The latest Gallup Poll on U.S. institutions shows something we all sense -- Americans are losing faith. That includes the presidency, which enjoys the high confidence of only 36% of Americans, according to the poll. President Obama can take heart from the fact that the rating is still better than that of Congress; only 11% of Americans have a great deal or a lot of confidence in it, dead last among the 16 groups rated. Confidence in the presidency also ranks higher than newspapers (25%) and television news (22%), by the way. But the presidential rating fell the furthest among the groups; last year, 51% had confidence in the presidency, but that rating fell 15 points. "Over the same period, President Barack Obama's approval rating fell by 11 points, from 58% to 47%," reported Gallup. "However, confidence in the presidency remains higher than in 2008 -- the last year of George W. Bush's term -- when the figure was 26%." Topping the confidence list: The military, small business, and police.
II. B92 - Expert: ICJ circumvented question
International law professor Tibor Varadi says the ICJ "should have considered the issue of whether Kosovo's independence is in accordance with international law. Instead of confronting the principle of territorial integrity that Serbia insisted on with the principle of right to self-determination that Kosovo Albanians insisted on, ICJ completely neglected these issues and focused solely on the text of the declaration of independence," Varadi told Belgrade-based daily Politika on Friday. "I have yet to determine, by closely studying the ICJ's advisory opinion, whether this is a way of circumventing the question and avoiding the answer," Varadi stressed, adding that he does not believe the response would be different if the question had been formulated differently. The fact that the court digressed from our question only to assess the very declaration is a manipulation. The court could have done the same with any other question," Varadi, who represented Serbia before the UN tribunal in the past, underscored. He added he believed that those who thought it was not advisable to go before the ICJ with the Kosovo case at all, were wrong, "as at the time there was no other way". Varadi said he still believed that the idea to file lawsuits against certain states that recognized was "much worse and would not yield results, as in that case the ICJ would inevitably stated that it is not authorized to rule on the case". Varadi expressed his expectation that this ICJ advisory opinion will encourage other secessionist movements around the world.
III. RADIOSRBIJA - Cyprus supports Serbia's territorial integrity
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus repeated they would respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and Kosmet within Serbia. Cyprus called on Belgrade and Pristina to restore dialogue within UN SC Resolution 1244 in order to find a mutually acceptable solution for Kosovo to enable stability and peace in the region. Cyprus is one of the five EU member-states that have not recognized independence of Kosovo.
IV. AFP - Israeli, Greek leaders vow closer ties
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with visiting Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Thursday, announcing a tightening of ties between the two nations. The visit comes at a time of crisis in the once-warm relationship between Israel and Greece's arch-rival, Turkey, since an Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship in which nine Turkish activists were killed on May 31. "At the end of the meeting they agreed to a major upgrade of relations between Israel and Greece on a range of bilateral issues," said Netanyahu's office, adding that Papandreou had invited Netanyahu to visit Athens. Papandreou, on a two-day visit to the region, was to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas later on Thursday. Netanyahu asked the Greek leader to urge Abbas to begin direct peace talks with Israel. The Palestinians have refused to move from US-brokered indirect talks to face-to-face peace negotiations without a complete freeze on Israeli settlement expansion on occupied land.
V. YNETNEWS - Israel to return flotilla boats to Turkey
Israeli Ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy is expected to inform the local authorities on Friday that Israel will return the Turkish boats which took part in a Gaza-bound flotilla in late May. The political echelon in Jerusalem decided to return the boats in a bid to prevent a further deterioration of the crisis with Ankara. The decision was made following negotiations between the two countries, after Israel demanded that the vessels would not take part in future sails to Gaza. The Turkish-owned Marmara ship, which led the flotilla, and additional vessels were led to Israel's ports after a deadly Navy raid left nine Turkish nationals killed. Spanish newspaper El Pais reported Friday that a local journalist and two Spanish peace activists who were oboard the Marmara during the raid planned to file a civil claim against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, six of his cabinet ministers and Navy Commander Eliezer Marom, according to . The activists say in the statement of claim that "the entire operation was well planned by the Israeli army in order to kill as many activists as possible, while they were only trying to help Gaza's residents." The Foreign Ministry said in response that the lawsuit was "a continuation of the provocation in other means." According to a statement issued Friday morning, "Israel's actions are legal and in accordance with international law. Just like the flotilla organizers did not have humanitarian aid in mind, but only used it as an excuse for provocation and violence, the people filing the lawsuit are not really interested in law and justice, but are using them as a tool against Israel. The appointed commission of inquiry must be given the chance to do its work uninterrupted."
VI. COLOMBIAREPORTS - International community concerned over Colombia-Venezuela crisis
The international community reacted with concern over Venezuela's decision to break all ties with Colombia, following evidence presented to the Organization of American States of the presence of 87 guerrilla camps in Venezuela. There was an overwhelming call for the two neighbor states to attempt to repair relations. United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday called for Colombia and Venezuela to resolve their differences "through dialogue" and asked for "moderation from all camps, so that the situation can be resolved peacefully." U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Thursday that Washington was critical of Venezuela's move. "I don't think that severing ties or communication is the proper way to achieve that end," Crowley said. "Colombia's allegations need to be taken very seriously," the State Department told AFP in a written statement. "Venezuela has an obligation to Colombia and to the international community to fully investigate this information and move to prevent the use of its sovereign territory by terrorist groups," the State Department wrote. "It is the expectation of all members of the inter-American community that all countries fulfill that commitment," the statement read. The Spanish government also expressed its concern and said it was disposed to aid in the renegotiation of diplomatic relations. The French government called for a dialogue between the feuding South American nations. Reactions within Venezuela: Opposing sectors to the Chavez administration within Venezuela criticized their leader's decision, while business leaders called for the bilateral crisis be handled with "consideration." The leader of Venezuelan opposition party Primero Justicia, Julio Borges, said that Chavez had broken relations in order to distract from the nation's internal problems. "Chavez has a military mentality. He always needs an enemy and if he doesn't have one, he invents one," Borges said, and asked the Venezuelan leader "not to use" the dispute with Colombia for "political gain." The secretary general of the Copei-Partido Popular, Luis Carlos Solorzano, asked Chavez to allow an international mission into Venezuela to verify Colombia's claims of a guerrilla presence. "Neither God not any nation in the world would forgive, if this were certain, because these groups do enormous harm to their own people," Solorzano said. The president of the Venezuelan Federation for Commerce and Production, Noel Alvarez, said on Thursday that "the ideological confrontations between the presidents have hurt us, above all the people, because the Palacio de Miraflores and the Casa de Nariño have policies, but those who benefit or suffer are the people.
On July 23, 2010, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, while on an archpastoral visitation of dioceses of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, met with the Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich in the Crimea. At Belbek airport, His Holiness was met by Metropolitan Lazar of Simferopol and the Crimea, diocesan clergy and governmental officials. In the beginning of their meeting, Patriarch Kirill read out the diploma awarding the Ukrainian President the Order of St. Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles, First Degree, in acknowledgement of his efforts for strengthening Orthodoxy in Ukraine and on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Presenting Mr. Yanukovich with the high church decoration, His Holiness Kirill said, ‘I rejoice in the fact that on the occasion of your jubilee I have an opportunity to put upon you during the first year of your presidency this token of profound respect of the Russian Orthodox Church for your work and your personality’. Then the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and the head of the Ukrainian State had a talk.