Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for September, 2014
Newsline: Man Arrested After Shots Fired Near Ethiopian Embassy in Washington
The U.S. Secret Service has arrested a man who officers believe fired a gun near the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington. U.S. Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said in an emailed statement that Secret Service officers received a report of shots fired near the embassy around 12:15 p.m. Monday. When they arrived, officers detained a man believed to be the shooter. The man’s name was not released. The Secret Service said there were no reported injuries as a result of the incident.
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/09/29/man-arrested-after-shots-fired-near-ethiopian-embassy/
Newsline: US Embassy gate crash driver found not guilty in Australia
A man who rammed the front gates of the United States Embassy in Yarralumla last year has escaped conviction on mental health grounds. Adrian Richardson, 30, absconded from the mental health unit at the Canberra Hospital when he drove his orange Peugeot hatchback into the embassy’s main security gate on the evening of July 10, 2013. He previously pleaded not guilty to intentionally destroying or damaging an official residence of an internationally protected person and appeared during a brief trial in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday. Justice John Burns told the court the case was unusual because both Crown prosecutors and Richardson’s defence team agreed on the facts of the incident and were arguing he should not be found guilty. The court heard Richardson had left the hospital’s mental health high dependency unit, where he was treated as an in-patient for five days, before he drove towards the embassy. He revved the car’s engine and accelerated into the 3.4 metre-high gates, which caused significant damage to the gates and breached the embassy’s perimeter. Richardson, who is from Queensland, was stopped by police and security guards when he got out of the car unharmed. Mental health professionals diagnosed Mr Richardson with a psychotic illness and said he suffered from a delusional disorder, the court heard. The court heard the embassy gates were later replaced at a cost of $15,200. The jury deliberated for just 15 minutes before delivering its verdict. It found Richardson not guilty due to mental impairment.
Newsline: Hungary summons top US diplomat over civil society remarks
Hungary’s foreign ministry has summoned the US charge d’affaires, Andre Goodfriend, to discuss comments made recently by US President Barack Obama about the situation of civil society in Hungary. Deputy state secretary at the ministry Levente Magyar told Goodfriend that the Hungarian government believed US statements regarding civil society in Hungary were “lacking factual basis”. US statements which offer a distorted image and portray a single legal procedure as if it were an intimidation of the civil sector will not help fact-based dialogue, which Hungary advocates, but gives way to being interpreted as political pressure, the statement said. Goodfriend told ATV that it was the US embassy in Budapest that supplied the US administration with information about the situation of civil society in Hungary. In an address given recently at a conference, US President Barack Obama mentioned Hungary among countries which restrict civil society.
http://www.politics.hu/20140927/hungary-summons-top-us-diplomat-over-civil-society-remarks/
Newsline: Malta ‘continues to keep’ Tripoli embassy
The Maltese government reiterated its support to the Libyan people and pledged to continue to be engaged over the Libyan crisis. Malta has kept and continues to keep its embassy open in Tripoli demonstrating solidarity with all Libyans, said Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella. Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has also called for disarmament and, speaking in Arabic during the UN debate, he also said that the families and the children of Libya deserved a future. Malta, who is directly affected by the conflict in Libya, has appealed to the UN to help bring together the different factions round the table.
Newsline: Former US embassy guard jailed in Norway tax case
The first of 18 tax evasion cases filed against local Norwegian employees of the US Embassy in Oslo has resulted in a 36-day jail term. A former security guard at the embassy was sentenced for failing to make sure that the embassy withheld taxes on his behalf or that he paid what he owed himself. The US Embassy, like other embassies in Oslo, refuses to report local employees’ earnings or withhold taxes they owe, in line with other diplomatic privileges like avoiding taxes, not least employer taxes. The 34-year-old guard worked for the US Embassy from 2008 to 2012. Newspaper Aftenposten reported that during his job interview, he was told that the Americans never report or withhold local employees’ earnings to the tax authorities as a matter of principle. The 34-year-old was acquitted of tax evasion for the years 2008 and 2009 but convicted for the years from 2010. The judge in the case wrote that the defendant then presumed his earnings were taxable but “stuck his head in the sand.” That amounted to pre-meditated tax evasion, the judge determined. The former guard owed NOK 340,000 (around USD 56,000) but was only convicted for the NOK 180,000 he “forgot” to declare after the embassy tax case hit the news in late 2010.
