Egypt's opposition wins a handful of seats in parliamentary run-off

Mon, 06 Dec 2010

Cairo - Egypt's opposition parties won a handful of seats in the lower house of parliament, after some members ignored a call to boycott Sunday's run-off vote, preliminary election results showed Monday.

One member of the leading opposition Muslim Brotherhood, won one of the 508 seats in the People's Assembly, while four members each from the al-Wafd and the al-Tagammu parties won seats, according to media reports.

The Brotherhood and several smaller opposition parties refused to take part in the run-off after making a poor showing in the first round. The Brotherhood, which has 88 seats in the outgoing parliament, failed to win a single seat in the first round.. They accused the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of fraud.

But several opposition candidates continued campaigning for the run-off despite the boycott.

President Hosny Mubarak's NDP won 209 of the 508 contested seats in the first round, and is expected to make similar gains in the run-off. Final results are expected Wednesday.

The run-off election was marked by a low voter turnout and saw renewed allegations of fraud from the opposition.

The National Council for Human Rights, a quasi-governmental body, reported that hundreds of complaints had been filed by voters throughout the day, with some claiming they were turned away at polling stations.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356757,handful-seats-parliamentary-run-off.html.

Iran, world powers resume nuclear talks in Geneva

Mon, 06 Dec 2010

Geneva - Iran resumed talks with six world powers over its contentious nuclear program in Geneva on Monday, a Western diplomat confirmed, with both sides seeking to build confidence rather than achieve a real breakthrough.

The two-day meeting is the first in more than 12 months during which relations between Tehran and the grouping of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China have deteriorated.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeid Jalili said on the weekend that Iran's right to seek nuclear technology was "non-negotiable."

His counterpart in the latest talks is European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, negotiating on behalf of the six powers.

These and other countries are worried that Iran could use its uranium enrichment plants to make fuel for nuclear warheads rather than reactors. But four rounds of United Nations-imposed sanctions have not been able to pressure Tehran to halt enrichment.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Sunday called the resumption of talks a positive step and expressed hope that Iran would increase transparency surrounding its nuclear program.

"If Iran fulfills its international obligations on transparency, Germany is willing to cooperate with Iran on the civilian use of nuclear energy," he said.

Ahead of the talks, officials on both sides of the table said that one way to break the impasse could be to revive a confidence-building scheme in which Iran would export enriched uranium, thus signaling that it cannot be used for military means.

The plan was hatched in the previous round of talks in Geneva in October 2009, but faltered amid internal political bickering in Iran, the expansion of its nuclear program, and new international sanctions targeting the country.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356764,resume-nuclear-talks-geneva.html.

Merkel, Tusk to discuss eurozone debt crisis at Berlin talks

Mon, 06 Dec 2010

Berlin - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrived in Berlin Monday for talks on the eurozone debt crisis with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Several Polish ministers accompanied Tusk for consultations with their German counterparts.

The talks come ahead a European Union summit next week, at which member states are due to agree on a permanent eurozone rescue mechanism.

Last week EU finance ministers offered Ireland an 85-billion-euro (110-billion-dollar) loan under the temporary rescue mechanism set up following Greece's debt crisis earlier this year.

Speculation remains rife that Portugal or Spain could be the next eurozone states in need of rescue measures.

Merkel is also scheduled to discuss details of the proposed rescue mechanism with Swedish premier Fredrik Reinfeldt and French President Nicolas Sarkozy later this week.

Germany is demanding that creditors pay for at least a share of future rescue schemes, but opposes the use of jointly guaranteed eurobonds, as proposed by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

This is the tenth time Germany and Poland engage in joint government consultations.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356774,debt-crisis-berlin-talks.html.

Israel, Turkey officials meet in bid to smooth relationship crisis

Mon, 06 Dec 2010

Tel Aviv - An Israeli and a Turkish official have met in Geneva to discuss the crisis in relations between the two former close allies - the first such bilateral encounter in months, Israel Radio reported Monday.

