Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will hold a meeting to assess the latest developments in the Egyptian crisis at 4 p.m. in his Istanbul office.
Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik, Deputy Chairman of the ruling Justice and Ruling Party (AKP), Huseyin Çelik, and AKP lawmaker Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will participate in the meeting.
Cyprus Mail: Companies changing hands without owners’ permission could be money laundering
The ownership of a number of Cyprus-registered companies has changed hands in dubious circumstances, in what amounts to fraud and possibly money laundering activities, MPs said yesterday, according to Cyprus Mail.
The House Institutions Committee was discussing complaints lodged by beneficial owners of companies who saw ownership transferred to others without them having approved it – pointing to document falsification.
Some of the companies in question are understood to have operated with nominee shareholders – a common practice.
An official from the Attorney-general’s office told lawmakers that 10 such complaints were filed to police by businessmen; of these, six were then forwarded by the police to the Attorney-general as potentially warranting criminal investigation.
However the AG’s office subsequently determined that a criminal case could not be made based on the available evidence.
Rather, the majority of the cases seemed to involve disputes between the concerned law firms representing the companies, the official said.
But MPs, who meantime are also probing broader banking and corporate practices that led the financial sector to the brink of collapse, decided to press on with the matter.
Speaking to newsmen later, committee chairman Demetris Syllouris described the reports of suspect ownership change as “theft or abduction of companies”.
“With the current system, it is alarmingly easy to transfer ownership from one person to another. It’s easier to transfer ownership of a multi-million company than to register an aluminium-fabricating company with your son,” he noted.
Taking it a step further, Syllouris alluded to Moneyval’s report on due diligence measures in the local banking sector.
“The whole affair [ownership of companies] smacks of money laundering. It is not a simple matter of shortcomings in our system, it is a most serious issue that could tarnish our reputation as a financial services centre,” he said.
Among other things, the Moneyval report noted “potential effectiveness issues… with respect to the identification and verification procedures of legal entities registered with the Registrar of Companies in Cyprus due to the incomplete data which was available at the registry.”
Spyros Kokkinos, head of the Department of the Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver, said the system in place has remained virtually unchanged for the last 50 years.
Although the registry system is being automated (as of late 2012), Kokkinos said this should be coupled with adequate checks against fraudulent signatures as well as personal login codes.
Melina Pyrgou of the Bar Association said company documents are often signed abroad by notaries and are then brought to Cyprus for the changes to be approved.
Computerising the system would certainly diminish forgeries but would not completely wipe them out, she said.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, committee member and EDEK MP Pheidias Sarikas was more cautious than Syllouris, acknowledging the lack of hard evidence for money laundering.
“That is why we are saying it could possibly involve money laundering,” he said.
“What we can say for the time being is that certain shady operators appear to be taking advantage of the shortcomings or loopholes in the system,” he added.
The commerce ministry, responsible for the Registrar of Companies, has commissioned a study into the workings of the department. The study has been assigned to the Institute of
Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus, the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency and the Bar Association. Their preliminary findings have been forwarded to the ministry.
Egypt interim president sworn in
Adly Mansour, Egypt’s new interim president, swore the oath of office in front of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court on Thursday morning, formalizing a whirlwind insurrection that brought millions of Egyptians onto the streets and overturned an Islamist president that only days ago 
had seemed immutable, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Mr. Mansour swore his oath hours after Egyptian security forces moved briskly to arrest and detain hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood leaders—the powerful Islamist organization that has dominated Egyptian elections over the past two years.
Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s ousted president, was reportedly in police custody on Thursday morning after he refused to step down from his post on the orders of Gen. Abdel Fattah Al Sisi on Wednesday night.
Mansour took two oaths on Thursday morning: The first made him chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court and the second elevated him to the presidency.
Mr Mansour has been the head of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court since Monday, but the court’s own swearing-in ceremony was delayed for several days due to massive street protests against Mr. Morsi’s rule.
The leader of Egypt’s military ousted Mr. Morsi from office and replaced him with Mr. Mansour late Wednesday evening. The presidential palace immediately branded the move a “complete military coup.”
The announcements capped days of political crisis that brought millions of Egyptians out to the country’s streets, spurring bellicose rhetoric from Mr. Morsi’s backers and Egypt’s military, and sparking deadly violence. Ten people were killed and 481 injured in clashes around the country on Wednesday, the health ministry said.
Two years after the biggest tremor of the Arab Spring ousted Hosni Mubarak, and a year after his elected replacement took office, Egyptian streets again thronged with protesters calling for the removal of a despot, the stark divides between their celebration and anger suggesting a new period of political uncertainty lies ahead.
Egypt’s acting attorney general on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Muslim Brotherhood supreme leader Mohamed Badie and his deputy Khairat al Shater on charges of inciting the killing of protesters, according to MENA, the state news agency.
The two are wanted on charges of inciting the killing of eight protesters in front of the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo. The prosecutor’s decision came after eyewitnesses in the neighborhood said they were able to testify against the Brotherhood leaders, according to MENA.
The military overthrow poses a new challenge for Washington. The US has a deep relationship with Egypt’s military, which is budgeted to receive some $1.3 billion in US aid this year. But congressional legislation demands the US suspend assistance to allied militaries that are certified as having overthrown democratically elected governments.
