Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Newsline: 4 sentenced for fake federal diplomat scheme
Three men who were convicted of selling fake diplomatic credentials have been sentenced to federal prison, while a fourth who pleaded guilty has gotten probation. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Kansas City says 66-year-old David Robinson of Lawrence, Kan., was sentenced to six years and three months in prison. Fifty-year-old Daniel Denham of Kingsville, Mo., and 52-year-old Larry Goodyke of Henderson, Nev., both received 5-year sentences. All three were found guilty in August. The fourth defendant, 47-year-old Blake Bestol of Cheyenne, Wyo., had pleaded guilty in a scheme to fraudulently buy and sell fake diplomatic IDs. Customers paid $450 to $2,000 for the cards identifying them as ambassadors. They were told the cards would grant them sovereign status.
Newsline: 11 Arrested During Israeli Ambassador’s Talk
Eleven students have been arrested during a raucous lecture at University of California, Irvine, where Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren spoke about U.S.-Israel relations. Oren’s speech to about 500 people was interrupted by shouting and protests multiple times. UC Irvine spokesman Tom Vasich says nine Irvine students and two students from UC Riverside were arrested for disturbing a public event. All were cited and released. Earlier, the UCI Muslim Student Union issued an email condemning Oren’s appearance on campus.
http://wap.cbsnews.com/site?sid=cbsnews&pid=sections.detail&catId=TOP&storyId=6188429
Consular affairs: Britain’s immigration system ‘ineffective’
Britain’s immigration system is not operating effectively and faces a damaging loss of public support, a report has warned. The Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, detailed a catalogue of basic administrative errors in hundreds of cases handled by the UK Border Agency. As a result of complaints to her office, individual migrants have been handed payouts of hundreds of pounds as a result of bureaucratic failures. In one case, a man was paid more than £1,500 in compensation after a string of blunders by officials that saw his papers faxed to the wrong Embassy, letters telling him he could stay in the UK not sent and his complaints ignored. Attempts to fix lengthy backlogs in the asylum system and deal with the scandal over foreign national prisoners have simply resulted in new blockages elsewhere in the immigration system, she found. As resources were diverted in the face of public outrage, the agency allowed a new backlog to build up of 77,000 applications for residence from European nationals. In less than three years, the Ombudsman has received more than 1,300 complaints from MPs. Of those investigated last year, 97% were upheld.
http://mobile.bournemouthecho.co.uk/uk_national_news/4995770.Immigration_system__ineffective_/
Newsline: Irish Foreign Minister defends €4.4m embassy spending
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, has defended the decision to refurbish the Ottawa residence of the Irish ambassador to Canada. It was reported today that the taxpayer has paid more than €4.4m to revamp the embassy. Martin said it was important that Ireland be properly represented overseas. He described the amount spent as a ‘very significant sum of money’ but said foreign embassies played a key role in winning inward investment.
Newsline: Botswana recalls Harare embassy staff
Botswana has escalated a diplomatic row over the three rangers arrested for entering Zimbabwe illegally by recalling some of its diplomats and requesting that Harare makes a like-for-like withdrawal of staff at its Gaborone embassy. Botswana said it would recall its defence and intelligence attaches by the end of the month and asked that Harare withdraw its defence and central intelligence organisation personnel from its Gaborone embassy by the same date. “The position of the Government of Botswana is that these two posts should be frozen and never to be filled,” the Botswana government said in statement.
Consular affairs: Australia to cancel 20,000 visa applications
In an overhaul of the immigration policy, Australia will cancel 20,000 visa applications from foreign nationals who have been staying in the country under the existing skilled migration programme. State governments will be asked to develop new migration plans and a new list will be prepared to define occupations in demand in the country. The government will also set a maximum number of visas for a single occupation.The new system will favour skilled workers such as nurses, medical practitioners, engineers and teachers instead of groups such as cooks and hairdressers. The cancelled applications apply to all offshore general skilled migration claims lodged before September 2007. Refunding 20,000 visa applications will cost taxpayers about $14 million. The government, however, will make transitional arrangements for such applicants until 2012.
Newsline: Yemen arrests embassy bomb threat suspect
Yemen has arrested a man suspected of threatening to bomb foreign embassies in the capital Sanaa and to assassinate Yemeni political and military leaders, state media reported on Sunday. In early January, the United States, Britain and France temporarily closed their Yemen embassies to the public due to concern over possible militant attacks. The 42-year-old man, who was detained in Sanaa, had in his possession a mobile phone containing speeches and songs of Yemen’s northern Shi’ite rebels, the interior ministry said on its website.
Newsline: Kenyan embassy in London funds free from court order
Funds meant for the day-to-day operations at the Kenyan High Commission in London have not been frozen. Instead, they are being treated as being outside the scope of a freezing order that was granted by a London court over the High Commission’s assets in a Sh800 million debt case. “We expressly confirmed to both the Attorney General of Kenya and the Kenyan High Commission in December last year that funds used for the operational expenses of the Kenyan High Commission were being treated as being outside the scope of the freezing order,” a faxed statement signed by Kirkland and Ellis International law firm said. The law firm is representing Inspection and Control Services Limited (ICS) in a case filed against the Kenyan Government over a contract that the Ministry of Finance entered into with the Swiss firm in April 1998.
http://mobile.nation.co.ke/News/-/1290/856420/-/format/xhtml/-/3cwq08/-/
Newsline: Romanian diplomat involved in hit-and-run accident suspended
The Romanian diplomat who is a suspect in a fatal hit-and-run accident in Singapore has been suspended from his duties by his country’s Foreign Affairs Ministry. This came after reports said Dr Silviu Ionescu was charged with manslaughter by Romanian authorities. Romanian media reports, quoting the general prosecutor’s office, said Dr Ionescu faces three charges for manslaughter, for fleeing the scene, and for giving false statements. Dr Ionescu was previously his country’s Charge d’Affaires in Singapore. Singapore police said that on 15 December 2009, the embassy car driven by Dr Ionescu hit three pedestrians in two separate incidents at Bukit Panjang. One of the pedestrians, Mr Tong Kok Wai, later died. After the incident, Dr Ionescu called the police and reported that the embassy car was stolen. It was recovered later that morning, locked and abandoned at Sungei Kadut Avenue. Separately in Singapore, the coroner’s inquiry will begin on March 3.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/palmnews/singaporelocalnews/view/1035338/1/.html
Commentary: Internet as Diplomat in 21st Century Statecraft
January was a remarkable month for the Internet. It had to do with Google and human rights. Google took a principled stand for human rights and global Internet freedom by defying the censorship edicts of the Chinese government, in the direct aftermath of evidence that China-based cyberattacks cracked open a number of Gmail accounts including those of well-known human rights activists. For Google, enough is enough: in light of an increasingly difficult operating environment, the company drew a line in the sand and said it would pull its business out of China if the government’s censorship demands persisted. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a historic speech that vaulted the Internet into the center of U.S. foreign policy.
http://wireless.go.com/wireless/abcnews/section/topstories/9740416_1
