Kerry: US looks at Russian offer of military talks on Syria | Kerry says Russia proposed U.S.-Russia military talks on Syria
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Kerry says Russia proposed US-Russia military talks on Syria
Reuters WASHINGTON Russia has proposed military talks with the United States on Syria and the United States is considering next steps, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday. Kerry said he was talking to the White House and Pentagon about the ... Syria's UN diplomat says Russia should to carry out airstrikes against Islamic ...Fox News Assad Calls on Syrian Rebels to Join Him in Fight Against ISISNew York Times Secretary of State Kerry says Russia has proposed military-to-military talks ...Washington Post CTV News -CNN -CBC.ca all 839 news articles » |
(HORGOS, Serbia) — Europe’s migrant crisis took another ugly turn Wednesday when Hungarian riot police used tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons to beat back hundreds of people massed at the border with Serbia after some broke through a
gate. Children cried as they fled from the acrid smoke, and several people fainted in the chaos.With the route through Hungary apparently closed, some migrants set out on a longer, more arduous
route into Western Europe through Croatia.
Frustrated migrants — many of them war refugees from Syria and Iraq — who were blocked on the Serbian side of the border threw plastic water bottles and rocks at helmeted riot police and chanted demands that the now-sealed border be re-opened.
“We fled wars and violence and did not expect such brutality and inhumane treatment in Europe,” said Amir Hassan, an Iraqi who was soaking wet from the water cannon and trying to wash tear gas from his eyes. “Shame on you, Hungarians,” he shouted pointing in the direction of the shielded Hungarian policemen who were firing volleys of tear gas canisters directly into the crowd.
One of those who fainted was a woman who was holding a baby. Children and women cried while young men with scarves over their faces hurled stones as they charged toward the police through thick tear gas smoke. Several Serbian ambulances arrived to treat the injured.
The crowd also lit up old tires, causing dark smoke to fill the air. Hungarian media reported that a pregnant woman began giving birth to a baby amid the clashes.
The tensions escalated after hundreds of people broke through a border gate and were pushed back by the Hungarian police. Before that, some women had pushed to the front of the crowd holdingsmall babies and children above their heads as they faced police in an obvious appeal for mercy, but no one made it through.
Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs described the group as an “armed mob of illegal migrants,” telling reporters at the border that “these people are using kids as a human shield.”
In the past few months, Hungary has become a main entry point into the European Union for migrants with more than 200,000 entering the country so far this year. Almost all entered from the southern border with Serbia and passed through Hungary quickly on their way to Germany or other wealthy Western European nations.
But Hungary acted this week to stop the huge flow of people, sealing off its border with Serbia with a razor-wire fence and making it a crime to enter the country illegally.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto decried what he called “brutal attacks” by the migrants against Hungarian police and asked Serbia authorities to crack down on the migrants, who were on the Serbian side of the border.
“I think these pictures make it clear why the Hungarian government decided to take the measures it has recently taken,” Szijjarto said.
Serbian Labor and Social Care Minister Aleksandar Vulin expressed “the harshest possible protest” over Hungary’s use of tear gas and water cannons against the people at the border. Speaking on Serbian state TV from the Horgos border crossing, Vulin said he urged refugees to go to a migrant center in Kanjiza to get food, water, medical aid and rest for a while.
He didn’t have any information about the injured, but said incidents were expected as Hungary closed the border. “Hungary must show it is ready and capable to accept these people,” said Vulin.
Hungarian authorities also said Wednesday that they have arrested a total of 519 migrants who tried to cross the border since tough new laws went into effect on Tuesday that make it a crime to cross from Serbia anywhere other than at legal checkpoints. Authorities launched 46 criminal prosecutions and found two Iraqi men guilty, the first convictions based on the new laws.
Two men were expelled from Hungary and banned from re-entering the country for a year.
Televised images from a courthouse in Szeged earlier showed four Iraqi men who were charged with their hands tied in front of them.
Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday blamed Europe for the crisis, saying it’s a direct result of the West’s support for extremists in Syria over the past four years.
In an interview with Russian media, Assad accused Europe of supporting “terrorism” and providing “protection for terrorists, calling them moderates.”
Earlier in the day,
“Based on our history, we are always in solidarity with the refugees,” Szijjarto told The Associated Press in an interview. “What we’re saying is that we cannot accept economic migrants because we cannot bear the burden of that.”
Migrants trapped at border crossing near Horgos, a Serbian village, were confused about whether to keep waiting or to try to enter the EU through Croatia, a longer and less direct path into Western Europe.
