EU hopes to revive Mideast peace talks
BRUSSELS – The European Union is assessing new ways to push Israel back to the peace negotiating table with the Palestinians for a deal based on a two-state solution, working in tandem with the United States, EU officials say.
The EU is exploring new diplomatic terrain and could consider ways to discourage Europeans from buying products from Israeli settlements it believes are illegal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s election rhetoric has fueled doubts about Israel’s commitment to a two-state solution – a cornerstone of EU and U.S. policies for ending the Middle East conflict.
“We will not forget or ignore what was being said during the campaign and in particular some of the incendiary statements by Prime Minister Netanyahu,” German EU lawmaker Reinhard Buetikofer told The Associated Press.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia deploy ships to Yemen
ROME – Italy’s highest court overturned the murder conviction against Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Friday, bringing to a definitive end the high-profile case that captivated people on both sides of the Atlantic.
“Finished!” Knox’s lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova exulted after the decision was read. “It couldn’t be better than this.”
The decision by the supreme Court of Cassation is the final ruling in the case, ending the long legal battle waged by Knox and Italian co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito. Both Knox, who was awaiting the verdict in her hometown of Seattle, and Sollecito have long maintained their innocence in the death of British student Meredith Kercher.
The supreme Court of Cassation overturned last year’s convictions by a Florence appeals court, and declined to order another trial.
Two astronauts set to begin mission
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan – American astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian counterpart Mikhail Kornienko will blast off early Saturday to begin a year away from Earth.
The trip is NASA’s first stab at a one-year spaceflight, anticipating Mars expeditions that would last two to three years. Their Soyuz space capsule will lift off from Russia’s manned space launch facility on the steppes of Kazakhstan and will dock with the space station several hours later.
Gennady Padalka of Russia also is to be aboard the Soyuz capsule; he is scheduled for the standard six-month tour of duty aboard the International Space Station.
Kelly’s identical twin, Mark, a retired astronaut, agreed to take part in many of the same medical experiments to help scientists see how a body in space compares with its genetic double on Earth.
Associated Press
