NEWS,27.04.2012.

EU rebukes UK over freedom of movement laws

 

 

The European Commission gave Britain an ultimatum on Thursday to respect the freedom of movement of EU citizens, threatening court action should it fail to abide by EU laws within two months."As one of the EU's larger member states, the UK is home to around two million citizens from other EU countries. It is therefore important that UK laws respect their rights," the European Union's executive arm said in a statement.Under the rules, foreign family members of an EU citizen can travel to any country in the 27-nation bloc without an entry visa when they are accompanied by the citizen and hold a residence card issued by an EU state."The UK laws do not grant this important right which lies at the heart of free movement," the commission said.Another issue raised by the commission was the treatment of Bulgarian and Romanian workers.Britain is not issuing workers from Romania and Bulgaria the same residence documents given to those from the 25 other EU states during the first 12 months of living there, the EU executive said.London has yet to apply EU rules in two other areas, including on health insurance for EU citizens and residency applications for extended family members of EU nationals.EU states can face big fines if they lose cases before the European Court of Justice.

 

 

UN chief troubled by Syria's failing ceasefire

 UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the Syrian government has not complied with its commitment to a UN-backed peace plan because it has not withdrawn heavy weapons and troops from Syrian cities and towns."The Secretary-General remains deeply troubled by the continued presence of heavy weapons, military equipment and army personnel in population centers, as reported by United Nations Military Observers," Ban's press office said in a statement.It said Ban considered this a "contravention of the Syrian Government's commitments to withdraw its troops and heavy weapons from these areas" and demanded that Damascus comply with its pledge without delay.The Syrian government and rebels traded blame for a huge explosion which killed 16 people in the city of Hama, as the two-week-old UNceasefire looks increasingly fragile.Syria blamed "terrorist" bomb-makers for Wednesday's blast.Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud also accused rebel militiamen of repeated violations of the ceasefire and said Damascus was "reserving the right to respond to any violation or attack", state news agency SANA reported.The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the cause of the explosion was unclear, but also gave a death toll of 16.The Local Coordination Committees, a grassroots opposition group, said more than 50 people had been killed by what it said was a military rocket.The blast in Hama, a centre of unrest against President Bashar-al-Assad, has added to doubts about a ceasefire brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who has said Assad failed to order his troops and tanks back to barracks as promised.But outside powers are deeply divided on how to shore up the ceasefire, which has led to only a small reduction in violence in the 13-month uprising, during which the United Nations estimates Syrian forces have killed 9000 people.

NEWS,20.2.2012

Iranian ships reach Syria, Assad allies show support

Russia, China and Iran showed support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad today, days before an international meeting likely to pile more pressure on him to step down in the face of an increasingly bloody uprising. Assad met a senior Russian politician in Damascus, who reiterated Moscow's support for his self-styled reform programme and spoke out against any foreign intervention in the conflict, Russian and Syrian news agencies reported. China accused Western countries of stirring up civil war in Syria, and two Iranian warships docked at a Syrian naval base, underscoring rising international tensions over the near year-long crisis. Government forces pressed on with their crackdown on the anti-Assad uprising, with opposition activists reporting five people killed in renewed shelling of an opposition-held district of Homs and troops and militia blockading Hama. Both cities have been in the forefront of the revolt.The crisis is entering an important week, with Western and Arab powers due to meet at a conference in Tunisia on Saturday to pressure Assad to give up power, while Assad forges ahead with plans for a referendum on Monday for a new constitution. The referendum, which would lead to multi-party elections within 90 days, is part of what Assad describes as a reform programme to address demands for more democracy. Syria's official SANA news agency said about 14,600,000 people are eligible to take part in the referendum. The West and Syrian opposition figures have dismissed the plan as joke, saying it is impossible to have a valid election amid the continuing repression. Alexei Pushkov, head of the international affairs committee of Russia's lower house of parliament, met Assad in Damascus today and affirmed Russia's support for the plan. Moscow is Syria's main arms supplier and an ally dating back to the Cold War.Pushkov also stressed the need "to continue working for a political solution to the crisis based on dialogue between all concerned parties, without foreign intervention," SANA said.Assad, who shows no inclination to relinquish power, told Pushkov Syria was being targeted by armed terrorist groups supported by foreign elements aiming to destabilize Syria.China, which sent an envoy to Damascus this weekend, also backs Assad's idea of a political solution and has appealed to the government and opposition alike to halt the violence. China’s Communist Party mouthpiece, the People's Daily, took the West to task in a commentary today, saying: "If Western countries continue to fully support Syria's opposition, then in the end a large-scale civil war will erupt and there will be no way to thus avoid the possibility of foreign armed intervention.” The West has so far ruled out any Libya-style military action but the Arab League, led by Saudi Arabia, has indicated some of its member states were prepared to arm the opposition. A more immediate concern for the West is the plight of civilians caught up in the offensive against the opposition and a nascent rebel army. Activists in embattled cities such as Homs say food supplies are running out and doctors lack medicine to treat the wounded. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in Geneva it was negotiating with Syrian authorities and opposition fighters for a ceasefire to bring life-saving aid to civilians. Diplomatic sources said the ICRC was seeking a two-hour ceasefire in hotspots including Homs.Opposition activists said five people had been killed in government shelling of Homs's Baba Amro district today, adding to a reported death toll of several hundred since the operation began on February 3.Activists in the western city of Hama said troops, police and militias had set up dozens of roadblocks, isolating neighbourhoods from each other."Hama is cut off from the outside world. There are no landlines, no mobile phone network and no internet. House to house arrests take place daily and sometimes repeatedly in the same neighbourhoods," an opposition statement said. Rebel fighters have been attacking militiamen, known as shabbiha, while avoiding open confrontations with armoured forces that had amassed around Hama, a city north of Homs on the Damascus-Aleppo highway. The government restricts foreign media access in Syria, making it hard to independently verify the activists' reports.