Tag: InternationalNews

{{The European Union blamed the Syrian government on Saturday for an August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria but urged waiting for a report from U.N. weapons inspectors before any U.S.-led military response.}}

The carefully worded message from foreign ministers of 28 EU governments stopped short of endorsing possible U.S. and French military action against Syria ahead of the report, which France’s president said could come by the end of the week.

While their statement allowed France to claim victory in its push to get the EU to hold Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government responsible for the attack in which more than 1,400 may have been killed, it also made clear the bloc wants the United Nations to play some role in deciding how to respond.

Many EU governments have expressed reservations about using military force to punish Assad, now fighting a 2-1/2-year battle against rebels in which more than 100,000 people have died.

Germany, where one opinion poll last Thursday showed 70 percent of people are against the United States bombing Syria, and other nations have opposed taking action before U.N. inspectors can present their findings.

Public debate has intensified in the United States and in Europe during the week since U.S. President Barack Obama said he believed Washington should launch targeted air strikes on Syria to deter Assad, and others, from using chemical weapons but he would ask Congress for the authority to do so.

Obama made that decision after the British parliament voted against Britain taking part in a strike and U.S. opinion polls showed significant opposition to one, suggesting that he would be somewhat isolated if he ordered military action on his own.

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{{Pakistan has announced the release of seven Taliban prisoners in a bid to help the Afghan peace process.}}

At least one former senior militant was among the men freed “in order to further facilitate the Afghan reconciliation process”, said a foreign ministry statement.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Islamabad recently to promote peace.

Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif said at the time he wanted to help regional efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.

The foreign ministry statement named those freed on Saturday as Mansoor Dadullah, Said Wali, Abdul Manan, Karim Agha, Sher Afzal, Gul Muhammad and Muhammad Zai.

Mansoor Dadullah served as the Taliban’s military commander in four of the most violent provinces of southern Afghanistan until he was captured in February 2008 after a shootout with security forces in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.

He had succeeded his brother, Mullah Dadullah, who was killed in a joint Afghan-Nato operation in May, 2007, but was sacked by the Taliban leadership later that year for for disobeying orders.

Some 26 Taliban detainees have been freed during the past year, it added.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman said these latest prisoners had been released in Pakistan, not delivered into the custody of the Afghans as Kabul would prefer.

wirestory

{{The European Union and Iran will discuss a resumption of nuclear negotiations during a United Nations gathering this month, possibly setting a date for a new round of talks aimed ultimately at preventing a new Middle East war.}}

Talks between Iran and six world powers overseen by the EU’s top diplomat have been stalled since April. The West is keen to resume them with Iran having elected a moderate president but still expanding its uranium enrichment capacity and Israel brandishing hints of bombing runs on Iranian nuclear sites.

President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday the Iranian foreign ministry would take over negotiations in what appeared a move to streamline Iran’s nuclear diplomacy, after years of security hardliners dominating the process.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton spoke to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday and agreed to meet him to discuss planning, including a date, for new talks on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York.

“I was responding to the news that the foreign ministry will take responsibility of the talks,” she told reporters about her call to Zarif, speaking ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Vilnius, Lithuania. “We have dates available and he and I will meet in order to get things moving.”

Ashton said she has developed a “rapport” with Zarif since his appointment after Rouhani’s election in June and had reiterated to him the six big powers’ desire to talk soon.

Western powers in the group – the United States, France, Britain and Germany – believe Iran is seeking the ability to make nuclear weapons and have engineered painful international economic sanctions to pressure Tehran into making concessions.

The Islamic Republic denies any bomb agenda, saying it needs nuclear power for electricity generation and medical research.

The two non-Western big powers – Russia and China – are not convinced Iran seeks nuclear weapons capability but want it to clear up doubts about its intentions through a negotiated deal.

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{{Tony Abbott’s Liberal-National coalition appears on course for a decisive election win, as voting ended in Australia’s eastern states.}}

Early counting showed a swing to the opposition coalition in several states, with exit polls forecasting it would secure a lower house majority.

Public broadcaster ABC’s analyst has called the election for the coalition.

The campaign has been dramatic, with Kevin Rudd ousting Julia Gillard as PM and Labor leader weeks from the polls.

The economy, asylum and the carbon tax have been key election issues.

Mr Rudd called the election after defeating Julia Gillard in a leadership challenge in June, amid dismal polling figures that showed Labor on course for a wipe-out.

Under Mr Rudd, Labor initially saw its figures improve significantly. But Mr Abbott, who enjoyed the strident support of Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers, then broadened the gap again.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s election expert, Antony Green, says the coalition is on course for a majority and will defeat the government.

A Newspoll exit poll, released just over an hour before polling closed in the east of the country, predicted that the coalition would secure 97 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives. ABC News, in its first prediction, put that figure at 93.

Labor’s Defence Minister Stephen Smith, speaking on ABC television minutes after polls closed in the east, said the government “will be defeated tonight”.

Mr Abbott, who took on the leadership of the coalition in 2009, cast his ballot in his northern Sydney seat of Warringah early on Saturday.

ABC