Turkey acquits sociologist over 1998 explosion

2014-12-19

ANKARA - A Turkish court on Friday acquitted Turkish dissident sociologist Pinar Selek, who has taken refuge in France, over a 1998 explosion that killed seven people, the official Anatolia news agency reported.

The ruling -- delivered by a high criminal court in Istanbul -- came at a hearing on Selek's retrial, after a life sentence for her alleged involvement in the deadly explosion was overturned this year, according to Anatolia.

The 43-year-old Selek, known for her critical studies of the Kurdish conflict in Turkey and her work with street children, was accused of bombing a spice market popular among tourists in Istanbul.

Selek, then 27, was arrested and jailed on charges of involvement in the explosion after she refused to give police the names of rebels she had met during her research.

"After 16 years of judicial obstinacy, today's trial allowed Pinar Selek's lawyers to emphasize all day the absurdity and arbitrariness of the procedure," her supporters said in a statement from France.

"One by one, they pointed out the false evidence that allowed the creation of a fictitious history of the blast to silence Pinar Selek and prevent her from continuing her sociological work among oppressed social groups," they added.

Selek was freed in 2000 after the publication of a report blaming the explosion on a gas leak.

The latest verdict marked her fourth acquittal by Turkish courts. The previous acquittals were based on the primary witness's retraction of his testimony and a lack of evidence that the blast was a bomb attack.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=69353.

Report: Turkey orders warrant for US-based cleric's arrest

December 19, 2014

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Turkish court has ordered an arrest warrant for U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen — a former ally-turned-foe of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's state-run media reported Friday.

A court in Istanbul ruled there was "sufficient tangible evidence" against Gulen and agreed to issue the warrant, the Anadolu Agency said. The move could be a prelude to a formal request for Gulen's extradition from the United States, where he is living in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania.

Erdogan's government has accused Gulen's movement of orchestrating a plot to try to bring it down. It says Gulen's followers in the police and judiciary are behind corruption allegations that forced four ministers to resign and targeted Erdogan's family.

The U.S. and Turkey do have an extradition treaty and Erdogan has said he wants Gulen extradited, but it was not clear if the evidence would meet U.S. criteria for his extradition. Earlier Friday, the court ordered the arrest of four people and released eight others detained in raids on a newspaper and television station affiliated with Gulen's movement, state-run media said. Those released included Ekrem Dumanli, editor-in-chief of one of the country's biggest newspapers, Zaman. The court banned Dumanli and the others from traveling abroad, pending possible charges.

The suspects were among more than two dozen people detained in raids this month that targeted Zaman and its sister television station, Samanyolu TV. "I reject the accusations that I am a member of a terror organization and return the accusations to those who have made them," Dumanli told supporters Friday outside the Istanbul courthouse. "The media cannot be silenced, the media cannot be intimated. Zaman is not afraid."

The investigation has been condemned worldwide as a blow against Turkey's free press. Erdogan has rejected the criticism, saying the investigation is a national security issue.  Authorities say those detained in the raids were suspected of making false accusations and of fabricating evidence that led to a police crackdown on a rival Islamic group on charges of links to al-Qaida in 2010. The Gulen movement has denied the claims.

U.S. sends four Guantanamo prisoners home to Afghanistan

20 December 2014 Saturday

Four Afghans held for over a decade at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been sent home to Afghanistan, the Pentagon said on Saturday, the latest step in a slow-moving push by the Obama administration to close the facility.

The men were flown to Kabul overnight aboard a U.S. military plane and released to Afghan authorities, the first such transfer of its kind to the war-torn country since 2009, according to a U.S. official.

With the repatriation of the four Afghans, Guantanamo's detainee population has been whittled down to 132. Several more prisoners of "various nationalities" are expected to be transferred before the end of the year and a further unspecified number in succeeding weeks, according to a senior U.S. official.

Obama promised to shut the internationally condemned prison when he took office nearly six years ago, citing the damage it inflicted on America's image around the world. But he has been unable to do so, partly because of obstacles posed by Congress.

