A judge in New York ordered the immediate deportation of the 10 convicted for spying for Russia in US after they pleaded guilty to spying for a foreign country. Court also dropped serious money laundering charges against them. They are expected to arrive in Moscow on Friday morning on a flight from the US.

The US state department said after the hearing in Newyork that there would be “no significant national security benefit” in sentencing the 10 accused to lengthy jail terms. State department spokesman Mark Toner said that “The network of unlawful agents operating inside the United States has been dismantled. The United States took advantage of the opportunity presented to secure the release of four individuals serving lengthy prison terms in Russia, several of whom were in poor health.”

At the same time, Igor Sutyagin, a Russian arms control analyst serving a 14-year sentence for spying for the United States reportedly plucked from a Moscow prison and flown to Vienna. Reports say that he will be sent to London from Vienna.

Russian news reports say President Dmitry Medvedev has pardoned other three Russian prisoners also who are accused of spying for US. State news agency Itar-Tass named them as, Sergei Skripal, a Russian military intelligence officer convicted of spying for the UK in 2006, Alexander Zaporozhsky, a former employee of Russia’s foreign intelligence service jailed for espionage in 2003 and Gennadiy Vasilenko.

“A swap seems very much on the cards. There is political will on both sides, and actually by even moving it as far as they have, Moscow has de facto acknowledged that these guys were spies,” intelligence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said Thursday.

Steve Field ,a spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron would not confirm or deny a possible London involvement in the spy swap. “This is primarily an issue for the US authorities,” he said.

[Source: BBC]

The financial and scientific establishments are going to be the most affected by the UN sanctions. The bill was signed on Thursday and it will be instrumental in cutting off refined petroleum imports including gasoline and jet fuels and bans the United States banks to do business with foreign banks that are involved in transactions with the elite revolutionary Guards from Iran.

According to Obama, the new sanctions are designed in order to put a halt to the inflow of funds in Iran that are used by Iran in its nuclear programmes. Obama made the statement at the White House Summary.

The new sanctions have serious implications on banks doing business with Irtna as well as the United States of America. The Unilateral US sanctions are in lieu of the new United Nations Security Council Sanctions on Iran that were passed in the last month to no effect.

But according to critics, since Iran is quoting investment from emerging markets, it is difficult to ascertain if the new sanctions would be instrumental in putting a stop to nuclear programmes in Iran.

[Source: AP]

The girl’s father Santhosh Thomas, who is based in Ohio, said that he was puzzled at how his six year old daughter could be suspected as a dangerous terrorist.

On being barred from boarding the flight, the ticket agent informed the parents that their daughter Alyssa’s name was on the watch list. The parents have repeatedly contacted the Homeland Security, on which they were told that no changes would be made to the list.

The Transportation Security Administration has said that the terror watch lists are an important means of security to prevent any person with known or even suspected ties to terrorism from boarding flights in the US.

The Authorities have still not commented on this obvious mistake of taking a six year old as a terrorist.

David Patraeus

General David Patraeus will be taking his post as the new commander of the international military presence in Afghanistan. The US senate has appointed the general unanimously and he will be replacing Commander General Stanley McChrystal.

The US government has taken this step as the departing general had made disparaging remarks about Barack Obama’s administration that was published in the Rolling Stone Magazine article.

He was stripped of his command and replaced with Patreus. Thus Mc Chrystal has announced his retirement from the US armed forces on Tuesday after a 34 year career in the US military.

No all eyes are on General Patraeus who will be taking command of all the US forces in the Middle East and focus solely on Afghanistan. The United States of America is has high hopes with the general as he is expected to turnaround a deteriorating security system in Afghanistan.

Presently the Taliban and other opposition groups are launching aggressive operations against international forces that are based in the country. When the general was being appointed in the US, there were violent protest and suicide bombing in Afghanistan that was aimed to send a message to the newly appointed general Patraeus.

But Patraeus is no novice as he has lead the Iraq war and brought back the country from the brink of civil war during eth year 2007.

[Source: CNN news]

The meeting will also include the recent developments in Afghanistan and they will focus on US policy after the oust of the US military commander.

They would also discuss matters related to mutual national security efforts. The meeting is scheduled a week before Obama will be meeting Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister. According to the Saudi media, King Abdullah will take the opportunity to dissuade Obama from talking or creating any policies or procedures with regard to Israel.

Last year King Abdullah and President Obama had met in Riyadh Saudi Arabia’s capital.

It was held before Obama’s visit to Cairo before addressing the Muslim world. This was a phase when US was in the initial stages of seeking inducements regarding peace talks in Israel. According to sources and analysts, the Saudi government is keen on discussing nuclear issues regarding nuclear programmes in Iran and Afghanistan.

They would also discuss on Middle East peace process and the US policy. The two sides would also be dealing on arms deals that would be used for building Riyadh’s defensive capabilities against threat from Iran.