The crisis was sparked by Israel's assault on a flotilla headed to Gaza in May, during which Israeli commandos shot dead nine Turkish stick-wielding civilian pro-Palestinian activists on board the Turkish Mavi Marmara.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office and the Foreign Ministry, asked by the German Press-Agency dpa, would not confirm or deny the Sunday meeting.

A senior Israeli official said he would not comment on any specifics, but did tell dpa "Israel regrets deeply the deterioration in the relationship between Jerusalem and Ankara and firmly believes that a more positive relationship is in the fundamental interest of both sides."

He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Netanyahu reportedly sent Yosef Ciechanover, Israel's representative to the United Nations commission investigating the flotilla deaths, while the Turkish Foreign Ministry sent Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, to the Geneva meeting.

It comes after Turkey sent two planes to Israel to help fight its worst ever forest fire, which over the past four days burnt 50 square kilometers of the Carmel Hill and killed 42 Israelis.

Netanyahu on Friday personally thanked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the assistance and said he hoped it would be the beginning of an improvement in the marred ties.

"We very much appreciate this mobilization and I am certain that it will be an opening toward improving relations between our two countries, Turkey and Israel," Netanyahu told Erdogan, according to a statement.

Netanyahu also told reporters at Haifa's Rambam hospital that Israel would "find ways to express our appreciation."

Turkey's good ties with Israel started to sour when Ankara criticized Israel's December 2008 to January 2009 offensive against Gaza.

And they hit a low when Israel overpowered the Gaza-bound flotilla in May in international waters.

The Turkish premier has insisted that his country will not begin to restore relations with Israel until it apologizes for its "savage attack" on the vessel. Israel has ruled out such an apology.

Only last month, the depth of the crisis was exposed when the WikiLeaks website unveiled diplomats' cables briefing Washington, one of which claimed that Erdogan "hates" Israel. Ankara has denied that.

Another from the US embassy in Ankara said that when Turkey booted Israel from a joint exercise in June 2009, diplomats managed to present it publicly as a "postponement." But, said the cable, "the relationship is souring."

The unconfirmed Geneva parley was the first since Israeli Trade and Industry Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer secretly met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Brussels in July.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356777,bid-smooth-relationship-crisis.html.

London mayor cancels FIFA Olympic freebie

Sun, 05 Dec 2010

London - The fall-out to England's defeat in the race to host the 2018 World Cup continued on Sunday as London mayor Boris Johnson withdrew an offer of free hotel rooms for FIFA executives during the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Johnson had agreed to put up FIFA president Joseph Blatter and other officials at the exclusive Dorchester Hotel, but after Thursday's decision to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia, the offer has been rescinded.

The mayor is understood to have discussed the issue with the London Olympic organizing committee chairman Sebastian Coe, but he has not commented on the decision.

Johnson, who was in Zurich to help with last-minute lobbying, said the result was a "big blow and tremendously disappointing".

The withdrawal of the offer, whose initial justification - from a bid that prided itself on not offering inducements - remains unclear, is part of a general backlash in England against FIFA.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356680,cancels-fifa-olympic-freebie.html.

Italy asks for clemency against Tariq Aziz death sentence

Sun, 05 Dec 2010

Baghdad - Italy asked that Iraq not execute Tariq Aziz, a former top aid to toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi foreign minister said Sunday.

Aziz, a fluent English speaker and once the public face of Saddam's regime, is 74 years old and suffered a stroke in January in a prison in Baghdad. He is believed to be in poor health.

The Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, who was in Baghdad, issued "a request for a pardoning of Tariq Aziz or a clemency against his death sentence," Iraq Foreign Minister Houshiar Zubeiri told journalists.

"This request has also came from Russia, the Vatican, and Arab states," he said, but added that the "final decision lies with the justice system."

Zubeiri's statements came at a joint press conference with his Italian counterpart, who was completing a Middle East tour.