The repatriation of the four Afghans, identified as "low-level detainees" who were cleared for transfer long ago and are not considered security risks in their homeland, had been in the pipeline for months.

But in what one senior U.S. official described as an expression of growing confidence in the new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, who took over from Hamid Karzai in September, Washington pressed ahead with the transfer after he formally requested it.

The continued detention of Afghans at Guantanamo -- eight remain there -- has long been deeply unpopular across the ideological spectrum in Afghanistan.

All four men - identified as Shawali Khan, Khi Ali Gul, Abdul Ghani and Mohammed Zahir - were originally detained on suspicion of being members of the Taliban or affiliated groups.

But a second U.S. official said: "Most if not all of these accusations have been discarded and each of these individuals at worst could be described as low-level, if even that."

The Afghan government gave the United States "security assurances" for the treatment of the former prisoners and was expected to reunite them with their families, the official said.

CLOSING PRISON WON'T BE EASY

Guantanamo was opened by Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, to house "suspects" rounded up overseas, with Afghans originally the largest group. Most of the detainees have been held for a decade or more without being charged or tried.

Two weeks ago a U.S. Senate report delivered a scathing indictment of the harsh Bush-era interrogation program used on suspects. Obama banned the techniques when he took office in 2009.

Thirteen other prisoners of various nationalities have been transferred from Guantanamo since early November, including six who were sent to Uruguay for resettlement earlier this month.

But emptying the prison will not be easy.

In a statement issued on Friday, Obama renewed his complaints about restrictions on Guantanamo transfers that Congress kept in place in a recent defense spending bill. "The Guantanamo detention facility's continued operation undermines our national security," he said. "We must close it."

Among the detainees released this weekend, Khan, 51, was sent to Guantanamo 11 years ago "on the flimsiest of allegations", according to the Center for Constitutional Rights. His lawyers said he had been a driver for the Karzai government.

According to a Guantanamo database compiled by the New York Times and National Public Radio, Gul, 51, was arrested in 2002 and accused of being a Taliban intelligence officer. He insisted he never worked for the group and that two of his "enemies" had turned him over to U.S. troops.

Ghani, 42, was captured in 2002 as a suspected member of a Taliban-linked faction and was originally accused of "war crimes". He said someone falsely accused him of carrying out a rocket attack, the documents show, and was cleared by an inter-agency review.

Zahir, 61, was arrested in 2003 and accused of links to Taliban weapons caches, but he denied any connection and was also cleared for transfer.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/headlines/151287/us-sends-four-guantanamo-prisoners-home-to-afghanistan-updated.

Kurds advance against IS group in Syria, Iraq

December 20, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — Kurdish fighters advanced on the Islamic State extremist group in Iraq and Syria on Saturday, pushing into the contested, refugee-packed Sinjar mountains and gaining ground in the embattled Syrian border town of Kobani after heavy clashes, Kurdish officials and an activist group said.

In Syria, Kurdish Democratic Union Party spokesman Nawaf Khalil said Kurdish fighters advanced in six neighborhoods and have besieged the IS-held cultural center east of Kobani. He added that Kurdish fighters captured the Yarmouk school, southeast of Kobani where eight bodies of IS fighters were found.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the main Syrian Kurdish force known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG, killed 10 IS fighters. The IS group began its Kobani offensive in mid-September, capturing parts of the town as well as dozens of nearby villages. Hundreds of fighters on both sides have been killed since. Kurdish forces have gradually pushed the extremist group back in recent weeks with the help of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes.

The push in Kobani came a day after YPG fighters opened a corridor between their positions in northeastern Syria and Mount Sinjar in neighboring Iraq where Iraqi peshmerga fighters have been on the offensive as well. Earlier this week, Iraqi peshmerga fighters were also able to open another corridor to Mount Sinjar.

Iraq's Kurdistan Region Security Council said peshmerga fighters launched a new offensive on Saturday toward Mount Sinjar and were able to capture the nearby area of Mushrefa. The statement said that early Saturday, 32 truckloads of food, water and other aid departed from the northern Iraqi city of Erbil to Mount Sinjar through the "corridor established by the courageous Peshmerga forces."

Warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition circled overhead as peshmerga troops returning from the front said the city was full of roadside bombs and snipers. The peshmerga had set up a base overlooking the city on the summit of Mount Sinjar, which included a makeshift hospital, they added.

Spokesman Jabbar Yawar said Peshmerga fighters were fighting their way into Sinjar and nearby areas in coordination with allied air support. The Islamic State group captured almost a third of Iraq and Syria earlier this year, plunging the region into deep crisis.

In early August, the militants captured Iraqi towns of Sinjar and Zumar, prompting tens of thousands of people from the Yazidi minority to flee to the mountain, where they became trapped. Many were eventually airlifted by a passageway through Syria back into Iraq, where they found refuge in Iraq's northern Kurdish semi-autonomous region.

With reporting by Dalton Bennett in Sinjar.

'Miles of Smiles 6' aid convoy in Gaza

Fri Oct 7, 2011

The humanitarian aid convoy called the “Miles of Smiles 6” entered Gaza on late Wednesday with about 100 tons of urgently needed medicines, a Press TV correspondent reported from Gaza.

The activists accompanying the convoy are mostly from European, African and Asian countries.

The “Miles of Smiles 6” aims at providing medical supplies that are not available because of the ongoing Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip. The convoy wants to raise awareness about the life in Gaza.

A convoy member from South Africa, Ibrahim Ismael told Press TV “Obviously we are well aware of the siege and we want to make our presence felt in regard to the unethical nature of the siege as well as assist the people of Gaza in the times of need."

A Kuwaiti member of the “Miles of Smiles 6” said, we have come to support Palestinian people in Gaza as much as we can.

Earlier on Wednesday, separate delegations from Germany and Tunisia representing civil organizations concluded their visits to Gaza by holding press conferences in Gaza City.

German activist of Pax Christy Society, Wiltrud Rosch Metzler told reporters that “It's important for us to continue our work against the siege.”

She added, “We also supported the Free Gaza Movement last year. It is important to work against the siege of Gaza and for the end of (Israeli) occupation. "

Tunisian Dignity Convoy activist, Sabrin Al-Areebi, stated that we are here to show solidarity with our Palestinian brothers and sisters as people in Gaza also want a decent and dignified life.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/203197.html.

Jordanian King arrives in Bahrain

21 December 2014 Sunday

King Abdullah II of Jordan on Saturday arrived in the Bahraini capital Manama for talks with the Gulf state's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

King Abdullah's visit to Bahrain comes only one week after he paid a visit to Saudi Arabia where he met with King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz.

At Bahrain International Airport, the Jordanian King was received by King Al Khalifa, the official Bahraini news agency said.

It added that the two leaders held "cordial talks" later about cooperation between their respective states.

Earlier in the day, Jordan's official news agency said the King would head to Bahrain for talks with King Hamad on means of bolstering bilateral ties.

The Jordanian King's visit to Saudi Arabia last week came only three days after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi paid a visit to Amman and held talks with King Abdullah II.

Talks between the Egyptian President and the Jordanian monarch reportedly focused on the Middle East peace process and the situation in both Syria and Iraq.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/151306/jordanian-king-arrives-in-bahrain.

Defeated Tunisia candidate starts new movement

December 23, 2014

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — The defeated candidate in Tunisia's presidential run-off announced Tuesday a new movement to "prevent the return of despotism."

Moncef Marzouki told thousands of supporters at his campaign headquarters in a Tunisia suburb that he will create a movement of the people in all the cities of the country to "preserve the future of Tunisia."

Tunisians elected veteran politician Beji Caid Essebsi as the new president on Sunday after a series of elections that completed the country's democratic transition following the 2011 revolution. Essebsi served with Tunisia's previous presidents and his party includes many old regime officials, prompting fears by some of a return to the country's more authoritarian past.

Marzouki called on his supporters to organize in a "peaceful and democratic" manner. Soon after election results were announced Monday, riots erupted in several southern cities, which voted overwhelmingly for Marzouki in a vote that divided on geographic lines.