[Source: API]

This declaration confirms the fact, that the country is economically unstable and only a few rich and the powerful influence all important decisions in the country. The security Minister Oscar Alvarez, confirms all doubts, as he states that if it happened before , it is very likely to happen again.

But Juan Barahona ,who is the leader of the anti coup movement gives an inside story, as he says that the talk about conspiracy is just a promotional campaign  as  Lobo is trying to show that the government is independent of the business community while gaining sympathy from the people of Honduras .

The president of Honduras has been under a lot of pressure from the international front as well as the home front.

At the international front he is under pressure from the US government that wants the Honduras president to promote reconciliation. While at the home front he is under fire for referring to Zaleyas removal as a  coup .

[Source: API]

The summit meeting was held in the Huntsville which is a Canadian town as they considered various other issues in their final meeting. The meeting also   laid stress on blockade of the Gaza According to the leaders of the G8 summit meeting the trip, Iran and North Korea. According to the leaders of the G8 Summit the Gaza Blockade is unsustainable and it must be changed.

The leaders further urged the Israelis and the Palestinians to  try to hold peace talks that would be effective in implementing new policies that are aimed at humanitarian and commercialization of goods for the Gaza population.

They also stressed on the need to develop civilian reconstruction and infrastructure. They urged the Israelis and the Palestinians to involve in legitimate economic activity that is aimed towards the development of the civilian in Gaza as was stated in the final communication from the G8 summit.

The G8 summit also referred to other major issues like the sinking of the South Korea and blamed North Korea for it. They urged North Korea to abandon the use of all nuclear weapons and other nuclear activities in a  completely verifiable and irreversible manner.

[Source: Asia news agency]

Stephen Harper the Canadian Prime Minister has described the proposal as a tightrope that we must walk in order to sustain recovery. He stated at the G20 leaders summit that was held in Canadian city of Toronto as advanced countries must send a  clear message  that as their stimulus plans expire  they should focus on getting their fiscal houses in order.

The leaders at the summit have put together, plans in order to deliver fiscal sustainability, differentiated for and tailored to national circumstances as stated in the communiqué.

Some of the major emerging economies around the globe are opposed to spending cuts and believe that it is thy themselves who would suffer  as  a result of the application of the proposal. But the British Prime minister describes it as working in the same direction towards long term goals aimed at economic sustainability.

The proposal comes with a level of flexibility and it is for the countries to decide when they will stop spending and implement the proposal. But, the G8 summit also witnessed a trail of heavy protests from the civilians and several were arrested for propagating unrest in Toronto.

[Source: API]

Dr. Bilal Philips

In another move made by UK authorities that would increase the already created controversy after the ban of world renowned Islamic scholar Dr. Zakir Naik, another  personality Dr. Bilal Philips, who is a world renowned Canadian Islamic Scholar, was denied entry into UK.

This “entry denial” was not informed to him, prior to his visit by the UK authorities. Dr. Bilal Philips was scheduled to arrive in UK to attend the Quran Conference  which was due to be held on 20th June. He arrived on June 18th for the same, only to get surprised that he was denied entry. He had no option but to return back to Doha.

In response to one of our correspondent, Dr. Bilal Philips said “Well, the inevitable finally happened. At least the British Home Secretary called Dr Naik in Mumbai prior to his trip and told him not to come. I arrived to London this Saturday morning, 19 June, at 8am only to denied entry and put back on a plane at 11am back to Doha! So, I was unable to attend the Qur’aan conference on the 20th as planned!!! Sorry to all who attended the conference expecting to hear from me or see me”. He further added “Allah is the best Protector and disposer of our affairs”.

According to the reports, Even the conference was harassed by the British National Party and had to change their venue at the last moment.

With the protests still on for the ban imposed on Dr. Zakir Naik, this denial of entry to another renowned personality of the Muslim world will only add more fuel to the ongoing controversy.

Muslims from around the world have protested that UK authorities, who were forefront in backing “freedom of expression and speech”, is acting otherwise.

[Source: Bureau]

The US and Nato military force commander criticized the obama administration in his comments, which appeared in the Rolling Stone magazine article.

The summon came after he apologized for the comments he made against his seniors and the comments his aides gave against Obama.

He told Rolling Stones that he felt “betrayed” by Karl Eikenberry, the US ambassador to Kabul, in a White House debate over war strategy last year.

Referring to a leaked internal memo from Eikenberry that questioned McChrystal’s request for more troops, the commander said that the ambassador had tried to protect himself for “for the history books”.

“I like Karl, I’ve known him for years, but they’d never said anything like that to us before,” McChrystal said in the article.

Eikenberry, himself a former commander in Afghanistan, had written to the White House saying Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, was an unreliable partner and that a surge of troops could draw the US into an open-ended quagmire.

It seems that lately US Military officials are showing resistance to the kind of war strategy that is being used in Afghanistan and Iraq.

[Source: Bureau News]