Foreign Policy: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has sworn in a new unity government, agreed upon by rival factions Fatah and Hamas. The government will be headed by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, and includes 17 politically independent ministers, five of them from Gaza. It will be tasked with holding elections within six months. Abbas praised the new government saying, Today, with the formation of a national consensus government, we announce the end of a Palestinian division that has greatly damaged our national case. However, ahead of the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged world leaders not to recognize the unity government saying it will strengthen terror not peace. Syria Syria will hold its first multicandidate presidential election Tuesday, in which President Bashar al-Assad is expected to win a third seven-year term. The opposition has dismissed the election as a sham, however Assad will likely see his victory as a popular mandate to continue his fight against rebel forces. Assad will face government-approved candidates Hassan al-Nuri and Maher al-Hajjar. Ahead of the election, opposition forces have increased attacks on government-held regions of the northern city of Aleppo, killing and injuring dozens of people over the past three days. Meanwhile, French authorities have arrested four people suspected of recruiting fighters to join the conflict in Syria. Headlines • A FIFA investigator is meeting with organizers of the 2022 Qatar World Cup over corruption allegations, which Qatar denies. • Fighting between Ansar al-Sharia militants and Libyan army special forces, backed by forces loyal to former General Khalifa Heftar, killed an estimated eight people in Benghazi Monday. • The Israeli military returned fire into Syria after a mortar shell hit the Golan Heights and into Gaza after two rockets struck Israel. • Turkish police arrested 154 people in protests Saturday marking the one-year anniversary of Gezi Park demonstrations.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 03:49:50 +0000
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