Russia calls U.K. nerve agent attack a 'grotesque provocation' by Britain, U.S.

Welcome to The National Today newsletter, which takes a closer look at what's happening around some of the day's most notable stories. Sign up here and it will be delivered directly to your inbox Monday to Friday.

TODAY:

• The Kremlin said today that the March 4 nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England, was a "grotesque provocation crudely concocted by U.S. and British security services"
• Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques sits down with CBC's Ian Hanomansing to talk about the training for his November trip to the International Space Station
• Mumbai has more than 100,000 stray dogs, and a persistent rabies problem that has killed three people in the past month
• Missed The National last night? Watch it here

Implausible deniability

Russia's war of words with the West over the nerve agent poisoning of a former spy hit new levels today, as the Kremlin proclaimed itself the victim rather than the perpetrator.

The March 4 attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, in the town of Salisbury, England, was a "grotesque provocation crudely concocted by U.S. and British security services," Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia's foreign intelligence agency, told reporters in Moscow.

Western governments are trying to erect a "new Iron Curtain," he said, and are using "unprecedented hypocrisy to justify their hegemony."

Naryshkin went on to draw some literary comparisons, invoking the witches from Macbeth, and quoting from George Orwell's 1984: "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength."

The Russian government has clearly been emboldened by an admission by a top U.K. scientist yesterday that the novichok nerve agent used in the attack can't be definitely linked to Russia.

Today, Russia called for a joint inquiry to find out who was really behind the poisoning of Skripal, a former Colonel with Russian military intelligence who became a British double-agent.

Its embassy in London continued to mock and question Theresa May's government, pointing out that a U.K. Foreign Office tweet saying the nerve agent had been "made in Russia" has now been quietly deleted.

Russia also called an emergency meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the Hague today, in order to press the U.K. to share the results of its investigation.

The stormy session saw John Foggo, Britain's acting representative, brand the Russian bid as "perverse."

He told the chemical weapons watchdog that the U.K. has every reason to believe the Kremlin is behind the attack, including its past history of targeting defectors, and the knowledge that Russia has produced novichok "and remains capable of doing so."

The OPCW will soon release the results of its own laboratory tests, and could dispatch chemical weapons inspectors to Russia for further investigation.

Meanwhile, Russian diplomats are warning soccer fans who are planning to travel to London for Thursday's CSKA Moscow vs. Arsenal Europa League quarter-final match to be on their best behaviour.

"To avoid provocation towards Russian citizens we are calling on fans to avoid conflicts with authorities and local residents, and to behave yourself with our inherent dignity," says a statement on the embassy website.

In February, German police arrested a fan of another Russian club, Spartak Moscow, at the Munich Airport, bringing an end to a two year manhunt.

The 31-year-old was wanted on an Interpol warrant for the "attempted homicide" of a British fan in Marseille, France, where Russia was playing England in their opening match of the Euro 2016 tournament.

The victim, Andrew Bache, was left paralyzed on his left side after being hit in the head with an iron bar.

Ian Hanomansing on assignment: The right stuff

Let me start with an unusual personal disclosure: I'm not one of the people in the newsroom who can recite by name every major space mission or storied astronaut. There are a lot of reporters enchanted by rocket science. To me, it's just another story topic.

So when I was assigned to go to the Johnson Space Center in Houston to meet Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques and watch him training for his deployment to the International Space Station, I was curious about what would impress me the most.

During three days of extraordinary access, I stood next to exact replicas of portions of the Space Station. I watched Saint-Jacques work in a simulated weightless environment. I saw him practice using a virtual reality program to prepare him to control the Canadarm.

But most impressive? I met and watched someone who has quietly pursued excellence on a level we rarely see.

I have been privileged to meet elite athletes and artists. I've interviewed people who have Nobel Prizes or made important scientific breakthroughs. All of them are remarkable in their own way.

David Saint-Jacques was an astrophysicist. He got his commercial pilot's licence. He went to medical school and became a doctor. He's also a husband and father. And now he's an astronaut.

I wish I had met people like him when I was in university. Not to be motivated to go to space or stay in school - just to see an unusual path to excellence that included following not one, but a series of dreams.

It's very inspiring and I hope that after tonight's broadcast at least a few students feel the same way.

- Ian Hanomansing

Watch for Ian's full report on The National tonight on CBC television and streamed online.

