Lawrow zufolge gehören dazu unter anderem Mitglieder der an das Terrornetzwerk Al-Kaida verbundene Gruppierung Jabhat al-Nusra, die in den USA auf der Liste von Terrororganisationen steht.

Will face Senate on Tuesday

Russia and Japan have launched a new tool for the development of mutual investments. The new Russo-Japanese investment platform involves injections starting from $1 billion and is aimed at boosting Russia’s Far East.

The Guardian understands that the payments by British intelligence were on a smaller scale than the CIA‘s cash handouts, reported in the New York Times to have been in the tens of millions, and much of the British money has gone towards attempts to finance peace initiatives, which have so far proved abortive.

„It is all a family plot,“ Colletti said, referring to Enrico Letta‘s relation to his uncle, Gianni Letta, who has been Berlusconi‘s longtime chief of staff.

New Italian premier to travel to Berlin

Speech pleases leftwing, rightwing parties

Majority only needed in House, new premier says

If Letta succeeds in maintaining unity in the uncomfortable left-right coalition, pushes through pro-growth policies, repeals the electoral law and makes other vital constitutional changes, he could pick up powerful momentum that would be bad news for Grillo.

Live up to Constitutional role he says

Der israelische Brigadegeneral Itai Brun streute am Donnerstag das Gerücht, dass syrische Regierungstruppen chemische Waffen in ihrem Kampf gegen die Aufständigen eingesetzt hätten, nachdem Präsident Obama vom Überschreiten einer “roten Linie” bei derartigen Vorfällen gesprochen hatte. Nur glaubt es Brun plötzlich keiner.

The shock replacement of 70-year-old Sáenz by internal candidate Javier Marín comes just two weeks after the Bank of Spain ordered a review into whether or not he would meet new rules governing bank executives with criminal convictions.

Alfredo Sáenz, chief executive of Banco Santander, resigned on Monday, less than a week after the Spanish bank reported that first-quarter net profit fell 26 percent.

(27.04.) Treasury Secretary Maria Luis Albuquerque said the government had failed to reach a deal with US bank JPMorgan and Spanish bank Santander’s local unit to overhaul so-called “toxic swap” contracts that are weighing down public companies and threatening Portugal’s debt-slashing efforts.

Bank of Cyprus has enforced a conversion of 37.5% of uninsured deposits (over €100,000) to shares as part of an agreement between Cyprus with the Euro area and the IMF over a €10 billion financial assistance to the island.

The United Nations independent expert on foreign debt and human rights warned today that the austerity measures and structural reforms proposed to solve Greece’s debt crisis may result in violations of the basic human rights of the country’s people, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported.

“The implementation of the second package of austerity measures and structural reforms, which includes a wholesale privatization of state-owned enterprises and assets, is likely to have a serious impact on basic social services and therefore the enjoyment of human rights by the Greek people, particularly the most vulnerable sectors of the population such as the poor, elderly, unemployed and persons with disabilities,” said Cephas Lumina, who reports to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Austerity measures are hitting Greece’s human rights record, a international expert warned on Friday while slamming the “excessively rigid” demands dictated by the debt-wracked nation’s rescue program.

More specific, mr. Lumina stressed that a growing number of Greeks is left without health insurance and about 10% of the population is living in „extreme poverty.“ Moreover, the number of homeless increased by about 25% reaching to 20,000 people. In addition, he pointed that about 470,000 illegal immigrants are often victims of labour exploitation and other abuses.

Issues on the agenda: “the Iranian threat, diplomatic and economic sanctions against Iran, European involvement in the peace process and boosting relations between Israel and Italy“, the communique said.

The number of suicides that can be linked to economic factors has increased in Italy by „20% to 30%“ in the last four years

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called new Italian Premier Enrico Letta to congratulate him