European Union

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Reacting to news coverage that British prime minister Theresa May is on her way to negotiating UK access to the single market with an additional rebate and a 7 to 10 year emergency break on EU-migration, Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament said:

“A deal with these conditions would be unthinkable. It would allow the UK to expand its already very favourable position: keeping the best parts and ridding itself of the obligations that come with it. EU Governments would be mad to agree to such a deal and I can tell you: the European Parliament will never agree to a deal that ‘de facto’ ends the free movement of people for a decade,while giving away an extra rebate in exchange for all the advantages of the internal market.

What would stop other countries from asking the same exceptional status? Do we really want eurosceptics elsewhere in Europe to invoke the British example of ‘having their cake and eating it’?  Everyone can see that this position is irresponsible because it’s not sustainable in the long run.

The only new relationship between Britain and the European Union can be one in which the UK has an associated status with less obligations but equally less rights. And if this is not feasible, the fall back position will be an ordinary trade agreement between Britain and the EU.”

Verhofstadt also points out a deeper problem with the current deal making process: “By solving our problems this way – with more and more exceptions to the rules – we only create new precedents and thus, new problems. The way the Commission is tackling the Brexit negotiations is comparable to the way it has addressed the rule of law crisis in Turkey: closing its eyes. The Commission must learn to adopt a clear stand point and – if necessary – be willing to make a clean cut, whether it be with Britain or with Turkey. The EU should not conduct accession negotiations with a government that cleansed part of the judiciary branch and basically switched off the rule of law. The negotiations with the Turkey should therefore be frozen.”

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Turkey will remove some ambassadors from their posts in connection with a failed military coup, Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday in an interview with private broadcaster Haberturk TV.

Turkish authorities have suspended, detained or placed under investigation more than 60,000 soldiers, police, judges, teachers, civil servants and others since the July 15 coup attempt.

Cavusoglu also warned the US of a diplomatic crisis if it refused to extradite Fethullah Gulen, the exiled Islamic cleric accused by Turkey of masterminding the putsch from his home in rural Pennsylvania.

Gulen, 75, whose foundation runs a global network of schools, charities and media interests, has strongly denied the accusations.

Gulen denies the charge. Washington has said Ankara must first provide clear evidence of Gulen’s involvement in the attempted coup and lawyers have said any extradition process could take years.

Cavusoglu is heading to Washington this week to discuss the matter, but lawyers said the process, if launched, would take years.

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Theresa May will meet Enda Kenny for border talks.

The Irish Prime Minister is exploring his options following the British vote to leave the EU.

Kenny is the first foreign leader to meet the British Prime Minister at Downing Street no.10 after May became Prime Minister.

The prospect of a “hard border” between Northern and the Republic of Ireland has triggered talks calling for Irish unification.

Ireland is also keen for a swift economic and border settlement, given that the U.K accounts for 22% of Ireland’s exports in goods and services. However, conciliation is not the only mood. Dublin is looking to benefit for lack of certainty in London’s financial services market.

May was in Northern Ireland on Monday, where she met with the First and Deputy First Ministers Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness in Belfast. Northern Ireland is deeply divided in the aftermath of the referendum, with Republicans having voted for Remain and Unionists for Leave. Following consultation with both unionist and republican leaders, May said that no one wants a return to a “hard border” with the Republic of Ireland.

Mr. Kenny, in turn, consulted with French president Francois Hollande on the border issue. Last week Mr. Kenny asked that the EU prepares for the eventuality of a unification referendum in Ireland, making parallels with German reunification.

(BBC, Independent)

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Dutch men and Latvian women are the planet’s tallest people but Iranian men and South Korean women have grown the fastest in the last century, according to the largest ever study of height around the world.

Americans, once among the world’s tallest people, have dropped from having men and women at 3rd and 4th in the global height rankings a 100 years earlier, to placing 37th and 42nd respectively in 2014.

That’s the word from researchers who analyzed a century’s worth of height data from 200 countries. Results were released in the journal eLife.

National height averages are useful as an indicator of nutrition, health care, environment and general health that people have experienced from the womb through adolescence, said Majid Ezzati of Imperial College London, who led the research. Genes also influence height.

The researchers calculated average height for 18 year olds, roughly the age when people stop growing. They drew on more than 1,400 studies that covered more than 18.6 million adults who reached that age between 1914 and 2014.

