Russia warns UK over expulsions

Russia’s deputy foreign minister has said Britain’s expulsion of four diplomats from London could jeopardise co-operation on counter-terrorism.

 Alexander Grushko said the move – a response to the Alexander Litvinenko murder row – would complicate “vitally important” security issues.

He added: “We are being punished for observing our own constitution.”

The Foreign Office said it had set out its position adding: “No retaliation on Russia’s behalf is justified.”

A full statement is expected from Moscow, which has warned Britain to expect “serious consequences”.

KGB agent

The expulsion of four diplomats follows Moscow’s refusal to hand over former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi, who is accused of murdering Mr Litvinenko in London last year. Mr Lugovoi denies involvement.

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(BBC)

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An Anglo-Russian “Diplomatic War”

British and Russian editorials have sided with their respective governments in what some called a “diplomatic war” over the expulsion of Russian diplomats from London after Moscow refused to extradite a murder suspect.

In Russia, newspapers strongly condemned the British decision to expel four Russian diplomats after Moscow refused to extradite the main suspect in the murder of a former Russian agent, Alexander Litvinenko, last year. British prosecutors had requested that Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB officer, be extradited to face trial in Britain for Litvinenko’s murder, which Russia rejected.

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“What choice have we?” asked the Daily Mail. “By refusing to extradite Andrei Lugovoi to face trial, [Russian] President Vladimir Putin has committed an outrage that demands punishment … As it is, the new prime minister has come up with sanctions that will present Putin with real difficulties in his dealings with the West. Mr. Brown has faced his serious test as an international statesman — and passed it with ease.”

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(DW; Image: AP)

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“Do not execute Troy Davis”, says Secretary General of the Council of Europe

“The execution of Troy Davis, scheduled for 17 July” (and now postponed), “could become famous as an irreversible mistake and a tragic miscarriage of justice,” said Terry Davis, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg on Saturday 14 July.

 

“The conviction of Mr Troy Davis for murder and assault in 1991 was entirely based on witness testimony. The weapon of the crime was never found, and there was no other physical evidence in the case.

 

“Several of the witnesses have since retracted or changed their testimony. Anyone reading these statements made after the trial was over and after Troy Davis has spent years in death row is bound to be concerned about his pending execution, and I understand that there is new evidence against an alternative suspect in the same case.

 

“I do not understand how a man can be executed, 16 years after his conviction, when all the developments related one way or another to his case cast more and more doubt on the validity of the judgment.

 

“Killing Troy Davis will not do justice to the memory of Officer Mark Allen McPhail, who was shot and killed on 19 August 1989. It will not alleviate in any way the suffering of his family and friends. It will not be justice.

 

“I appeal to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute the death sentence of Troy Davis,” said the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. “This will be in line with the position of our organisation which has 47 member States and the USA as an observer. We in the Council of Europe believe that the abolition of the death penalty today is what the abolition of slavery was two centuries ago.”

UK expels four Russian diplomats

The UK is to expel four Russian diplomats in response to Moscow’s refusal to extradite the prime suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband also said co-operation with Russia on a range of issues was under review.

Prosecutors want Andrei Lugovoi, an ex-KGB officer, to face trial in the UK. He denies involvement.

Moscow condemned the UK’s position as “immoral” and said the expulsions would have “serious consequences”.

Former KGB agent Mr Litvinenko died of exposure to radioactive polonium-210 in London in November 2006.

The Foreign Office has not named the four Russian diplomats, but the BBC understands they are intelligence officers.

Mr Miliband told MPs Russia was an important ally and the situation was one that Britain had “not sought and does not welcome”.

But he said it was necessary to send a “clear and proportionate signal” to Russia, about the seriousness with which Britain regarded the matter.

(BBC)

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Russia Claims the North Pole

President Vladimir Putin has long promised to restore Russian greatness and build an “energy empire.” But until now, his empire-building had been confined to taking control of corporations operating on his turf, buying into businesses abroad, and blackmailing former Soviet Republics who dared vote against Moscow-backed candidates, moved to join NATO or acted in otherwise uppity ways. But Putin’s imperial ambitions have recently added an element of classic 19th century-style territorial expansion: Late last month, Moscow signaled its intentions to annex the entire North Pole, an area twice the size of France with Belgium and Switzerland thrown in – except all of it under water.

The ice-frozen North Pole is currently a no man’s land supervised by a U.N. Commission. The five Polar countries – Russia, the U.S., Canada, Norway and Denmark each control only a 200-mile economic zone along their coasts. And none of these economic zones reach the North Pole. Under the current U.N. Maritime convention, one country’s zone can be extended only if it can prove that the continental shelf into which it wishes to expand is a natural extension of its own territory, by showing that it shares a similar geological structure.

So, the Russians claimed a great scientific discovery late last month. An expedition of 50 scientists that spent 45 days aboard the Rossia nuclear ice-breaker found that an underwater ridge (the Lomonosov ridge) directly links Russia’s Arctic coast to the North Pole. This, they insist, surely guarantees Russia’s rights over a vast Polar territory that also happens to contain some 10 billion tons of oil and natural gas deposits.

