WESTERN EUROPE
Belgium may soon become the first European nation to outlaw the burqa and other Islamic garb even as France and the Netherlands are seen moving in the same direction.
Meanwhile earlier this month traffic police in France fined a Muslim woman for wearing Islamic face veil while driving. In the EU France is home to the largest Muslim population that comprises nearly 10% of the 62 million French population.
In Greece Hundreds of thousands of state employees staged a 24-hour strike last week against harsh austerity measures the government has announced in a bid to end the financial crisis.
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
A massive cloud of dangerous ash from an Icelandic volcano moved southward last week forcing many countries in the Balkans to close their airspace.
In Albania Lawmakers from the main opposition Socialist Party (SP) and their supporters staged a rally last week against the material that public operator TVSH is broadcasting. Meanwhile the political deadlock in the country regarding the disputed election last year continues.
On April 19th in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) several thousand people attended the funeral of Bosnian Muslim wartime army commander General Rasim Delic. He was buried in Sarajevo with the highest military honors.
Meanwhile NATO foreign ministers agreed last week at an informal meeting in Tallinn to offer Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) a Membership Action Plan (MAP). The ministers, however, set conditions for implementing the MAP, including resolving the defence property issue.
A court in Zagreb sentenced the former head of Croatia's mission to the UN, Neven Jurica, to 18 months in prison last week for embezzling more than 90,000 euros of state funds.
The EU representative for northern Kosovo, Italian Ambassador Michael Giffoni, has said that the EU will not recognize structures resulting from municipal elections organized by Serbia.
Meanwhile in Macedonia Police detained more than 30 doctors and officials of the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund for suspected fraud for allegedly diagnosing patients without disabilities to allow them to receive pensions.
Russia spokesman for the Foreign Ministry has voiced his government’s alarm at the intentions behind the U.S. missile defense plan in Eastern Europe and its deployment of Patriot missiles in Poland.
Meanwhile Poland's Democratic Left Alliance party announced that Grzegorz Napieralski would be their presidential candidate in the upcoming early elections after their former candidate died in a plane crash on April 10 in Russia.
Acting President Bronislaw Komorowski set elections for June 20.
The President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus has fiercely criticized EU officials for not turning out for president Lech Kaczynski’s funeral. The only representative of the EU offices at the funeral was a Polish politician Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament.
Hungary faced a second round of parliamentary elections last weekend. Fidesz won a resounding victory, promising an economically shocked public badly needed jobs and growth. Meanwhile the far-right Jobbik party surfaced as a political challenger, taking nearly 17 % of the vote. Jobbik is openly anti-Semitic and anti-gypsy.
Kyrgyzstan's interim leader Roza Otunbayeva has condemned Belarus' decision to take in ousted Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, warning that Bishkek would appeal to Interpol if he is not extradited.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov has been elected the chairman of the ruling Party of Regions. President Yanukovich quitted the Party of Regions on March 3, as the Ukrainian constitution did not allow the president to hold any ruling positions in public organizations.
The Kremlin has scored a major diplomatic victory, striking a deal that will allow Russia's Black Sea Fleet to stay in Ukraine for another thirty years, more than a quarter of a century after it was supposed to leave. Russia has agreed to give Ukraine multi-billion dollar discounts to the price it pays for Russian natural gas in return. The controversial deal means that the Russian fleet will no longer have to abandon its famous base in the city of Sevastopol in Crimea in 2017 as originally planned. Meanwhile the US Secretary of State Clinton has said that the decision by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych should be seen as an attempt to balance his country's foreign policy, not a step away from the West towards Russia.
Latvia's right-wing government has slashed public-sector pay by an average of 31% over the past two years in a bid to satisfy international financiers. The average salary for a ministerial worker plummeted from 1,136 lats (£1,392) in February 2008 to 786 lats (£963) in February 2009.
On the economic front according to an IMF forecast Poland’s economic growth will reach 2.7 % this year and will accelerate to 3.2 % in 2011.
President of the Poland-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chief Julius Ogunyemi, has urged the Federal Government to consider Poland's initiative of revamping the nation's power and steel sectors. The late president was considering the deployment of Polish technology towards the revamping of Nigeria's railway system.
Czech production of personal and light utility vehicles jumped by nearly a third in the first three months of 2010, showing a recovery in the export-reliant economy was gaining traction.
The government of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, running for re-election in a June general election has pledged to bring the fiscal deficit back to the European Union's official limit of 3 percent in 2012 and reach a balanced budget later in 2015.
Ukraine hopes to secure a new $12 billion lending program from the International Monetary Fund for the next 30 months. The IMF had released around $11 billion of a $16.4 billion program to Ukraine before freezing lending in late 2009 after large spending increases were passed into law. The country badly needs to secure further lending to revive its economy after a 15% contraction last year.
