Putin tells Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders to 'ensure' end to Karabakh clashes

Yahoo – AFP, 5 April 2016

Russian President Vladimir Putin (AFP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday urged the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to ensure a halt to deadly clashes over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region after a truce was agreed.

"Putin called on both sides to urgently ensure a complete cessation of military hostilities and respect for the ceasefire," the Kremlin said in a statement after Putin spoke to the two presidents separately by telephone.

Putin voiced "serious concern" after four days of fighting killed at least 64 people in the the worst outbreak of violence over the territory since since an inconclusive truce in 1994.

Putin also underlined the need to restart internationally moderated peace negotiations that have failed to definitively end the bitter feud over the past two decades.

Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists in Nagorny Karabakh on Tuesday said were ending their fighting after four days of bloodshed, as international powers scrambled to resolve the worst violence in decades over the disputed region.

Armenian and Azeri forces said they had agreed a ceasefire to halt the fighting from 0800 GMT.

The truce came after Azerbaijan's army claimed to have snatched control of several strategic locations inside Armenian-controlled territory, effectively changing the frontline for the first time since the 1994 truce.

Separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of mountainous Nagorny Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenian region lying inside Azerbaijan, in an early 1990s war after the Soviet Union crumbled that claimed some 30,000 lives.

The sides have never signed a peace deal despite the 1994 ceasefire and sporadic violence regularly claims lives of soldiers on both sides, though the latest outbreak represented a serious escalation.

While ex-Soviet master Moscow has sold arms to both sides and treads a careful line between the two, it has a military alliance with, and base in, Armenia and far closer ties to Yerevan.

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Pope hails Iran accord, urges end to 'absurd violence' in Easter message

Yahoo – AFP, Jean-Louis De La Vaissiere, 5 April 2015

Pope Francis speaks from the central loggia of St Peters' basilica during the

 "Urbi et Orbi" blessing for Rome and the world following the Easter Mass in the

Vatican on April 5, 2015 (AFP Photo/Filippo Monteforte)

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis appealed Sunday for an end to "absurd violence" in hotspots around the world and said the international community must not stand by in the face of the "immense humanitarian tragedy" in Syria and Iraq.

In his traditional Easter message, the 78-year-old pontiff said he was praying for those killed in armed conflict, including the students massacred by Somali gunmen at a university in Kenya.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims huddled under a sea of umbrellas in a rain-soaked St Peter's Square to hear the pope deliver his "Urbi et Orbi" (To the City and World) blessing, broadcast live to dozens of countries.

Pope Francis greets the crowd from the

 popemobile after the Easter Mass at

 St Peter's square in the Vatican on

April 5, 2015 (AFP Photo/Gabriel Bouys)

In his third Easter message since his election as pope in 2013, the head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics prayed "for peace, above all, for Syria and Iraq, that the roar of arms may cease".

He called on the international community to "not stand by before the immense humanitarian tragedy unfolding in these countries and the drama of the numerous refugees" created by the two conflicts.

He also prayed for the victims of Thursday's attack in Kenya that left 148 people dead, with survivors sayng the militants spared Muslim students but taunted Christian and Jewish students before killing them.

"I think in particular of the young people who were killed last Thursday at Garissa University College in Kenya," he said.

Earlier Francis greeted pilgrims personally as he rode through the flower-bedecked square aboard his open Popemobile after presiding over Easter mass.

The most important and joyous moment of the Catholic calendar, Easter celebrates the day when Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead.

Pope Francis greets the crowd from 

the popemobile after the Easter Mass 

at the Vatican on April 5, 2015 (AFP

Photo/Filippo Monteforte)

Speaking from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica, Francis also said the framework nuclear accord reached Thursday between Iran and six major world powers inspired hope for "a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world".

The Argentine pope pleaded for "absurd bloodshed and all barbarous acts of violence" in Libya to be halted, and voiced his "desire for peace, for the good of the entire people" in war-battered Yemen and Ukraine.

Without referring to a particular hotspot, Francis said: "Those who bear within them God's power, his love and his justice, do not need to employ violence."

