Iran calls on UN to investigate reported chemical attack in Syria

Source  :  Tehran Times

TEHRAN – An Iranian Foreign Ministry official has described the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syria’s foreign- sponsored militants a “great concern for the international community” and called on the United Nations to send a team to Syria to investigate the matter.

Mohammad-Mehdi Akhondzadeh, the Iranian deputy foreign minister, made the remarks during a meeting with the chairman of the third Review Conference of the States Parties of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in The Hague on Monday.

The Syrian government had accused rebel forces of using chemical weapons against civilians in the village of Khan al-Assal in the northern province of Aleppo on March 19. Syrian media outlets reported that at least 25 people were killed and over 100 injured in the attack.

On April 8, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, speaking in The Hague, said that an advance team was in Cyprus, ready to go to Syria within 24 hours to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons there.

However, on Monday the Syrian government rejected the UN inspection mission, saying, “Syria cannot accept such maneuvers on the part of the UN secretariat general, bearing in mind the negative role that it played in Iraq… which cleared the way to the American invasion” of that country in 2003.

It said the UN wants “additional investigations which might allow the UN mission to spread all over the Syrian territories, and this contradicts the Syrian request from the UN and indicates to the presence of hidden intentions at the states which have sought to add those investigations as this constitutes a violation of the Syrian sovereignty”.

The Syrian government “regretted” that the UN chief had “given in to pressure from states known for their support of the bloodshed” in Syria.

Deadline missed on destroying chemical weapons

Akhondzadeh also expressed regret over the fact that many countries that possess chemical weapons have not met the deadline, designated in the Chemical Weapons Convention, to destroy their chemical weapons stockpiles.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he emphasized the necessity of implementing a mechanism in regard to those countries that create obstacles in the way of transferring chemical technology meant for peaceful purposes.

MT/GJ

Indian Court Lifts Travel Ban on Italian Ambassador after Marines' Return

Source  :  Fars News

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Indian Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted its foreign travel ban on the Italian ambassador following Rome's recent decision to send two marines back to New Delhi where they face trial over the killing of two fishermen last year, a lawyer said.

The court barred Italian Ambassador Daniele Mancini from leaving India last month because of Rome's refusal at the time to return the two marines, who had been allowed to go home temporarily to vote in national elections, CNN reported.

Diljeet Titus, a lawyer representing the Italian side, said the Supreme Court had lifted its travel restrictions on Mancini after the two sailors -- Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone -- subsequently arrived back in India.

Rome's initial decision not to return the marines angered Indian government officials and Supreme Court justices, who noted that the Italian ambassador had given assurances to the court that they would come back to India after the elections.

The two sides appeared locked in an impasse, with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying Italy's actions were "not acceptable" and warning of "consequences" for the two countries' relations.

But Rome backed down, announcing on March 21 that it would send Latorre and Girone back after receiving written assurances from the Indian government that the two men's "fundamental rights" would be protected.

The two sailors agreed to the decision, it said. But the move created some dissent in the ranks of Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's government: Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi resigned March 26 over the matter.

Italy has argued that the February 2012 shooting involving its marines happened in international waters and was therefore outside of Indian jurisdiction. Latorre and Girone say they mistook the Indian fishermen for pirates.

On Tuesday, the Indian Supreme court scheduled a hearing for April 16 to seek the Indian government's response on plans to set up a special court for trying the two Italian men, Titus said.

Russian spaceship makes shortest journey to dock with ISS

Source  :   Xinhua

English.news.cn 2013-03-29 16:39:45

MOSCOW, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Russian spaceship Soyuz TMAmakes has docked at the International Space Station (ISS) within six hours, the fastest ever journey to the orbiting laboratory, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said Friday.

The Soyuz-FG rocket, carrying the Soyuz TMA-08M spaceship, was launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan at 00:43 Moscow time Friday (2043 GMT Thursday). The spacecraft docked a Russian Poisk module of the ISS at 06:28 Moscow time (0228 GMT), Roscosmos said.

The Soyuz made the journey under a six-hour "beeline" scheme after orbiting the Earth four times instead of the usual 30 times.

This was the first time that such scheme was used for a manned space flight as the shortcut option was used only for missions of unmanned cargo ships before.