“I don’t know what to do — stay here or try some other way to cross the border,” said Ahmed Sami from Aleppo, Syria. “We walked and traveled for hundreds, thousands of kilometers only to be stopped meters from the European Union. My wife and children cannot stand on their feet any more. This is tragic.”
At least 300 crossed into Tovarnik, Croatia, after they were bused to the Serbian border town of Sid on an all-night ride from Macedonia.
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic criticized Hungary’s decision to seal its border with Serbia for migrants and said Croatia will not do the same.
“We are ready to accept these people, regardless of their religion and the color of their skin, and direct them to the destinations where they wish to go, Germany and Scandinavia,” Milanovic told lawmakers in Parliament.
Elsewhere in Europe migrants remained on the move.
Greek police said about 5,000 refugees and migrants crossed the country’s northern border with Macedonia in the 24 hours from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, Austria began selective controls of vehicles at three main border crossings with Hungary as it tries to impose some order over the stream of people.
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Stojanovic reported from Horgos, Serbia; Mike Corder in Roszke, Hungary; Vanessa Gera, Pablo Gorondi and Alex Kuli in Budapest, Hungary; Darko Bandic in Tovarnik, Croatia; Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia; and George Jahn in Vienna contributed to this report.
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This week one of the oldest cities in the world has yet again become the focal point of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with a surge in violence at Jerusalem’s most hotly contested religious site, known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protestors at the compound, which houses the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock and is buttressed by the Jewish holy site, the Western Wall, on the eve of the Sept.14 Jewish New Year. Riots continued for three days. Outside Jerusalem, in an incident which demonstrated the escalating tensions, an Israeli man died Monday after Palestinians pelted his car with rocks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government is “declaring war” on stone throwers. “We are changing the policy,” he said. “The current situation is unacceptable to us. We intend to give tools to the police and soldiers to act very aggressively against those who throw rocks and petrol-bombs.”
Earlier this year, a leaked E.U. analysis of the growing violence and polarization in Jerusalem found that the ancient city had reached a dangerous boiling point. In 2014, 2,069 Palestinians and 168 Israelis were injured in clashes in Jerusalem, five times more than in either of the two previous years. In Jerusalem in 2014, 19 people were killed in incidents related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, compared to one death in 2012 and 2013.
Here are some pointers to understanding the struggle between some of the Israeli and Palestinian residents living in Jerusalem.
1. Jerusalem is sacred to the followers of three major faiths
Despite covering only 0.35 square miles the walled Old City in Jerusalem has an exceptionally high concentration of holy sites and monuments and is sacred to the world’s Jews, Muslims and Christians.
For Christians, who number about 14,000 — or 2% — of Jerusalem’s population, the city is the site of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Garden Tomb, both purported sites of Jesus’s resurrection, attract worshippers from around the world.
For Jews, who comprise 62% of the population, Jerusalem is the holiest city in the world. It is the capital of the ancient Israelite kingdom and the former location of the Jewish temples.
For Muslims, who make up more than a third of Jerusalem’s population, the city is one of Islam’s holiest sites, after Mecca and Medina. Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad was transported from Mecca to Jerusalem during his Night Journey to heaven.
2. The demand for equal access to the holy shrines is a source of tension
Non-Muslims are not permitted to pray on the Temple Mount as part of a long-held tradition, which has been upheld even after the 1967 takeover of East Jerusalem by Israel. Non-Muslims are allowed to visit in between Muslim prayer times but are not allowed to pray, but the ban is sometimes violated, particularly around major Jewish holidays. Muslims see these visits as provocative.
The recent violence has been partly triggered by belief of some Palestinians that Israel is preparing to allow Jews to pray on the site — something right-wing Jewish nationalists have been calling for. Though the Israeli government has emphatically denied plans for this and said the status quo will remain, deep distrust among Palestinians regarding Israeli intentions has led many to see this as further encroachment of Israeli presence onto what is currently a Muslim-managed site. U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Monday that “it is absolutely critical that all sides exercise restraint, refrain from provocative actions and rhetoric and preserve unchanged the historic status quo on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.”
3. Jerusalem has a history of being divided and was split into two for nearly twenty years
In the last hundred years alone, the city has been controlled by the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, jointly by Jordan and Israel and since 1967, wholly by Israel.
In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, with an autonomous Jerusalem under international supervision.
In 1948, the British departed and the state of Israel was proclaimed. For nearly two decades, barbed wire, concrete barriers and land mines divided the city. Many Palestinians fled areas of West Jerusalem under Israeli control while Jews fled the areas of East Jerusalem under Jordanian control.
