US authorities say they are searching for the eighth member of a group that is suspected of plotting terror attacks in foreign countries. Seven people from the state of North Carolina have been accused of plotting terrorist attacks and have been charged with conspiracy to kill, kidnap and maim. They are believed to be a part of international jihad group. Apparently this group has been led by 39-year-old Daniel Patrick Boyd, who received terrorist training in Afghanistan and Pakistan years ago, only to come back to the US to use what he learned and recruit people in the US who would be ready to die as martyrs. "Daniel Patrick Boyd has recruited his children who, on 9/11, were between 10 and 11 years old and he recruited other members of American society including immigrants, such as men coming from Kosovo,” according to Dr. Walid Phares, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington. “This is not just a local protest group. We are talking about membership in an international jihad organization which could aim, not just at Afghanistan or Pakistan, but could be a part of networks that struck in Mumbai, in Madrid, in Jakarta or in Beslan.”
Immigration, citizenship and asylum were again among the key topics of discussion today when Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders held their latest round of United Nations-backed talks on the possible reunification of the Mediterranean island. Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat held a 90-minute tête-à-tête in Nicosia and then resumed discussions on immigration, asylum and related issues, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative Tayé-Brook Zerihoun told journalists. The two leaders agreed to meet again on 6 August, when they will conclude their deliberations on these topics. Next week they will also discuss the schedule and programme for the resumption of the talks in early September after a break over the August holiday period. Today’s discussions were only the latest round of UN-backed talks between the two leaders aimed at reunifying the island of Cyprus. In May 2008, Mr. Christofias and Mr. Talat committed themselves to working towards “a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, as defined by relevant Security Council resolutions.” The partnership would comprise a Federal Government with a single international personality, along with a Turkish Cypriot Constituent State and a Greek Cypriot Constituent State, which would be of equal status.
Russia and Ukraine exchanged expulsions of their diplomats in an apparent dispute over activities of the Russian Black Sea fleet, officials in Kiev said. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is analyzing a Russian document on Moscow's decision to expel two Ukrainian diplomats in retaliation for the Kiev government's expulsion of two Russian diplomats, the Ukrinform news agency said Thursday. Yuriy Kostenko, acting Ukrainian foreign minister, said diplomats must not get involved in internal affairs of a host country, Ukrinform said. The diplomat offered no further details. Last week, Ukraine expelled a Russian embassy diplomat i Kiev in charge of the Russian Black Sea fleet and the Russian consul in the Black Sea port of Odessa. On Wednesday, Russia asked the Ukraine consul in St. Petersburg, Russia, and an adviser in the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow to leave Russia.
The president of the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity, told RIA Novosti on Thursday he does not believe that Georgia will attack his country in the future. Georgian troops launched an offensive on South Ossetia last August in an attempt to bring the former Georgian republic back until its central control. The move led to a five-day conflict between Tbilisi and Moscow, which recognized South Ossetia along with neighboring Abkhazia.
Since recognition of the two republics, Russia and Georgia have had no diplomatic ties. "Taking into account the agreements signed with the Russian Federation, I would like to inform my compatriots that the situation will be normal. And at this time, I rule out any chance of aggression from Georgia," Kokoity said. According to Kokoity, Georgia with the help of the United States, NATO, Ukraine, Israel and other countries, has re-equipped itself with weapons lost or destroyed after the August war. "Georgia's army today is better equipped than in August 2008. Training exercises with NATO forces are regularly held and military specialists from NATO countries and the U.S. make regular visits," he said. "However, [South Ossetia] and Russia are also not sitting idly by. Considering what happened in August 2008, we are also taking appropriate steps, meaning that we are arming ourselves," Kokoity said.
Almost two decades after the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, people from Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FRYM) and Montenegro have been granted visa-free travel to the European Union from the beginning of next year. When fi ghting broke out in 1991, Yugoslavia – at the time consisting of Bosnia- Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia – had a strict visa regime placed upon its citizens. Slovenia and Croatia were already independent nations of what used to be a federation of six republics in former Yugoslavia. Understood by the European Community (soon-to-be European Union), they were exempt from the visa regime. Before 1991, Yugoslavs had enjoyed visa-free travel since the mid-1960s, unlike the other nations of Eastern Europe. Generations of Serbs grew up travelling abroad freely, but the young now are almost completely unaware of the benefit. But if a sigh of relief was heard in Serbia after the European Commission’s decision, reactions in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo were coloured with anger. The three were omitted from the list for visafree travel. “These countries have not yet fulfi lled the conditions,” the EC said in its statement. That meant they had not introduced biometric passports, secured their borders or engaged in a fi ght against organised crime. Visa- free travel for them could be re-examined by mid-2010, the EC statement said. There was fierce reaction in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the EC move was viewed as a political message primarily for Muslims.
Former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen takes over as NATO's new secretary general on Monday. Alliance leaders picked Fogh Rasmussen to succeed de Hoop Scheffer during their summit in April. The Dane was a controversial choice because he infuriated many Muslims following the 2005 publication in Denmark of 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. As prime minister, Fogh Rasmussen distanced himself from the cartoons but resisted calls to apologize for them, citing freedom of speech and saying his government could not be held responsible for the actions of Denmark's press. Fogh Rasmussen will have a multitude of pressing items on his agenda, including the alliance's evolving anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia, and the issue of NATO expansion and relations with a resurgent Russia. Relations between NATO and Moscow have improved significantly since they were frozen in the aftermath of the Russia-Georgia war a year ago, but Russia still objects to plans to eventually bring Ukraine and Georgia into the alliance. Russia has continued to allow NATO nations to use its territory for the overland transport of supplies to Afghanistan.
The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians said he was hopeful Turkey would re-open a historic seminary that was shut down nearly four decades ago, the Anatolia news agency reported. The school, on the island of Halki off Istanbul, was the main centre of theological education for more than a century before it was closed by Turkish authorities in 1971 under a law to bring universities under state control. The European Union has long asked Turkey to re-open the seminary in order to prove its commitment to human rights as it strives to become a member of the bloc. "We are hopeful that the seminary will open and we are waiting on official news from the government," Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who represents the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians, was quoted by the agency as saying late Wednesday. "There has been a lot of talk so far, but no news from Ankara," he added. The Halki seminary is crucial for the survival of the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul which dates from the Byzantine Empire, which collapsed in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks conquered the city. Without it, the Church has no means to train clergy, making it difficult to find a successor for Bartholomew I.