Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Bosnia
Newsline: Portugal to Temporarily Close Embassy in Estonia
To ease the Eurozone debt crisis impact, Portugal has decided to temporarily close down several of its foreign embassies next year, including the one in Tallinn. The Portuguese Embassy in Helsinki will take over the functions of the office in Estonia. In addition, embassies in Kenya, Malta, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other two Baltic nations will also be temporarily closed and their jurisdiction passed on to nearest delegations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal said in a statement. With cutting back on staff numbers and merging embassies, Portugal hopes to save around 12 million euros next year.
http://news.err.ee/politics/e2a2c190-62f3-44ad-bf4d-d89936e2e897
Newsline: Arrests in Serbia after attack on U.S. Embassy in Bosnia
Police say 15 people suspected of belonging to an extremist Islamic sect have been detained in southern Serbia. The arrests in Sandzak early Saturday were made after a man from the Muslim-dominated region of Serbia fire with an automatic weapon outside the U.S. Embassy in neighbouring Bosnia Friday in what authorities called a terrorist attack. A policeman and the gunman were wounded. The embassy said none of its employees was hurt. The shooter was identified as Mevlid Jasarevic from Novi Pazar, the administrative capital of Sandzak. Serbian officials say he is the follower of the Wahhabis, a conservative Islamic sect that is rooted inSaudi Arabiaand linked to religious militants in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
http://m.ctv.ca/topstories/20111029/sandzak-serbia-arrests-in-bosnia-us-embassy-attack-111029.html
Consular affairs: Switzerland will terminate consulates in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia Herzegovina
The Swiss government reached a decision to terminate consulates in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia from September 1. According to John T.C. McGough, member of the ASR for Switzerland and also as a member of the board of the Swiss Club of Hungary, the move is irrational and would place Swiss citizens living or working in the region in an unacceptable position. The cited motive behind the measure is the reduction of expenses. Swiss citizens are required to register with the nearest consulate when traveling abroad and these offices are also in charge of visas and the administration necessary for foreigners to travel to Switzerland. In the revised structure, taking care of whatever bureaucratic affair in the eastern part of Hungary would require traveling all the way to Vienna.
Newsline: Ex-UN Ambassador For Bosnia Can Stay In US
A U.S. citizen who served as Bosnian ambassador to the United Nations cannot be extradited even though he is accused of embezzling more than $610,000 from the government of the war-torn Balkan nation, a federal appeals court rule. The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a loss for U.S. prosecutors and overturns a decision ordering that Muhamed Sacirbey, 53, be returned to Bosnia to face questioning about the money.
http://wap.cbsnews.com/site?sid=cbsnews&pid=sections.detail&catId=TOP&storyId=5951711