Interior Ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Aroui said the situation was stable by Tuesday after policemen used teargas to disperse angry protesters. Demonstrations erupted in the cities of Gabes, Tataouine, Douz and the Tunis suburb of Kram. Police stations and the headquarters for Essebsi's party were attacked.

Ukraine abandons nonaligned status

December 23, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's parliament dropped the nation's nonaligned status Tuesday, possibly paving the way for a bid to join NATO in defiance of the Kremlin's wishes. Russia, meanwhile, finalized a new economic alliance with other former Soviet nations it had vainly hoped Ukraine would join.

The parallel moves reflected new divisions in Europe as Russia-West ties have plummeted to their lowest point since Cold War times over the Ukrainian crisis. The parliament in Kiev passed the bill to drop the nonaligned status in a 303-9 vote, with supporters saying it was justified by Russian aggression toward Ukraine, including the annexation of its Crimean Peninsula in March and Russian support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where some 4,700 people have been killed since the spring.

But opponents said it will only increase tensions, and Moscow echoed that view. "This is counterproductive, it only heats up the confrontation, creating the illusion that accepting such a law is the road to regulating the deep internal crisis in Ukraine," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The move doesn't mean that Ukraine will apply to join NATO. But Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told the parliament the law opens up new mechanisms "in the conditions of the current aggression against Ukraine."

Ukraine's prospects for NATO membership in the near term appear dim. With its long-underfunded military suffering from the war with the separatists and the country's economy in peril, Ukraine has much to overcome to achieve the stability that the alliance seeks in members.

Five NATO countries — Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland — now share relatively short borders on Russia's western outskirts, totaling about 1,300 kilometers (780 miles). Adding Ukraine's 1,500-kilometer (900-mile) border with Russia to that would move the alliance's eastward flank substantially, and put it roughly on the same longitude as Moscow.

An alliance official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with NATO practice, told The Associated Press "our door is open and Ukraine will become a member of NATO if it so requests and fulfils the standards and adheres to the necessary principles."

Although Ukraine had pursued NATO membership several years ago, it declared itself a non-bloc country after Russia-friendly Viktor Yanukovych became president in 2010. Yanukovych was driven from power in February after months of street protests that exploded into violence, and was replaced with Western-leaning Petro Poroshenko in May.

The Kremlin had sought to persuade Ukraine to join the Eurasian Economic Union, an alliance which Russian President Vladimir Putin finalized Tuesday at a meeting with four other ex-Soviet leaders. The grouping, which includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, comes to existence on Jan. 1. In addition to free trade, it's to coordinate the members' financial systems and regulate their industrial and agricultural policies along with labor markets and transportation networks.

The new alliance immediately showed signs of fracture as the leader of Belarus sharply criticized Moscow for damaging his country's economic interests, breaking the ceremonial veneer. Belarus, sandwiched between Russia and European Union members Poland and Lithuania, has profited handsomely from Moscow's ban on imports of EU food in retaliation to Western sanctions against Russia by boosting imports of food from EU nations and reselling it to Russia.

The Russian authorities have retaliated by halting imports of Belarus' own milk and meat, citing alleged sanitary reasons, and banning transit of Belarusian food bound for Kazakhstan through its territory on suspicion that much of it ended up in Russia.

"In violation of all international norms, we have faced a ban on transit," Lukashenko said. "It was done in a unilateral way and without any consultations." The somber-looking Putin sat next to Lukashenko as he launched the attack, and tried to joke to get over an awkward moment. Amid the Ukrainian crisis, Russia can't afford losing Belarus, a major political and military ally. Lukashenko also knows that Russia needs him as the host of Ukrainian peace talks.

Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the eastern rebels are to meet Wednesday in the Belarusian capital Minsk for another round of talks on resolving the Ukraine crisis.

Since a cease-fire agreement was reached in Minsk on Sept. 5, fighting has diminished. But both sides have reported frequent cease-fire violations and failed to agree on a separation line that would allow for the creation of a buffer zone and for the warring forces to pull back heavy weaponry.

