German Chancellor Angela Merkel was to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday as the major trading partners moved to overcome strains exacerbated by the recent war in Georgia.
The leaders, accompanied by senior ministers, were also to discuss global financial turmoil and Iran’s controversial nuclear program, a German government official said.
Germany is widely considered Russia’s closest ally in Western Europe, but ties frayed when Russian troops rolled into Georgia in August after Tbilisi tried to reclaim control of the Moscow-backed rebel province South Ossetia.
Merkel has been sharply critical of Russia’s actions in the Caucasus republic, but she has stood out in the EU by pressing for the lines of communication with Moscow to remain open.
Yesterday’s talks were expected to touch on Wednesday’s deployment of an EU mission charged with ensuring security as Russian forces pull back from “buffer zones” around South Ossetia and fellow rebel enclave Abkhazia by Oct. 10.
Since the August war, tensions over Georgia have spilled over into other areas of German-Russian cooperation.
An EU summit sheduled for this month to debate the resumption of negotiations with Russia on a new partnership and cooperation pact was also on the agenda, the senior German official said.
An industry delegation was to travel with Merkel, including the German energy agency president, the chief executives of chemicals behemoth BASF and engineering giant Siemens, and the head of the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, which represents German exporters.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
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