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VOInews, Jakarta: The head of the EU's main leftist political grouping has said it is time to "negotiate" an end to Russia's war in Ukraine, rallying behind a controversial call by Pope Francis for Kyiv to raise the "white flag."
"I believe helping the Ukrainian people means now making attempts to end the war," said Walter Baier, the 70-year-old Austrian picked last month by the Party of the European Left as its candidate to head the next European Commission.
Baier underlined that his party -- whose 26 full members include Germany's Die Linke, France's Communists and Greece's Syriza -- had "absolutely condemned the Russian aggression" in its manifesto for June's European elections.
But in a joint interview Monday with the "European Newsroom," which brings together news agencies including AFP, he said the conflict's "frozen" fronts required a new approach.
"I would wish from the European Union... to take diplomatic efforts to start negotiations to achieve a ceasefire and to achieve the withdrawal of the Russian troops," Baier said.
"In this regard, I fully support what Pope Francis was saying. Now it's the time to end the war, and now it's the time to negotiate and stop killing," said the former head of Austria's communist party.
In an interview broadcast earlier this month, the Argentine pontiff urged Kyiv, which has been fighting invading Russian forces for more than two years, to "raise the white flag and negotiate".
The Ukrainian government reacted with fury, even while the Vatican insisted the words "white flag" were intended to mean a cessation of hostilities, not a surrender.
Analysts see no immediate prospect of negotiations to find a breakthrough in the Ukraine war, with Russia's Vladimir Putin emboldened by the erosion of Western support for Kyiv -- while Ukraine is determined to keep fighting to recapture territory.
The Party of the European Left is the larger of two leftist formations in the European Parliament -- along with Now the People whose members include Spain's Podemos and France Unbowed.
Both are part of the 37-strong group of lawmakers called The Left in the EU parliament -- where polls point to a surge by far-right movements following June's vote across the 27-nation bloc.
The EU parliament currently has 705 seats, which will increase to 720 seats after the 2024 elections.
Source: AFP
March
VOInews, Jakarta: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to hold talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on Tuesday, as the countries seek to reinforce security and economic ties in the face of growing Chinese aggression.
Blinken's visit to Manila -- his second since Marcos took office in June 2022 -- is part of a brief Asia tour that also included South Korea.
Washington is keen to improve relations with its regional allies, such as Manila and Seoul, in a bid to deter China and North Korea as tensions rise in the South China Sea over Taiwan and on the Korean peninsula.
Blinken's trip comes ahead of a trilateral meeting in Washington next month between US President Joe Biden, Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Announcing the three-way summit with the Asia Pacific allies, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the leaders would push a "shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific".
During his meeting with Marcos and his Philippine counterpart Enrique Manalo on Tuesday, Blinken is expected to reaffirm the United States' security commitments to the Philippines.
"What we're trying to demonstrate... is that we are committed to the Indo-Pacific, to this region, despite everything else that's going on in the world right now," a senior State Department official told reporters on Monday.
"I would expect when we're in Manila, the main concern will obviously be China's continued destabilising actions in the South China Sea that are in contravention of international law."
Top US officials have repeatedly said that "an armed attack" against Philippine public vessels, aircraft, armed forces and coastguard would invoke the 1951 US-Philippines mutual defence treaty in which Washington is obliged to defend its ally.
Blinken's visit follows a spate of incidents involving Philippine and Chinese vessels in the South China Sea, including collisions, in recent months.
Marcos has expressed "great alarm" over the confrontations that have sparked diplomatic sparring between Manila and Beijing.
Source: AFP
March
VOInews, Jakarta: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a rare visit to New Zealand on Monday, stressing the need to work with "friends" in the face of the "tumultuous international situation".
The trip marks the start of a diplomatic blitz through New Zealand and Australia, Wang's first visit to either country since 2017.
The whistlestop tour is expected to focus heavily on trade as Beijing looks to lessen the pain from slowing economic growth at home.
Speaking in the capital Wellington before a meeting with his New Zealand counterpart, Wang said the trip was also a chance to shore up diplomatic ties that have come under strain as Beijing adopts an increasingly aggressive stance on issues such as Taiwan and the South China Sea.
"In the face of the current tumultuous international situation, we are willing to strengthen strategic communication with our friends in New Zealand on international and regional issues of common concern," Wang said.
"And we will work together to maintain peace and stability in the region and the world," he added before his closed-door meeting with New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters.
New Zealand is part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance alongside the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.
But Wellington has been criticised for taking a softer line on China -- putting its trading relationship ahead of its allies' security concerns.
China is New Zealand's largest trading partner, and Chinese consumers have long had an appetite for the country's meat, wine, milk and wood.
Wang said he believed that "China-New Zealand relations will continue to be at the forefront of China's relations with developed countries".
"The relationship between us has developed smoothly and well," he said.
Later this week, Wang will meet Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Canberra.
China and Australia have recently resolved a series of simmering trade disputes that saw Beijing impose tariffs and trade barriers on key exports in 2020, retaliating after Canberra barred Huawei from 5G contracts and called for a probe into the origins of Covid-19.
But the two nations continue to spar over human rights and Beijing's growing clout in the Pacific region.
Source : AFP
March
VOInews, Jakarta: A Tunisian court overturned on Wednesday a journalist's prison sentence for revealing information about the security services, his lawyer said, paving the way for a retrial.
Khalifa Guesmi, a correspondent for Tunisia's most popular radio station, Mosaique FM, was convicted in November and handed a one-year prison sentence that was later increased to five years on appeal.
The Court of Cassation "invalidated the five-year judgement and ordered it to be reviewed", Guesmi's lawyer, Rahal Jallali, told AFP.
Guesmi left prison Wednesday evening, an AFP correspondent reported.
The journalist remains under prosecution, according to his lawyer, under Article 34 of the anti-terrorism, law which "punishes with 10 to 20 years' imprisonment" anyone who publishes information "for the benefit of a terrorist organisation".
Journalists and civil society representatives gathered in Tunis on Wednesday to show support for Guesmi and to call for his immediate release.
Local and international NGOs have launched several calls for his release and condemned the five-year prison sentence as "a sham verdict" and "a major setback for the judicial system".
They have criticised what they say is a marked decline in press freedom in Tunisia since President Kais Saied seized full control of the country in July 2021.
On Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in a post on social media platform X, welcomed what it called "a first step towards justice" for Guesmi and said it "should be followed by his immediate release and acquittal".
Jailed since September 3, Guesmi was found guilty of "participating in the intentional disclosing of information related to interception, infiltration, and audiovisual surveillance or the data collected therein".
He was held for a week in March 2022, after Mosaique FM published on its website information about the dismantling of a "terrorist cell" and the arrest of its members.
Source : AFP