European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton on Thursday met with Israeli President Shimon Peres who said that Israel’s policy towards construction in Jerusalem should not be changed.
“For 40 years there was a certain pattern which is that we build in the suburbs which are basically Jewish, and we didn’t build in the suburbs which are basically Arabs. That was done by all governments. It was accepted by everybody including, in fact, the Palestinians. It never disturbed the negotiations. I think that we have to continue the same policy,” said Peres.
During their private meeting in Peres’ residence in Jerusalem, Ashton — on a first visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories since she took office — said the aim of her trip is to support the peace process.
“I’ve come with two purposes in mind: the first is to support the peace process and to ensure that the European Union plays its part in support of that process, and to have the opportunity to discuss the issues of concern with the leadership here and also to have the opportunity to visit some of the projects that we’re supporting.
And my second purpose is to recognise the bilateral relationship, especially economically,” Ashton told Peres.
Ashton’s visit came as tensions between Palestinians and Israel peaked with violent incidents erupting in and around Jerusalem.
Israel angered the Palestinians and touched off a spat with US President Barack Obama’s administration after announcing plans, during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden last week, to build 1,600 homes for Jews near East Jerusalem, in West Bank territory it annexed after a 1967 war.
was first posted on March 19, 2010 at 12:17 pm. Copyright @
SYDNEY : Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Friday shrugged off US President Barack Obama’s decision to postpone next week’s visit, saying he would be welcome any time.
Rudd said he had spoken to Obama about the move to reschedule the trip as the president wrestles with landmark healthcare legislation, and hailed his close relationship with the American leader.
“I’m going to be very happy any time the president chooses to visit,” Rudd told the Seven Network TV station.
“I know President Obama pretty well. It would be nice to have him and Michelle and the kids.
“I spoke to him on the phone this morning: he’d like to have a more relaxed visit than the 24-hour whip in, whip out that the last one had come down to.”
Obama had already delayed his visit and trimmed it from three days to one, opting to leave his wife Michelle and two daughters behind. The tour, also taking in Guam and Indonesia, has been put back until June.
Rudd, who has also seen legislation blocked by the Australian Senate, said he sympathised with Obama’s “massive” healthcare project and described the US leader as “a lot of fun”.
“We talk from time to time and he’s got a great sense of humour but it would be breaching all protocols to go to the content of conversation,” he said.
“But it’s a good relationship and he’s doing
was first posted on March 19, 2010 at 12:42 pm. Copyright @
Taking a major step to weed out incompetence and strengthening, Acting Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved cabinet in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
This comes after Jonathan replaced Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa and appointed Aliyu Gusau as a security adviser. Jonathan himself was appointed Acting President only on February 9 following a week’s long power vacuum following the illness of President Yar’Adua.
His continuing absence from office is said to be causing concern amongst investors regarding the country’s direction.
Yar’Adua’s failure to formally hand over to Jonathan upon his departure and the unclarified role played by the First Lady since his return has led to many prominent Nigerians calling for his resignation.
Taking a major step to weed out incompetence and strengthening, Acting Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved cabinet in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
This comes after Jonathan replaced Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa and appointed Aliyu Gusau as a security adviser. Jonathan himself was appointed Acting President only on February 9 following a week’s long power vacuum following the illness of President Yar’Adua.
His continuing absence from office is said to be causing concern amongst investors regarding the country’s direction.
Yar’Adua’s failure to formally hand over to Jonathan upon his departure and the unclarified role played by the First Lady since his return has led to many prominent Nigerians calling for his resignation.
JERUSALEM : Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with police in mainly Arab east Jerusalem on Tuesday amid heightened tensions in the Holy City where Israel vowed to expand Jewish settlements.
Police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades at protesters who hurled rocks at security forces in the Shuafat refugee camp. The Palestinians dispersed after security forces moved in.
Similar clashes broke out in other parts of mainly Arab east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community.
Police said two officers were injured, but did not mention Palestinian casualties. Several people were arrested, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
A heavy security presence was evident around the Old City, and police said they deployed 3,000 officers in Jerusalem.
Israel’s announcement last week of plans to build 1,600 new Jewish settler homes in mainly Arab east Jerusalem infuriated not only the Palestinians, but also the US administration which had sent Vice President Joe Biden to the region to promote new Middle East peace talks.
Mitchell on Tuesday postponed a visit to region, the Israeli president’s office said, without giving further details.
Earlier this month, the Palestinians reluctantly agreed to hold indirect talks with the Israelis after a 14-month hiatus in negotiations, but the outlook for a resumption soon of the peace process looks bleak.
The reopening of a twice-destroyed synagogue in Jerusalem’s walled Old City on Monday further fuelled tensions.