In 1967, Israel forcibly reunified Jerusalem, occupying East Jerusalem, including the Old City, during the Six Day War. U.N. Security Council Resolution 478 condemns Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem as a violation of international law.
In 1980, the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) claimed a reunited Jerusalem as its undivided capital. The international community, including the U.S., does not recognize this and maintains embassies in Tel Aviv.
4. The city’s growth and movement of people have presented new challenges
For hundreds of years Jerusalem was a crowded and impoverished walled city. Now it is a sprawling metropolis with over 800,000 inhabitants with the Old City at its center. War still shapes the geography of Jerusalem. The community dividing lines mostly follow the ceasefire lines that divided the Jordanian and Israeli armies from 1948 to 1967.
Extensive development has introduced large Israeli communities into what were Palestinian areas. Some Palestinian areas, such as Beit Safafa in southern Jerusalem, have been surrounded by Israeli construction of roads and communities.
5. In times of relative peace, Palestinians and Israelis cross between areas easily
Some Israelis take advantage of cheaper shopping in the East and cheaper services such as car repair. Palestinians study at the Hebrew University and work in the service sector in the West. Although there is a Palestinian hospital, major surgery for both groups takes place at the main Israeli hospitals.
Affluent Palestinians can be seen in the bars and restaurants of West Jerusalem, rarely standing out among the many other international residents of Jerusalem. Liberal Israelis like to visit East Jerusalem establishments such as the Jerusalem Hotel and the fabled American Colony Hotel. Many Israelis have a favourite Palestinian-owned hummus restaurant in the Old City.
6. Palestinians living in East Jerusalem have different citizenship rights from Israelis
Most Jewish residents of Jerusalem are citizens of Israel while Palestinians are mostly permanent residents, a status with fewer rights. Most Palestinian residents of other parts of Israel (those conquered in 1948) are Israeli citizens but in Jerusalem Palestinians tend to have a special Israeli ID rather than citizenship. In viewing the Israeli presence as an occupation, most Palestinians reject any role in municipal politics, which reduces their role even further in the city.
The government of Israel reserves the right to withdraw residency rights from Palestinians if the center of their life is not deemed to be in Jerusalem. Israeli residents of Jerusalem are free to live wherever they want in Israel or abroad without fear of losing their citizenship.
Palestinians are not normally allowed to use Israel’s main Ben Gurion Airport. To leave the country they must travel to the Allenby Bridge crossing to Jordan. There they must leave their identity cards and pick them up when they return.
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MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic state has little to show for itself, a year after its establishment.
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Authorities issued warrants against 11 executives and university officials in central Turkey on Wednesday in an operation targeting supporters of a U.S.-based cleric accused by President Tayyip Erdogan of plotting a coup, local media said.
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RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi police captured two suspected militants, along with several weapons and an explosive vest, in two raids around the capital Riyadh late on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Only four or five U.S.-trained Syrian rebels are still fighting in Syria, a top U.S. general told Congress on Wednesday, acknowledging the U.S. military is conducting a broad review of the training program.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia has proposed military talks with the United States on Syria and the United States is considering next steps, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday.
The Receding Waters Of Central Asiaby support@pangea-cms.com (Bruce Pannier)
RFE/RL's Turkmen Service, known locally as Azatlyk, assembled a panel discussion (majlis) to review the water situation in Central Asia and neighboring states, examine regional water-supply forecasts for 35, 50, or 100 years from now, and consider whether water could be cause for conflict there.
Tajikistan Confirms Death Of Mutinous Former Deputy Defense Minister by support@pangea-cms.com (RFE/RL's Tajik Service)
Tajikistan's Interior Ministry has confirmed that mutinous former Deputy Defense Minister Abduhalim Nazarzoda has been killed along with 10 of his supporters during a battle in the Romit Gorge area to the east of Dushanbe.
Ukraine Seeks To Blunt Russia's UN Veto Powerby support@pangea-cms.com (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
Ukraine has stepped up its effort to restrict Russia's use of its veto in the UN Security Council, which Kyiv says has enabled the Kremlin to block international action to punish Moscow for "aggression."
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The word "election" is a misnomer, but the voting does serve the Kremlin's purposes.
The top American commander in the Middle East told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the United States would not reach its goal of training 5,000 Syrian fighters anytime soon.
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria urged insurgents fighting his government to join with his forces instead in the battle against Islamic State militants.