Experts said the results generally agree with what others have reported before.

The tallest men in the new analysis were Dutch, with an average height of about 6 feet (182.5 centimeters). The next nine tallest countries in order for men were Belgium, Estonia, Latvia, Denmark, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Iceland and the Czech Republic.

Latvia topped the list for women, with an average height of 5-foot-6 (170 centimeters). Rounding out the top 10 were the Netherlands, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovakia, Denmark, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.

Over the century-long span of the study, the biggest gains appeared in South Korean women and Iranian men, who added 8 inches (20.2 centimeters) and 6 ½ inches (16.5 centimeters), respectively. There was little change in South Asia and some sub-Saharan African countries.

In the U.S., men gained about 2 ½ inches (6 centimeters) over the century, with about 2 inches (5 centimeters) for women. The nation is now the 37th tallest for men and 42nd for women, researchers said.

The analysis estimated that average height for U.S. 18 year olds maxed out at about 5-foot-10 (177.5 centimeters) for men in 1996, and at about 5-foot-5 (164 centimeters) for women in 1988. Since then height has stalled but not decreased significantly, said James Bentham of Imperial College London, a study author.

Most Western countries, including the Netherlands, also have hit a plateau, although the U.S. reached it early, researchers said.

The researchers didn’t investigate the causes of the U.S. stagnation. But John Komlos, a visiting professor of economics at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, said there could be several reasons. He didn’t participate in the new study but has previously studied height.

Komlos suggested such factors as lack of health insurance, shortfalls in medical and prenatal care, underweight and preterm babies from teenage pregnancies, and a rise in obesity, which leads to earlier puberty and so stoppage of growth.

The shortest female population in the study is in Guatemala, at an average of 4-foot-11 (149.4 centimeters). It is followed in order by the Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, East Timor, Madagascar, Laos, the Marshall Islands, India and Indonesia.

The shortest male population is in East Timor, at an average of 5-foot-3 (160 centimeters). It is followed by Yemen, Laos, Madagascar, Malawi, Nepal, Rwanda, the Marshall Islands, the Philippines and Mauritania.

Australian men in 2014 were the only non-European nationality in the top 25 tallest in the world. The nations with the tallest men in 2014 (1914 ranking in brackets): 1. Netherlands (12) 2. Belgium (33) 3. Estonia (4) 4. Latvia (13) 5. Denmark (9) 6. Bosnia and Herzegovina (19) 7. Croatia (22) 8. Serbia (30) 9. Iceland (6) 10. Czech Republic (24) The nations with the tallest women in 2014 (1914 ranking in brackets): 1. Latvia (28) 2. Netherlands (38) 3. Estonia (16) 4. Czech Republic (69)  5. Serbia (93) 6. Slovakia (26) 7. Denmark (11) 8. Lithuania (41) 9. Belarus (42) 10. Ukraine (43)

(with AP, Reuters)

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US Secretary of State John Kerry said progress is being made with Russia on a potential military partnership that could strengthen a faltering truce in Syria despite grave doubts expressed by the Pentagon and joint chiefs of staff.

Speaking Tuesday after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Laos, Kerry made no promises of success but said he hoped discussions with Russia could produce a tangible result in the next week to 10 days.

“My hope would be that somewhere in early August — the first week or so, somewhere in there — we would be in a position to be able stand up in front of you and tell you what we’re able to do with the hopes that it can make a difference to the lives of people in Syria and to the course of the war,” he said.

His comments followed remarks from Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Monday in which he said Kerry’s efforts with Russia have been complicated by the fact that Russia is focused mainly on supporting the Syrian government, which he said has had the effect of prolonging the civil war.

Russia’s policies so far have prolonged the five-year civil war there, Carter said, bolstering the hand of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as he battles opposition rebels in the northern city of Aleppo and elsewhere.

“We had hoped that [Moscow] would promote a political solution and transition to put an end to the civil war,” Carter said, but “they’re a long way from doing that.”

Kerry held marathon talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lavrov in Moscow earlier this month, striking an agreement on “concrete steps” to salvage a failing truce and cooperate on battling extremist groups in Syria.

Kerry has been talking to Russian officials about a proposal in which the U.S. would share intelligence and targeting information with the Russians. In exchange Moscow would use its influence with the Syrian regime to effectively ground the Syrian air force and promote a political solution to a civil war that has killed as many as a half a million people.

