The EU says its foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has visited Egypt’s ousted president at the place of his detention and held a two-hour “in-depth” discussion with him.
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EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has met Egypt's ousted leader in detention
The EU says its foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has visited Egypt’s ousted president at the place of his detention and held a two-hour “in-depth” discussion with him. …read more
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EU's Ashton to visit Morsi
The EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton headed to meet ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi early Tuesday as his supporters rallied anew in Cairo. …read more
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EU's Ashton arrives in Cairo as crisis deepens
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton flew into Egypt for talks Monday as international pressure increased on the new regime over the weekend’s violence, which claimed more than 80 lives. …read more
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EU’s Ashton Adds to ‘Settlement’ Discrimination – Global Agenda – News – Israel National News
By Dave Robbins
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is pushing for comprehensive guidelines to introduce separate labeling for products made by Jews in Judea and Samaria, Israeli-daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday. Read More: EU’s Ashton Adds to ‘Settlement’ Discrimination – Global Agenda – News – Israel National News.
The post EU’s Ashton Adds to ‘Settlement’ Discrimination – Global Agenda – News – Israel National News appeared first on Endtime Ministries | End Of The Age | Irvin Baxter.
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Ashton pushes EU to label Israel settler goods
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is pushing for comprehensive guidelines to introduce separate labelling for products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. …read more
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Israel meets ambassadors over EU settlements ban
Israel met the ambassadors of Britain and France, and Germany’s deputy envoy over plans by the EU to ban its 28 members from having any dealings with Jewish settlements, an official said on Friday.
The Jewish state warned the envoys of a serious crisis between it and the European Union over the move, the high-ranking foreign ministry official told AFP.
“The British and French ambassadors and German number two were invited yesterday to the ministry… for discussions on the EU guidelines,” he said.
“We asked the ambassadors to tell their capitals that no Israeli government would accept these conditions, and they could provoke a serious crisis with Israel,” he warned.
The guidelines, published in the EU’s Official Journal Friday morning, forbid EU member states from funding or dealing with entities in territories occupied by the Jewish state in 1967.
Germany and France confirmed the Thursday meetings but the British embassy did not immediately comment.
Christophe Bigot, France’s ambassador in Tel Aviv, said the Israeli foreign ministry’s director, Rafi Barak, had called the meetings.
“The Israelis informed us of their concerns” over the EU plan, he said. “I reminded them that the new guidelines were a continuation of European policy on settlements.”
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton also said in a Friday statement that the guidelines simply “reiterates the long-held position that bilateral agreements with Israel do not cover the territory that came under Israel’s administration in June 1967.”
The preamble to the guidelines says that “the EU does not recognise Israel’s sovereignty over… the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including east Jerusalem… and does not consider them to be part of Israel’s territory, irrespective of their legal status under domestic law”.
The guidelines apply to “grants, prizes and financial instruments,” it adds.
“Only Israeli entities having their place of establishment within Israel’s pre-1967 borders will be considered eligible as final recipients” of this kind of funding.
Of particular concern to officials was a scientific cooperation deal with the EU, “Horizon 2020”, which would generate investments worth hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) in Israeli technology companies, Haaretz newspaper quoted a foreign ministry official as saying.
More than 80 percent of Israelis are opposed to the new EU guidelines, according to a survey published Friday by pro-government newspaper Israel Hayom.
Settlement building in the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War is considered illegal under international law.
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New EU guidelines limit Israel funding
The European Union has published new guidelines explicitly banning any EU funding of Israeli institutions operating in territories occupied since the 1967 Mideast war, amid vigorous Israeli objections.
The EU holds that Jewish settlements in territories such as the West Bank and east Jerusalem are illegal. The Palestinians want some of those territories for their hoped-for state.
After EU officials announced plans this week for the new guidelines, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with several European leaders to express his opposition.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the document released Friday “is meant to clarify the EU’s position” and is not meant to harm efforts toward Mideast peace. The new rules come into force Jan. 1. Very little EU funding currently goes to Israeli bodies in occupied territories.
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Hundreds of Morsi supporters protest outside Egypt Cabinet building
Several hundred supporters of Egypt’s deposed president are protesting near the Cabinet building in central Cairo against the country’s new interim government.
The demonstrators Wednesday say the new leadership is illegitimate and demand that ousted President Mohammed Morsi be reinstated.
Egypt’s new 34-member Cabinet was sworn-in on Tuesday. It features several prominent figures from the country’s liberal and secular factions, as well as three women and three Christians.
There are no ministers from Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood or other Islamist groups.
The interim government is part of a military-backed transition plan following the July 3 coup that deposed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president.
Also Wednesday, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is in Cairo for talks with Egypt’s interim leaders.
