叙利亚和谈无望出现突破
联合国负责叙利亚事务的首席谈判人员说，他在近期内看不到谈判会有任何突破。
在新一轮叙利亚和谈前夕，联合国叙利亚问题特使德米斯图拉告诉人们不要期待太高，但表示目前有一股“政治势头”，向前推动为结束长期内战所作的努力。
叙利亚交战各方上一次会面是近九个月前在日内瓦举行的会议上。那一轮谈判由于停火协定一再被违反而中断。
德米斯图拉承认，成功重启之前失败的谈判主要取决于交战各方是否遵守目前的停火。
他说，俄罗斯与土耳其在哈萨克斯坦首都阿斯塔纳达成协议，并正在利用其影响力维持脆弱的停火。
这位联合国特使警告说，仍会有他所说的“坏事者”，试图对参加会谈的一方进行挑衅，使他们离开会谈，或拒绝谈话。
叙利亚近六年的内战已经导致约40万人丧生，600多万人在叙利亚境内流离失所，其中一半是儿童。这促使近500万人作为难民逃到邻国。目前估计叙利亚有1350万人需要人道主义援助。
No Breakthrough Expected in Upcoming Syrian Peace Talks
The U.N.’s chief mediator for the intra-Syrian talks says he does not see any imminent breakthrough on the horizon.
On the eve of a new round of Syrian peace talks, Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, downplayed expectations, but said that there was a “political momentum” to move ahead on efforts to end the long-standing civil war.
Syria’s warring parties last met in Geneva nearly nine months ago. That round of talks broke down because of repeated violations of a cease-fire agreement.
De Mistura acknowledged that the successful resumption of the failed negotiations hinged largely on the warring parties abiding by the current cease-fire.
He said Russia, which had worked out the agreement with Turkey in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, was using its influence to see that the fragile cease-fire held.
The U.N. envoy warned that there were, what he called “spoilers,” who would try to provoke one side or the other to walk out of the talks or to refuse to talk.
Syria’s nearly six-year-long civil war has killed around 400,000 people, displaced more than 6 million inside Syria, half of them children and prompted nearly 5 million to flee as refugees into neighboring countries. An estimated 13.5 million people need humanitarian assistance.
墨西哥总统将与两名川普内阁高官会面
美国总统川普内阁的两位主要成员希望能够安抚由于美国新政府的墨西哥政策所引起的担忧和愤怒。
美国国务卿蒂尔森和国土安全部长凯利星期四会见墨西哥总统涅托及其内阁成员，预计这将是一系列高级别会议的第一次会议，双方会谈重点是贩毒、贸易和移民。
白宫新闻秘书斯派塞周三表示，“川普总统在刚刚开始执政之际就派遣内阁成员到墨西哥访问，这是很重要的。”他说， “这是我们两国有意义的双边关系的象征。” 斯派塞还提到两国关系“健康强大”。
这次访问正值两国关系陷入低点。两国共享3100公里长的边境线，自1840年代美墨战争以来，就一直和平共处。
川普一再坚持，墨西哥不管以什么方式，必须支付建造边界墙的费用。国会议员估计，至少需要120亿美元。而就在本周，国土安全部提出了可能遣返数百万非法移民的政策。
路透社周三引述墨西哥外交部长路易斯·维德加雷的话说，墨西哥不会接受新的“单方面”美国移民提案，并在必要时会毫不犹豫地要求联合国处理这个问题。
Mexico’s President to Meet Two Trump Emissaries
Two key members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s cabinet are hoping to soothe concern and anger about the new U.S. administration's policies toward Mexico.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly meet Thursday with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and members of his cabinet, in what is expected to be the first in a series of high-level meetings focusing on drug trafficking, trade and immigration.
"It's significant that the president is sending the secretaries to Mexico so early in his administration," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday. "It's symbolic of the meaningful relationship our two nations have." Spicer also referred to relations between the two countries as "healthy and robust."
The trip comes at what is seen as a low point in relations between the two countries, which have enjoyed peace along their 3,100 kilometer-long common border since the Mexican-American War of the late 1840s.
Trump has repeatedly insisted that Mexico, one way or another, must pay for a border wall, which lawmakers in Washington estimate would cost at least $12 billion. And just this week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security outlined policies that could result in the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.
On Wednesday, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, quoted by Reuters, said his country will not accept new "unilateral" U.S. immigration proposals and will not hesitate in taking the matter to the United Nations.