The crew of Russian Pavel Vinogradov, Alexander Misurkin and American Christopher Cassidy are expected to spend the next five months aboard the station after joining incumbent crew Canadian Chris Hadfield, Russian Roman Romanenko and American Thomas Mashburn.

Islamic art helps boost Louvre's No. 1 attendance status

Source  :  CBC News

The Louvre's large new wing devoted to Islamic art helped the famed French gallery solidify its No. 1 spot atop an annual list of the world's best-attended museums.

The Art Newspaper has released its annual list of the past year's most popular museums and exhibits around the globe.

Familiar names scored in the top 10, including Paris's Louvre, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum in London.

One interesting factor that emerged for researchers was that the top two venues of 2012 had unveiled much-anticipated gallery spaces devoted to Islamic art during the year. The Louvre's long- gestating addition is the largest of its kind in Europe, with approximately 3,000 Islamic art pieces and artifacts on display, some dating back to the seventh century.

The chart-topping Louvre had 9.7 million visitors, an increase of nearly a million over the previous year. Meanwhile, the second place Met recorded 6.1 million, about 100,000 more than a year earlier, after revamping its galleries dedicated to Islamic Art.

"What we're seeing is, I suppose, ultimately a kind of [audience reaction] to museums responding — in the best way that they can — to everyone's interest and concern about our relationship with Islamic countries," Javier Pes, the Art Newspaper's London- based deputy editor, told CBC News on Friday.

"They're all trying to show Islam's great contributions to civilization."

Though museums like the Louvre and the Met "always had wonderful collections" of Islamic art, there is great significance to presenting them "in their new, much grander setting," he noted.

Especially in France's iconic Louvre where "occupying a whole courtyard puts Islamic art on a completely different status than it ever did in the past," Pes acknowledged.

"I did ask them what they thought [their increased attendance] was due to and they did say that they thought the Islamic galleries had an impact."

Two Canadian museums made it onto the count of the 100 most- visited art museums in the world: the Royal Ontario Museum (58th) and the Art Gallery of Ontario (81st), both in Toronto.

Blockbuster shows

As part of the yearly examination, the Art Newspaper also tracked the exhibitions that drew the highest number of visitors worldwide.

Topping the list was the kickoff of the Dutch Old Masters exhibit Masterpieces from the Mauritshuis in Tokyo, headlined by Paul Vermeer's famed portrait Girl with a Pearl Earring. The show attracted more than 10,000 visitors a day and 758,266 people overall to the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.

The figure was more than double the overall attendance for the second most-attended exhibit: the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil's free show The Amazon: Cycles of Modernity, which drew 7,928 visitors daily and 374,846 overall to Rio de Janeiro.

Canadian exhibits that made the cut in the Art Newspaper's extensive list included

Nearly 50 inmates escape Libyan prison, one killed

Source  :  NZ Herald

A Libyan security official says nearly 50 inmates have fled a prison in an oasis city in the country's southern desert, and authorities shot one dead during the escape.

The security official said the inmates broke out of the prison in Sabha early today. He said prison guards fired warning shots to stop them, which resulted in the death of one. Two others were injured.

The official said nine inmates were arrested while authorities continue the search for 36 others. The official said the prisoners were rioting against what they said were bad prison conditions, setting fire to their cells, and breaking up doors. He said they jumped over the prison wall. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

- AP

CIA reportedly makes $600M deal with Amazon to build cloud computing system

Source  :  http://www.thedailysheep

According to a recently published report at Federal Computer Week, a website that breaks news on “the business of federal technology,” Amazon might be working on a private cloud infrastructure for a very big client. Amazon has reportedly been granted a $600 million contract from the CIA that will have the company working for the intelligence agency for more than 10 years.

Amazon’s Web Services (AWS) are known for hosting the Web-based tools of a lot of well-known websites including Netflix, Pinterest, Foursquare, and Reddit, which is why cloud outages involving these companies are almost always big news. In 2011, many websites hosted on AWS were left only partially functional for days, and in January of this year, Amazon had to apologize for a Netflix outage that happened on Christmas Eve of 2012. AWS is a public cloud service provider, and using the service itself goes against everything we know about the secretive organization. The private cloud that Amazon is making for the CIA, however, will be protected by the intelligence agency’s firewall.