Kerry’s talks with Lavrov in Laos on Tuesday and with Putin in Moscow 10 days ago came after a leaked proposal showed the U.S. offering Russia a broad new military partnership against IS and the Nusra Front, which is al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate. Several conditions would apply, including Russia committing to grounding Syria’s bombers and starting a long-sought political transition process.

U.S. defense and intelligence agencies have reportedly had strong reservations about sharing intelligence with the Russians or cooperating in a way that could reveal sensitive U.S. military methods, techniques, and procedures.

Meanwhile, Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump seemed to back the idea of closer cooperation with Russia in the battle against Islamic State and Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate Nusra Front.

“When you think about it, wouldn’t it be nice if we got along with Russia?” Trump said at a campaign rally in North Carolina. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we got together with Russia and knocked the hell out of [Islamic State]?” (with AP, Reuters)

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Pope Francis’ name was conspicuously absent from a letter issued by Polish bishops inviting Catholic youths to attend an international gathering to be held in Poland this week. Instead, the bishops spoke about John Paul II, who died in 2005, was made a saint in 2014.

As reported by the Reuters news agency, the bishops confirmed that Francis – and not the ghost of his predecessor – will be the centrepiece of World Youth Day events. But the omission reflects a sense of disquiet among senior clergy about his calls for a more inclusive and merciful Church, a message that contrasts with the preaching in many Polish churches.

Poland remains one of Europe’s most Catholic and conservative nations, with about 90% of citizens declaring allegiance to the Church. Its government openly calls for Christian values to be present in daily life and politics.

“I am absolutely convinced the meeting between Francis and the Polish Church will be challenging for both sides,” said Jaroslaw Makowski, a liberal Polish theologian.

“When he was invited to Poland in 2013, he was unknown… But after a few months it became clear he isn’t what was expected… but someone who wants to shake up the Church and push it off the path familiar to the Polish Church.”

The Vatican expects hundreds of thousands of young people from all continents to turn out to see the pope during his five-day visit that starts on July 27 in the southern city of Krakow, where John Paul was archbishop before he became pope in 1978.

Privately, Vatican officials said they expect Francis to wow young people in Poland just like he did at the last World Youth Day in Brazil three years ago, reported Reuters.

Poland has undergone a significant shift in its political landscape since the Eurosceptic, conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party in October ended nearly a decade of secular-minded government. The government disagrees with Francis on issues such as refugees and the environment. It opposes mandatory European Union quotas for accepting migrants and promotes coal as an energy source.

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Back in April, the Swedish Migration Agency estimated more than 60,000 people would seek asylum in the country this year. Migrationsverket now believes between 30,000 and 50,000 people will seek asylum.

“There are above all two main reasons, the deal between the EU and Turkey and that the Balkan route is as good as shut,” the agency’s general director, Anders Danielsson, said in a statement on July 24.

As reported by The Local, the new predictions come just days after Sweden tightened its asylum rules, after receiving a record 163,000 applications last year. So far this year it has taken in around 2,000 people a month.

The amendments to the country’s asylum laws mean that migrants in Sweden are now granted only the minimum level of rights the European Union requires of its member states.

One of the biggest changes is the introduction of a new temporary residence permit for those offered protection in Sweden, instead of permanent permits, as the ruled had been previously.

Border controls, which are set to be in place until November, and ID checks on the Danish side of the Öresund bridge, are also credited with keeping the number of applications down, reported The Local.

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Tightening its grip over the country’s web and information industries, China has ordered major online companies to stop original news reporting. A ban on several major news portals was imposed by the Cyberspace Administration of China.

As reported by Bloomberg, the agency instructed the operators of mobile and online news services to dismantle “current-affairs news” operations on July 22. From now on, they can only carry reports provided by government-controlled print or online media.

The sweeping ban gives authorities near-absolute control over online news and political discourse, in keeping with a broader crackdown on information increasingly distributed over the web and mobile devices. President Xi Jinping has stressed that Chinese media must serve the interests of the ruling Communist Party.

Willy Lam, an adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Center for China Studies, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that Xi is cementing his power base and silencing dissenters ahead of a twice-a-decade reshuffle at next year’s party congress. Lam said that he “is really tightening up his crusade to silence opponents in the media”.

