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Military Intervention Complicates Situation in Persian Gulf: Iran
June 01, 2011
TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said Tuesday that military intervention in the Persian Gulf further complicates the situation, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Salehi rejected military solutions to the regional problems, and accused certain regional countries of deploying their military troops in...
EU Draft U.N. Resolution on Syria Could Hurt Stability: China
June 01, 2011
BEIJING – China warned on Tuesday that a European draft resolution asking the U.N. Security Council to condemn Syria would not defuse tension in the region, suggesting Beijing could block it if it is submitted for a vote.
Britain, France, Germany and Portugal circulated the draft resolution, which is supported by the United States, to the 15-nation...
Germany Furious After Iran Delays Merkel’s Plane
June 01, 2011
NEW DELHI – Iran briefly closed its airspace to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's plane as she flew to India for a visit on Tuesday, delaying her arrival and sparking a diplomatic row.
Merkel was held up as she flew overnight on Monday-Tuesday for a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi.
"Hindering the German chancellor's passage over Iran is ...
Turkey Supports Iraq’s Efforts for Democracy: Parliament Speaker
May 31, 2011
ANKARA - Turkish Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Sahin said Monday Turkey attaches great importance to Iraq's efforts for democracy, noting that Turkish parliament is ready to extend all kinds of support to Iraqi parliament.
Iraq's efforts for democracy will be model for other countries in the region which were undergoing transformation, Sahin said before meeting visiting Iraqi Parliament Speaker...
Zuma in Libya as NATO Eyes Endgame amid Defections
May 31, 2011
PMTRIPOLI — South African President Jacob Zuma arrived on Monday in Libya for talks on ending the conflict as NATO said Muammar Gaddafi’s “reign of terror” was nearing its end and rebels reported military defections. A rebel leader told AFP that eight senior officers of Gaddafi’s military — including four generals — have defected and would address the media in Rome later...
Iranian Military Helicopter Crashes, Two Killed
May 31, 2011
TEHRAN - An Iranian military helicopter crashed in Iran's central city of Isfahan on Monday, killing the pilot and the co-pilot of the helicopter, the state IRIB website reported.
Deputy Governor for political and security affairs of Isfahan province, Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaili, said that the Cobra 209 helicopter belonging...
EU, AU to Discuss African-European Strategic Partnership
May 31, 2011
BRUSSELS - About twenty senior representatives from the Christian, Jewish, Muslim religions as well as from the Buddhist communities met in Brussels Monday at the invitation of European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and co-chaired by Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the EU. They...
G8 Summit, a Platform with Declining Sway: Global Review
May 30, 2011
BEIJING - The Group of Eight (G8) summit, which has been the bellwether on the international scene for years, seemed a little "reserved" this year.
The summit in the French resort of Deauville devoted much to the unrest in the Arab world and the Middle East peace process and deliberately less to the global economy as its members, most of which...
Gilani Seeks US Assistance to Overcome Energy Crisis
May 30, 2011
LAHORE – Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani Sunday said that the government has sought US assistance to overcome load-shedding in the country for providing immediate relief to the masses. During a meeting with senior journalists at his residence here, he said that US leadership has assured of assistance to the Pakistani government in...
Israeli, Palestinian Presidents Secretly Meet to Resume Peace Talks
May 30, 2011
JERUSALEM - Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas allegedly held secret talks meant to reach a formula that would enable the stalled peace process to resume, and the Palestinians to abort efforts to unilaterally seek United Nations recognition of statehood in...
Egypt Permanently Opens Gaza Border Crossing
May 29, 2011
RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Egypt lifted a four-year-old blockade on the Gaza Strip's main link to the outside world Saturday, bringing relief to the crowded territory's 1.5 million Palestinians but deepening a rift with Israel since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year.
The Egyptian move will allow thousands of Gazans to move freely in...
EU, Japan Agree to Work towards Mega Free Trade Deal
May 29, 2011
BRUSSELS – Leaders of the European Union and Japan on Saturday agreed to start talks towards a multi-billion-euro free trade deal linking the world's third biggest economy to the globe's largest market.