The CIA predictably refused to comment about its supposed deal with the e- commerce company, so we still don’t know if the agency’s having the infrastructure built for a specific purpose. Up until now, the agency has been using small-scale private cloud infrastructures built by other companies, but Amazon’s technology might have paved the way for the agency to expand its private cloud at a much more affordable price.

Dave Powner, the Government Accountability Office’s director of IT management issues, told FCW that he’s unaware of the alleged contract, but that he thinks it makes sense. He told FCW that “in times of reducing budget situations you would expect to see agencies that haven’t considered cloud solutions extensively in the past would be looking more and more of doing something along those lines.” So, although it’s still not confirmed, it seems reasonable that Amazon could be in cahoots with the CIA. What do you think?

Da Vinci gets Starz treatment in sci-fi thriller

Source  :  Shanghai Daily

In these 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci, he has upstaged every genius multi-tasker in his wake. (OK, not you, Benjamin Franklin and James Franco.)</p>
<p>Da Vinci was a whiz as a painter (hint: "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper"), a scientist and engineer, and a futurist dead-set on fighting the gravitational pull of his own times.</p>
<p>He was an intellect, free thinker, vegetarian and a humanist who supported himself designing weapons of war.</p>
<p>He was tall, handsome and a hit with the ladies. He was great with a sword and, being ambidextrous, which hand didn't matter. "The phrase 'Renaissance Man' was derived from him," says David S. Goyer, who has spent a lot of time studying and pondering him, and has created "Da Vinci's Demons," a sci-fi thriller set in the 1400s.</p>
<p>Another cool thing about da Vinci: He was a man of intrigue, ensconced in secret societies, his paternity unresolved (he was born out of wedlock), perhaps divinely inspired as he clashed with the Roman Catholic Church - a man who seemed to defy the confinements of any simple narrative.</p>
<p>"There's a tantalizing five-year gap, stretching from when he was 27 to 32, where there's almost no record of where he was or what he was doing," says Goyer. "A gap like that is gold when you're the creator of this show."</p>
<p>"Da Vinci's Demons," which premieres on the Starz network on April 12, is a "historical fantasy," says Goyer, who should be up to the challenge.</p>
<p>Born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he remembers spending half each Saturday in a comic book shop, the other half at the city's library. Now 47, he is wiry and balding and bears a striking resemblance to the actor Stanley Tucci, whom he is often mistaken for.</p>
<p>His credits include the short-lived but ambitious sci-fi thriller "FlashForward," which prematurely fell prey to meddling by its network, ABC. He was script consultant and story developer for the video game "Call of Duty: Black Ops" and its sequel.</p>
<p>He co-wrote the 2005 film "Batman Begins" and its two sequels, and wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Zack Snyder-directed "Man of Steel."</p>
<p>In Goyer's view, da Vinci was the prototype of a superhero: "I picture him as one-third Indiana Jones, one-third Sherlock Holmes, one-third Tony Stark (Iron Man) - and he kind of was." To play this extraordinary chap, Goyer chose English-born 31-year-old actor Tom Riley.</p>
<p>Riley's da Vinci is sexy, mercurial and irrepressible. He savors life in his native Florence: "Chaos and culture are celebrated within these walls," he says lustily. "Florence only demands one thing of its people - to be truly awake!"</p>
<p>But da Vinci suffers from being too awake. He is too driven, too full of ideas, too haunted by doubts. He is no stranger to opium, which he uses, he explains, because "I think too much. I need to dull my thoughts or I will be eviscerated by them." </p>
</div>

Time runs out for whales lying stranded on beach

Source  :  Shanghai Daily

VOLUNTEERS were desperately trying to save a whale yesterday at Noordhoek beach near Cape Town in South Africa.

Six of the 19 pilot whales stranded on the beach have died and authorities say they may have to euthanize the others.

Police and other workers were hosing down the whales that were still alive in the hope of getting them back into the water.

A spokesman for the National Sea Rescue Institute said the whales had washed up on the beach yesterday morning.

"Seven are in poor health," he said. "We are still trying our best to save them, but those that can't be saved will be humanely euthanized."