- Justin Welby to suggest looser organisation of worldwide body
- New group would no longer be linked by a common doctrine
- Liberal US and conservative African churches argued over sexuality
The archbishop of Canterbury is proposing to effectively dissolve the fractious and bitterly divided worldwide Anglican communion and replace it with a much looser grouping.
Justin Welby has summoned all of the 38 leaders of the national churches of the Anglican communion to a meeting in Canterbury next January, where he will propose that the communion be reorganised as a group of churches that are all linked to Canterbury but no longer necessarily to each other.
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Zimbabwe’s president faces new calls to quit after accidentally re-reading a 25-minute speech to parliament – cue awkward silence and embarrassed applause from his audience
Name: Robert Mugabe.
Age: 91.
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Alexei Stolyarov and Vladimir Krasnov, who are famous for phone impersonations, say singer told them call was ‘most wonderful’ he had received
Two famous Russian pranksters have said they impersonated the president, Vladimir Putin, in a phone call to Sir Elton John about gay rights.
Alexei “Lexus” Stolyarov and Vladimir “Vovan” Krasnov, who have prank-called many Russian and Ukrainian celebrities and politicians over the years, told newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda that they had called the British singer on Monday pretending to be the Russian president. The pair said that John, unaware he was being hoaxed, had told them that their call was the “most wonderful” he had ever received.
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"We fled wars and violence and did not expect such brutality and inhumane treatment in Europe," said one migrant from Iraq
Because of Hungary’s new border fence, many migrants and refugees are now headed toward Croatia.
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A Russian prank caller has said he and a colleague tricked Sir Elton John into thinking President Vladimir Putin had called him to discuss gay rights.
"He really believed he was talking to the people we said we were," said Vladimir Krasnov, known as "Vovan".
Sir Elton praised Mr Putin, having earlier criticised his "isolating and prejudiced" attitude.
But the Kremlin firmly denied the president had contacted the singer and hinted the call could have been a hoax.
Vovan has now admitted his involvement, telling the BBC and Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda that he made the call with his sidekick Alexei Stolyarov, known as "Lexus".
"Alexei has excellent English so he played (presidential press secretary) Dmitry Peskov and translated our conversation. And I was Vladimir Putin," 'the prankster told the newspaper.
"It turned out that Elton John was really expecting that call, so he really believed he was talking to the people we said we were," he said, adding that the singer had been in a London recording studio at the time of the call.
"He said 'Thank you, you have made my day. This day and this conversation were the most wonderful of my life.'"
Vovan said part of a recording of the hoax call would be played on late night talk show Russian state TV on Wednesday.
The deception followed an interview Sir Elton gave to the BBC in which he said he would welcome the chance to meet with the Russian premier.
"He may laugh behind my back when he shuts the door, and call me an absolute idiot, but at least I can think I have the conscience to say I tried," said the performer during a recent visit to Ukraine.
Russia has been accused of failing to prevent and prosecute homophobic violence and has laws allowing individuals to be prosecuted for promoting "homosexual behaviour among minors".
A Russian prank caller confesses to tricking Sir Elton John into thinking President Vladimir Putin had called the singer to discuss gay rights.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State John Kerry says the Obama administration is weighing an offer from Russia to have military-to-military talks and meetings on the situation in Syria....
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By Sky News US Team
Russia has proposed military-to-military talks with the United States on Syria, says US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Mr Kerry said the Obama administration is weighing the offer from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to hold meetings on the situation in the war-torn country.
US officials claim Russia has been sending troops and military hardware, including seven T-90 tanks, to bolster the embattled forces of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
Mr Kerry suggested on Wednesday that US officials were keen on holding talks with Russia in order to get a better idea of what Moscow's intentions are in Syria.
Russia has confirmed it has "experts" on the ground, but has refused to give further details about its military presence.
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- Gallery: In Pictures: Syria's Civil WarSyrian rescue workers and citizens evacuate people from a building following a barrel bomb attack by Syrian government forces on the central al-Fardous rebel-held neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo
- Men carry a baby who survived the barrel bombs dropped by president Bashar al Assad's forces in the city
- Survivors evacuate a building surrounded by debris at a site damaged by a barrel bomb dropped in Maarat Al-Nouman, south of Idlib. Continue through for more pictures
- Gallery: In Pictures: Syria's Civil WarSyrian rescue workers and citizens evacuate people from a building following a barrel bomb attack by Syrian government forces on the central al-Fardous rebel-held neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo
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The White House is weighing an offer to hold military-to-military talks between the US and Russia on the situation in Syria.
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