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Hamas stands firm in talks with Russia By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow (Filed: 04/03/2006) An attempt by Russia to persuade Hamas to recognise Israel's right to exist and to give up its armed struggle against the Jewish state has failed. The talks between the radical Islamic group and the Russians were the first Hamas had held with any member of the international community since it swept to power in the Palestinian territories six weeks ago. Khaled Meshaal and the Hamas delegation in Moscow But the Kremlin failed to win any concessions from the militant group, which has claimed responsibility for...

Last update - 01:05 27/02/2006 Hamas lawmakers say will not recognize Israel, hold talks By Haaretz Service and agencies SOUTHERN SHUNEH, Jordan - Two Hamas lawmakers on Sunday dismissed any future peace talks with Israel, calling past negotiations "a failed experiment" and said Arab nations had rejected U.S. pressure to force the militant Palestinian movement to moderate. Hamas leaders Mahmoud Zahar and Saeed Syiam made the comments during a gathering of Arab parliamentarians on the Jordanian shore of the Dead Sea. Speaking to The Associated Press on the sidelines of the conference, Zahar asserted that Hamas' recent upset victory in...

Posted: 21-02-2006 , 15:42 GMT The Iranian delegation which arrived in Moscow to discuss Iran's nuclear program has reportedly left without having achieving many concrete results. However, the two sides did agree on the principles of a "common formula" for the Russian plan to allow Iran to enrich uranium on its soil. The proposal, set forth by Moscow, would ensure greater oversight of Iran's controversial nuclear program in an effort to ease international tension surrounding it. "The negotiations were positive and constructive -- we talked about the principles of a common formula and reached an agreement on those principles," head...

Iran-EU talks' message worries Israel Herb Keinon and AP, THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 21, 2006 Israeli officials expressed "disappointment" Monday that the EU was holding talks in Brussels with Iran's foreign minister, saying this was the time to disengage from the Iranians, not enter into a dialogue with them. According to the officials, the visit by the Iranian foreign minister to Brussels, as well as a visit by an Iranian delegation to Russia to discuss Moscow's proposal that Russia enrich uranium for Iran, was meant to buy Teheran more time. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is to meet on...

King of Nepal calls for talks on democracy (Filed: 20/02/2006) Nepal's King Gyanendra made his first formal approach to the country's estranged political parties yesterday, urging them to join talks and try to put democracy back on track a year after he seized absolute power and fired the government. "We, therefore, call on all willing political parties to come forth to fully activate, at the earliest, the stalled democratic process in the greater interest of the nation," King Gyanendra said in a national democracy day statement. The king also urged anti-monarchy Maoist rebels to shun violence and rejoin the mainstream....

EU hosts last-ditch talks on Iran Western powers suspect Iran's nuclear ambitions are not peaceful The EU is set to hold last-minute talks with Iran - at Tehran's request - to try to resolve a stand-off over Iran's controversial nuclear programme. Iran requested the meeting with envoys from Britain, France and Germany. Foreign ministers from the EU-3 will also discuss the issue at separate talks in London with their counterparts from the US, Russia and China. On Thursday, the UN nuclear watchdog is due to hold urgent talks and could refer Iran to the UN Security Council. The EU and...

WASHINGTON - Israel would be ready to open negotiations with the Palestinians on a permanent peace accord after the country's elections on March 28, former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres said Wednesday. Peres said after meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the aim would be ending the conflict between the two sides and establishing permanent borders. Implying that Israel was prepared to yield more territory, Peres told reporters, "We don't think of Gaza last but Gaza first." Israel's withdrawal from Gaza was undertaken by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Critics said Sharon's aim was to solidify Israel's control...

Iran crisis talks expose west's split with China · Europe seeks Tehran's referral to security council · Major obstacles remain in row over nuclear weapons Ewen MacAskill and Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow Tuesday January 17, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Differences between the west and Russia and China were exposed yesterday during a meeting in London to discuss strategy for tackling the crisis over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programme. After seven hours of talks Britain, France and Germany announced they are to seek Iran's referral to the security council at a meeting on February 2 and 3 of the UN's...

WASHINGTON - Lawyers for Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff are in discussions with the Justice Department about his possible cooperation in a congressional corruption probe, a person involved in the investigation said Tuesday night. The probe involves a number of members of Congress as well as staff. A former aide to ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, has already pleaded guilty. Abramoff would plead guilty under an arrangement that would settle a criminal case against him in Florida as well as potential corruption charges in Washington, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the...

Last update - 09:57 12/12/2005 Foreign Ministry slams EU talks with Hezbollah, Hamas By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent The Foreign Ministry believes that the European Union has violated international law by talking to Hezbollah and by planning to make contact with Hamas. An internal ministry document obtained by Haaretz states that contact with representatives of these two groups is contrary to international law. "Several countries have adopted a policy that includes entering into official talks with representatives of Hamas and Hezbollah, or refraining from taking harsh measures against their involvement in terrorism," the document states. "From a legal standpoint, such...