In the meantime, here's a short preview of David Saint-Jacques talking about the challenges of his training and why excelling is not just important, but a matter of survival:

Training Canada's next ISS astronaut

7 years ago

Duration 0:44

David Saint-Jacques talks about how he constantly challenges himself in the training for his November mission to the International Space Station. Survival in space means getting every single detail right, he says

• Enjoying this newsletter? You may also like our early-morning newsletter, the Morning Brief. Start the day with the news you need in one quick and concise read. Sign up here.

Where dog bites are deadly

Mumbai has a population of 22 million people, and somewhere in excess of 100,000 stray dogs.

Many are fed by big-hearted locals. Others eat garbage in the city's slums.

But the small acts of kindness, or neglect, make little difference to a big underlying health problem: some of the dogs have rabies, and they bite.

Over the past four weeks, three residents of the city have died from the disease. The latest is a 22-month-old boy who succumbed to the infection on April 1.

Rabies is almost non-existent among North America's pampered and vaccinated canines. But it's endemic to dog-loving India, where an estimated 30 million strays wander the streets, fields and laneways.

Officially, there were 86 rabies deaths in India in 2016, a 30 per cent drop from the 125 recorded in 2014.

But the World Health Organization, and India's National Centre for Disease Control, estimate that the actual number of deaths is closer to 20,000 annually, mostly in poor, rural areas where the illness goes untreated and unreported.

That would mean India is responsible for about one-third of global rabies fatalities — and most of the victims are children.

There are two forms of rabies -- a paralytic version, where the virus travels to the brain via the motor nerves, and so-called "furious rabies," which takes the path of the spinal cord. Both can kill within days, and by the time the symptoms — fever, agitation, hydrophobia — manifest, it is usually too late.

Dogs are responsible for 97 per cent all human rabies cases in India, with cats, monkeys and mongoose making up the remaining three per cent.

The country's National Rabies Control Program calls for the mass vaccination of pets and strays, as well as population tracking and "management." Most of the heavy lifting, however, has been left to local governments or charities.

In Mumbai, the ResQ Charitable Trust, a local NGO, has started its own vaccination program. It fits each dog it treats with a colour-coded collar that indicates when the animal will be due for its three-year booster. The group has vaccinated more than 4,200 strays since the beginning of the year, and has also been busy neutering and spaying in order to control the population.

All of which is a step in the right direction, but a long way from a solution.

The best advice for those who suffer dog bites is to wash the wound immediately with soap and water, and then seek a rabies shot. But in Mumbai — India's largest city — there are no rabies diagnosis facilities, and only two hospitals that will treat suspected patients.

And sometimes, doctors simply run out of the vaccine.

Quote of the moment

"We have a very good nation but we can, in fact, create a great nation. Dad showed us it only takes a few good women and men to bring about change."

- Martin Luther King III, reflecting on his father's legacy 50 years after he was assassinated on a Memphis hotel balcony.

Here's how the CBC announced the news of the shooting.

What The National is reading

• Did a serial killer stalk Toronto's Gay Village in the 1970s? (CBC)
• Cambridge Analytica used violent video to influence Nigerian vote (Guardian)
• Suspected YouTube shooter 'hated' the company, says father (CBC)
• DNA test shows woman's real father was her parents' fertility doc (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Canadian 9/11 conspiracy theorists sue Google (National Post)
• 'Nightmare bacteria' cases seen in 27 U.S. states, CDC reports (Fox News)
• World's first cloned cashmere goat becomes a father (South China Morning Post)
• Jacob Rees-Mogg warned to stop impersonating Beano character (Politico EU)

Today in history

April 4, 1976: Will Toronto ever get a baseball franchise?

The $15 million expansion to Exhibition Stadium was almost finished in the spring of 1976, but Toronto was somehow further away from getting a Major League Baseball team. A January deal that year to purchase the San Francisco Giants was nixed by the courts. And a promised American League expansion franchise was suddenly looking iffy after President Gerald Ford let it be known that Washington, D.C., should be first in line. The White House meddling didn't work. The Blue Jays took the field for the first time on April 7, 1977. And Washington had to wait 28 more years for its team, until the Expos moved on the eve of the 2005 season.

Will Toronto ever get a baseball franchise?

49 years ago

Duration 2:02

Just when it looks like Toronto is going to get an American League franchise, U.S. President Gerald Ford gets in the way.

Sign up here and have The National Today newsletter delivered directly to your inbox Monday to Friday.

Please send your ideas, news tips, rants, and compliments to [email protected]. ​