Newsline: Yemeni Rebels Fire at US Embassy
A splinter group of Al Qaeda said that it fired a rocket that landed near the United States Embassy in Sana, wounding several guards, to retaliate for what it said was an American drone strike in a northern province of Yemen. The State Department said that it had no indication that the embassy was the target of the attack, and that none of its staff members were wounded. The rocket landed about 200 yards from the heavily fortified embassy, near members of the Yemeni special police force who guard the site. At least two were wounded, the police said. It was fired from a car using a M72 light antitank weapon, a police official said. Several hours after the attack, Ansar al-Shariah, an affiliate of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said on its Twitter account that it had targeted the embassy with a rocket, wounding several guards and damaging a vehicle. The group said the attack was an act of revenge for a drone strike that had seriously wounded children in the northern province of Al Jawf.
Newsline: New Zealand Starts Extraditing Malaysian Envoy Accused Of Sexual Assault
New Zealand has begun the process of extraditing a Malaysian diplomat accused of trying to rape a 21-year-old Kiwi woman almost five months ago. The New Zealand government officials formally applied for Muhammad Rizalman Ismail’s extradition. “Lawyers from both governments have been sharing documents and working through technically complex legal arrangements,” the spokesman was quoted as saying. “The ministry is satisfied progress is being made and appreciates the on-going co-operation of the Malaysian government. An announcement will be made once the arrangements are finalised. The process was complex because there is no extradition treaty between New Zealand and Malaysia,” the spokesman added. Muhammad Rizalman was arrested by Kiwi police on May 9 and charged a day later with alleged burglary and assault with intent to commit rape on 21-year-old Tania Billingsley, with both charges carrying the maximum penalty of a 10-year jail term. The junior envoy’s subsequent invocation of diplomatic immunity and return home sparked an embarrassing public spat between New Zealand and Malaysia, following allegations that he had abused diplomatic privilege to escape punishment. Muhammad Rizalman had been scheduled to be sent back to New Zealand in July, but this was delayed after a psychiatric examination found him to be depressed and withdrawn; a second round of tests was then called to determine his fitness to travel.
Newsline: Canada to open embassy in South Sudan
The federal government will open a new embassy in South Sudan in a sign that Ottawa plans to take a bigger role in the conflict-torn African state. Canada’s former head of office in Juba, Nicholas Coghlan, will become the new ambassador. Previously, Canada had only a diplomatic office in the country and was officially represented by the Canadian ambassador to Kenya. The status of Canada’s embassy in Khartoum, the capital of neighbouring Sudan, has not changed. Canada officially named South Sudan one of its top 25 development priorities when it revamped the list last spring. Sudan was also removed from the list at that time, a formal acknowledgement that Canada’s interests in the region lay in the southern, breakaway state.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-to-open-embassy-in-south-sudan/article20803671/
Newsline: Indian embassy in Qatar receives 2792 complaints
The Indian embassy in Doha has received 2,792 complaints so far this year. In the previous years, 3,385 (2012) and 3,558 (2013) complaints were received by the labour and community welfare section. Ambassador Sanjiv Arora and other senior officials assured the complainants of further follow-up with the local authorities and necessary action. According to the embassy, 85 Indian nationals are currently serving varied sentences in the Central Prison and another 143, who are awaiting repatriation, are housed at the Deportation Centre. On the basis of the requests received from the Qatari authorities for travel documents for detainees at the Deportation Centre, the embassy has issued 28 emergency certificates (ECs) so far this month. The mission facilitated the repatriation of 64 Indian nationals from the Deportation Centre till now.
http://www.gulf-times.com/qatar/178/details/409971/indian-embassy-receives-2,792-complaints
Newsline: US orders evacuation of embassy staff in Yemen
The US State Department ordered some of its diplomats and other government workers at the US embassy in Yemen to leave the country because of deteriorating security amid unrest and sectarian clashes that have left Shia rebels in control of the capital. “The Department of State ordered a temporary reduction in the number of US government personnel in Yemen,” the department said in a statement. “We are taking this step out of an abundance of caution and in response to recent political developments and the changing, unpredictable security situation in Yemen.” A separate travel warning for US citizens said the step was taken “due to the continued civil unrest and the potential for military escalation.” It said the embassy in Sana’a would remain open with a majority of staff remaining and that the relocation of staff would be temporary.
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