Act of aggression’: Bolivia to file UN complaint over airspace blockade

News field, July 5.2013

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Published time: July 03, 2013 09:51
Edited time: July 03, 2013 18:19

1)‘An act of aggression and violation of international law’ is how Bolivia described the situation in which the Presidential plane was grounded in Vienna for almost 12 hours, over fears that Snowden could be on board.

Austrian authorities grounded Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane in Vienna early on Wednesday morning due to suspicions that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board. Morales allegedly refuted speculation that Snowden had stowed away on the plane and allowed authorities to conduct a search.

“We're talking about the president on an official trip after an official summit being kidnapped,” Bolivia's ambassador to the United Nations in New York, Sacha Llorenti Soliz, told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday.

“We have no doubt that it was an order from the White House,” ambassador Llorenti said. “By no means should a diplomatic plane with the president be diverted from its route and forced to land in another country.”

The ambassador has pledged to make an official complaint to the UN.

The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) will hold an emergency meeting to discuss the EU air blockade that forced the Bolivian President Evo Morales to land in Austria on Wednesday. France, Spain, Portugal and Italy all closed their airspace amid suspicions the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden had stowed away on board the president’s craft.

2) The 12 nations that are part of the regional block will have a ministerial meeting in the Peruvian capital of Lima to discuss the consequences.

Tens of thousands in Cairo’s Tahrir Square are celebrating the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, who was removed from power by the military on Wednesday night following mass anti-government protests.

People celebrate at Tahrir Square with a portrait of Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after a broadcast confirming that the army will temporarily be taking over from the country's first democratically elected president Mohammed Morsi on July 3, 2013 in Cairo (AFP Photo / Kha“The actions of the French, Spanish and Portuguese authorities could hardly be seen as friendly towards Bolivia and towards Russia, from which the Bolivian President Evo Morales was leaving upon completion of his Moscow visit. The refusal to grant the aircraft the right to overfly could create a threat to the security of its passengers, including the head of a sovereign state,” reads the statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday.

led Desouki) President Morales demanded an explanation from the governments of the countries that refused him entry into their airspace, saying he was not a criminal and the world was no longer in the colonial period. He also denied the possibility that Snowden could be on board of his plane, noting that “this young man isn’t a suitcase that I can take with me to Bolivia.”

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3) Federal authorities in New York have accused a former executive of Tiffany & Co. of stealing more than $1 million in jewelry from the famous luxury boutique. Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun was arrested on Tuesday at her home in Darien, Connecticut. Prosecutors accuse Lederhaas-Okun, 46, of using her position at Tiffany to borrow about 165 pieces of jewelry, claiming she needed them for work reasons. She then allegedly sold the items to an international dealer.

Date: 2015-02-03; view: 845