U.N. Security Council meets over Venezuela at request of U.S.

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday held a closed-door session over the crisis in Venezuela at the request of the United States, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said.

Monitor says Turkey's referendum was not genuinely democratic

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe election monitor said Turkey's referendum was not impartial and instead favored President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid "limitations on fundamental freedoms."

Trump Ask for 2016 Presidential Election Voter Fraud Probe

US President Donald Trump vowed on Wednesday to ask for an investigation into his claim that 3 million illegal immigrants voted in the 2016 US election.

Iraq's new PM backed by US, Iran

Iraq's new prime minister-designate won swift endorsements from uneasy mutual allies the United States and Iran today as he called on political leaders to end crippling feuds that have let jihadists seize a third of the country.
Haider al-Abadi still faces opposition closer to home, where his Shi'ite party colleague Nuri al-Maliki has refused to step aside after eight years as premier that have alienated Iraq's once dominant Sunni minority and irked Washington and Tehran.

As Ukraine Opposition Rallies Intensify, Lenin Statue Falls. -A group of masked youths apparently belonging to the Svoboda nationalist party used a steel cable to rip it down

KIEV, December 8 (RIA Novosti) – Several hundred thousand people gathered in the Ukrainian capital Sunday for one of the largest protest rallies in the former Soviet nation’s history, throwing down the gauntlet to a government that has resisted calls for negotiation with the opposition.

In an incident that may have spark criminal investigations and cast a shadow over the generally pacific events, however, a group of nationalists ripped down a statue of Soviet revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin.
The mass assembly in Kiev was the biggest to date since the government last month pulled out of preparations to sign landmark political and trade deals with the EU, sparking widespread indignation across Ukraine.

Greece probes extremist link to the two young people murders.

AFP - Greek authorities believe an extremist group may be behind a drive-by shooting outside the offices of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party in which two men were killed and another wounded, sources close to the investigation said Saturday.

Investigators are examining "all avenues, particularly those that link these events to extremist groups" behind a series of attacks on politicians, police, banks and the media, according to one source.

The revelation came as the mother of the wounded man, 29-year-old Alexandros Gerontas, called on Greek people to "overcome their differences" for the good of the country and to "stop the bloodshed".

Türkischer Minister droht Merkel mit Konsequenzen/ Οι Τούρκοι έχουν "σαλτάρει" και απειλούν τη Γερμανία....

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Der Streit zwischen Berlin und Ankara um das harte Vorgehen der türkischen Regierung gegen Demonstranten eskaliert. Wegen deutschlandkritischer Äußerungen der Regierung in Ankara wurde am Freitag der türkische Botschafter in Berlin, Hüseyin Avni Karslioglu, ins Auswärtige Amt (AA) einbestellt. Äußerungen zu den EU-Beitrittsverhandlungen seien auf großes Unverständnis gestoßen. "Das geht so nicht", sagte AA-Sprecher Andreas Peschke.

Kurz darauf bestellte das türkische Außenministerium den deutschen Botschafter Eberhard Pohl ein, wie eine Ministeriumssprecherin auf Anfrage bestätigte. Außenminister Ahmet Davutoglu habe bei einem Besuch im ukrainischen Odessa gesagt, Grund seien Aussagen Pohls und aus Deutschland, meldete die Nachrichtenagentur Anadolu. Da Pohl sich nicht in Ankara aufhalte, werde ihn ein anderer Diplomat vertreten.

EU's Ashton calls for restraint following incidents at Taksim Gezi Park in Constantinople

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EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Ashton called on all sides to act with restraint after incidents in Taksim Gezi Park

 

Ankara (AA) - EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton on Sunday called on all sides to act with restraint after the incidents in Istanbul's Taksim Gezi Park.
In a statement made, Ashton's spokesperson said that they were concerned about Turkish police using "excessive force"[1] at Taksim.

Ten years since the signature of the Treaty of Athens

Ten years ago, on April 16, 2003, the Treaty of Accession to the European Union of 10 European countries – the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia – was signed in Athens. This historical event took place during the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union and is enshrined forever as one of the most important documents of the reunited Europe. Later, on May 1, 2004, all our countries became fully fledged members of the reunified European family comprising 25 member states at that time. It was the largest single expansion since the Paris Treaty of 1951, the forerunner of the EU, in terms of population, number of states and territory.
Moreover, it was the symbolic completion of the vital strategic goal of all the acceding member states to finally put an end to the post-World War II period by returning to the common space of freedom and stability, democracy and prosperity. The signature of the Treaty of Athens opened a new era for the acceding countries, for their citizens and ultimately for the whole of Europe.