According to Bloomberg, China’s online giants serve content, games and news to hundreds of millions of people across the country. Tencent’s QQ and WeChat alone host more than a billion users, combined.

The Financial Times reported that the trigger for the shutdown, according to media analysts, was coverage of flooding in northern China which, according to the official count, has left 130 dead and racked up damages of more than Rmb16bn ($2.4bn) in Hebei province alone.

Media relayed the event with videos of landslides and dead bodies floating in ditches, which have been heavily shared online. Beijing’s preferred narrative is one of army troops toughing it out to save stranded villages.

Qiao Mu, a journalism professor in Beijing, was quoted as saying that the government does not want any platforms to provide their own news. “They are only allowed to forward reports by outlets like Xinhua and the People’s Daily,” he said.

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The UK’s vote to leave the European Union has brought renewed calls for clarity on the likely consequences for the country in the years ahead, and on 30th of June, just one week after the referendum, Europe House was delighted to host a seminar on this topic in Smith Square with Nuffield College Oxford.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

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Turkey’s state-run airline, Turkish Airlines, has sacked 211 employees, including management and cabin crew, who were reportedly linked to the Islamic transnational Gulen movement after the recent failed coup.

As reported by the Independent, this is part of a purge of state institutions.

Turkish authorities have sacked, suspended or detained some 60,000 people, mainly public-sector employees, after the failed coup by a small faction in the military. They are accused of sympathising or belonging to a religious group led by Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic preacher in self-imposed exile in the United States.

More than 240 people were killed and 2,000 injured in violence surrounding the July 15 coup attempt.

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Germany’s populist AfD party has attacked the government’s refugee policies in the wake of several attacks that left several dead and many injured.

As reported by Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international broadcaster, the flags fluttering over Germany’s parliament buildings on July 25 were no longer flying at half-mast. But the country was still reeling from the attacks that occurred within the space of just a few days.

On July 24, a man set off an explosive device near an open-air music festival in Ansbach, killing himself and wounding a dozen others. An Islamist motive was “likely,” authorities said. This followed a shooting rampage in a shopping centre in Munich on July 22, and an axe attack on a train in Würzburg on July 18 by a young man, which was claimed by the self-declared Islamic State.

The attackers on the train and in Ansbach were refugees, while the perpetrator of the July 23 shooting rampage was of Iranian-German descent.

According to DW, Germany is struggling to bridge the divide between those who support Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s decision to open the country’s borders to migrants a year ago and those, who are clamouring for harsher asylum laws. These include the populist, right-wing and virulently anti-migrant and anti-Islam Alternative for Germany Party (AfD).

A government spokeswoman on July 25 refused to speculate whether recent events were likely to change Merkel’s refugee policy. “The Chancellor has voiced her dismay,” said spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer, choosing her words carefully. “We need to wait for the outcome of the investigations,” she added.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere (CDU) agreed. He told reporters he did not believe that Merkel’s refugee policy had been too optimistic. He also stressed that all refugees, including the perpetrators of the attacks in Ansbach, Würzburg and Munich, routinely underwent safety checks as part of their asylum application.

Maiziere, however, said the problem was that there was no exhaustive, Europe-wide data base of radicalised potential attackers. That, he said, was “problematic”.

The post Merkel’s refugee policies under attack appeared first on New Europe.

After the horror comes the soul searching. And, with unseemly speed, so too comes the politics.

The revelations that the Syria refugee who blew himself up on Sunday night at a Bavarian music festival had pledged his allegiance to Isis has brutally revived nagging doubts in Germany about Angela Merkel’s refugee policy – specifically her decision in 2015 to welcome more than a million asylum seekers.

 

Germany is reeling. The suicide bombing was one of four attacks in the last eight days, three of which involved Afghan and Syria refugees as perpetrators. FAZ, in an editorial, asks simply how the country can“prevent the madness.”

Read more

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British Prime Minister Theresa May visited Northern Ireland on July 25 to meet with first and deputy first ministers, Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness. They discussed the impact of the Brexit vote.

“If you look ahead, what is going to happen when the UK leaves the European Union is that of course Northern Ireland will have a border with the Republic of Ireland, which will remain a member of the European Union,” said May during her visit to Northern Ireland, which will remain a member of the European Union. “But we’ve had a common travel area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland many years before either country was a member of the European Union.