Another meeting of the so-called "Contact Group" in Minsk has been set for Friday, indicating no significant decisions are expected at the Wednesday session. Heidi Tagliavini of Switzerland, the OSCE's lead figure at the talks, said the participants would discuss how to solidify the cease-fire, the pullback of heavy weaponry, a complete exchange of prisoners taken by both sides in the conflict and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The divisive issue of determining a final status for the separatist regions is far from resolved. The rebels had sought absorption into Russia, but Moscow has fended off that request, instead urging the Kiev government to give broad rights to its regions in an apparent bid to use the east as a lever to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO.

Russia routinely characterizes the Ukrainian crisis as an internal matter and rejects claims from Ukraine and the West that it has sent troops and equipment to rebels in eastern Ukraine and shelled government positions from Russian border areas.

Russia's envoy to NATO, Alexander Grushko, told the Interfax news agency that the Ukrainian vote creates "serious complications in the search for a way to end the violence and change the situation into a political process."

Heintz reported from Moscow. John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this story.

Ukraine's rebel university goes Russian

December 23, 2014

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — In eastern Ukraine, where the country's pro-Russian insurgency has claimed thousands of lives, the region's top university is a major victim of the bitterness and rifts the fighting has caused.

The conflict has not only split the university in half and forced many students and professors to quit, it also has affected everything from the school's curriculum and the language of its instruction to its coat of arms and diplomas.

Even the name of the history department at the rebel-controlled Donetsk National University has been changed from the Ukrainian History Department to the Local and Regional History Department. Political unrest, followed by today's warfare, bubbled up in east Ukraine over anxieties that a burgeoning nationalist strain could undermine the interests of the region's majority Russian speakers. Instead, it is now Ukrainian culture that is on the defensive.

For the moment, the main struggle is to keep the university going as staff members and students flee in droves, many of them attending classes in a newly created campus in Vinnytsia, a city 500 miles (800 kilometers) west of Donetsk.

"The number of students has decreased, not only because of them moving to Vinnytsia, but also because of the fighting in our region," said Irina Yaroshevich, a teacher of Ukrainian literature and folklore in Donetsk.

The final straw for many came at the start of the academic year, when gunmen arrived and demanded that staff subject themselves to the authority of the secessionist government of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic.

"When the pressure from the militants became stronger, there was also pressure from below. Students asked the Education Ministry to continue our work in a territory under government control," said political sciences lecturer Vladimir Kipen.

He now teaches many of the same students — still officially under the auspices of the Donetsk National University — but in Vinnytsia. He said to operate at the behest of the ragtag armed separatist movement that now controls swaths of Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk would have been unbearable. "It would be to operate in a climate of violence," Kipen said by telephone from Vinnytsia. "The university is as a matter of principle a place of freedom.

Sergei Baryshnikov, who stayed behind in Donetsk to head up the rebel-controlled university, said work is now afoot to modify the curriculum in line with the evolving situation. "The Ukrainian history course has been minimized and has become part of a broader course of world history," Baryshnikov said. "This is right. It is appropriate and meets our political goals and ideological plans and intentions."

Donetsk National University student Anya Liutsoyeva confirmed that the Ukrainian history course now has been substituted with an ethnic history of the Donbass, the collective name of Ukraine's easternmost regions.

And although Russian is taking more prominence, Liutsoyeva stressed that the Ukrainian language has not been dropped altogether. "We still have Ukrainian departments of language and history. The subjects are still being taught and respected and valued as before," she said.

Educational and cultural reforms in separatist regions are unfolding against the backdrop of intense and ubiquitous evocations of the Soviet Union's role in World War II — a trend that has political ramifications for the future of Ukraine.

A commonly aired view among separatist supporters is that many western Ukrainians actively assisted invading Nazi forces. The name of World War II-era Ukrainian nationalist insurgent leader Stepan Bandera, who allied briefly with the Nazis, is used as a curse word.

