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Last update - 09:57 12/12/2005 Foreign Ministry slams EU talks with Hezbollah, Hamas By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent The Foreign Ministry believes that the European Union has violated international law by talking to Hezbollah and by planning to make contact with Hamas. An internal ministry document obtained by Haaretz states that contact with representatives of these two groups is contrary to international law. "Several countries have adopted a policy that includes entering into official talks with representatives of Hamas and Hezbollah, or refraining from taking harsh measures against their involvement in terrorism," the document states. "From a legal standpoint, such...

Council seeks intelligence service modeled after British spy agency MI6 09/14/2005 The Asahi Shimbun Japan needs a more effective intelligence agency modeled after Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) that would engage in activities beyond the diplomatic norm, a report by an advisory council said. The report said the entity would be under the control of the foreign minister and would specialize in collecting information on international affairs. The council is an advisory panel to Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura. Currently, the Foreign Ministry's Intelligence and Analysis Service is in charge of collecting and analyzing information on international affairs, as well as...

EU foreign ministers rally to save French referendum By Daniel Dombey in Brussels and Peggy Hollinger in Paris Published: April 17 2005 17:05 | Last updated: April 17 2005 17:05Europe's foreign ministers have rallied round the embattled French campaign for the European constitution, arguing that a No vote on the May 29 referendum would set back the European Union's drive to play a bigger part on the world stage. Many officials fear that a French rejection, which could prove terminal for the constitutional treaty, would also halt the EU's enlargement drive - sometimes dubbed "the most successful foreign policy...

Nicole Martin shows a confidential handwritten memo found in the rubble of the looted Iraqi foreign ministry to the man who used to arrange the dictator's scheduleSaddam Hussein's former head of protocol said yesterday that the document found by The Daily Telegraph saying that George Galloway received substantial payments from the Iraqi regime was "100 per cent genuine". Haitham Rashid Wihaib, who fled to Britain with his family eight years ago after death threats, said he had no doubt that the handwritten confidential memorandum addressed to the dictator's office apparently detailing how the Labour MP benefited from Iraq's oil sales...

A Jordanian business man, Fawaz Zureikat, whose name was revealed yesterday as an allegedly business intermediary between Labour member of Parliament George Galloway and Saddam Hussain's regime, has been detained in Amman. George Galloway MP, a familiar face to Arab public, is at the top of the news once again, but this time as having been, allegedly, on the pay-roll of Saddam Hussain's regime, at least since 2000. The allegations, claimed to have been uncovered in "secret documents" found by a reporter in two charred boxes at the first floor of the looted foreign ministry in Baghdad are many and...

From leaky roofs to secret agents: how the files I found in Iraq's looted foreign ministry cast light on the paranoid world of Saddam Hussein How many Iraqi officials does it take to fix the leaky roof of a diplomat's house in London? How long does a skilled translator need to convert one of George Galloway's parliamentary speeches into Arabic? In almost 1, 000 pages of Arabic prose, each stamped with the Eagle crest of Iraq, the files found inside the foreign ministry in Baghdad cast a somewhat surreal light on the questions that turned the bureaucratic wheels of Saddam...

Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. President George W. Bush in a Monday phone call discussed ways to develop relations, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. Spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue made the comment at a press briefing in the Chinese capital where she was asked to elaborate on a state-run news item Nov. 8 saying the two leaders had talked Monday evening. She said the call reflected the importance of maintaining high-level contacts and exchanges. Xinhua said Hu called Bush as a follow-up to the congratulatory message sent in the early morning hours of Nov. 4, Beijing time, once the president's reelection...

China Erases All Pre-1948 Korean History from Ministry Website China removed all accounts of pre-1948 Korean history, including Goguryo history, from the website of the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday. The Chinese government, having received strong protests from the Korean government concerning distortions of Goguryo history, decided on this course of action Monday and informed the Korean government through diplomatic channels. The Chinese government, however, is not acceding to strong Korean demands that it restore the section on Goguryo history back to the description of Korean history on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website (www.fmprc.gov.cn), and it's latest response measure...

Our (Israel) Newspapers Fail Us - (UPDATED) September 28, 2003 Editorial - Israel News Agency "Over at the Jerusalem Post, Israel's venerable English language daily newspaper, rumblings of publisher/staff dissatisfaction are being heard loud and clear. Long-time managing editor, Avi Hoffman was fired last week after he recommended pulling an ad that included language he felt would expose Israel to charges of war crimes. New Post editor Bret Stephens apparently agreed. Publisher Tom Rose was furious and ordered Hoffman fired. The full page ad appeared last Friday. According to Aviv Lavie writing in the rival Haaretz English edition, senior staff...

/start my translation (KCNA in Pyongyang, Yonhapnews) Kim Kwi-Geun: According to the announcement on April 30, 2003, by N. Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman, the current situation compels N. Korea into the decision to have 'physical deterrance' and take it into action. It said that, if America takes up (N. Korean) nuclear issue to U.N., it will take an extraordinary step. /end my translation

Officials in the Foreign Ministry voiced criticism statements made by British Prime Minister Tony Blair Wednesday they said created 'linkage' between the situation in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The officials said this so-called linkage was wrong. They were referring to statement made by Blair earlier Wednesday, that the United States and its allies must now broaden their agenda beyond Iraq and help build peace in the Middle East and across the globe. Both Blair and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw drew a clear connection between the war in Iraq and progress on the Israeli and Palestinian track. Straw told...