Long demanded by Tokyo, the decision to launch preliminary talks on a trade deal and explore a new binding political accord, was announced at...
No Clean Chit to ISI: Hillary Clinton
May 29, 2011
WASHINGTON - US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has not given clean chit to Pakistan's ISI over Osama bin Laden's presence in the country, her spokesman said on Saturday. "I don't think she (Clinton) gave them (ISI) a free chit," state department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters at his daily news conference when asked if...
Nuclear Bomb Would Be “Strategic Mistake”: Iran
May 28, 2011
VIENNA – Iran's nuclear envoy said on Friday it would be a "strategic mistake" to build atom bombs, dismissing what a leading Western expert cited as evidence suggesting Tehran was seeking the means to do just that.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also insisted during a public debate that...
Japan PM Reassures G8 over Nuclear Clean-Up
May 28, 2011
DEAUVILLE, France – Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan used a G8 summit in France to reassure Tokyo's most powerful allies Friday that his country would learn the lessons of its nuclear disaster and recover fully.
Kan, making his first foreign visit since his country's March 11 tsunami and nuclear meltdown, received a timely vote of confidence in...
Russia Offers to Mediate Gadhafi’s Exit
May 28, 2011
DEAUVILLE, France – Russia offered Friday to mediate the exit of Libya's longtime leader, cranking up pressure on Moammar Gadhafi as France and Britain seek to intensify their bombing campaign.
"He should leave," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said of Gadhafi.
Frustration is mounting in Moscow and Western capitals that the NATO...
Obama, Sarkozy Highlight Consensus on N. Africa, Mideast Issue
May 28, 2011
DEAUVILLE, France - U.S. President Barack Obama and the Group of Eight (G8) summit host, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said on Friday that they reached wide consensus on regional issues oncerning North Africa and the Middle East. In a brief press conference after their meeting on Friday morning, the two leaders dedicated their peaches mainly to the long-stalled Middle...
Serb court says Mladic fit for genocide trial
May 28, 2011
Ratko Mladic is fit enough to face genocide charges in The Hague, a Belgrade court ruled on Friday, after the Bosnian Serb wartime general's son said he appeared too frail after more than 15 years on the run.
The court said Mladic, arrested Thursday in a Serbian village, had until Monday to appeal against extradition to the international...
EU Economic Recovery Still Takes Time: Austrian Economist
May 26, 2011
VIENNA - The overall economic recovery of the European Union will take time due to unbalanced performances among its member countries, an Austrian economist said Wednesday.
High unemployment and debt plagued many EU countries. Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain have adopted restrictive budget policies and raised taxes, said Markus Marterbauer from the Austrian Institute...
G-8 Leaders to Marshal Support for Arab Nations
May 26, 2011
PARIS – Arab uprisings are pushing aside deficits and austerity as the biggest worry of the leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations this year.
President Barack Obama and the other leaders will seek to marshal their combined economic might behind the grass-roots democracy movements that have swept the Arab world — and driven away tourists...
Israel Ready for Painful Compromises: Netanyahu
May 25, 2011
WASHINGTON – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Tuesday to make "painful compromises" for peace with the Palestinians but said he would not agree to any deal that threatens Israel's security or its identity as a Jewish state.
Speaking before a wildly receptive joint meeting of Congress that...
US Hits More Foreign Firms with Iran Sanctions
May 25, 2011
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Tuesday hit seven foreign companies, including Venezuela' state-owned oil company and an Israeli shipping firm, with sanctions for doing business with Iran that helps fund its nuclear program. At the same time, the administration imposed separate sanctions on more than 15 people and companies in China,...
Ahmadinejad Not to Head Next OPEC Meeting in Vienna
May 24, 2011
TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would not head the next meeting of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) slated for June 8 in Austria's Vienna, although Ahmadinejad is the caretaker of Iran's Oil Ministry, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on...
Libyan Opposition Authority Legitimate: Turkish FM
May 24, 2011
ANKARA - Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Monday the Libyan opposition National Transitional Council (NTC) is legitimate but that a change of political system in the country must be peaceful.
Turkey saw the NTC as a legitimate and recognized representative of Libyan people; Davutoglu told a joint press conference with visiting...