(Time/Yahoo; Image: AP)

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Russia sends warning to the West

President Vladimir Putin’s decision to suspend Russia’s participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe, or CFE, treaty is a potent political signal.

It is yet another sign of the worsening relationship between Moscow and the West.

It shows that this relationship was not improved in any substantial way by the informal meeting at the start of this month between the US and Russian presidents at the Bush family’s holiday home at Kennebunkport in Maine.

It is another diplomatic warning shot from Mr Putin across the bows of the Bush administration.

And with crucial issues like Iran’s nuclear programme and the political future of Kosovo looming at the United Nations, it raises a new set of questions about how far Russia might go to block initiatives backed by Washington and its key allies.

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By Jonathan Marcus
BBC diplomatic correspondent

(BBC; Image:AFP)

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Spain seizes ship in treasure row

The Spanish Civil Guard has intercepted a boat operated by a US company amid a row over treasure from a shipwreck. The guard had been ordered by a Spanish judge to seize the vessel as soon as it left the British colony of Gibraltar.

Gibraltar officials and Odyssey Marine Exploration, which owns the ship, said Spain had boarded the ship illegally as it was in international waters.

In May, Odyssey said it had found $500m (£253m) in coins from a 17th Century wreck somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

Madrid suspects the sunken galleon may either have been Spanish or have gone down in Spanish waters.

The salvaged booty, which included half a million silver coins and hundreds of gold objects, has already been flown back to the US.

‘Threat of force’

After leaving Gibraltar, the Ocean Alert was picked up at about 0700 GMT on Thursday off Europa Point and sent to the Spanish port of Algeciras to be searched, the Civil Guard said.

(BBC; Image: AFP)

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In Europe, Iraqi Asylum-Seekers Find Doors Being Shut

Experts have criticized Germany’s policies towards Iraqi asylum-seekers as too restrictive. Fearful of a refugee influx, however, other European nations have started tightening their asylum rules.

“When you go out in Baghdad, there’s a 50 percent chance you may never come home,” said Murad Atshan, an Iraqi filmmaker living in Germany.

 

Anyone who follows news of daily suicide bombings, a bloody insurgency and sectarian violence in the Iraqi capital will probably nod in agreement at the statement. German authorities in Munich, however, rejected Atshan’s application for asylum a year ago, saying he didn’t give a good enough reason for seeking protection.

 

The 27-year-old has since been confined to a refugee center in a tiny village in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, near the Swiss border.

 

While German authorities are deciding what to do with him, Atshan isn’t allowed to leave the district or work.

 

“It’s very frustrating,” he said. “I didn’t come here looking for a good life, I just wanted to be somewhere safe. But this is no normal life.”

 

In addition to worrying about his family back home in Baghdad, Atshan is grappling with getting used to life in a small foreign village.

 

“I’m used to living in big cities,” he said. ”I can’t even go to the movies here.”

 

Living in limbo

 

Atshan’s case is depressingly familiar in the country whose complicated asylum and refugee laws have come under increasing criticism from aid and refugee groups. Germany is home to an estimated 73,000 Iraqis.

 

(DW; Image:AP)

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Language Provides a Hint About Amnesiac’s Identity

Police in Heidelberg said they think they know where a man claiming to suffer from memory loss comes from. The man, who calls himself “Karl,” is probably from southern England. But questions regarding who he is abound.

It’s been more than a year since “Karl” was discovered wandering aimlessly and confused around the central train station in nearby Mannheim. Not much is known about him other than the fact that he speaks English, is very interested in military aircraft and thinks he used to be Air Force pilot.

 

But after analyzing the way the man talks, police determined that he either comes from or spent significant time in southern England.

 

“The best indication is that he uses speech forms typical of the region,” a police spokesperson said.

 

It’s the first major clue as to who “Karl” might be, but the authorities remain puzzled by his occasional use of German words, and he doesn’t match the descriptions of people who have been reported missing.

 

Karl is around 60 years old, relatively short and thin. He has a receding hairline, is missing some teeth and is distinguished by a twenty-centimeter-long scar on his stomach.

 

(DW)

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Brussels ‘broke law’ over merger

 In the first case of its kind, the European Commission has been told to compensate a company after being found to have illegally blocked a takeover.

The European Court of First Instance ruled that Brussels had broken EU law by prohibiting French firm Schneider Electric’s 2001 acquisition of Legrand.

The ruling may affect other similar cases, such as one brought by MyTravel.

Brussels is to study the ruling but said it was liable for only a fraction of the total costs sought by Schneider.

‘Grave disregard’

Schneider demanded 1.7bn euros (£1.1bn) in compensation after the Court, in 2002, annulled the commission’s original decision to block the 6.7bn euros Legrand deal.

The company, which has yet to comment on Wednesday’s ruling, argued that the affair cost it 2bn euros.

The amount now due will be decided by a financial expert, taking into account losses incurred by Schneider after it was forced to sell Legrand to private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for what it said was a knock-down price.

(BBC; Image AFP)

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