Be 'respectful, ready to help'

He prayed for "all who have been kidnapped, and for those forced to abandon their homes and their dear ones" in armed conflict and attacks by extremists in Nigeria and South Sudan as well as parts of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In addition, he urged "peace and freedom for the many men and women subject to old and new forms of enslavement on the part of criminal individuals and groups (and) for the victims of drug dealers... And we ask peace for this world subjected to arms dealers."

Pope Francis greets the crowd from

 the popemobile after the Easter Mass

 at the Vatican on April 5, 2015 (AFP

Photo/Filippo Monteforte)

Francis also sounded his trademark appeal to the rich and powerful to care for the world's poor and downtrodden, saying: "The world proposes that we put ourselves forward at all costs, that we compete."

Instead, Christians should "seek to live in service to one another, not to be arrogant, but rather respectful and ready to help," he said.

Sunday's Easter observances capped a long and demanding Holy Week that left Francis at times appearing tired.

On Friday he presided over the traditional Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession at Rome's Colosseum evoking the last hours of Jesus's life.

The day before Francis celebrated two masses -- one for priests, and the other at Rome's Rebibbia prison, where he washed the feet of 10 inmates symbolically evoking Christ's humility -- a theme he took up again on Sunday.

"To enter into the mystery, we need to 'bend down', to abase ourselves," Francis said.

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First death-free day of Ukraine ceasefire, US sees no compliance

Yahoo – AFP, Marc Burleigh with Jo Biddle in Washington, 25 February 2015

Ukrainian servicemen check documents of a local resident at a checkpoint 

near Slavyanoserbsk, in the region of Lugansk on February 25, 2015 (AFP

Photo/Oleksandr Ratushniak)

Kiev (AFP) - A UN-backed ceasefire showed signs of finally taking hold in Ukraine on Wednesday, with no deaths reported on the front for the first time since the truce took effect 10 days ago.

However, Secretary of State John Kerry told US lawmakers: "To date, neither Russia nor the forces it is supporting have come close to complying with their commitments," renewing warnings that Moscow would face further sanctions.

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks 

during a hearing of the House Foreign

Affairs Committee on February 25, 2015

in Washington,DC (AFP Photo/Brendan 

Smialowski)

A day earlier, Kerry had said the Russians were persisting in "lies... to my face" about their activities in Ukraine. The US dismisses Moscow's denials about giving military backing to the separatists in east Ukraine.

Russia has in turn warned it could cut off gas supplies to Ukraine within days -- and, by extension, to parts of the European Union.

The geopolitical tensions between the old Cold War foes overshadowed a lull in fighting that produced the first day without fatalities since the ceasefire came into effect on February 15.

"Over the past day, one soldier was wounded but there were no dead," Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told journalists in Kiev. The rebels also reported no deaths on their side.

There was still no confirmation, though, from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) of a pull-back of heavy weapons from the frontline -- the other key plank of the truce.

Rebels insisted they were withdrawing artillery, rocket launchers and tanks from some areas, and journalists saw a column of howitzer guns being driven along a road near the separatist stronghold of Donetsk.

But the OSCE mission in Ukraine said the warring sides had not provided the information needed to determine what, if any, arms withdrawals have occurred.

Kiev says it will not carry out an arms pull-back until a full and "comprehensive" ceasefire is observed and has accused Russia of continuing to send military hardware in to bolster the rebels.

Exasperation with Russia

Pro-Russian rebels move heavy-artillery

 from close the eastern Ukrainian town of 

Starobecheve, on February 25, 2015

 (AFP Photo/Vasily Maximov)

The West has thrown its hopes of finding a negotiated solution to the 10-month conflict fully behind the truce, which last week won unanimous backing from the UN Security Council.

But continued breaches by rebel forces -- especially their assault on Debaltseve, a strategic transport hub, and attacks on Ukrainian army positions near the port city of Mariupol -- have exasperated the EU and US.

British Prime Minister David Cameron this week announced his country will send up to 75 soldiers to Ukraine on a "training mission". He said they would not be sent to the conflict zone.

Poland on Wednesday announced its own plans to send a small contingent of troops to Ukraine to help train Kiev's military officers.

