| Head Egyptian mediator denies reports of glasses transfer to Schalit
General Jamal Hamad, head of the Egyptian team leading negotiations with Hamas for the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, denied reports that his delegation delivered a pair of glasses to Schalit while in captivity, since his were lost in the course of the kidnapping.
Cpl. Gilad Schalit was taken captive during a cross-border raid near Kerem Shalom on June 25, 2006.
General Hamad told the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds that the recent reports of the delivery were "guesses" that would do nothing to ensure Schalit's release, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Al-Sinara, a newspaper based in Nazareth, reported last Friday that Schalit had been given his glasses. The Egyptian delegation gave the glasses to Schalit's captors, who then passed them on to Shalit, Palestinian sources had explained to the newspaper.
Visiting mediator to meet with Syrian prisoner
The visiting unofficial Syrian envoy, Dr. Ibrahim (Abe) Suleiman, is scheduled to meet today with a Syrian imprisoned in Israel. On Wednesday he met with Rina Hever, the mother of missing IDF soldier Guy Hever, and the author Sami Michael, the brother-in-law of Eli Cohen, an Israeli spy burried in Syria.
The issue of prisoners and missing soldiers has taken up a significant portion of Suleiman's current visit to Israel.
.
Restorative justice taking root in Ukraine
Krasnogvardeisk, Crimea—Five boys, ages 11-18, stole 28 cell phones from a consignment store in an open market in this city of 15,000 people in the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine. Just outside the city three boys, ages 10-12, caused extensive damage to irrigation systems and crops. In both cases, the offenders were identified and the judge referred the cases to a newly formed victim-offender mediation group, Harmonia. Galina Saditchko, an attorney and founding member of the mediation group has mediated 23 cases. With the exception of one case, the offenders and victims have been able to negotiate agreements that were presented to the court for implementation. "Personally, I hate sending juveniles into the penal colonies (detention facilities) or prison." said Judge Marina Kiruhina, the only judge in Crimea who refers cases involving young offenders to the mediation group established by the Ukrainian Centre for Common Ground (UCGG).
Stalling, not talking, in Perry County
The late columnist Molly Ivins once said that politics was, "finest form of free entertainment ever invented." After watching the negotiations between Perry County Commissioners and the village of Thornville, I think she's right. The negotiations center on adding the Honey Creek area onto Thornville's sewer plant and off of the aging plant that it is currently on. Unfortunately, for the citizens of the Honey Creek area, these negotiations have not been going so well. In fact as time goes on they seem only to get worse. To understand the problems first you must look at how standard negotiations work. .
Slovenian Intelligence Confirms Kosovo Link to Sandzak Arrests
A Slovenian intelligence source has confirmed for Balkanalysis.com a claim made recently in the Serbian media- that the Wahhabis arrested at a training camp broken up near Novi Pazar on St. Patrick's Day had connections with Kosovo militants, the final status process there and potential violence again Serbs in the North Mitrovica enclaves. The March 17, 2007 Serbian police operation against a suspected Islamic extremist mountain training camp near Novi Pazar, which yielded weapons, ammunition and assorted paraphernalia, has inspired unprecedented interest in the phenomenon of Wahhabi extremism in this forgotten area of western Serbia in the international media. What is perhaps most interesting about the recent foreign media coverage, however, is that no one has cast doubt upon the Serbian government's version of events.
|
