Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says the U.S. can't let Russia dictate whether it pursues a global missile defense system. Powell spoke to reporters before a speech Wednesday in Minneapolis. He said he was pleased at President Barack Obama's efforts to establish a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia. Russia's foreign minister said that progress would be jeopardized if the U.S. decides to create a global missile defense system. But Powell says Russia "can't have veto power over what we think is needed." Powell was in Minneapolis to talk to Lions Club members about the increased need for volunteers during a recession.
The EC, which is about to propose visa liberalization, wants Serbia to issue passports to residents from Kosovo in Belgrade. Beta reports from Brussels that, on the basis of the EC’s proposal, the Serbian authorities will be able to issue biometric passports to citizens from Kosovo from a single Coordination Center in Belgrade. EC sources informed Beta that under the commission’s proposal, Serbia would be able to issue biometric passports to citizens from Kosovo, but that they would have to acquire European visas in order to be able to enter the Schengen zone. Under EU visa regulations, Kosovo will be placed in the category of territories that, for the EU’s purposes, have an undefined, unrecognized international legal status, such as Taiwan or northern Cyprus. In its draft proposal, the EC states that Macedonia has met all the necessary conditions, while Serbia and Montenegro will have until October 1 to meet certain additional conditions and measures, before joining Macedonia on the white list by January 1, Beta reports. Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković cited the abolition of visas as one of the government’s biggest successes so far. “It’s with satisfaction that we can say that the abolition of the visa regime and the passage to the so-called Schengen white list is something that will remain documented as a contribution that we’ve made,” he said. “We’ve considerably repaired the Serbian government’s image in the world,“ said the prime minister, adding that the government now had good relations with both Russia and the U.S.
Serbia praised visiting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday for what it said was his backing in its diplomatic fight for Kosovo. Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic "thanked president Abbas for the support he extends Serbia in preserving its territorial integrity and sovereignty." Abbas acknowledged Serbia's position in its legal battle against Kosovo's independence before the world court. The Kosovo issue "is before the International Court (of Justice) and I believe that that is the right way to resolve every problem. That's our stance." Abbas arrived in Belgrade on Tuesday as part of Serbia's efforts to bolster support from the Arab world against Kosovo's statehood. Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in February 2008 after Serbia's ally Russia threatened to veto proposed changes to a UN resolution describing the territory as a UN-administered province of the former Yugoslav republic. The independence of Kosovo, whose dominant ethnic Albanian people are mainly followers of Sunni Islam, is recognised by the United States and 22 of the 27 European Union countries.
The leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations will issue a joint statement this evening expressing serious concerns about the post-election violence in Iran, as well as its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons, but the G-8 will not push for new economic sanctions or tougher enforcement of those that exist, an Obama administration source told ABC News this afternoon. The statement will "reflect growing impatience" with Iran among world leaders, the source said, but it will not call for direct ramifications or contest the country's June election results. The source asked for anonymity because the G-8 world leaders had not yet officially signed off on the final document. Other statements expected to follow tonight's working dinner at the G-8 summit will include a condemnation of the nuclear weapons program pursued by North Korea, and pledge for more cooperation to provide basic services such as health and water in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and a statement to address the humanitarian crisis in Burma. This afternoon in Italy, leaders of the G-8 powers -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States -- issued statements addressing economic growth, climate change, and pushing countries that previously pledged aid to developing nations but have yet to deliver by publicizing those commitments. In other developments at the summit in Italy, the G-8 nations also pledged today to take steps to encourage economic growth and financial stability while eschewing protectionist measures, including aid to developing countries. According to Official Development Assistance (ODA) figures for 2008, G-8 nations have only delivered one-third of the $21.5 billion in assistance they promised in 2005 to deliver to Africa by 2010, with the humanitarian group saying Italy has given only 3 percent of the $3.5 billion it pledged in 2005 and France has given only 7 percent of its pledged $5.2 billion. In an apparent effort to shame countries not following through on their previous pledges, the G-8 for the first time will publish the data of money pledged and money delivered to enhance accountability.