The Italian government and the European Union have condemned Aziz's death sentence, handed down in October by an Iraqi court, as politically motivated.

Iraqi President Jalal al-Talabani, who opposes the death penalty, said last month that he would not sign Aziz's execution order. While Talabani has in the past refused to sign-off executions, vice presidents have approved some in his place.

Aziz, a Christian, served as foreign minister and deputy prime minister under Saddam and was the most prominent member of any minority sect in the previous regime.

The Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal in Baghdad found Aziz guilty of persecution and efforts to "liquidate" Iraqi religious parties, particularly those of Shiite Muslims.

Rights groups have accused the court of having suffered from "political interference" during Aziz's trial.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356688,tariq-aziz-death-sentence.html.

Mbeki begins mediation in Ivory Coast election crisis

Sun, 05 Dec 2010

Nairobi/Abidjan - Former South African leader Thabo Mbeki on Sunday began mediating between the two men laying claim to Ivory Coast's presidency in an effort to head off conflict in the West African nation.

The incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, 65, and his rival Alassane Ouattara, who were contesting an election supposed to put to bed the ghost of the 2002 civil war, on Saturday both conducted swearing-in ceremonies amid rising tensions in the world's biggest cocoa grower.

The nation's electoral commission on Thursday declared Ouattara, 68, the winner of last Sunday's run-off poll - a result recognized by the international community - only for a Gbagbo ally heading up the constitutional council to overrule the decision.

Mbeki was sent by the African Union to resolve a crisis the 53- nation bloc said could have "incalculable consequences for the country, as well as for the region and the continent as a whole."

The former South African president - who mediated during the civil war that split the nation into the rebel, mainly Muslim north and Christian-majority, government-controlled south - met Gbagbo and the United Nations special representative YJ Choi.

He was due to meet Ouattara, a former prime minister and senior International Monetary Fund official, later in the day.

"I am going to meet everyone to get a general overview ... I can't engage in conclusions," he said after meeting Gbagbo, according to a statement on the presidency's website.

Gbagbo is under intense pressure from the international community, including the United States, United Nations, African Union and former colonial master France, to abide by the electoral commission's decision.

However, he so far has shown no sign of cracking and has the backing of the army. The regime has closed its borders and blocked the signals of all foreign television and radio news services. An overnight curfew is in place.

UN head Ban Ki-moon is backing the stance of Choi, who said the electoral commission results were valid. Gbagbo, speaking at his swearing in, dismissed the outside interference.

"I have never called on someone from outside to put me in office," Gbagbo said in an apparent rebuke to Choi, who said the Ivory Coast government had earlier authorized him to certify the vote.

The constitutional court annulled votes from seven regions in Ouattara strongholds in the north, claiming irregularities, but Choi said even if all the complaints by Gbagbo's camp were taken into account, the outcome of vote would still have balanced in Ouattara's favor.

Ouattara is backed by the former northern rebel group New Forces, headed by Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, who resigned in protest on Saturday.

"We recognize that Alassane Ouattara is the winner of the this election ... I decided to go give him my resignation from the government and as prime minister," Soro said in a statement on his party's website.

Ouattara immediately reinstated Soro.

There have been violent protests on the streets of Abidjan, with Ouattara supporters erecting flaming barricades, and unconfirmed reports of deaths, since Gbagbo claimed victory.

More than a dozen people had already died in clashes linked to the poll before the latest twist.

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, Ban and US President Barack Obama warned the two candidates they would be held to account for any further violence carried out by their supporters, while the International Criminal Court also said it was monitoring events.

Ivory Coast has been in crisis since 2002 when Gbagbo, who came to power in the wake of violent demonstrations at the 2000 presidential elections, survived a coup attempt.

The failed coup sparked the brief civil war. A 2007 peace deal brought the rebels into government through Soro.

The presidential poll had been postponed six times since 2005.