“Nobody wants to return to the borders of the past,” she added. “What we do want to do is to find a way through this that is going to work and deliver a practical solution for everybody – as part of the work that we are doing to ensure that we make a success of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union – and that we come out of this with a deal which is in the best interests of the whole of the United Kingdom.”

As reported by the BBC, May arrived to Belfast emphasising her strong personal commitment to serving all the people of the UK. But, at Stormont Castle, she came face to face with the divisions opened up by the decision to quit the EU.

Although the UK voted to leave the European Union, 56% of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain.

In related news, the Guardian noted that the Irish government is increasingly hopeful that it will be able to retain both free movement and a customs union across the border with Northern Ireland, but the shape of any deal will depend on the kind of wider Brexit sought by May and the willingness of the rest of the EU to be flexible.

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With 23 participating countries, including all of the world’s largest financial centres, covering the vast bulk of global financial services trade, the TiSA negotiations on financial services trade are strategically important for the EU. They are likely to deliver commitments and rules, which go significantly beyond the GATS package negotiated over two decades ago – and to extend their umbrella to a greater range of countries. In addition, the level of market access commitments ultimately incorporated into TiSA will set a new benchmark and reference point for future EU FTA negotiations. Depending on the outcome of remaining negotiations, the TiSA may also establish influential new and consolidated texts on such matters as data transfer, forced localisation, source code, regulatory transparency, and domestic regulation.
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

"On 26 July 2016, Ms Maria-Cristina Stepanescu, a senior police officer from Romania, was appointed Head of the European Union mission on regional maritime capacity building in the Horn of Africa, EUCAP Nestor. She will take up her duties on 1 September 2016. She takes over from Acting Head Simonetta Silvestri.

This civilian CSDP mission forms part of the EU's comprehensive approach to fighting piracy in the Horn of Africa, alongside the EU Naval Force Somalia and the EU training mission for Somalia. EUCAP Nestor works to reinforce the capacity of Somalia to effectively govern its territorial waters in order to help them fight piracy more effectively. This includes advice, mentoring and training for the coast guard, maritime criminal justice system and coastal police.

Since February 2010, Ms Stepanescu has been a Seconded National Expert/Police Expert to the Civilian Conduct and Planning Capability (CPCC)/EEAS. She has previously held positions such as: Head of the Cooperation - Single Point of Contact/Schengen Department (2008-2010); Head of Programme Development and coordination Department (PDCD), European Union Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo (2005-2007); Policy Officer with the Institute for Research and Crime Prevention, within the General Inspectorate of Romanian Police, Ministry of Interior (2002-2004); Chief Investigator of Gracanica Police Station/Team Leader of Trafficking in Human Beings and Prostitution Unit, Serious and Organised Crime of Pristina Regiona, UN Mission in Kosovo (2000-2002); Policy officer, General Inspectorate of Romanian Police (1998-2000); Intelligence/CID officer, General Inspectorate of Romanian Police (1994-1998).

She has a Masters degree in Sociology and Social Sciences/Implementation of community Justice from Bucharest University, Romania (2000-2002) and a Law Degree from Alxandra Ioan Cuza Police Academy, Bucharest, Romania (1990-1994). She speaks Romanian, English and French.

The decision was taken by the Political and Security Committee."

(European Council - Press Release)

Tag: EUCAP NestorMaria-Cristina Stepanescu

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A public consultation process of the Constitutional Revision was launched by the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, with a Latin American twist, paving the way for a “new political changeover” and “New Greece 2021”.

Tsipras aims to overcome “the narrow confines of Parliament” to limit the objections of “the conservative, old political system and the technocratic elite” that wants to limit the democratic influence of the people. The Greek Prime Minister proposed a constitutional review process “by the people for the people and not in absentia.”

This “democratic revolution” that leaves behind the specific terms of revision, provided already by the Constitution, so as to expand and ensure its popular legitimacy, “by a process that involves, organises, mobilises citizens. A process of active citizenship and not a restricted procedure, within the walls of the Parliament House.”

IIn September, the Constitutional Revision’s “steering committee” will be announced, in order “to conduct a broad, open debate nationwide,” in municipalities with the participation of scientific and social organisations, citizen movements, collectives and individual citizens.

The proposal that Tsipras presented on Monday at the Parliament’s terrace, consists of five pillars, interfering with the architecture of the political system, strengthening direct democracy tools, the rule of law, State – Church relations and social rights.

