tea Party-backed State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who lost in  turn to former Rep. Joe Donnelly in the general election. He joins a handful of Americans – including presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush – who have received the honor.

Oxfam America says the E.U. deal undercuts the case that oil industry and business groups have brought against U.S. mandates.