EU Imposes Sanctions on Syrian Leader Assad
May 24, 2011
BRUSSELS – The European Union imposed sanctions Monday on Syrian President Bashar Assad because of his government's continuing crackdown on anti-government protesters, in which more than 900 people have reportedly been killed.
The 27-nation bloc instituted an assets freeze and a visa ban on Assad and nine other members of his regime.
Earlier this month, the EU sanctioned 13 people with links to the...
Thousands Protest Ahead of G8 Summit
May 23, 2011
HAVRE, France -Several thousand anti-globalization demonstrators protested in the northern French city of Le Havre Saturday, ahead of the G8 summit starting next week just a few kilometers down the coast.
Leaders of the Group of Eight nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States — will meet on...
British End Military Mission in Iraq
May 23, 2011
BAGHDAD – The last of Britain's military forces in Iraq pulled up anchor Sunday, ending more than eight years of fighting militants and training security forces since invading in 2003.
Eighty-one Royal Navy sailors turned over the task of patrolling waters off the southern port city of Umm Qasr on the Persian Gulf to Iraq's fledgling navy. It was the last hands-on mission that British...
Iran Plans to Impose Sanction on 26 US Officials: Lawmaker
May 23, 2011
TEHRAN - A senior Iranian lawmaker said Sunday that the Iranian Majlis (parliament) is reviewing a plan to impose sanction on 26 U.S. officials for violations of human rights, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Kazem Jalali, rapporteur of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Majlis, said that Majlis studied the records of...
Saudi, UAE Donors Help Radicals: US Cable
May 23, 2011
ISLAMABAD - Donors in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are sending an estimated $100 million annually to radical Islamic schools in Pakistan that back militancy, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable published Sunday.
The donations come from Islamic charities and missionary organizations and are made “ostensibly with the direct...
US Would Repeat Unilateral Action in Pakistan: Obama
May 23, 2011
>KABUL - US President Barack Obama has said a raid similar to the one on Bin Laden compound would be carried out if a top Al-Qaeda or Taliban leader was found in Pakistan.
President Obama has told the BBC in an exclusive interview that the US was respectful of Pakistani au thority and sovereignty but added that no active plans would be allowed to come to fruition without the...
Netanyahu Lectures Obama in Oval Office
May 22, 2011
WASHINGTON – Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Barack Obama against chasing what he called a Middle East peace "based on illusions" as he lectured the US president amid a widening rift in US-Israeli ties.
In a dramatic Oval Office appearance, after 90 minutes of talks Friday, Prime Minister Netanyahu emphatically vowed Israel would never...
Russian FM Sees Russia-NATO Missile Project as “Test”
May 22, 2011
MOSCOW - The Russia-NATO project to build a joint missile defense system for Europe is a "practical test" of cooperation between the two sides, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday.
He called the project "an absolutely concrete practical test" for whether the two sides are capable of building a joint...
Iran Bans Ahmadinejad Ally from Office: Fars
May 22, 2011
TEHRAN – An Iranian court has barred a vice president and ally of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from holding office for "violations" in a previous job, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Saturday, in a blow to the president.
Hamid Baqaie, one of eight vice presidents and seen as particularly close to Ahmadinejad, was banned from public office for four years by...
Turkey Plays Constructive Role Regarding all Issues on the U.N. Agenda
on May 21, 2011
ISTANBOLE - Turkey, a founding member of the United Nations (U.N.), is an ardent defender of the principles and goals enshrined in the U.N. Charter, supporting resolution of international disputes through multilateral cooperation.
Within this framework, Turkey plays a constructive role regarding all issues on the U.N. agenda and, therefore, attaches special importance to undertaking active duties and responsibilities within...
Syrian Troop’s Fire during Protests; 17 Killed
on May 21, 2011
BEIRUT – Syrian security forces opened fire on protests around the country Friday in the latest sign the conflict could be moving toward a long and bloody stalemate as President Bashar Assad shrugged off tighter sanctions and U.S. calls to step aside. Activists said at least 17 people were killed, including a 10-year-old boy.
The clashes...