United States – Pagina 7 – European Affairs Magazine

Turkey: New energy is needed in ties with the U.S.

31 Marzo 2017 BreakingNews @en di

New energy is needed in ties with the U.S., the Turkish government has said during U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s first official visit to the capital Ankara, voicing hope for “concrete steps” particularly in the fight against jihadists in Syria and the extradition of Pennsylvania-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen. “It’s vital for us to give a new energy to the Turkey-U.S. relationship. Turkey and the U.S. have an important role to play regarding the challenges they face. Our area of responsibility is not limited to our respective regions, it is about all problems and opportunities across the world. That’s why the Turkey-U.S. friendship should be stronger than ever”, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told a joint press conference with Tillerson in Ankara on March 30.

2016 hailed as best year for Israeli economy in 4 years

30 Marzo 2017 BreakingNews @en di

According to the Israel’s Bank Israel economy grew by 4% in 2016, outperforming the U.S. and other Midlle East countries. The Israeli economy grew by 4% in 2016, exceeding projections by 1.2 percentage points and marking the most solid economic performance for the country since 2012, the Bank of Israel said Wednesday. In its 2016 annual report, the bank noted that the gross domestic product hit a record 1.22 trillion shekels ($337 billion); Israel had a record $12.4 billion surplus in its current account balance of payments; unemployment dropped to 4.8% in 2016; public debt dropped to an all-time low of 62.8% of GDP; the number of employed Israelis hit a record high of 3.74 million people; the GDP per capita reached a historic high of $36,800; private consumption climbed by 6%; and Israelis overall standard of living increased by 5%. Israel’s economy growth it was 2.3 times higher than the average growth among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development members; and 2.5 times higher than average growth in the eurozone. According to the data, since 2011, the Israeli economy grew by a cumulative 21.6%, exceeding all OECD member states. Netanyahu hopes that economy growth even better thanks tto the excellent management of the country. Israel is also ranked second to last among OECD nations in terms of the actions taken by the government to help households out of poverty.

Tillerson will go to rescheduled meeting NATO after criticism

27 Marzo 2017 BreakingNews @en di

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will attend a rescheduled meeting of the NATO alliance’s 28 foreign ministers after coming under fire for saying he would miss the event because it conflicted with his schedule. Tillerson had faced criticism from advocates of the alliance for planning to skip the meeting. They said that would only exacerbate concerns about the American commitment to NATO after President Donald Trump called it “obsolete” last year

Amnesty International condemns US and UK over Yemen arms

24 Marzo 2017 BreakingNews @en di

Amnesty International condemned the United States and Britain for transferring arms to Saudi Arabia to use in its war in Yemen, Western media reported. The London-based watchdog described the arms transfers as a “shameful contradiction” of aid efforts by the United States and Britain. ‘These governments have continued to authorize such arms transfers at the same time as providing aid to alleviate the very crisis they have helped to create,’ said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty’s deputy director of research for the Middle East and North Africa. Iran has repeatedly condemned crimes committed against the oppressed people of Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition including demolishing infrastructures in Yemen and killing defenseless civilians in almost two years of devastating war against that country. In March 2015, a so-called Saudi-led coalition began a major aggression on Yemen in a bid to reinstate the country’s fugitive president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.