The Commission today approved the annual report for 2008 on the implementation of the aid programme for the Turkish Cypriot community. The aid programme aims to facilitate the reunification of Cyprus by encouraging the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community with particular emphasis on the economic integration of the island, on improving contacts between the two communities and with the EU, and on preparation for the EU's legal order. €259 million is available to implement the programme over the period 2006-2011. Funds can be used for investment to help meet EU standards in areas such as water supply, waste water treatment, solid waste management, energy supply and telecommunications. Grants are given to a wide range of recipients: students and teachers, NGOs, farmers, small businesses, schools, villages. Technical expertise is made available to Turkish Cypriots to help them better understand and prepare for the implementation of EU rules following reunification. Reconciliation measures are supported. Following the adoption of the report Commissioner Rehn said: “I am pleased that the EU's assistance for the Turkish Cypriot community has started to deliver real benefits on the ground: students and teachers receive support to spend one year abroad, and grants are being provided to farmers, civil society organisations, schools, villages and small and medium sized enterprises. Thanks to the Aid Programme the Turkish Cypriot community will be better prepared for the day of reunification. The Commission remains strongly committed to the ongoing settlement talks and supports the efforts of the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities." In the course of 2008 contracts worth €37 million were signed in all of these areas and €13 million was disbursed. By the end of May 2009 the total amount contracted reached € 84.5 million and the total amount disbursed €38.5 million. Remaining funds must be contracted before the end of 2009, although implementation can follow in later years; tenders and calls for proposals have now been launched covering all of the remaining funds. Examples of projects implemented in 2008 include village improvement projects, scholarships for 122 students and teachers to study in other EU member states, 13 grants to schools and 26 grants to farmers to improve milk refrigeration and collection. Support was given to mine clearance off the buffer zone and the EU was the single biggest donor to the Committee on Missing Persons. 220 seminars and workshops on the “EU's legal order” were given to Turkish Cypriot experts. The aid programme is implemented by the Commission, either directly, through a dedicated programme team, or in collaboration with UNDP and other international organisations.
Pirates have seized a Turkish cargo ship and its all-Turkish crew of 23 off the coast of Somalia, a spokesman for the company which owns the ship said. The bulk carrier Horizon 1 was sailing from Saudi Arabia to Jordan with 33,000 cubic metres of sulphide when it was seized by pirates in speedboats, Omer Ozgur from Istanbul-based Horizon Maritime and Trade said. "Because the ship was loaded, it was very easy for the pirates to board it,'' he said. The Horizon 1 was passing through the warship-patrolled transit corridor, which vessels are encouraged to use in order to prevent attacks, when it was seized, Mr Ozgur added. After it was boarded, the vessel continued on its course and was being followed by the Turkish frigate Gediz which has been deployed with NATO naval forces in the region, Mr Ozgur said. The spokesman had earlier said that they had received information that there were three unarmed pirates on board the ship who had gone into a meeting with the captain. Horizon Maritime had had no telephone contact with its ship, he added, and there was no immediate indication of a ransom demand. Pirate attacks on shipping off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean have escalated since last year. Last year three Turkish vessels were hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, with the last of them being released in February. Turkey currently has two frigates in the area as part of international naval forces to crack down on pirates and Somali arms traffickers.
A legislative committee of the Iranian parliament, the Majlis, has rejected a bill brought by the government of President Mahmoud Amadinejad mandating the death penalty for apostates from Islam. Citing a statement released by the Iranian Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported by the BBC’s Persian language service, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) stated that Ali Shahrokhi of the Majlis’ Legal and Judicial Committee had toned down the bill. Stoning apostates was not in the interests of the regime, Mr Shahroki said. He told IRNA that “Islam has set a strict set of conditions for the implementation of punishments such as stoning, that they can rarely be proven. Hence the legal and judicial commission members concluded that some of these laws are unnecessary to mention.” Islam’s five major schools of jurisprudence, the Madh'hab, call for the death penalty for those who leave Islam for another faith. However Islamic law distinguishes between apostasy of an adult and a child. The ‘Umdat as-Salik wa 'Uddat an-Nasik (Reliance of the Traveller and Tools of the Worshipper), of the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence as practiced by the al-Azhar in Cairo rejects the death penalty for child apostates, as does the Hidayah, the Hanafi code that guides Muslim jurisprudence in India and Pakistan. The proposed “Bill for Islamic Penal Law” would have been the first imposition of Sharia law on apostates codified in modern civil law. It would have divided apostates into two categories: parental and innate. Innate apostates were those whose parents were Muslim, made a profession of Islam — the Shahada -- as an adult and then left the faith, while parental apostates were those born in non-Muslim families and converted to Islam as an adult, and then left the faith. Article 225-7 stated the “Punishment for an innate apostate is death,” while Article 225-8 allowed a parental apostate three days to recant their apostasy. If they continued in their unbelief, “the death penalty would be carried out.” Women apostates were spared the death penalty, but would have been jailed until they recanted. The revised Islamic Penal Law will now be returned to the Majlis for a second reading, and, if passed, sent to the country’s Council of Guardians for final review. CSW’s Alexa Papadouris said they welcomed “this positive development in the progression of the Islamic Penal Code Bill. However, until the Islamic Penal Code Bill is finalized by the Iranian Parliament and Guardian Council, there is still a danger that the judicial committee’s revisions may not be taken into account.” She urged the world community to continue pressing the Iranian government “to ensure that the final text of the Bill does not include any punishment for apostasy.” In December 2004, the Prince of Wales convened a meeting of Muslim and Christian leaders at Clarence House to address the death penalty for converts. The Bishops of London and Rochester, the Archbishop of Kaduna, an Orthodox bishop and the director of the Barnabas Fund met with representatives of the London-based al-Khoei Foundation, the Islamic Society of Britain, and Dr Zaki Badawi of the Muslim College in London. Prince Charles’ efforts proved unsuccessful however as the Muslim delegation said non-Muslims should not speak publicly about Islam’s apostasy laws.