Relations between Russia and the US are not in the “best state” these days, Russian President Vladimir Putin has told visiting US National Security Adviser John Bolton, citing the ongoing political discord in America as the main reason.

The parties expressed their willingness to search for ways to enhance bilateral relations.

“Unfortunately, I have to say that Russian-US relations are not in their best state now,” Putin said at a meeting with Bolton at the Kremlin on Wednesday. “I have said this in public on many occasions, I would like to repeat at this meeting with you. I believe that to a great extent this is the result of a bitter internal political struggle in the US.”

The Russian head of state expressed hope that the visit would pave the way for restoring ties.

“Your visit to Moscow provides us with hope that we will be able to take at least the initial steps towards restoring full-fledged relations between our countries,” Putin said. “Russia has never sought confrontation.”

Ties between the Kremlin and the White House have fallen to a new low under US President Donald Trump.

US intelligence services have accused Russia of cyber interference in America’s democratic process, specially during the 2016 presidential face-off between Trump and his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

Trump, who has been willing to extend ties with Moscow, is currently the subject of a high-profile investigation for alleged “collusion” with the Kremlin.

Moscow and Washington have also clashed on a range of other issues, including the war in Syria, the Ukraine conflict and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Putin told Bolton that both sides should explore ways “to mend full-fledged relations based on equality and respect for each other’s interests.”

Trump’s national security advisor said he wanted to discuss boosting Russian-US cooperation in the areas where both sides see eye to eye.

Hailing Putin’s summit with Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Germany in July last year, Bolton assured the Russian leader that Trump was committed to improving ties.

Earlier in the day, Bolton sat down for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a meeting that revolved around bilateral ties.

“The parties held an exchange of opinions on the topical issues of the international agenda, including the situation around Syria and in Ukraine,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Considerable attention was paid to the issues of bilateral relations,” it added.
Source: Presstv

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States stays committed to talks with North Korea but will “reassess” all ties if North Korea leader Kim Jong-un fails to deliver on denuclearization promises that he made to President Donald Trump.

Speaking to CNN in a phone interview on Monday, the top US diplomat said both sides were working together to achieve what Kim and Trump agreed upon during their historic summit on June 12 in Singapore.

“I am not going to put a timeline on it, whether that’s two months, six months, we are committed to moving forward in an expeditious moment to see if we can achieve what both leaders set out to do,” Pompeo said.

Pompeo emphasized that future of the talks depended on Pyongyang’s steps towards nuclear disarmament and Washington would “constantly reassess” progress in this regard.

In exchange for Kim’s promise to dismantle his nuclear weapons program, Trump has put on hold joint military drills with South Korea and Japan off the Korean Peninsula.

“The President was clear. Each of the actions we have taken, his decision to suspend the high level war games, it’s only so long as there is a good faith negotiation progress, productive results being achieved,” Pompeo said.

“If we can’t do that, if it turns out that there is no capacity to deliver the outcome that both presidents said they wanted, yeah, we reassess,” he added.

‘Unequivocal’ Kim

Pompeo claimed that Kim sounded “unequivocal” on denuclearization both during the Trump meeting and before that, when he personally met the North Korean leader as CIA director.

“I heard it myself when I visited there as CIA director, I heard it myself when I visited Pyongyang as Secretary of State and I heard it again where there was a group together with the President and Chairman Kim,” he said.

Pompeo said it was too soon to expect a clear roadmap for ending decades of tensions between the two sides, but they were on the right track.

“So long as that commitment stays in place, the United States is prepared to do exactly what the president said,” the state secretary added.

Despite the new developments, Washington has made it clear that it won’t lift tough economic sanctions against Pyongyang until its complete denuclearization.

Source: Presstv

Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party have claimed victory in Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

“Our people have given us the job of carrying out the presidential and executive posts,” said Erdogan in a speech from Istanbul on early on Monday.

“I hope nobody will try to cast a shadow on the results and harm democracy in order to hide their own failure,” he added.

The country’s main opposition party initially said that Erdogan would fall well short of a first-round victory, but after the results were announced that it would carry on its democratic struggle “whatever the result.”

With 99 percent of votes counted in the presidential race, Erdogan had 52.5 percent.