The fascist label has become common currency and is used relentlessly to decry the government that took hold after the February overthrow of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a native of the Donetsk region. That accusation has its roots in the strong presence of radical Ukrainian nationalists among the ranks of the street movement that toppled Yanukovych.

That strand of thought appears to be underpinning the process of Russification, which Baryshnikov views as inevitable. "This sign (on the university coat of arms) used to be in Ukrainian. But in our scientific council we made a decision that it would be in Russian," he said.

Public schools are being swept up in the same drive. Viktoria Koval, headmistress of a Donetsk school, said the vast majority of parents expressed their preference for having children taught in Russian. "Our school used to be Ukrainian-speaking, but we provided parents with the opportunity to choose the language of instruction," she said. "But we still have Ukrainian textbooks, and now it is a mix of languages because the children speak both Ukrainian and Russian very well."

The shift to Russian is not purely about the politics, however. The language is almost universally spoken in Ukraine's industrial east, and it was with according dismay that many there greeted an abortive move by lawmakers to scrap the official status of Russian in the weeks after Yanukovych's overthrow.

Ideological differences are translating into practical problems for the university students caught in the middle. Baryshnikov said that graduates of the rebel-controlled universities will receive diplomas recognized by the Donetsk National University and Russian education establishments. But Kipen said that only those studying under the tutelage of the Vinnytsia-based part of the college will be eligible to receive a degree.

Hanna Yemielianenko, a lecturer in Ukrainian language in Donetsk, struck an optimistic note and said the region's multicultural legacy would ultimately get everybody through the hardship. "We are very tolerant and we are accustomed to living in peace," Yemielianenko said. "We will always manage to preserve this, regardless of the leadership's position."

Belfast leaders strike deal to save power-sharing

December 24, 2014

DUBLIN (AP) — Northern Ireland leaders reached agreement to sustain their troubled Catholic-Protestant government Tuesday following all-night Belfast talks that reduced some negotiators to bleary-eyed exhaustion.

British Prime Minister David Cameron in London heralded a deal that became possible when his government offered an extra 2 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) over the coming decade to Northern Ireland. Cameron said the financial boost, largely loans from the British Treasury, "opens the way for more prosperity, stability and economic security for Northern Ireland."

It will allow Northern Ireland to avoid cutting welfare payments as sharply as in the rest of the United Kingdom. Sinn Fein, the major Irish nationalist party representing the Catholic minority, had thrown power-sharing into turmoil over the past year by refusing to enact London-ordered cuts — and said Cameron's offer had vindicated its stubborn stand.

"Sinn Fein as a party has a duty and responsibility to stand up for the most disadvantaged and disabled people in our society," said Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, the former Irish Republican Army commander who since 2007 has jointly led the government alongside British Protestant politicians.

Reflecting a giddy mood after a 30-hour negotiating marathon, McGuinness cracked jokes about how his fellow IRA veteran and Sinn Fein negotiator, Gerry Kelly, had ended up snoring away in his office. "Has anybody got a disposable razor?" McGuinness asked journalists, smiling as he rubbed his stubbly chin.

The British and Irish governments jointly presented a 75-point plan for progress to local leaders Tuesday afternoon at Stormont, the power-sharing center in east Belfast. It represented all that could be agreed following 11 weeks of negotiations.

All five parties in Northern Ireland's coalition officially reserved judgment but signaled that formal support was inevitable once their party executive boards could meet. Crucially the major Protestant-backed party, the Democratic Unionists, lauded the package as better than expected.

"On the eve of Christmas Eve, Northern Ireland stands in a much better place today than it did yesterday," said Democratic Unionist deputy leader Nigel Dodds. "The budget catastrophe that was coming full speed toward all of us has been averted."

Failure would have meant that the Northern Ireland Assembly was dissolved and Britain would have resumed sole responsibility for running the government. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry both praised the power-sharing deal.

In a statement issued while he is vacationing in Hawaii, Obama congratulated "all the leaders involved who, once again, have shown that when there is a will and the courage to overcome the issues that have divided the people of Northern Ireland, there is a way to succeed for the benefit of all."