Cameron urged the EU to look at wide-ranging sanctions on Russia's economy, which is already toppling into recession because of a drop in oil prices.

View galleryThe key industrial hub of Mariupol has become the latest …

The key industrial hub of Mariupol has become the latest hotspot in the conflict in east Ukraine, st …

Russia, though, is flexing its muscles in readiness for any additional sanctions.

Its state-run gas giant Gazprom has warned it could cut off supplies to Ukraine, amid a dispute over payment.

President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Ukraine had paid only enough "for three or four days' gas supplies. Unless there is a prepayment, Gazprom... will terminate the supply," according to the Interfax news agency.

Much of the gas that flows through Ukraine goes on to supply the EU market.

Putin, in televised comments, also claimed Ukraine had cut off gas supplies to separatist-held territories in the east in what "smacks of genocide."

Workers of the Separate Repair - Recovery Battalion restore tanks, armored personel 

carriers and other heavy weapons in a factory in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk 

on February 25, 2015 (AFP Photo/Andrey Borodulin)

Russian drill

The instability is torpedoing Ukraine's fragile economy. The country's central bank on Wednesday increased currency controls in a bid to stop a free-fall of the hryvnia.

Also of concern to EU neighbours is a Russian military drill launched near the borders with Estonia and Latvia.

Some 1,500 Russian paratroopers were to descend from the skies en masse in an exercise to capture and destroy an enemy's airfield, defence ministry spokeswoman Irina Kruglova told AFP. She said the drill was to continue into Saturday.

Since the start of the Ukraine crisis, Russia has staged a series of wargames that have alarmed its post-Soviet neighbours and the West.

Lithuania said on Tuesday it would return to limited conscription later this year because of "the current geopolitical environment".

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Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a cabinet meeting outside 

Moscow, on February 4, 2015 (AFP Photo/Michael Klimentyev)

Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, Feb 8, 2015)

Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, Aug 3, 2014)

Archangel Michael: Peace on Earth is Not a Dream

Golden Age of Gaia, Steve Beckow, February 13, 2015

Archangel Michael will find a way to get his message out. Linda was not planning on giving a reading today, but a caller begged her. And in the course of the reading, AAM sent a message to all of us. Here it is:

Greetings I am Michael, Archangel of Peace, Warrior of Love, bringer of news.

Our time is at hand and you know this. As we nudge, encourage and conjoin with so many upon the planet to bring forth in form not merely in heart but in form, not only the promise of peace but the actuality of peace.

This is not a dream. This is not an unreality. This is not, as some think, ‘pie in the sky.’

This is what our partnership, our sacred union, our co-creation together, is capable of. And always has been. Only now the human vibration, frequency and knowingness has risen to a level where humans are consciously aware that they are able and capable of anchoring peace on Earth with us right now.

This is not merely an exercise of intent, but of will and action. It is a glorious day. It is not a day of defeat. It is not a day of fear. It is not a day of worry. It is a glorious day!

So I reassure you, my beloved one, and I reassure many, peace is at hand. And I thank you for all the assistance, the diligence, all the consistency that you have offered to and with me – you are cherished.

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  8 - The End of War

The last one is the best. For thousands of years on this planet, Human Beings have warred with each other. If you take a look at the reasons they warred with each other, you will quickly see there aren't any good ones - land, resources, greed. Those are not reasons. That is a description of old energy. Those are not reasons. Reasons would be perhaps defense against an aggressor. But what if there is no longer the consciousness of the aggressor?

When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature. "Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be." This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God.

North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.

You'll see a fresh unification of South America sooner than not, for what is going to take place potentially this year in Venezuela. You'll see Iran changing. We have no clock. These are the potentials. These can change with free choice. These are not prophecies. This is a reality shift, dear ones, so number eight becomes the propensity not to war again. This is what Humans are going to want. This is what governments are going to want. There is a wisdom factor that will begin to happen on the planet that is grander than what you think is possible. For when you look at government, what do you think about? You see dysfunction, and there is an axiom that says the more people that try to do something together, the worse it gets. It all settles to the lowest common denominator. I'm telling you even those things are going to become old energy concepts. Instead, you're going to watch wisdom become the top potential.