Polls across the country of 81 million people officially closed at 5 pm (1400 GMT). There are no exit polls in Turkey and initial results are expected during the early evening.

Votes were cast in 180,065 polling places across the country.

Votes by Turks living abroad who cast their ballots in 60 countries at 123 embassies and consulates will be counted at the same time in the capital Ankara.

Turkey’s main opposition presidential candidate Muharrem Ince said on Sunday Turkish citizens should protect ballot boxes against possible fraud by President Erdogan’s ruling AK Party.

Erdogan called the snap elections, bringing forward a vote that was expected to be held in November 2019.

Six candidates were vying for the Turkish presidency. If a candidate wins just over 50 percent of the vote, he will win the presidency, but if not, there will be a runoff on July 8.

Erdogan won the last presidential election in 2014 after completing two terms as prime minister.

In April 2017, 51 percent of Turkish voters endorsed constitutional changes backed by Erdogan, which grant new executive powers to the president and scrap the post of prime minister.

Supporters of the reforms argue that they will modernize the country, but opponents fear a possible authoritarian rule.

The constitutional overhaul would mean that Erdogan could stay in power for another two terms until 2029.
Source: Presstv

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says President Donald Trump will “likely” meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the months ahead to discuss persisting tensions between the two countries.

Pompeo made the remarks during an interview on Saturday with the local MSNBC news network, further disclosing that the White House National Security Adviser John Bolton is due to visit Moscow this week to discuss potential plans for a bilateral summit between the two leaders.

“I don’t know what the president’s schedule is going to be,” said the top US diplomat, adding that “I know Ambassador Bolton’s planning to travel to Moscow on Sunday or Monday.”

“He’ll be meeting with his counterpart,” Pompeo said of Bolton’s agenda during his Russia visit. “I think it’s likely that President Trump will be meeting with his counterpart in the not-too-distant future following that meeting.”

The remarks came just days after Bloomberg news outlet reported that talks were underway for Trump and Putin to meet next month, although plans were not yet finalized.

According to Pompeo, officials from the two rival nations were also engaged in examining their “overlapping interests” and looking for ways Moscow and Washington could collaborate.

“The president’s been unambiguous since he took office that there are places where Russia is working against the United States but many places where we work together,” he underlined.

Pompeo then went on to assert, “I had a chance to do that in my previous role as CIA director, where we worked with the Russians on counterterrorism issues, where the two nations had shared interests.”

He further added, “And so we are having conversations with our Russian counterparts trying to find places where we have overlapping interests but protecting American interests where we do not.”

The development comes after Trump stunned leaders of allied nations and even many officials in Washington earlier this month when he insisted that Russia should be readmitted to the Group of Seven (G-7) just prior to and during the group’s summit in Canada.

“Whether you like it or not, and it may not be politically correct, but we have a world to run,” Trump declared. “And in the G-7, which used be the G-8, they threw Russia out. They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.”

South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar has arrived in Ethiopia for a face-to-face meeting with his arch-rival, President Salva Kiir, for the first time in two years in an effort to negotiate an end to a five-year-old civil war.

Machar, Kiir’s former vice president, arrived in the Ethiopian capital, Ababa, on Wednesday, said rebel spokesman Lam Paul Gabriel.

An Ethiopian government official also confirmed his arrival, saying Machar would meet Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed before his talks with Kiir later in the day.

The president has also arrived in the country for the talks, officials confirmed.

This would be the first meeting between the two since Machar had to flee to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in July 2016, after fierce fighting broke out between his forces and the government troops in the South Sudanese capital, Juba, and left hundreds of people dead. One month later, Machar turned up in South Sudan, where he was put under house arrest.

The face-to-face meeting is now being held ahead of an African Union summit scheduled for July 1 in Mauritania.

The former vice president turned rebel after he was accused of plotting a coup against the president in 2013.

South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, then plunged into civil war, only two years after its independence from Sudan.

Tens of thousands of people have so far been killed and nearly four million displaced. Both sides have been accused of abuses against civilians.

Machar returned to Juba in April 2016 and formed a transitional government with the president and other groups under a 2015 peace agreement. His return raised hopes for the implementation of the repeatedly-broken peace agreement to end the civil war.

