Ex-US president Carter urges Palestinian elections

Former US president Jimmy Carter on Saturday urged Palestinians to hold elections to end the de facto division of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Islamist-run Gaza Strip.

He was speaking at a joint news conference with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the Palestinian political capital Ramallah in the West Bank.

World presses Netanyahu after upset election win. Israel PM Netanyahu softens stance on Palestinian state

As Benjamin Netanyahu weighed up options for a new right-wing coalition Thursday, Western governments cranked up the pressure on the Israeli premier over his controversial campaign pledge ruling out a Palestinian state.

Spain's anti-austerity Podemos hails Greek ally Syriza

Spain's anti-austerity party hailed on Sunday its Greek radical left-wing ally Syriza which appeared on course for a stunning election victory.

Germany: Greek euro exit is now possible, report says

 Germany is prepared to accept a Greek exit from the euro, the magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.

"The German government considers a Eurozone exit by Greece to be almost inevitable if opposition leader Alexis Tsipras leads the government after the election and abandons budgetary discipline and does not repay the country's debts," Der Spiegel reported on its website, citing unnamed government sources.

Obama takes midterm hit (Result will not impact continuity in Sino-US ties)

The Republicans achieved sweeping midterm election wins on Tuesday, seizing control of the US Senate in a blow to President Barack Obama that will limit his political influence and curb his legislative agenda in his last two years in office, said analysts.

Republicans won in places where Democrats were favored, like a Senate race in North Carolina, pulled out victories where the going was tough, like a Senate battle in Kansas, and swept a number of governors' races in states where Democrats were favored, like Obama's home state of Illinois.

West slams leadership votes in east Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has not officially responded to the vote yet.

Pro-Russian separatists in the breakaway Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk went to the polls to choose leaders for their self-proclaimed republics, bringing the rebellion in the country's industrialized east to a climax in a move likely to exacerbate tensions between Russia and the West over the Ukraine crisis.

Alexander Zakharchenko, 38, a mining electrician-turned-rebel leader, on Monday won the election for leadership of the "Donetsk People's Republic (DPR)," the separatists' political and military stronghold in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine: Ban deplores planned holding of November ‘elections’ by rebel groups

UN, 29 October 2014 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today deplored the planned holding by armed rebel groups in eastern Ukraine of their own “elections” on 2 November, calling the potential polls a “breach of the constitution and national law.”

“These ‘elections’ will seriously undermine the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum, which need to be urgently implemented in full,” Mr. Ban said in a statement issued by his spokesperson in New York.

EU politicians not unanimous over Ukraine's future after parliamentary elections

German government considers those elections an important step towards stability, whereas an Italian politician and journalist Giulietto Chiesa believes that stability in Ukraine is still very far away ...


MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. Ukraine’s newly-elected parliament is unlikely to restore Ukraine to stability, Italian politician and journalist, Giulietto Chiesa, has told TASS.
“Stability is still very far away. Apparently, after the elections the prevailing presence of right-wing parties inside the Verkhovna Rada will be used as a pretext for an offensive (against Donetsk and Luhansk regions),” Chiesa said.

Kerry urges Assad's allies to end Syria war

BEIRUT: US Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed Syria's election as a "great big zero" on Wednesday, urging President Bashar al-Assad's allies Iran, Russia and Hezbollah to end the country's three-year war.

His remarks during a surprise trip to Beirut came ahead of the publication of official results from the election, dubbed a "disgrace" by Washington.

Kerry also announced US$290 million in humanitarian aid for Syria and neighbouring countries hosting refugees, key among them Lebanon.

Syria hails big turnout in presidential poll

Voting extended for five hours in first Syrian election for 50 years, which incumbent Assad seems certain to win....

Syrians are voting in a presidential election which the incumbent Bashar al-Assad is widely expected to win.
State television said on Tuesday that voting had been extended for five hours "because of the massive influx of voters". Polls will now close at 9pm GMT.

Eurosceptic parties cause 'earthquake' at EU polls

BRUSELS: France's far-right National Front and Britain's UKIP led a eurosceptic "earthquake" in EU parliamentary polls, sending shockwaves across Europe and beyond.

The EU Parliament's own projections on Monday morning showed the extent of the anti-EU breakthrough, with eurosceptic parties set to win around 140 seats in the 751-seat assembly.

The most emphatic results from the four days of polling across the 28-nation bloc, which ended on Sunday, came on both sides of the British Channel.