MONTREAL - After two contentious weeks, the United States neared agreement with an array of other countries late Friday to join in global talks about possible new steps to combat climate change, the chief U.S. negotiator said. "We're getting very close. I'm quite confident we will have a successful outcome," Harlan Watson told The Associated Press as the U.N. climate conference entered its final hours. Any agreement would probably be only a small step forward, however, by a Bush administration that for days resisted Canadian and other efforts to draw it into multilateral talks on mandatory reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Sunday it had no interest in talking to its arch-foe the United States concerning events in Iraq or about its nuclear programme. Media reports last month quoted U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad as saying he had been authorised by President George W. Bush to begin a dialogue with Iran about Iraq. U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei has also suggested lately that Washington would eventually have to get directly involved in negotiations to resolve Tehran's nuclear standoff with the West. But Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said talks with U.S. officials...

President George W Bush has authorised his ambassador in Baghdad to talk to Iranian officials about the security crisis in Iraq in a move which suggests that America is adopting a less confrontational approach towards its old enemy. Although America has not had diplomatic relations with the clerical regime since the United States embassy in Teheran was stormed in 1979, Zalmany Khalilzad has been given permission to talk to his Iranian counterparts about the Iraqi insurgency and border security. Iran is widely blamed for destabilising Iraq by backing fellow Shia armed factions and allowing weapons and fighters to cross its...

The Iraqi reconciliation talks, sponsored by the Arab League in Cairo, agreed on a definition of terrorism all right, but it was one that seemed to legitimize the blowing up of American soldiers, even as they fight terrorism. For starters, this Iraqi communique — hammered out by some 200 Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders — called "resistance" a "legitimate right." You know, "resistance": the killers who blast soldiers on patrol, or kids getting candy or worshippers inside rival mosques to bits. The communique went on to note that "terrorism does not represent resistance," which sounded a little more promising. Then...

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Major U.S. allies expressed confidence on Thursday that they could persuade a reluctant Washington to consider new ways to fight global warming at a 189-nation environmental conference. The United States, the biggest emitter of heat-trapping gases, has ruled out joining any U.N.-led talks in coming years on ways to rein in rising temperatures. Such talks are favored by many at the U.N.'s November 28-December 9 climate conference. Host Canada and the European Union reckon they can allay U.S. fears that any discussions would inevitably lead to binding targets, opposed by Washington, which has pulled out of the...

Glossing over differences straining their political relationship, President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin greeted each other warmly Friday in talks expected to emphasize cooperation in the war on terror and the campaign to stop North Korea's nuclear ambitions. The two leaders apparently were still at odds over how to address Iran's nuclear program. There also were long-running differences over the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and U.S. concern that Russia is retreating from democracy. Exchanging pleasantries, they offered no public remarks on the issues they face. . . . Bush and Putin have generally agreed on a need to avert...

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria's top prosecutor has invited the chief U.N. investigator in the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister for talks on coordinating the U.N. probe with Syria's newly opened one, the official news agency reported Wednesday. Prosecutor-General Ghada Murad, who heads the Syrian probe into Rafik Hariri's killing, has asked U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis to come to Damascus "to search for the best means and mechanisms of cooperating between the two commissions," the Syrian Arab News Agency said. In a letter to Mehlis, Murad said her commission "highly appreciates your mission and is keen to unveil the...

The Thing About Thieves by Michael G. Mickey (10-24-05) Matthew 24:43-44: But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. As a police officer, I can tell you one thing about a thief. He is most often coming to take what is yours when you least expect it, late in the night or when you're away...

Mullah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani says the US and Israel are raising too much hue and cry trying to exaggerate Iran's peaceful nuclear activities solely for political purposes, irrespective of the grave consequences of their actions regionally and globally. In an interview with the Jeddah-based daily, Okaz, published on Saturday, Rafsanjani said there is a possibility of the referral of Iran's nuclear issue to the UN Security Council though "knowing the serious outcome of such a move would convince western leaders to act more prudently to avoid such a development". "The US and the 'Zionist regime' have been trying to exaggerate...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's initiation of high-level talks with Israel prompted fury from Islamic hard-liners who stormed out of Parliament on Friday and called protests in major cities across the country. But despite fiery rhetoric, the rallies held after Friday prayers were poorly attended, and newspaper commentators gave the landmark meeting between Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and his Pakistani counterpart Khursheed Kasuri a cautious welcome. Thursday's meeting in Turkey was the first high-level contact between the two countries — a direct response to Israel's recent removal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Naeem...