Erstellt am: 19. 7. 2011 - 15:12 Uhr
Diplomatic incidents from Lithuania to Libya
Phone Hacking Scandal: Tuesday 19th July, 2011
UK parliamentary select committees interview :
- Former Metropolitan Police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, who quit on Sunday.
- John Yates, the former assistant chief constable who resigned yesterday.
- Rupert and James Murdoch
- Rebekah Brooks - Ex-News International chief executive.
Other things to note:
- Ex-News of the World journalist Sean Hoare, who made allegations of phone hacking by the newspaper, was found dead at his home yesterday.
- British Prime Minister, David Cameron has cut short a trip to Africa and called an emergency session of Parliament on the scandal tomorrow.
Lithuanian, and now Latvian and Estonian anger towards Austria. Is this something for Vienna to worry about?
Today's Reality Check:
Lithuania is clearly baffled by Austria’s decision to release the former KGB agent, the commander in charge of the 1991 crackdown on demonstrations in Vilnius. They have recalled their ambassador from Vienna and there were demonstrations yesterday outside of the Austrian embassy in Vilnius.
Austria for its part has denied that there was any pressure from Moscow to find a way of releasing this individual quickly, and in its defense has talked about a lack of clarity when it came to the actual arrest warrant.
So how angry are Lithuanians and should we really care? The only answer was to start phoning around various contacts in Vilnius. Some correspondents were happy to give us a bit of background, others were, how can we put this, less than pleased to speak with anyone remotely connected with Austria or Austrian Radio.
Roklas Tracevskis is a journalist at the Baltic Times. On January 13th, 1991 he was out on the streets of Vilnius watching as the Soviet tanks rolled though his city. He told me that when the tanks began shelling the television tower, the people were emboldened, feeling that independence was about to happen, so they created a human chain around the television centre. But that didn’t stop the Soviet forces. State television studios were stormed, 14 people died and more than a thousand were wounded.
It’s a very emotional part of Lithuania’s recent history and the apparent impunity for those accused of being responsible is hindering relations between Vilnius and Moscow. Now Vienna seems to have become unwillingly embroiled in the row. Rather than both Vienna and Vilnius trading insults and accusations, Lithuanian political scientist and commentator Kestutis Girnius told us that both sides should publish the exact circumstances and timeline of the arrest warrant request and all the relevant information connected with it. That could take some of the heat out of the situation and for the future we will all know what clearly needs to happen should such circumstances arise again
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The FPÖ's mission to Libya
The USA has held its first face-to-face talks with the Libyan government in Tripoli - and demanded that Colonel Gadaffi step down, and they are not the only ones sending officials to the Libyan capital. The FPÖ have been making their contribution to world peace by sending David Lasar to Tripoli, and yesterday they held a press conference to explain their aims. Chris Cummins went along to find out what the trip was all about.
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FM4 Reality Check
Monday to friday from 12 to 14. And after the show via Podcast or fm4.orf.at/realitycheck.