Security fears mount over Ukraine vote

Electoral commission calls for more security, saying 2 million people in east may be unable to vote because of violence....

Ukraine's electoral body has voiced fears that it may be impossible to hold next weekend's presidential poll in the east, where a pro-Moscow insurgency is threatening to plunge the country into a civil war.
The Central Election Commission said on Saturday it could not prepare for the vote in the region because of threats and "illegal actions" by separatists who have overrun more than a dozen towns and cities since early April, the news agency, AFP, reported.
It called for the authorities in Kiev to take urgent action to ensure security, saying that violence could prevent almost two million people from voting on May 25, when some 36 million overall will be called to the polls.
The warning came as Ukraine's embattled government held a second round of "national unity" dialogue under a Western-backed plan to try to defuse the crisis, but failed to report any progress.
Russia said Kiev must first halt its month-long offensive against the rebels, questioning the legitimacy of an election held under "the thunder of guns".

Ukraine president warns of 'step into abyss'

As two of the most tense regions in eastern Ukraine prepare to vote on declaring sovereignty, the country's acting president has warned them against self-destruction.
Ukrainian acting president Oleksandr Turchynov, in comments posted on the presidential website on Saturday, said the pro-Russian supporters of independence for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions "don't understand that this would be a complete destruction of the economy, social programs and general life for the majority of the population".
"This is a step into the abyss for the regions," Turchynov said.

Timoshenko says Ukraine should join NATO

Former Prime Minister and Batkivshchina (Fatherland) party leader Yulia Timoshenko said Ukraine “must be a member of NATO” even though a large part of people has many times spoken against this.

In an interview with The Associated Press, excerpts from which were published on Saturday, April 26, Timoshenko, who is running for presidency in Ukraine, spoke of a “fundamental change” in public thinking following the latest events in the east of the country and Russia’s actions.

She believes that the mentality of Ukrainians has changed as has the strategic course of the country. “NATO is the best choice for Ukraine,” she said.

Kiev has no money to pay off debts, financial crisis to follow - Ukraine's ex-minister

Ukraine’s new government is saying that it would try to do its best to stabilize the situation in the country. We have got in touch with Victor Suslov, once Ukraine’s Minister of Economy and now Ukraine’s representative in the Eurasian Economic Commission.
Ukraine’s new Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk says that now, Ukrainians would have to toughly economize for some time. Meanwhile, the head of Ukraine’s National Bank Stepan Kubiv has said that Ukraine has enough money to pay back its foreign debts.

La Grèce éclopée prend pour six mois les manettes d'une UE abîmée

La Grèce prend mercredi la présidence de l'UE au cours d'une cérémonie à Athènes en présence de plusieurs dirigeants européens, une étape à la dimension symbolique plus de quatre ans après le début de la crise et à quelques mois des élections européennes.

"C'est une grande responsabilité pour la Grèce d'occuper la présidence de l'UE pendant le semestre qui va mener aux élections de mai", a souligné mercredi le ministre des Affaires étrangères, Evangelos Venizelos, lors d'une rencontre avec la presse.
Les présidents du Conseil européen et de la Commission, Herman Van Rompuy et José Manuel Barroso, ainsi que tous les commissaires européens, font le déplacement dans la capitale grecque et rencontreront dans l'après-midi le gouvernement en place, comme ils le font pour chaque présidence de l'UE.

Chinese ships seen in disputed waters for first time since LDP's win (Senkaku/Diaoyu issue)

China has sent ships into the islands’ waters 19 times since Tokyo nationalised the chain in September.

Abe has pushed an agenda that includes upgrading the country’s Self Defense Forces to make them a full-scale military, and has spoken of wanting to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution.

 

TOKYO —

China sent its ships into territorial waters around disputed islands Friday, in the first incursion since Japan elected a new government.
The move is a setback to hopes in Tokyo that Beijing might use the poll as a chance for a fresh start after months of bitter wrangling and rhetoric over an issue that neither side is prepared to budge on.

Japan’s next PM: No quarter for China, reach out to Russia

(Senkaku/Diaoyu issue)
As Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda steps down after exit polls reveal a complete defeat of his party in parliamentary elections, the winner of the race Shinzo Abe states that Tokyo won’t concede China "one millimeter" of “Japan’s islands.”
"China is challenging the fact that (the islands) are Japan's inherent territory. Our objective is to stop the challenge," Shinzo Abe, leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), declared Sunday.