Fighting, however, continued between his forces and the government troops and forced him to flee to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in July 2016. One month later, he turned out in South Africa, where he was put under house arrest.

Source: Presstv

French President Emmanuel Macron has criticized Europe’s handling of the influx of refugees to the continent, calling for a collective European response to the worsening crisis.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Italy’s new Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Friday, Macron said “the proper response is European, but the existing European response is not adapted” to the times.

Macron criticized Europe over its failure to fulfill its role with regard to Italy as the first European country on the migration route from North Africa.

The French president called for greater protection of European borders, noting that “the existing system does not work.”

Europe’s refugee crisis escalated earlier this week after Italy and Malta turned away Aquarius rescue ship carrying 629 refugees and kept it waiting in international waters between the two countries for over 30 hours with limited food and drink supplies and in bad weather conditions, facing potential death.

Spain eventually offered to take in the ship amid safety fears due to deteriorating weather conditions and offered its port in Valencia as a place for the asylum seekers to land in Europe.

Following the incident, UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi urged the EU to sort out its “shameful” refugee policy.

Macron later rebuked Italy for “irresponsibility” over the matter. Italy’s new populist administration censured what it referred to as “hypocritical lessons” from countries such as France on refugees, publicly displaying one of the most serious disagreements between two EU member states.

Italy also summoned France’s ambassador over the issue.

After their meeting on Friday, Macron and Conte seemed to have settled their diplomatic row, with the Italian premier saying, “We are in perfect agreement.”

Macron urged the Italian premier to work with France, Germany and Spain on resolving refugee issues instead of siding with an anti-immigration “axis” recently proposed by Austria’s right-wing Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

“I hope deeply that France and Italy will work hand-in-hand, together, to propose and contribute European solutions, in particular with partners like Spain and Germany,” Macron said.

The French president warned that such an axis was a reminder of Europe’s darkest times — when Germany and its allies were called the Axis powers during World War II– and noted that only a head of state can speak on behalf of a country.

“Italy has a head of government, France has a head of state, Germany has a head of government. If countries are to agree on something, it should be at that level, because only they answer to their people,” Macron said.

Germany’s interior minister had said earlier this week that his country should form the anti-immigration “axis” with Austria and Italy. However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned EU countries on Wednesday against pursuing a unilateral policy with regard to the refugee crisis and called on the bloc’s member states to overcome their differences and take a unified approach over the issue.

The Italian premier appeared to dismiss joining forces with the anti-immigration “axis” and said that he “agreed with the words of my friend Macron” with regard to the need for an EU-wide approach to reforming immigration rules.

“I would like an axis of the willing that includes all the European countries,” he said.

Conte underlined the need for the formation of European-run immigration offices outside the continent for assessing asylum requests in an attempt to prevent “voyages of death.”

Europe has faced its worst refugee crisis since World War II. The continent has been hit since 2014 by an unprecedented influx of refugees fleeing conflict-ridden zones in North Africa and the Middle East, in particular Syria.

Over the past five years, more than 600,000 refugees have reached Italy by risking their lives on rickety human smuggler boats in the sea. Some 500,000 of them are still staying in the country.

According to the UN migration agency (IOM), over 3,000 refugees lost their lives died crossing the Mediterranean in 2017.

The majority of refugees from Africa take the sea route from Libya to Italy to reach Europe, while some others depart from Morocco to Spain.

Source: Presstv

Judges at the International Criminal Court ordered for the release of Congolese ex-vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba following his acquittal last week on war crimes charges.

According to the court order issued on Tuesday, Bemba will be freed in neighbouring Belgium, where his family lives.

Bemba, 55, has been in the International Criminal Court (ICC) detention centre since his arrest in 2008. The Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader was convicted in 2016 of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

But that conviction was overturned on appeal last Friday in a major setback for prosecutors. Appeals judges said they could not pin responsibility on Bemba for the killing and raping of civilians by soldiers under his command.

He was the highest ranking official among only four people who had successfully been prosecuted at the permanent war crimes court since it was set up in 2002.

Normally suspects are immediately released after an acquittal, but Bemba also faces sentencing for a separate charge for witness tampering during the trial, which could result in a maximum five-year jail term.