Tsipras even proposed a new referendum on the Constitutional Revision process, explaining later that Syriza and the “government of the left” do not aim to force citizens to take decisions that are beyond their knowledge but at the same time suggested that “important issues will not be judged by bureaucrats and specialists.”

Syriza government’s proposal put the President of Democracy under direct election of the citizens when a second vote within the Parliament House fails, in order to put an end to the automatic Parliament dissolution process that takes place automatically if such a vote fails for the third time in Plenary, causing acute fall of the government.

A change will also take place to the powers that the President of Democracy can exercise, by further expanding them to the level they used to be on 1975, before the Greek political system was reformed in order to ensure that most of the powers would be handed out to the Prime Minister.

On government issues, the proposal fully connects the government with Parliament, suggesting that the Prime Minister must be an active MP, putting an end to technocrat Prime Ministers with an exception of care-taking governments.

Further changes will be made in the use of referendums, expanding the option to popular initiatives of 500,000 signatures on national matters. The immunity of MPs will be abolished, but not if the MP acts in accordance with government policy.

Tsipras turned down the proposal on a Constitutional Court, proposing a rather intermediate solution of a judges advisory body, as “judges should not be allowed to legislate.”

On Church issues, Tsipras proposed a “neutrality of the State” but with preservation of recognition of Christian Orthodox religion as “prevailing religion, for historical and practical reasons.”

On independent authorities, Tsipras opposes the “technocratic ideology of deification of their operation and constant expansion of responsibilities and their powers,” asking for more parliamentary control on authorities that are already established with wide majorities of 4/5.

On social rights, Tsipras aims to pose a constitutional ban on public control of water goods and electricity waiver, while another issue that could bring friction to the second review negotiations of the third bailout programme such as collective bargaining, will become the only means to determine salary.

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Meeting for the first time since the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration handed a legal victor to the Philippines in a dispute with China in the South China Sea, the foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) failed to reach an agreement on July 24. Cambodia blocked any mention to an international court ruling against Beijing in their statement.

As reported by the Reuters news agency, the ruling by the court in The Hague denied China’s sweeping claims in the strategic seaway, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes each year.

China claims most of the sea, but Asean members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have rival claims. Beijing says the ruling has no bearing on its rights in the sea, and described the case as a farce.

The Philippines and Vietnam both wanted the communique issued by Asean foreign ministers after their meeting to refer to the ruling and the need to respect international law, Asean diplomats said. Their foreign ministers both discussed the ruling with Asean counterparts in the Laotian capital.

“We are still working on it,” Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told Reuters after the meeting on July 24, adding that she hoped the Asean members would reach an agreement.

Cambodia’s Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon declined to comment on his country’s position on July 24.

One regional analyst, Malcolm Cook at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, told the Associated Press that the disagreement was hurting Asean’s image.

“Certainly, Cambodia’s paralysis of Asean… hurts Asean’s unity, cohesion, relevance and reputation,” he said. “It makes Asean peripheral, not central, on this issue.”

Asean now has until July 26 to come to an agreement, an unnamed diplomat told Reuters news agency.

Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State John Kerry are also expected to meet and discuss the maritime issues.

According to Reuters, the United States, allied with the Philippines and cultivating closer relations with Vietnam, has called on China to respect the court’s ruling. It has criticised China’s building of artificial islands and facilities in the sea and has sailed warships close to the disputed territory to assert freedom of navigation rights.

In September, Barack Obama is scheduled to become the first US president to visit Laos, attending an annual summit hosted by the country that holds the ASEAN chairmanship.

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ARY News reporting from Lahore said the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on July 24 opposed the Turkish ambassador’s demand to close down educational institutions run under the administration of Gulen mouvement.

Imran Khan questioned why Pakistani school children should have to suffer for the Turkish coup attempt and how Turkey could possibly be affected by Pakistani school kids.

He expressed his support for the Turkish democracy and clarified that Pakistan already had low literacy rate and closing down a large network of schools could be disastrous for the country.

The PTI chairman posted on his Twitter account: “While we stand firmly behind Turkish democracy, closing Pak-Turk schools in Pakistan, which has a high illiteracy rate, could be disastrous.”

According to the report, Gulen is running a large network of schools in Pakistan, providing education to students with meagre resources.

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