I. THEHILL - The Week Ahead: Lame-duck race is on
The House and Senate return Monday from their Thanksgiving break to resume the lame-duck session. One remaining item on the agenda for the lower chamber is a censure vote on Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.). The ethics committee recommended censure for the 20-term lawmaker and the full House has to vote on it. It can pass with a simple majority. The House also has to pass the “doc-fix,” which will prevent the cut of Medicare payments to physicians. The House is scheduled to vote on it Monday. The Senate approved the fix on Nov. 19. The Senate could vote on a three-year moratorium on earmarks; 67 votes are needed for passage, and reaching that threshold is considered unlikely. The administration is pushing the upper chamber to hold a vote on New START, an arms reduction treaty between the U.S. and Russia. Other items Congress must deal with before the end of the year: whether to extend the Bush-era tax cuts; passing a federal budget or a continuing resolution to keep the government running; and extending long-term unemployment benefits. The Pentagon releases its one-year study on the repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell” on Tuesday. Pentagon leaders will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday and Friday. The president’s fiscal commission is scheduled to release its final report this week. The co-chairmen issued a draft proposal in early November on how to cut the deficit. To read a list of possible items for this Monday, November 29 - Friday, December 3, on the Hill, please click here.
South Korea will "firmly" respond to future provocations from North Korea, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Monday, declaring that his nation "cannot remain patient" in the face of continued hostility from Pyongyang. "Fellow citizens, at this point, actions are more important than words," Lee said in a televised address Monday morning. "Please have trust in the government and the military and support us." Lee's address came a day after South Korean and U.S. forces started joint military exercises Sunday, prompting a furious response from North Korea. The aircraft carrier USS George Washington is set to join South Korea's forces near the coasts of China and North Korea for the four-day drill, which the North called "no more than an attempt to find a pretext for aggression and ignite a war at any cost," according to the official Korean Central News Agency. China, North Korea's closest ally, called Sunday for an emergency meeting of the six major powers involved in talks about the Korean peninsula. Top diplomats from the six nations -- which also include Japan, the United States and Russia -- need to meet soon to "maintain peace and stability on the peninsula and ease the tension" in the region, Beijing's special representative for the region, Wu Dawei, said Sunday. A top Chinese envoy met with Lee on Sunday, and a high-ranking North Korean official will visit Beijing this week, China's Xinhua news agency said. South Korea said Sunday it did not think the time was right for a resumption of the six-party talks, but said it would "bear in mind" the Chinese proposal. In Washington, meanwhile, a State Department spokesperson told CNN that it is consulting with its allies, but resumed six-party talks "cannot substitute for action by North Korea to comply with its obligations."
III. YNET - Iran accepts date for talks with powers
Iran has accepted a date for talks with major powers, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday. The six powers hope the talks will focus on its disputed nuclear program, but Tehran has said its uranium enrichment activity will not be up for negotiation. "Two dates have been proposed, they accepted one of them and we do not have any problem with that," Ahmadinejad told a news conference, adding that the venue was still under discussion.
IV. REUTERS - U.N. climate talks seek to bridge rich, poor divide
A new round of U.N. climate talks opens on Monday with almost 200 nations meeting in Mexico in hopes of clinching an agreement on a narrow range of crunch issues dividing rich and emerging economies. The two-week conference at the beach resort of Cancun aims to agree on funds and approaches to preserve rain forests and prepare for a hotter world. It will also seek to formalize existing targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The long-running U.N. talks have pitted against each other the world's top two emitters, the United States and China, with U.S. demands for greater Chinese emissions curbs echoing similar pressure on free trade and human rights. On the eve of the talks, Mexican President Felipe Calderon pointed to the economic opportunities from fighting climate change, aiming to end the distrust of the previous summit. "This dilemma between protecting the environment and fighting poverty, between combating climate change and economic growth is a false dilemma," he said pointing to renewable energy as he inaugurated a wind turbine to power the conference hotel. That comment jarred European Union negotiators, who said that the talks must also achieve harder commitments to existing emissions pledges, including from developing countries. "We will look for a limited set of decisions in Cancun. We hope we will lay out the path forward," Artur Runge-Metzger, a senior EU negotiator, said on Sunday. "We do see the outlines of a compromise," said Peter Wittoeck, senior negotiator with Belgium, which holds the rotating EU presidency. The main aim of the talks is to agree a tougher climate deal to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, whose present round ends in 2012, to step up action to fight warming. World temperatures could soar by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2F) by the 2060s in the worst case of climate change and require annual investment of $270 billion (173 billion pounds) just to contain rising sea levels, studies suggested on Sunday.