I have no clock. I cannot tell you when. I can just tell you it is in the works, and there will be the seeds of it for you to observe soon - right now, in every single of the eight categories I showed you.

There are those who will say, "Well, Kryon, you're doing a lot more predictions than you used to." I want to tell you what's going on, dear one. I am not predicting anything. I am just telling you what's already there in the potential soup of your reality. That's what Humans are doing on this planet, and for those who believe this communication, you should breathe a sigh of relief and say, "It's about time." ….”

Leaders aim for 'Normandy format' peace summit for Ukraine

The leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine are hoping to meet this week to discuss the crisis in eastern Ukraine. This follows a last-ditch German-French push to end the bloodshed.

Deutsche Welle, 8 Feb 2015

Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert said in a statement that the chancellor, President Hollande, and as his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko, had agreed to aim for a Wednesday meeting in Minsk during a conference call on Sunday.

"In (the call) they worked further on a package of measures in the context of their efforts on a comprehensive settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine," the statement said.

"This work will be continued tomorrow in Berlin with the goal of holding a 'Normandy Format' summit on Wednesday in Minsk," he added. The term "Normany format" refers to a meeting of the leaders of France, Germany, Russian and Ukraine on the sidelines of celebrations last June of the 70th anniversary of the allies' landing in Normandy during World War II.

President Poroshenko appeared upbeat following the telephone call, saying in a statement posted on his official website that said he hoped the Minsk summit would lead to a "swift and unconditional ceasefire" in eastern Ukraine.

President Putin, though, cautioned that the meeting may not even take place.

"We will be aiming for Wednesday, if by that time we manage to agree on a number of points which we've been intensely discussing lately," Putin said during a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk.

Munich Security Conference

While there was no immediate comment from Chancellor Merkel beyond the announcement that the leaders were aiming to meet, in remarks to the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, she said she was "uncertain" about the chances of success for a last-ditch peace initiative that she and President Hollande launched late last week.

Speaking at the Conference prior to the leaders' phone call on Sunday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier appeared pessimistic about the prospects for a quick resolution to the Ukraine crisis, saying this remained "off in the distance."

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who was also in attendance, used his remarks to stress that Washington and its European allies were "united in our diplomacy" on Ukraine.

Joined FM Steinmeier @GermanyDiplo, @LaurentFabius in sharing thoughts at @MunSecConf. pic.twitter.com/zGjUyHqlbC
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) February 8, 2015

This appeared to be an attempt to play down a reported rift between Washington and European capitals, including Berlin, over the wisdom of supplying weapons toUkrainian government forces.

For his part, Steinmeier echoed comments made at the conference by Chancellor Merkel on Saturday, saying the delivering weapons would be "not just highly risky but counterproductive." 

Wrapping up the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, its chairman, former German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger, described the 51st edition of the annual gathering as one of the most intensive and interesting conferences in recent years.

He noted that while delegates had been confronted with a great deal of bad news regarding conflicts in various parts of the world, at least the four leaders' plan to hold a summit in Minsk on Wednesday, provided a "glimmer of hope" for Ukraine.

pfd/rc (AFP, dpa, AP, Reuters)

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Merkel and Hollande in last-ditch diplomatic effort in Russia

Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, and Vladimir Putin held closed-door talks for hours on the Ukraine conflict. Putin seemed unlikely to bend as the separtists gained ground.

Deutsche Welle, 6 Feb 2015

France's Francois Hollande and Germany's Angela Merkel left Moscow after several hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin without reaching an agreement to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. There were no photo-ops with handshakes or smiles, no press conference, only three tense faces around a small table in an ornate room in the Kremlin.

The last-minute dash to Moscow is the first for Merkel since the start of the Ukraine crisis while Hollande made a brief stopover in December. The European duo hoped to curb the rising tide of violence in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatists, but no one was particularly optimistic about the outcome of the meeting.

The French president said he and Merkel would present "a new proposal for a comprehensive settlement based on the territorial integrity of Ukraine," to Putin and denied rumors that the plan actually came from the Kremlin.