The charge for tampering was brought in November 2013 and prosecutors said that Bemba should remain in custody until a final sentence was issued in that case.

Bemba’s political ambitions

Upon release, Bemba is expected to leave the Netherlands for neighbouring Belgium, where his wife and five children live.

“He’s never given up on his political ambitions,” said Peter Haynes, another member of the defence team. “I’d be surprised if he can stay away from it”.

If he were to return to Congo, that would give an instant boost to opponents of longtime President Joseph Kabila ahead of a December election. Kabila’s allies have indicated the president might disregard term limits and stand a third time.

Bemba, who finished runner up to Kabila in a 2006 election, has a large and loyal following in western Congo and his presence would ramp up pressure on Kabila.

Source: Africa News

Confrontation between the US and its traditional allies has continued at the 44th summit of the Group of Seven (G7), lowering expectations for a breakthrough at the talks.

Washington’s allies contradicted trade data provided by US President Donald Trump with different numbers, while Trump firmly maintained his position that Washington was at a disadvantage, Reuters cited an official who followed the talks as saying on Friday.

The Friday meeting in which the G7 allies were gearing up to confront the US president over trade tariffs had “some emotions,” but it maintained a diplomatic mood, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added.

“The other leaders presented their numbers and Trump presented his. As expected he did not budge. This is probably not because he does not understand, but because of domestic reasons,” the official said.

“We are going to deal with the unfair trade practices. If you look at what Canada, and Mexico, the European Union – all of them – have been doing to us for many, many decades. We have to change it. And they understand it is going to happen,” Trump said.

During the first day of the two-day summit in the Canadian town of La Malbaie in Quebec, the US partners were angered by the US president’s recent decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, the European Union and Mexico.

Trump has justified his move by arguing that US steel and aluminum producers are vital to national security and threatened by a global supply glut.

Canada, Mexico and the EU had initially been exempted from the tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum as they were announced in March.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Friday that her country will not change its stance with regard to “illegal” US steel and aluminum tariffs.

Freeland said Canada will retaliate against Washington’s tariffs, adding that her country does not pose a national security threat to the US.

However, after a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the summit, Trump said progress has been made in trade talks with Canada.

According to a French official, German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered a proposal for resolving the dispute on Friday and other leaders strongly supported the idea.

The official described Merkel’s proposal as a “shared assessment and dialogue” mechanism, but did not provide any details.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker reportedly expressed preparedness to invest personally in Merkel’s proposal and offered to visit Washington for a common assessment of EU-US trade.

However, observers say expectations for a breakthrough at the summit are low, contrary to the 42-year history of the summit which always saw all sides having consensus on key issues.

“It is highly unlikely there will be a final communiqué,” a G7 official said.

While Trump said G7 leaders would manage to agree on a joint statement, Merkel expressed doubt that the group could issue a final directive, noting that failure to do so would indicate the lack of agreement among the G7 member states.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May warned both the US and EU of the ramifications of retaliatory trade policies over tariffs, calling on both sides to focus on China’s excess steel production instead.

The summit comes a day after thousands of demonstrators staged rallies in Quebec City and burned US and British flags to protest against the world leaders’ gathering amid heavy riot police presence.

Source: Presstv

Donald Trump’s attorney said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un begged “on his hands and knees” for a summit with the US president, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

“They… said they were going to go to nuclear war with us, they were going to defeat us in a nuclear war,” Rudy Giuliani told a Tel Aviv investment conference, according to the newspaper. “We said we’re not going to have a summit under those circumstances.”

“Well, Kim Jong Un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in,” Giuliani said.

The Trump attorney said that with the summit rescheduled, the United States has the upper hand.

Singapore’s foreign minister will make a two-day trip to Pyongyang starting Thursday, as preparations for the summit Trump-Kim summit in the city-state accelerate.

The announcement came a day after the White House revealed that the historic June 12 meeting between the US and North Korean leaders will take place in a luxury hotel on Singapore’s resort island of Sentosa.

The summit is due to be held following a rapid detente between Pyongyang and Washington — as well as South Korea — in a turn-around from a dramatic escalation of tensions last year, when the North ratcheted up its weapons programme.

(AFP)