Category: Rubrique

{{Britain has been accused of provoking Argentina with plans to hold military exercises in the Falkland Islands.}}

Argentina said next week’s drills would include missile launches and were part of a “pattern” of “hostile acts”.

The British ambassador in Buenos Aires has been summoned by Argentina’s deputy foreign minister, who will protest over the “new show of military force”.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has called the islands “Nato’s military base” in the region.

Argentina claims the islands, which are known to it as Las Malvinas.

It said the UK planned to conduct the exercises on “occupied Argentine territory” between 14 and 27 April.

A spokesman for the Argentine embassy in London added: “This action is a new example of UK’s disregard for United Nations resolutions, which call on both parties to resume negotiations over sovereignty and refrain from introducing unilateral modifications in the situation as long as the dispute persists.”

Islanders voted by 1,513 to three to remain a British overseas territory in a referendum last year.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said at the time that the result “could not have sent a clearer message”.

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{{Iran has accused the US of acting illegally by refusing a visa to the new Iranian envoy to the UN in New York.}}

Iran’s UN mission spokesman Hamid Babaei called the decision to bar Hamid Aboutalebi “regrettable”, but did not specify any action Tehran might take.

The US accuses Mr Aboutalebi of links to the group that seized the US embassy in 1979, an incident that soured ties between the two countries for decades.

Mr Aboutalebi says he only acted as a translator for the group.

Congress passed a bill last week that would allow the US to refuse an ambassadorial selection if the candidate posed a security risk.

Earlier this week, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif condemned the move by Congress.

He characterised those in favour of the bill as “a group of radicals” and said the move would not influence Iran’s policies.

Although the bill still requires the signature of the president before it can become law, Congress appears to have succeeded in getting Mr Aboutalebi barred.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president “shared the intent of the bill”, and would not issue a visa.

Mr Babaei said the White House decision was “in contravention of international law, the obligation of the host country and the inherent right of sovereign member states to designate their representatives to the United Nations”.

Under international law, the US as the host nation for the UN is obliged to grant visas to states’ representatives.

In the most high-profile similar case, the US refused a visa to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to speak at the UN in 1998. The UN condemned that decision.

The UN has not yet commented on Mr Aboutalebi’s situation.

Mr Aboutalebi has previously served as Iran’s ambassador to Belgium, the European Union, Italy and Australia.

He has said said he was not part of the group that took over the US embassy, and was only later asked to translate for the students.

{{US Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is resigning following the problematic launch of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, US media report.}}

The law – regarded by the president’s supporters as one of his main domestic achievements – has been marked by early technical problems and delays.

Ms Sebelius has been health secretary since Mr Obama took office in 2009.

The reports say Mr Obama will nominate Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the current budget director, to replace her.

Ms Sebelius had made the decision to resign herself, the New York Times reported.

The US president had resisted calls for the health secretary to stand down after the websites where people could enrol for health insurance ran into problems last October.

{{Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has met opposition leaders in crisis talks aimed at quelling weeks of protests.}}

Mr Maduro met his bitter rival, opposition leader Henrique Capriles, for six hours. More talks are scheduled for Tuesday.

The meeting was brokered by foreign ministers from South American nations.

Protests erupted over soaring crime rates in February, but have snowballed into wider anti-government rallies. Some 40 people have been killed.

Mr Maduro, who says the protests are part of a “fascist” US-backed plot against him, told the meeting that there would be no deal with the opposition.

“There are no negotiations here. No pacts. All we’re looking for is a model of peaceful coexistence, of mutual tolerance,” he said.

He has said any kind of formal deal with the opposition would make him a “traitor to chavismo”, the socialist platform of his predecessor Hugo Chavez.

Mr Maduro called on the opposition to renounce violence.

‘Builders of peace’
Mr Capriles, who was narrowly defeated in last year’s presidential election, insisted that the opposition did not want a coup against the government.

“We don’t want a coup d’etat. We don’t want an explosion on the streets,” he said.

“Either this situation changes, or it bursts. I hope it changes because I don’t want violence.”

Mr Capriles also accused Mr Maduro of being disrespectful to the Venezuelan people.

“How are you going to ask the country to accept you if you call half the country fascists or you threaten them?” he asked. “I think it is very difficult to govern a country where half the people are against you.”

The talks were broadcast live on television.

Pope Francis sent a letter giving his support to the talks.

“I urge you not to get stuck in the conflict of the moment but open yourselves to one another to become true builders of peace,” the Roman Catholic leader said, in a letter read out at the meeting.

Venezuela is sharply divided between supporters and opponents of Mr Maduro, who narrowly beat Mr Capriles to the presidency last year.

The oil-rich country’s economy has hit the buffers in recent years, with food shortages and rising inflation causing increasing dissent.

BBC

{{Ukraine will not prosecute pro-Russian activists occupying official buildings in two eastern cities if they surrender their weapons, Ukraine’s acting President Olexander Turchynov says.}}

The separatists are holding buildings in the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk. The Kiev authorities say their actions could give Russia a pretext to invade.

Ukraine has accused Russia of stirring up the unrest. Moscow has denied that.

Nato says up to 40,000 Russian troops are massed near Ukraine’s border.

‘Presidential order’
The crisis began in November when Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovych – an ally of Russia – refused to sign a far-reaching partnership treaty with the EU. That triggered huge anti-Yanukovych demonstrations and violence which led to him fleeing to Russia in February.

Ukraine has launched what it calls an “anti-terrorist operation” to tackle the separatists in the east. On Wednesday Kiev said the stand-off must end within 48 hours.

Mr Turchynov told parliament in the capital Kiev there would be “no criminal prosecution of people who give up their weapons and leave the buildings”.

“I am willing to do this by presidential order,” he said.

Ukraine fears that the Russian separatist actions are a provocation similar to the protests that gripped Crimea days before Russian troops annexed the peninsula last month.

The separatists in the east – a mainly Russian-speaking region with close ties to Russia – are demanding referendums on self-rule. In Donetsk they have declared a “people’s republic”.

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