Speaking in Berlin before her own flight to Moscow, Chancellor Merkel said she was "convinced that there is no military solution to this conflict," but took a realistic view of her Russian trip, saying no one could be sure they would "manage to achieve a truce through these talks."

An official speaking anonymously to Reuters news agency said that it is unlikely Putin would make any concession, as he "does not appear to have any incentive to back down now" while the separatists are gaining ground.

Top NATO commander Philip Breedlove also warned on Friday that any ceasefire must be monitored by a group like the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), because the last truce agreed upon in Minsk in September was used by the separatists to regroup and rearm.

Ukraine at the top of the agenda in Munich

The situation in Ukraine also took highest priority at an international security conference in Munich, where the debate over whether or not to arm Ukraine showed cracks between the EU countries, who flatly rejected such an idea, and the United States, which appears to be considering it.

Ursula von der Leyen opened the
conference attended by dozens of
world leaders and defense ministers

In her opening speech at an international security conference in Munich, Merkel's defense minister, Ursula von der Leyen, warned that arming Ukraine - something Ukrainian officials have repeatedly asked for - could backfire.

"The support with arms from Russia to the separatists is potentially unlimited. And do we really count on being able to provide as many arms to the Ukrainian army that they could potentially conquer the other side?" von der Leyen asked the conference.

British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon echoed von der Leyen's concerns, saying that sending weapons would only "escalate the conflict."

The Franco-German peace effort is an attempt to reestablish a truce to a conflict that has killed more than 5,000 people before European leaders met next week to discuss imposing new economic sanctions on Russia.

es/bw (AP, AFP, Reuters)

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Russia warns Bosnia and Herzegovina against sending ammunition to Ukraine

Moscow has condemned the plans of Sarajevo to ship small arms ammunition to Ukraine, warning that it would lead to "senseless" deaths. Two Bosnian companies have already agreed on the sale worth millions of dollars.

Deutsche Welle, 29 Jan 2015

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesmen Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday that the Kyiv authorities would use the ammunition "to keep killing peaceful citizens," saying that Moscow was "bewildered" by such plans:

"Such a step, especially in the current escalation on fighting in southeast Ukraine, would not contribute to peaceful resolution in the area, and would lead to new, senseless casualties among the civilian population."

The companies Igman and Unis have agreed to deliver small arms ammunition to Ukraine, with a price tag of 4.9 million euros ($5.6 million), Bosnian media reported.

"These deliveries are planned by a country that itself experienced all the horrors of a fratricidal war from 1992 to 1995," Lukashevich said.

Bosnia's foreign minister,ethnic Serb Boris Tucic, resigned in protest last week, refusing to sign off on the weapons delivery.

According to the local media, the shipment of rifle and pistol ammunition had been approved by the foreign and the defense ministries before his resignation.

New sanctions possible

The central government of Bosnia is formed out representatives of the three largest ethnic groups – Serbs, Muslims and Croats, who need to act together to pass a decision. The Serbs living in Bosnia, just like the ones from Serbia, tend to retain close ties with Russia.

Moscow is often accused of supplying Ukraine's rebels with weapons, charges the Kremlin denies.

The European Union's foreign ministers met on Thursday to discuss the Ukraine crisis and possible new sanctions against Russia.

dj/msh (dpa, AFP)

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Beijing pledges constructive role in resolving Ukraine crisis

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-01-22

Li Keqiang, right, and Petro Poroshenko shake hands in Davos, Jan. 21. (Photo/Xinhua)

Premier Li Keqiang of China told President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine on Wednesday that Beijing stands for a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis and will continue to play an active and constructive role in such efforts.

China adheres to an objective and just stand on the Ukraine issue, said Li when meeting with the Ukrainian leader on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos at a Swiss ski resort.

It is the common aspiration of people across the world for peace while against war, for development while against poverty, and for cooperation while against confrontation, he said.

As the international situation is experiencing profound changes, said the Chinese premier, the international system and order are going through deep adjustment.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties, China and Ukraine have respected and treated each other equally, and their cooperation has achieved fruitful results, said Li.