Obama said he is looking forward to the agreement being ratified and "the continued advancement of a peace process that is leading to a better future for the people of Northern Ireland." Kerry pledged "America's full political support for the new arrangements."

Greek lawmakers fail to elect president in round 2

December 23, 2014

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek lawmakers failed to elect a new president Thursday, stoking concerns the country is fast approaching early elections that would likely sweep the main anti-bailout opposition party to power.

The conservative-led government's candidate, Stavros Dimas, received 168 votes in Tuesday's ballot, eight more than in the first round but far short of the 200 needed for his election. The government has one more chance before parliament has to be dissolved. In the final round of voting on Dec. 29, a reduced total of 180 in the 300-seat parliament is required to elect Dimas, a conservative former European commissioner. If it fails to twist the arms of another 12 lawmakers, then elections will be called in a month.

Fears of protracted instability in Greece have grown in recent weeks, putting pressure on the country's financial markets. On Tuesday, the yield on Greece's benchmark 10-year bond rose 0.10 percentage points, to 8.26 percent. At that level, Athens is effectively locked out of borrowing in international markets. The main stock market is also down 1.7 percent.

Investors think early elections could prompt a change in policy in Greece, which has only recently emerged from a severe six-year recession. The main opposition party, Syriza, has said it wants the country's bailout program to be renegotiated. Syriza is leading in the polls.

"Despite further attempts by Syriza's leader to provide assurances that he is committed to keeping Greece in the euro and maintaining a balanced primary budget, investors remain concerned about the possibility of debt restructuring and an unwinding of austerity," said Sarah Pemberton, European economist at Capital Economics.

Greece has survived on 240 billion euros ($295 billion) worth of rescue loans from its partners in the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund. In return for the money, successive governments had to implement draconian spending cuts, hike taxes and enact a wide array of economic reforms.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras urged opposition lawmakers to back Dimas, saying they hold the country's interests in their hands. "I hope that in the third vote we will avoid the national danger, the tribulations that threaten the country," he said. "(Then) every lawmaker will find themselves face to face with Greeks' anxieties and ... will assume their responsibility."

Samaras cannot get Dimas elected without opposition backing, and has offered to set a timetable for early elections by the end of 2015. Syriza is demanding immediate elections. "Neither parliament nor the people will give Mr. Samaras a blank check, to continue with the bailout agreements, and impose ... austerity measures that cut pensions, increase the price of medicines, and loot society," Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras said after Tuesday's vote.

Russia, 4-ex-Soviet nations finalize new alliance

December 23, 2014

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia and four other ex-Soviet nations on Tuesday completed the creation of a new economic alliance intended to bolster their integration, but the ambitious grouping immediately showed signs of fracture as the leader of Belarus sharply criticized Moscow.

The Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, comes to existence on Jan. 1. In addition to free trade, it's to coordinate the members' financial systems and regulate their industrial and agricultural policies along with labor markets and transportation networks.

Russia had tried to encourage Ukraine to join, but its former pro-Moscow president was ousted in February following months of protests. Russia then annexed Ukraine's Black Sea Crimean Peninsula, and a pro-Russia mutiny has engulfed eastern Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the new union will have a combined economic output of $4.5 trillion and bring together 170 million people. "The Eurasian integration is based on mutual benefit and taking into account mutual interests," he said after the talks.

But Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko cracked the ceremonial veneer of the meeting by launching a harsh attack on Moscow for damaging Belarus' economic interests with moves to restrict its exports to Russia.

Belarus, sandwiched between Russia and European Union members Poland and Lithuania, has profited handsomely from Moscow's ban on imports of EU food in retaliation to Western sanctions against Russia by boosting imports of food from the EU nations and reselling it to Russia.

The Russian authorities have retaliated by halting imports of Belarus' own milk and meat, citing alleged sanitary reasons, and banning transit of Belarusian food bound for Kazakhstan through its territory on suspicion that much of it ended up in Russia.

"In violation of all international norms, we have faced a ban on transit," Lukashenko said. "It was done in a unilateral way and without any consultations."