In 2009, authorities in the Cape Town area removed the carcasses of 55 whales that beached themselves and had to be shot despite the frantic rescue efforts of hundreds of volunteers.

Bloomberg on NYC drone program vs. street cameras: ‘What’s the difference?’

Source  :  The Raw Story

New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in an interview on Friday that the city may turn to the use of a drone program for public safety monitoring. According to CBS New York, the mayor believes that the thousands of surveillance cameras already mounted all around the city are not enough, but that a program of unmanned surveillance drones would not be a significant incursion into resident’s privacy.

“What’s the difference whether the drone is up in the air or on a building?” the mayor asked. “I have trouble making the distinction.”

New York Civil Liberties Union spokesperson Donna Lieberman told CBS that it’s “disappointing” that the mayor would think that the more than 2,400 cameras already in use in the city are inadequate enough to merit the addition of an unmanned drone program.

Lieberman accused Bloomberg of evincing “disdain for the legitimate concerns of New Yorkers about their privacy. None of us expects that we’ll go unseen when we’re out on the street, but we also have a right to expect that the government isn’t making a permanent record” of their daily activities.

Gunmen storm Indonesia jail, kill 4 detainees

Source  :  Asian Correspondent

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A group of well-trained gunmen stormed an Indonesian jail on the main island of Java early Saturday and executed four detainees accused of murdering a special forces soldier.

At least 17 masked gunmen angry over the killing of a member of Indonesia’s elite military unit, known as Kopassus, allegedly by the four men detained in Yogyakarta’s Cebongan prison, broke into the jail, said local police chief Brig. Gen. Sabar Rahardjo. The attackers tortured several guards and forced them to open the jail cell just after midnight Saturday.

The four detainees were dragged from their cell and shot with automatic weapons before the gunmen destroyed surveillance cameras and fled, he said.

“They looked very professional,” Rahardjo said. “Their acts were completed in just five minutes.”

Rahardjo says two guards were injured during attack.

Police and military investigators were still collecting evidence from the scene, and several witnesses were being questioned.

“Whoever did it should be immediately arrested and prosecuted,” said Djoko Suyanto, coordinating minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs.

Rahardjo said Saturday’s attack was apparently triggered by the murder of a Kopassus member Tuesday at a Yogyakarta cafe. Four suspects were arrested by police hours later and three others remain at large.

Kopassus troops have been implicated in a range of war crimes and human rights violations over the years. Indonesian officials say they have worked to address the problems.

Earlier this month, dozens of Indonesian soldiers angry over the killing of a comrade by police, attacked and burned down a police headquarters and four other stations in South Sumatra province.

Chaos as police crush peaceful protest

Source  :  NZ Herald

Pandemonium broke out in the shadow of Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium yesterday as riot police raided an old museum that authorities want razed ahead of the 2014 Football World Cup, but where a few indigenous people have squatted for years.

Officers in full riot gear stormed the complex as a tense, hours-long standoff between the police and about two dozen Indians appeared near a peaceful conclusion.

The Indians had accepted the Government's offer to leave the compound in exchange for land in northern Rio de Janeiro, and most had already left the site when the officers charged in.

An elderly man in a feather headdress lay collapsed on the sidewalk after police pulled him kicking and screaming from the compound. Officers fired tear gas and pepper spray, and detonated stun grenades in the thick of the crowd.

"It was a show of unnecessary force," said Marcelo Freixo, head of the state legislature's Human Rights Commission, his eyes streaming from clouds of tear gas.

Report: US releases $500 million in frozen aid to PA

Source :  Maan News Agency

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The United States has released nearly $500 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority which had been frozen by US congress, an official said Friday.

"To date, we have moved $295.7 million in fiscal year 2012 money... and $200 million in fiscal year 2013 assistance," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Friday, Agence France Presse said.

The first sum reportedly comprised some $197.7 million allocated under the 2012 budget for USAID economic, development and humanitarian assistance, together with $100 million allocated for narcotics control, AFP reported.

The $200 million will be allocated under the 2013 budget and be used for direct budget support.

State Department spokeswoman Nuland had said in February that the department was talking with Congress about the withheld aid, with Secretary of State John Kerry promising to keep working with Congress to release budget support funds for the Palestinian Authority.

