Yushchenko ready to work with Putin
Davos, Switzerland Ukraine’s new president played down concerns over tensions with Moscow Saturday, saying he can work with Vladimir Putin despite the Russian leader’s strong preference for the defeated Ukrainian presidential candidate.
Viktor Yushchenko told the World Economic Forum and the Associated Press he did not believe that Putin would oppose Ukraine moving closer to the West.
Yushchenko last week called on the European Union to commit by 2007 to membership talks and said he would push through democratic reforms to aid Ukraine’s bid to join the 25-nation bloc.
But Ukraine is strategically important to Moscow, which sees the country as a buffer zone between Russia and the expanded EU and NATO, as well as a major transit route for its oil and natural gas exports. Putin supported Yushchenko’s rival, then Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, in Ukraine’s elections.
In a symbolic gesture aimed at soothing ties with the Kremlin, Yushchenko traveled to Moscow and met with Putin on Monday in his first foreign trip as president. On Saturday, he told the AP that the chemistry between himself and the Russian leader was fine.
U.S., Mexico issue tourism statement
Mexico City The United States and Mexico sought to defuse their spat over a U.S. alert about drug-gang violence along the border, issuing a joint statement Saturday in which Washington said its announcement was not meant to keep Americans from traveling south of the border.
Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez and U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza met over breakfast, the joint statement said, to review actions taken by the Mexican government to combat organized crime in northern Mexico, where a surge in killings and kidnappings has been linked to battles between drug gangs.
Garza, the statement said, insisted that the State Department announcement did not recommend that Americans avoid traveling to Mexico, but only that they take precautions in specific areas.
President Vicente Fox intervened in the diplomatic flap on Friday, saying violence near the border did not threaten the two nations’ strong relationship.
The State Department issued the travel alert last week, telling Americans that violent crime, including murder and kidnapping, had increased along the Mexican side of the border. Mexican officials said the alert was an exaggeration.
Rival Palestinian groups open fire
Jerusalem A political rally by the militant Palestinian group Hamas turned violent Saturday, as supporters of the rival Fatah faction opened fire, sparking a melee that left more than 25 people wounded, a Palestinian official said.
The incident in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza was the first instance of violence between rival Palestinian factions since the election of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in early January.
Abbas has been holding talks with rival political factions, including Hamas, in hopes of reaching a truce agreement between militants and Israel.
The shooting occurred at an outdoor rally staged by Hamas to celebrate its victory in municipal elections in Gaza earlier in the week. Hamas’ strong showing dealt a setback to Abbas’ dominant Fatah faction.
The Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Hamas supporters chanted victory slogans, angering Fatah supporters in the area.