China will always respect the national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine and support the Eastern European nation to adopt a path of development in accordance with its national conditions, he added.

China, he said, will continue to carry out pragmatic cooperation with the Ukrainian side on the basis of win-win and mutual benefit.

For his part, Poroshenko said his government attaches great importance to its relations with China and is willing to maintain cooperation with the Asian country.

The Ukrainian side, he said, hopes that China would play a more active role in the political settlement of the Ukraine issue.

Li arrived on Tuesday for the WEF annual meeting and a working visit to Switzerland.

Ukraine's Poroshenko flags new talks with Putin, Merkel and Hollande

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he'll meet with the leaders of Russia, Germany and France in mid-January over his country's ongoing conflict. The gathering will take place in Kazakhstan.

Deutsche Welle, 29 Dec 2014

Poroshenko made a new push to end the conflict in Ukraine's eastern regions on Monday, telling a news conference he would join Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande for talks on January 15, in the Kazakh capital Astana.

The Ukrainian president said he wanted eastern Ukraine, and Crimea, annexed by Russia in March, back under the control of Kyiv.

"The most important thing is to turn a fragile ceasefire into a stable peace and return previously occupied territories under the control of Ukrainian authorities," he said.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 4,600 people since April. But Poroshenko said Kyiv lacked the resources to regain full control by military means.

"We haven't got the resources for an offensive today," he said.

His comments come after the breakdown of the first talks in three months between Kyiv and pro-Russian separatists, last week in Minsk. However, the talks did produce a prisoner swap between both sides.

The meeting was meant to secure a shaky ceasefire agreed in Minsk back in September, as well as a withdrawal of heavy weapons by both Ukrainian government forces and the separatists. But it appeared both sides were reluctant to give any ground.

"Ukraine will never - and we are supported in this by the entire world - allow the (original September) Minsk agreements to be altered," Poroshenko said on Monday.

Poroshenko also said three Ukrainian soldiers had been killed during a battle at the disputed airport near rebel-held Donetsk.

Ukraine and the West have accused Moscow of stoking the fires of conflict in eastern Ukraine by supplying the separatists with troops and weapons, something the Kremlin has denied.

Meanwhile, Russia is experiencing deep economic troubles caused by lower oil prices and Western economic sanctions imposed over the Ukraine conflict.

On Monday, it was announced that Russian growth declined for the first time since 2009 - with gross domestic product (GDP) falling by 0.5 percent in November, compared to the same month last year.

The ruble fell to $57 on the news on Monday morning. The Russian currency, which is one of the worst performing currencies of 2014, had started losing ground against the greenback again on Friday, following a five-day rally.

jr/ksb (Reuters, dpa, AFP)

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Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, Aug 3, 2014)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules..  …”

Jerusalem should be capital of two states: top EU diplomat

Yahoo – AFP, 8 November 2014

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini speaks on a visit to a UN-run Bahrain
 boys school sheltering displaced Palestinian families, on November 8, 2014
in Gaza City (AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams)

Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - The European Union's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said on Saturday that Jerusalem "should be the capital of two states", as tensions gripped the holy city hit by Israeli-Palestinian violence.

"I think Jerusalem can be and should be the capital of two states," Mogherini told reporters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, touching on a sensitive issue that has blocked peace efforts for decades.

Her appeal, at a joint news conference with Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah, came hours after the killing of an Arab-Israeli by police fanned tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

The shooting in northern Israel came after another night of clashes in east Jerusalem between youths hurling stones and firecrackers at police, who retaliated with rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas.

The violence has spiked as Israel has pushed ahead with its policy to build Jewish settlements on lands the Palestinians want for a future state and against the background of efforts by Jewish extremists to secure rights to pray at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque.

"Jerusalem is not just a beautiful city, the challenge is to show that Jerusalem can be shared in peace and respect," said Mogherini.

"The message is not for the people who live here, the message is to the rest of the world," she said.

"It is not a Palestinian-Israeli situation, it is a global issue."

On Friday, Mogherini met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who dismissed her criticism of Israeli settlement building in annexed east Jerusalem and the West Bank.

"Jerusalem is our capital and as such is not a settlement," he insisted.

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