The Russian government has placed two bonds worth 5.5 billion dollars on the international market for the first time since Moscow defaulted on domestic debts in 1998. Meanwhile Russia's economic development minister has said that the country's economy grew 0.6 % in the first quarter this year, where the recovery has lasted for three consecutive quarters.
Cisco and Nextira one has announced that they have completed a major deployment co-financed by the European Union's Outer Borders Fund to extend and support the Polish Border Guard's information technology and communications platform.
The Czech Republic is to bring "the best of its culture" to China with the Czech cultural festival entitled "New Sensitivity" starting this month. The two-month festival will feature Czech's two strengths: ballet and sculpture.
The Stockholm city authorities have asked diplomats from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Poland for cooperation in solving the problem of immigrant beggars in the city. No official statistics are available, but it is estimated that about 100 homeless immigrants from new EU member states are staying in Stockholm currently.
RUSSIA
Russia has voiced disapproval of a final document distributed at an international nuclear conference in Iran, which gathered top officials and experts from 56 countries, According to Russian Government, the
document was not discussed by the event's participants and it was not submitted for approval by delegates. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attended the conference on disarmament and nonproliferation, entitled Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for None, which was held in Tehran on April 17-18.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said here Friday that sanctions against Iran have become unavoidable because of its unwillingness to comply with the international community and to carry out the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and those made by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors. But it is necessary for such sanctions to be selective and do not include the Iranian energy sector,
The Peruvian Defense Minister said Friday his country plans to buy attack and transport helicopters from Russian for deployment with counter-narcotics forces. There are plans to buy six Mi-17 transport helicopters and two Mi-35 attack helicopters.
A high-level Russian delegation is set to negotiate Russian accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) with U.S.
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said April 21 that Russia will give preferential treatment to its partners. This was followed by the Ukrainian deal where the price charged for natural gas has been cut by nearly 30 %. In doing so, Moscow is signaling its displeasure to Belarus.
In Russia a bill scheduled to be approved by the State DUMA aims to overhaul the financing for medical, educational, cultural and scientific institutions by giving them for the first time a free hand in how they spend state subsidies.
A group of U.S. lawmakers is calling on Russian President Dmitry Medvedev not to suspend adoptions between Russia and the United States. Russian authorities have said all adoptions to the U.S. are on hold pending a new agreement on the matter that could take months.
US/CANADA
In the USA Public confidence in government is at one of the lowest points in a half century, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center. Nearly 8 in 10 Americans say they don't trust the federal government and have little faith it can solve America's ills.
Meanwhile President Barack Obama last week cited encouraging signs of an auto industry rebound as he promoted stronger financial rules that he said would help prevent a repeat of the crisis that pushed carmakers to the brink. After shedding 400,000 jobs in 2008, bailed-out U.S. automakers are rebounding. General Motors Co. said this week it will repay $8.1 billion in U.S. and Canadian government loans five years ahead of schedule.
Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) a prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization last week said it has asked the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) to investigate a report of anti-Islam bias in the training offered to security personnel by that military law enforcement agency that includes the viewing of a propagandistic anti-Islam film.
Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona USA signed the nation’s toughest bill on illegal immigration into law last week aimed at identifying, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants. The move unleashed immediate protests and reignited the divisive battle over immigration reform nationally.
Following the recent signing of a Strategic Nuclear Arms Agreement with Russia, the United States is parrying a push by several NATO allies to withdraw its aging stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons from Europe. Speaking last week at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the Obama administration was not opposed to cuts in these battlefield weapons, provided Russia agreed to cuts in its arsenal as well, which is allegedly ‘10 times’ the size of the American one.
According to the top U.S. military commander in Iraq the planned withdrawal of nearly 45,000 U.S. troops from by the end of August is on track in spite of a recent increase in attacks by militant forces.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates asserted last week that the U.S. is prepared to take a range of actions against the Iranian nuclear program and will not be taken ‘off guard’.
LATIN AMERICA
Argentine meat workers marched to the labor ministry last week, disrupting traffic in downtown Buenos Aires, to protest expected job cuts amid fears that falling beef production will lead to plant closures.
Argentina’s last dictator Reynaldo Bignone, 82, has been convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for torture and illegal detentions committed during the nation’s 1976-1983 military regime.
Argentina’s Minister for Science, Technology and Productive Innovation Dr Lino Baranao has said that the country is initiating steps to boost co-operation with educational and scientific institutions in Qatar to develop its science, research and technology in coming years.
Vietam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung led a delegation to Buenos Aires last week for his official visit to Argentina. Meanwhile Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also arrived in Argentina on the first visit by a Russian head of state to the nation, touting Moscow's drive to expand its presence and influence in Latin America.
China and Brazil’s governments said in a joint statement that the two countries have agreed to cooperate in oil exploration and building infrastructure needed to ship Brazilian iron, coal and other minerals to China.