In 2011, US Congress froze $200 million in aid to the PA as punishment for seeking statehood at the United Nations. In 2012, the UN voted to admit Palestine as a non-member state, with Congress freezing the US administration's request for funds.

The PA ministry of finance has come under increased pressure in recent months, with PA employees, health workers and teachers all launching strike action in protest against the late payment of salaries.

Full salaries for public sector workers have not been paid in almost five months and government initiatives to increase revenue by collecting years worth of electricity and water bills from the public have been hampered by street protests.

In December, Israel began withholding $100 million it collects in duties every month for the PA, exacerbating a financial crisis and undermining the PA's ability to pay public sector salaries.

Central African Republic rebels advance toward capital

Source  :  LBCI News

Rebels in Central Africa Republic clashed with government troops in the town of Damara about 75 km (50 miles) from the capital, a government spokesman said on Friday, a day after the Seleka insurgents rejected a peace offer from the president.

A regional peacekeeping force had established Damara as a 'red line' for the Seleka not to cross as they bore down on the capital Bangui last year. Seleka resumed hostilities this week, accusing President Francois Bozize of breaking a January peace deal.

"The rebels have crossed the red line to enter Damara," presidency spokesman Gaston Mackouzangba told Reuters by telephone. "There has been fighting between the army and the rebels in Damara."

39 kg Marijuana Seized at Border Crossing in Macedonia

Source : Fars News Agency

TEHRAN (FNA)- Customs Administration special units of Macedonia, in cooperation with police inspectors at Kjafasan border crossing, seized 39 kg of marijuana hidden in a truck destined for Switzerland.

The truck, driven by a Macedonian national, was loaded with furniture, windows, doors and tiles intended for export to a natural person in Switzerland, Xinhua reported.

The narcotics, the vehicle and the driver have been transferred to the Ministry of Interior (MoI)'s department for illegal drug trafficking, the report added.

Computer networks of S. Korea's major broadcasters, banks paralyzed

Source : Xinhua

SEOUL, MARCH 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's computer networks of the main broadcasters and banks were completely paralyzed, media reported Wednesday.

The police said it seemed like to be a cyber attack, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

The computer networks of KBS, MBC and YTN, and those of two banks, Shinhan Bank and Nonghyup were totally stopped at about 2 p. m. local time, according to reports.

The police have yet said the exact reason of the paralysis

Japan to ease Okinawa's burden for hosting US bases

Source :  Globaltimes.cn

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday that his government will seek to relieve the burden of Okinawa Prefecture for hosting the bulk of US bases in Japan, local media reported.

Speaking at the first council meeting on Okinawa affairs, Abe said the government will make "all-out" efforts to ease the southernmost prefecture's burdens, while maintaining a US military deterrence in the region by station in the prefecture, according to Japan's Kyodo News Agency.

Abe also vowed to promote local development, saying the prefecture has potentials that could become a "driving force in revitalizing the Japanese economy," Kyodo cited Abe as saying.

Relations between Okinawa prefectural government and Japan's central government chilled due to the relocation issue of the US Futenma Air Base.

Despite strong opposition from local residents and government, Japan and the United States agreed during Abe's meeting with US President Barack Obama last month that to proceed with the plan that to move the air base within the prefecture.

According to the plan, the Futenma base will be moved to a less- populated area in Okinawa, which hosts more than 70 percent of US base in Japan, from its current location, a crowed residential downtown.

Okinawa residents want the base to be moved outside the prefecture.

At a press conference after the meeting, Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima also expressed his reluctance to attend the ceremony of "the Sovereignty Restoration Day" on April 28, saying it was called as "day of insult" in Okinawa.

On April 28, 1952, Japan recovered its sovereignty but Okinawa was still under US control until it was returned to Japan in 1972.

Al-Qaida-linked militants kill 10 in deadly car blast in Mogadishu

Source  :  Shanghai Daily

A suicide car bomber killed at least 10 people yesterday in the worst attack in the Somali capital this year when he tried to kill Mogadishu's security chief near the presidential palace, police and rebels said.

Al-Qaida-linked Islamist militant group al Shabaab said it carried out the attack along Maka al Mukarram road that runs between the palace and the national theater, a route lined by tearooms that were engulfed in fire from the blast.