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Egypt: Morsi supporters protest outside Cabinet
Several hundred supporters of Egypt’s deposed president are protesting near the Cabinet building in central Cairo against the country’s new interim government.
The demonstrators Wednesday say the new leadership is illegitimate and demand that ousted President Mohammed Morsi be reinstated.
Egypt’s new 34-member Cabinet was sworn-in on Tuesday. It features several prominent figures from the country’s liberal and secular factions, as well as three women and three Christians.
There are no ministers from Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood or other Islamist groups.
The interim government is part of a military-backed transition plan following the July 3 coup that deposed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president.
Also Wednesday, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is in Cairo for talks with Egypt’s interim leaders.
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Official: Iran open for nuke talks once team named
Iran’s foreign minister says Tehran will be ready to resume nuclear talks with world powers as soon as the country’s president-elect puts together his negotiating team.
Wednesday’s comments by Ali Akbar Salehi follow a meeting in Brussels with members of the six-member group that reopened talks with Iran last year.
EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the group — the five permanent U.N. Security Council nations plus Germany — seeks to quickly resume negotiations, which have failed so far to make significant headway. No date has been proposed.
Iran’s new president, Hasan Rouhani, himself a former top nuclear negotiator, is currently piecing together his government. He will be sworn-in early next month.
The West fears Iran may be seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran denies.
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Top EU diplomat heads to Egypt for talks with new regime
The European Union’s top diplomat was heading for Cairo Wednesday, a day after an interim government was sworn in to replace Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, toppled by the military two weeks ago.
Announcing the surprise visit, the office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said her visit was to press the case for a swift return to democratic rule.
“I am going to Egypt to reinforce our message that there must be a fully inclusive political process, taking in all groups which support democracy,” Ashton said.
Both the Muslim Brotherhood, the influential movement from which Morsi hails, and the ultra-conservative Al-Nur party refused to take part in the new administration.
Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad immediately rejected the 35-member cabinet that was sworn in on Tuesday.
“We don’t recognise its legitimacy or its authority,” he told AFP.
The government is headed by liberal economist Hazem al-Beblawi.
Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general behind the popularly backed coup that overthrew Morsi, becomes first deputy prime minister and minister of defence.
Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony took place just hours after deadly clashes between the security forces and Morsi’s supporters in Cairo and nearby Giza.
Officials said seven people were killed and 261 wounded in the clashes. Hundreds of protesters were also arrested.
On Monday, US envoy Bill Burns — the most senior American official to visit since the July 3 coup — had appealed for an end to the violence rocking the Arab world’s most populous nation.
Within hours however, thousands of Morsi supporters were on the streets of the capital protesting at the president’s overthrow and his detention by the military.
Hundreds of them battled the security forces and two people died in clashes around the central Ramses area near Tahrir Square, while another five were killed in Giza, emergency services told AFP.
A security source cited by state media said 401 protesters were arrested in the Ramses area alone, and at least 17 security personnel were injured.
This was the first major violence in the capital since dozens of Morsi supporters were shot dead outside an elite army barracks early last week.
The United States condemned the violence. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said it made the transition “much more difficult,” but he insisted Washington was not taking sides.
Washington has refrained from saying Morsi was the victim of a coup, which would legally require a freeze on some $1.5 billion in US military and economic assistance to Cairo.
These latest deaths bring to more than 100 the number of people killed in the unrest since the coup, according to an AFP tally.
The caretaker government unveiled on Tuesday included three women ministers and three Coptic Christians.
Analyst Samer Shehata said Egypt’s budget deficit, reforming the interior ministry, establishing the rule of law and restoring security in the Sinai peninsula were among the pressing issues for the new government.
“How to deal with the protesters on the street at the moment is another very serious issue,” he added.
Standard & Poor’s ratings agency said Tuesday it would keep its credit rating for Egypt unchanged after Gulf states pledged billions to …read more
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Serbia, Kosovo reach tentative deal on relations
The prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo have reached a tentative deal to normalize relations between the Balkan neighbors and end years of acrimony.
EU negotiator Catherine Ashton said Friday the deal culminated months of tense negotiations and showed determination of both Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci.
Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, said “what we are seeing is a step away from the past and for both of them a step closer to Europe.”
Among the most difficult issues was the status of northern Kosovo, which is inhabited primarily by ethnic Serbs who do not recognize Kosovo’s predominantly ethnic Albanian government.
A precondition for joining the EU is that countries “normalize” relations with its neighbors.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/mjRNRxzjo-E/
Albania changes election committee despite concern
Lawmakers in Albania have voted to replace a member of the country’s election commission ahead of a national poll on June 23, prompting sharp criticism from the European Union and the United States.
Parliament late Monday voted 74-0 to replace an official on the seven-member Central Election Commission. The official had been backed by a small party that recently left the coalition government to join the opposition.