Many Palestinians view Israeli projects near the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound — Islam’s third holiest site — as an assault on its tense status quo or a prelude to the building of a third Jewish temple there. Jews call the compound Temple Mount and consider it their holiest site because their second Temple stood there before Romans destroyed it in 70 AD.
Rival Palestinian factions united in condemning the high-security opening of the landmark synagogue, which had last been destroyed 62 years ago in fighting with Jordan.
Lyssianasid Amphipod, In a surprising discovery about where higher life can thrive, scientists for the first time found a shrimplike creature and a jellyfish beneath a massive Antarctic ice sheet.
Six hundred feet below the ice where no light shines, scientists had figured nothing much more than a few microbes could exist.
That’s why a NASA team was surprised when they lowered a video camera to get the first long look at the underbelly of an ice sheet in Antarctica. a curious shrimplike creature came swimming by and then parked itself on the camera’s cable. Scientists also pulled up a tentacle they believe came from a foot-long jellyfish.
“We were operating on the presumption that nothing’s there,” said NASA ice scientist Robert Bindschadler, who will be presenting the initial findings and a video at an American Geophysical Union meeting Wednesday. “It was a shrimp you’d enjoy having on your plate.
“We were just gaga over it,” he said of the 3-inch-long, orange critter starring in their two-minute video. Technically, it’s not a shrimp. It’s a Lyssianasid amphipod, which is distantly related to shrimp.
President Asif Ali Zardari has said that his weaknesses has proved his power.
Addressing International Conference on Global Peace and Sufism at Islamabad, the President said that he was not afraid of death, rather waiting to meet it.
He added that Benazir Bhutto in her first address said that she was not afraid of death and she was alive for death. The president said that the Sufis’ concept of love, peace tolerance be needed to transform Taliban.
He said that dictators exploit the human emotions for their vested interests, adding that even today some people do exploit religion for their interests.
A television channel has sparked a brief panic in Georgia when it aired a fake newscast reporting that a Russian invasion was underway.
The newscast on privately-owned Imedi television showed footage from the August 2008 Georgia-Russia war, reported that Russian tanks were headed for the capital Tbilisi and that Russian aircraft had bombed airports and ports. After the news bulletin, the channel announced that it had been false and aimed at exploring possible future events.
Local media reported that the false newscast provoked widespread alarm and a record number of calls to emergency services. The Interpress news agency quoted emergency services as saying the report caused multiple incidents of heart attacks and fainting. It said hundreds of residents of Gori, the Georgian city worst hit by the 2008 war, fled their homes and rushed to local shops for emergency supplies. Mobile phone networks were also briefly overloaded and ceased functioning as word of the report spread. A spokeswoman for President Mikheil Saakashvili, Manana Manjgaladze, said in remarks shown on Imedi that the newscast should have been clearly marked as a simulation and that it did not meet journalistic standards.
The Obama administration continued to criticise Israel’s announcement to build 1,600 settler homes in east Jerusalem during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.
In an interview taped on Friday and broadcast Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the announcement an insult to her country. It was insulting. And it was insulting not just to the vice president, who certainly did not deserve that. He was there with a very clear message of commitment to the peace process solidarity with the Israeli people. But it was an insult to the United States, said Clinton. It was not just an unfortunate incident of timing but the substance was something that is not needed as we are attempting to move toward the resumption of negotiations. This was an affront, this was an insult but most importantly it undermined this very fragile effort to bring peace to that region. We just now have started proximity talks, that is shuttle diplomacy between the Palestinians and the Israelis and for this announcement to come at that time was very, very destructive, said Axelrod. The timing of Israel’s disclosure, after Palestinians agreed to indirect peace talks, embarrassed Biden and raised questions over whether Israel’s settlement policy could harm US-Israeli security cooperation on the question of Iran.
Pi Day, March 14 (3/14-The same numbers that start the ongoing, non-repeating series of numbers in Pi) is celebrated nationally in museums of science and industry and within area schools.
European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton on Thursday met with Israeli President Shimon Peres who said that Israel’s policy towards construction in Jerusalem should not be changed.
SYDNEY : Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Friday shrugged off US President Barack Obama’s decision to postpone next week’s visit, saying he would be welcome any time.
Taking a major step to weed out incompetence and strengthening, Acting Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved cabinet in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
JERUSALEM : Hundreds of Palestinians clashed with police in mainly Arab east Jerusalem on Tuesday amid heightened tensions in the Holy City where Israel vowed to expand Jewish settlements.
President Asif Ali Zardari has said that his weaknesses has proved his power.
A television channel has sparked a brief panic in Georgia when it aired a fake newscast reporting that a Russian invasion was underway.
The Obama administration continued to criticise Israel’s announcement to build 1,600 settler homes in east Jerusalem during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.