V. RIANOVOSTI - OSCE calls on Georgia, South Ossetia to hold talks
Georgia and South Ossetia must cooperate to overcome the aftermath of the 2008 war between Georgia and Russia over the republic, a leading official from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Monday. Georgia and Russia fought a brief war in South Ossetia in August 2008. Russia recognized South Ossetia and another former Georgian republic, Abkhazia, as independent states shortly after the ceasefire. Tbilisi has declared them occupied territories and broken off relations with Moscow. "The principle of consensus dominates in the OSCE, and there are opposite positions of the state members on this issue," the director of the organization's Secretariat Center on Conflict Prevention, Herbert Salber, said on Monday at a briefing in Kazakhstan's capital of Astana. Kazakshtan holds the OSCE's rotating presidency this year. But Salber said the reconciliation process between Tbilisi and Tskhinvali would take much time. "There is no need to wait for a miracle, but a summit here, in Astana, allows direct talks at a high level," Salber said. The OSCE summit is to take place on December 1-2 in Astana.
VI. BALKANS - Relations between Serbia and Greece are excellent
Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic and Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Droutsas agreed on Friday in Thessaloniki that organisation of the summit “Thessaloniki II” in 2014 would give impetus to the EU integration of the Western Balkan countries. Jeremic, who is attending the 23rd meeting of the Council of foreign ministers of member states of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) in Thessaloniki, welcomed this initiative of Greece and underlined that the two countries will continue close cooperation with its partners in the implementation of this idea. He said that relations between Serbia and Greece are excellent, without any unresolved issues and added that Serbia is grateful for the efforts which the Greek government is making today for the European future of the Western Balkans. Jeremic also announced close cooperation with Greece in terms of economy and regional cooperation, pointing out that the two countries have an identical stance towards all the issues in the region and the world. Droutsas acquainted Jeremic with Greece’s initiative to organise a “Thessaloniki II” summit in 2014, when Greece is to take over the EU’s rotating presidency. He highlighted that this gathering will encourage the EU integration of the Balkan states. The Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs voiced his pleasure at the fact that the European Commission will soon compose an opinion needed for Serbia’s EU candidacy.
VII. VOICEOFRUSSIA - Russia to help saving historical shrines in Kosovo
Russia will take part in the restoration of Orthodox Christian shrines in Kosovo. In an arrangement with UNESCO, Russia will donate $2 mln for this in 2010 – 2011. This money will be spent on restoring four Orthodox facilities which are included in the UNESCO World Heritage list - the monastery of the Serbian Patriarchate in Peć, monasteries in Dečani and Gračanica and the church of the Mother of God in Prizren. Russia is also organizing the necessary administrative work and expert examinations. It will send there experienced architects, engineers and experts who will take part in the restoration works. Since 2000, Albanian separatists have destroyed over 150 monasteries and churches in Kosovo. Many other historical monuments are also under a threat of being destroyed. All this time, Russia has been expressing its readiness to help restore the ruined shrines. The late Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II has many times called on the world’s community to preserve the Kosovo heritage. The Russian Church has been constantly sending its representatives to Kosovo to help restore the ruined churches. The chairman of the Department for external relations of the Russian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Hilary says that the program to restore the Kosovo heritage is still working. “The Russian Church will continue to render feasible help to Orthodox Christians in Kosovo, in particular, to monasteries and convents. The Serbian clergy welcomes Russian monks and nuns when they come to Kosovo. After all, the Russian Church has a lot of experience in organizing monasteries – today, there are over 800 monasteries and convents in Russia. We can well help our brethren in Kosovo.” The UN sees preservation of the UNESCO world heritage as one of its primary tasks. About 200 countries are already taking part in the UN’s program to preserve historical monuments. Russia’s decision to donate money to save the Kosovo shrines is a part of the UN’s humanitarian program for Kosovo.