Post-Communist Albania has failed in the past to meet international election standards, and the U.S. ambassador to Albania, Alexander Arvizu, said the committee change had put Albania on a “collision course” with the international community.
The European Union also expressed concern ahead of a scheduled visit to Tirana later Tuesday by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/VEeVAc3r9Sg/
Serbia rejects EU-brokered Kosovo deal
Serbia has rejected a European Union-brokered deal for reconciliation with its former province of Kosovo and called for more negotiations with Kosovo Albanian leaders.
The EU has given Serbia until Tuesday to say whether it would relinquish its effective control over northern Kosovo in exchange for the start of Serbia‘s EU membership negotiations.
The Serbian government said Monday it rejects the plan because it wants more autonomy for minority Serbs in Kosovo who together with Serbia reject the former province’s 2008 declaration of independence.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said after the eighth round of talks between Serbian and Kosovo officials last week in Brussels that she wanted a response from both sides and that the bloc’s mediation was over.
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Serbia to reject EU-brokered Kosovo deal
Serbia‘s deputy prime minister says his government will reject an EU-brokered deal for Kosovo and will ask for more negotiations with ethnic Albanian leaders.
The EU has given Serbia until Tuesday to say whether it would relinquish its control of northern Kosovo in exchange for the start of Serbia‘s EU membership negotiations. Serbia‘s government says it will give the answer later Monday.
Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Monday the plan is unacceptable because it does not give more autonomy to minority Kosovo Serbs. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008.
EU‘s top diplomat Catherine Ashton said after the 8th round of talks between Serbian and Kosovo officials last week that she wants an answer from both sides by Tuesday and that the bloc’s mediation was over.
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EU foreign policy chief says nuclear talks with Iran have failed
The EU‘s foreign policy chief says that nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers have failed to reach an agreement.
Catherine Ashton said Saturday that the talks revealed that “the two sides remain far apart on substance.”
“What matters in the end is substance, and … we are still a considerable distance apart,” Ashton said at the end of the two day talks.
The six insist Iran cut back on its highest grade uranium enrichment production and stockpile, fearing Tehran will divert it from making nuclear fuel to form the material used in the core of nuclear warhead.
Iran insists it has a right to enrich but says it has no interest to use the technology to make weapons. It wants more sanctions relief than the six are offering for any concessions on its part.
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Serbia, Kosovo talks reach 'decisive stage'
The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo have reached a decisive stage in EU-mediated talks, focusing on the thorny issue of the status of Serb-dominated northern Kosovo. EU-mediated talks
The talks — the eighth session between Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci — are being held Tuesday in Brussels under the mediation of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Kosovo, a former Serbian province, declared independence in 2008. While many countries have recognized it as an independent country, Serbia has not. Neither have many of the ethnic Serbs living in northern Kosovo. They do not see themselves as subject to the government in Pristina, which is dominated by ethnic Albanians.
In order for Serbia to join the EU, it must normalize relations with Kosovo.
EU representative killed in rocket attack in Syria
A European Union staff member has been killed in a rocket attack near Damascus, the Syrian capital, the EU announced Wednesday.
Ahmad Shihadeh, a policy officer with the EU delegation in Syria, was killed Tuesday in the Damascus suburb of Deraya, where he lived, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Wednesday. A spokesman for Ashton said Shihadeh was Syrian, 32 years old, and had worked for the EU for five years. It was the first death in the Syrian civil war of an EU employee.
Shihadeh “died while providing humanitarian help to the community of Deraya,” Ashton said. “Ahmad was known for his courage and selflessness.”
Both Ashton and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, extended condolences to Shihadeh’s family and friends. The Commission is the EU‘s executive arm.
Ashton took the occasion to call for an end to the conflict.
“As we approach the second anniversary of the uprising in Syria, I call again on all sides to take urgent steps to end the violence, which has led to the deaths of some 100,000 innocent citizens and over one million refugees seeking shelter in neighboring countries,” she said.
The effort to overthrow the regime of Syrian leader Bashar Assad began as a popular uprising on March 15, 2011, after activists call for a “Day of Rage” across Syria, inspired by other uprisings across the Arab world.
Talks struggle over Kosovo Serb autonomy
A senior EU official says progress has been made in talks between the prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo, but the Serbian leader says there’s still a stalemate over the status of the Serb minority in Kosovo.
Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci met Monday in Brussels for their sixth round of talks mediated by European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Afterward, Ashton issued a statement saying, “We made good progress.” The statement didn’t elaborate but said another meeting was set for March 20.
Dacic, however, said there was no progress on the autonomy of Kosovo Serbs who oppose the ethnic Albanian government in Pristina, Kosovo’s capital.
He says the sides “exchanged our stands, but the differences remained.”