Challenges in the EU-US Relationship

Source: Speech by Benita Ferrero-Waldner*

Relations between France and the United States are a vital component of the Transatlantic relationship. There is a long and glorious history of exchanges and cross-fertilisation between the two nations. There may have been ups and downs of late, but it is clear that President Sarkozy is keen to put all that in the past. I am convinced that we are entering an even more productive era in Franco-American and indeed Euro-American relations.

Kiwi may be in running to head the global internet

Source: stuff.co.nz

Wellington barrister Peter Dengate Thrush, 51, who specialises in internet law, may have the inside running to replace a “father of the internet,” Vint Cerf, as chairman of cyberspace. Mr Cerf – regarded as a “founding father” of the internet because he helped create its crucial TCP/IP protocol – will step down next month as chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

New IMF boss faces daunting task

Source: BBC | By Katie Hunt

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the new head of the International Monetary Fund, has taken the helm of a struggling multilateral organisation. Mr Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister and presidential candidate, now faces the task of restoring the body’s battered credibility.

Britain struggles to clarify stance on Security Council reform

Source: The Independent | By Anne Penketh

The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, has been forced to backtrack after dropping a diplomatic clanger, notably upsetting Egypt, Nigeria and Germany, by endorsing four other countries as future permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The Foreign Office was inundated with calls demanding clarification, according to diplomats, after Mr Miliband identified South Africa, Japan, Brazil and India as the four states with a “very clear” claim to permanent membership.

Iraqi PM urges support for reconciliation

Source: USA Today

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki warned Wednesday that the “flow and overflow” of weapons, money and suicide bombers into Iraq could bring disastrous consequences for the Middle East and the world. “We have a long way to go to reach our goals for a secure, stable and prosperous Iraq,” al-Maliki said in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

Liberty vs. equality at the U.N.

Source: Los Angeles Times

The clash between North and South America is as enduring as ever, but its rhetoric is evolving. Gone are the crude tirades about imperialist oppression and the exploitation of the world’s poor by greedy corporations. Now it’s all about the competition between liberty, the preeminent value championed by President Bush, and equality, the primary concern of his leading ideological adversaries, presidents Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

Climate change: the time for doubt has passed

By Andreas S. von Warburg

“The time for doubt has passed.” This is how United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed the more than 80 world leaders gathered today at the Un Headquartered in New York for the High-Level meeting on Climate Change.

World Leaders Meet for UN Climate Talks

Source: Associated Press | by Charles Hanley

With tales of rising seas and talk of human solidarity, world leaders at the first United Nations climate summit sought Monday to put new urgency into global talks to reduce global-warming emissions.

What’s needed is “action, action, action,” California’s environmentalist governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, told the assembled presidents and premiers.