A public minibus driving along the road burst into flames, when the suicide bomber set off explosives packed into his car in an attempt to kill Khalif Ahmed Ilig, the Mogadishu security chief, police and the rebels said.

Ambulance sirens wailed through the city's congested streets with pools of blood on the ground. Residents joined in the rescue operations, pulling victims from the tea-houses and the minibus.

Police said seven civilians, three government security officers, and the bomber died in the blast that brought part of the city to a standstill. At least seven others were injured.

"The suicide car bomber targeted a senior national security officer whose car was passing near the theater," senior police officer Abdiqadir Mohamud said, adding that the official had been injured.

"Most of the people who died were on board the minibus - civilians. This public vehicle coincidentally came between the government car and the car bomb when it was hit. Littered at the scene are human hands and flesh."

The explosion could be heard several kilometers away in Mogadishu's central business district. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, elected last year in the country's first national vote since dictator Siad Barre's overthrow in 1991, was in another part of the city during the blast, police said. The presidential palace stands about 100 meters from where the explosion struck.

Civil war followed the fall of Barre, which left Somalia without effective central government and awash with weapons, ushering in two decades of turmoil.

The attack yesterday was the worst so far this year, police said, a stark reminder of two decades of civil strife, in a war-torn country where the central government depends heavily on a 17,600-strong African Union peacekeeping force for its survival.

More than 60 wounded in fighting in South Sudan

Source  :  The Daily Star

The International Committee of the Red Cross says more than 60 people have been wounded in fighting between South Sudan's army and a rebel group.

The international Red Cross says 62 people have been taken to one of their medical facilities in the last two weeks.

South Sudan's army has been battling rebels led by David Yau Yau. South Sudan accuses Sudan of supporting the rebels. Khartoum denies the allegations.

The international Red Cross's Ewan Watson said Monday that the group is seeing "fairly serious injuries" caused mostly by light weapons.

The number of deaths is not known because the area is not accessible by outside groups. The military and government did not immediately have casualty information.

Watson said many more people might be wounded that authorities don't know about.

Hillary Clinton Placed Under House Arrest - Unconfirmed Report

Source  : Spies and Intelligence

HIGH Treason Traitor Hillary Rodham Clinton

UNITED States of America - As Wanta-Reagan-Mitterrand Protocols implementation remains imminent with an April 1st U.S. Supreme Court ordered deadline, it can now be reported that former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been placed under house arrest by the U.S. military on charges of financial treason.

On week ago Friday, the same day Jack Lew was sworn in as U.S. Treasury Secretary, sociopath Hillary attempted to illegally divert $1.7 TRILLION of U.S. Treasury funds to a secret CIA proprietary account in the People's Republic of China.

Both Chelsea Clinton (Hillary's daughter) and former Citibank CEO and Clinton era Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin have power of attorney over the account.

Reference: Chelsea Clinton just the other day purchased a $10.5 MILLION apartment in New York City.

Note: The illegal THEFT of U.S. Treasury funds was enabled by the Dallas, Texas branch of the German Nazi Bush Crime Family controlled Commerzbank.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher became aware of this treasonous grand larceny and notified Federal Reserve Chairman Bernard Bernanke and sent criminal referrals to the U.S. FBI, the U.S. Treasury and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

http://www.myspace.com/tom_heneghan_intel/blog/

RF, NATO inspectors to make TOS observation flights

Source  :  ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, March 18 (Itar-Tass) - A group of military inspectors of the Russian Federation will make observation flights within a period from March 18 to 23 under the Treaty on Open Skies (TOS) over the territories of the FRG and Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg).

Simultaneously a team of inspectors of the United States and the Czech Republic will make such flights over Russia's territory, an official at the RF Defence Ministry's press-service and information department told Itar-Tass.

TOS was signed in 1992. Thirty-four countries are Parties to the Treaty. It is reckoned that the chief purposes of the open-skies regime are "to develop transparency, contribute to the monitoring of compliance with the arms control agreements, broaden possibilities for preventing crises and regulate crisis situations within the framework of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and other relevant international organizations.

Subsequently, the possibility is contemplated to spread the open-skies regime over to new areas of cooperation, such as environmental protection.