Brazil's government appeared to harden its position regarding Iran's government and its nuclear program following statements at a BRIC meeting, saying the country must be flexible in talks with the international community.
Chile's President Sebastian Pinera has announced his $8.43 billion plan to finance Chile's reconstruction with tax increases, new government debt and withdrawals from the country's copper savings.
The Catholic Church in Chile has asked for forgiveness from victims of pedophile priests in the country, saying there were 20 known such cases.
Mexico has become the top provider of sex slaves to the Americas, according to the United Nations. In an effort to tackle the problem, the Mexican government has now signed onto the UN's Blue Heart campaign, but so far it has had little success in prosecuting and convicting human traffickers.
Meanwhile Mexico is offering a package of tax and mortgage extensions and loans for the border city of Mexicali, after a 7.2-magnitude quake April 4 killed two people, damaged buildings and flooded some land with saline water.
On the Mexican Drug War front Mexican investigative reporters have revealed that violent drug cartels are increasingly hitting US targets in the country in an attempt to escalate an all-out war with President Felipe Calderon.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called on 35,000 armed militias yesterday to defend his socialist revolution with their lives if necessary as he faces a test of its popularity in elections in September.
Colombia has warned its citizens of the dangers of visiting Venezuela after eight Colombians were detained in the neighboring country on espionage accusations.
Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez last week welcomed investment by U.S. oil companies to help develop his country's vast crude reserves, as he held energy talks in Washington for the first time in six years.
President Hugo Chavez said over the weekend that China had agreed to extend $20 billion in loans to Venezuela, pointing to deepening ties between the two countries as China seeks to secure oil supplies here.
Cuban President Raul Castro arrived in Venezuela last week to participate in the main celebrations for the bicentennial of the beginning of Venezuela’s struggle for independence, including the Ninth Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA) regional cooperation and integration bloc.
Meanwhile the governments of Venezuela and Argentina signed 25 cooperation accords in a number of sectors including food, construction and energy, during the latest of the quarterly meetings of the two countries' heads of state, Hugo Chavez and Cristina Fernandez.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that Venezuela's economic recovery is expected to be "delayed and weak" compared to other countries in the region which managed to weather the global downturn "comparatively well". §
document was not discussed by the event's participants and it was not submitted for approval by delegates. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov attended the conference on disarmament and nonproliferation, entitled Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for None, which was held in 
When lovers utter these words, it's usually a bad sign for the relationship. They feel suffocated. They're reexamining their commitment. They're checking out other options. But they don't have the courage to make a clean break.
ReplyDeleteBritain is the latest country to question its "special relationship" with the United States. The recent elections have brought in the new team of David Cameron (Conservative Party) and Nicholas Clegg (Liberal Democrats). Both leaders have complained of how unquestioningly close Britain became to the United States during the Bush-Blair and then Brown-Obama years. The new British Foreign Minister Walter Hogue has called for trans-Atlantic relations to be "solid but not slavish."
Meanwhile, a couple months ago, a British parliamentary committee recommended that the very phrase "special relationship" be retired altogether. "The UK needs to be less deferential and more willing to say no to the United States on those issues where the two countries' interests and values diverge," the committee's report said.
Sounds to me like the Brits are very clearly saying: This whole shacking up thing isn't working out. Let's just be friends. Do you mind spending the night on the sofa?
The British aren't the only ones trying to figure out how to say no. Our closest ally in Asia, Japan, has made similar noises. Back in September, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama called for greater equality in relations with the United States. "I also feel that as a result of the failure of the Iraq war and the financial crisis, the era of U.S.-led globalism is coming to an end and that we are moving toward an era of multipolarity," he wrote in The New York Times. It looks like Japan has a wandering eye: Lately China has been sending a lot of roses and chocolate, and the wooing has done much to lower Japan's resistance.
The problem, however, is that the United States doesn't want to be just friends with Japan. It doesn't want to sleep on the sofa or hand over the front door key to China. Consequently, Washington has demanded signs of affection. "You signed an agreement in 2006 about the military base relocation in Okinawa," Washington is now saying to Tokyo, "and we expect you to live up to that agreement." It's practically an ultimatum, which is what lovers do when they're worried about fidelity.
Another vital ally that has put critical distance between itself and Washington is Turkey. Back in 2003, Ankara refused to open up a second front in the Iraq War. Turkey has also worked hard to arrange a deal on Iran's nuclear program - most recently winning agreement from Tehran to ship 1,200 kilos of uranium to Turkey in exchange for higher-enriched fuel for a medical reactor - while Washington has been more focused on sanctions and other punitive actions. Turkey hasn't turned its back on the United States. Its ambassador has even returned to Washington after his recent decampment over the Armenian genocide resolution. But Ankara has been having second thoughts for some time about being too close to the United States. It's playing the field, establishing closer relations with Syria and Russia, and even flirting with some former adversaries like Greece and Armenia.