Two powerful US senators on a visit with troops in Afghanistan on Thursday affirmed that continued assistance from Washington would hinge on a swift restoration of civilian rule.
“We view with great concern the events that are taking place in Egypt,” said Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.). “I believe that the defense minister and the military have to show us and the world that they are making a rapid transition back to democracy. And that will be, I think, the indicator to the level of support that we would provide to Egypt.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the Egyptian military had to abide by the rule of law as a condition of aid.
“If the democratically elected government is overthrown by the military, you would suspend all assistance,” he said. “It looks like a coup, it sounds like a coup, but I’m in the camp with Sen. McCain: Let’s look and see how this unfolds.”
Iranian-Armenians Want Rouhani to Recognize Genocide
YEREVAN (Armenpress)—The major contemporary problem facing the Armenian community of Iran is socio-economic in nature, but the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide is still the most important issue, the Deputy of the Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Karen Khanlarian, stated at the course of a press 
conference held on July 3. As Armenpress reports, Karen Khanlarian underscored that “the primary issue for the Armenian community of Iran and all the communities of the Diaspora remains the issue of the Armenian Genocide.”
Among other things, Khanlarian noted that the Armenian community expects Rouhani to keep the issue of the official recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the centre of his attention. “That’s what we shall demand from Mr. Rouhani,” Khanlarian underscored.
Hassan Rouhani’s victory in the presidential elections in Iran was close to western democratic standards, said the Armenian MP of the Iranian Parliament, Karen Khanlarian, at a press conference in Yerevan.
Reformist Rouhani’s victory will not lead to radical changes in the country, Khanlarian said. According to him, the President-elect is a reasonable politician, and one can expect tangible, tactical changes in the domestic and foreign policies of the country.
The parliament member said the Armenian community actively participated in the pre-election developments.
During the campaign, the Armenian community addressed the candidates with a number of demands, namely to recognize the Armenian Genocide and involve Armenians in the work of executive bodies.
“Now, after elections, we will try to establish contacts with Hassan Rouhani,” Khanlarian noted.
He recalled that, on the eve of April 24, the Deputy Speaker of the Iranian parliament condemned the Armenian Genocide, and that earlier President Ahmadinejad had denounced the tragedy, while former president Khatami had visited Tsitsernakaberd.
The Armenian community of Iran is estimated at 60,000-70,000. Many are leaving Iran due to socio-economic worries, Khanlarian said. Iranian Armenians mostly migrate to the United States and Canada, he added.
“Armenians of Iran have no political problems,” he said. Two Armenians are represented in the Iranian Parliament.
Khanlarian added that Iran’s relations with Armenia can develop and that new projects for economic cooperation can be initiated under the rule of the Iranian president-elect Hassan Rouhani.
“Apart from that, I believe that scientific ties between Armenia and Iran, and student and lecturer exchange programs in particular, will increase during his term”, the deputy told a press conference Wednesday.
Ex-Secretary of National Security, Supreme Council Rouhani, was elected to the presidential post in the 11th presidential election in Iran on June 14, where he polled more than 50% of the votes. Voter attendance was 72.7 percent in the election.
Khanlarian said Rouhani is focused on Armenia-Iran relations and positive changes should be expected in the bilateral relations during his term in office.
Armenia and Iran are planning to implement a number of major projects in the fields of energy and transportation.
Turkey says overthrow of Morsi is unacceptable (Will Turkey be the next?)
July 04, 2013 | 17:42
Turkish authorities called Egyptian army’s actions which resulted in overthrow of Mohamed Morsi unacceptable.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu demanded immediate release of Morsi and his supporters.
“Whatever the reason is, it is unacceptable that a democratically elected government was overthrown by illegitimate means, even more, with a military coup,” Hurriyet Daily News quotes Davotuglu.
According to Turkish media, the further actions of Turkey related to Egyptian developments will be discussed during the meeting with Premier Erdogan.
Earlier Al Arabiya reported that leaders of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and UAE welcomed the Egyptian army’s efforts, which means that legitimacy of their actions was recognized by the Arab world.
Moscow slams closure of airspace to Bolivia president’s aircraft
July 4, 2013 – 17:50 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – Moscow on Thursday, July 4 criticized the closure of airspace by several European states to a Bolivian presidential aircraft en route from Russia on Tuesday, forcing it to land in Vienna, RIA Novosti reported.
The aircraft carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales had been in the air for over three hours after taking off from Moscow on Tuesday, when France, Spain and Portugal announced the closure of their airspace to it. The plane landed in the Austrian capital Vienna, but was later allowed to fly on to Bolivia.
“The steps undertaken by France, Spain and Portugal can be hardly described as friendly in regard to Bolivia as well as to Russia, from where Morales was flying after visiting Moscow,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“Moreover, the refusal to grant airspace passage rights for the aircraft could have created a threat to passengers on board the plane, including the head of a sovereign state,” the ministry added.
The aircraft was reportedly searched in a “voluntary inspection” while in Vienna, Deputy Chancellor Michael Spindelegger said on Wednesday, apparently on suspicion it might have fugitive US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden on board. The Bolivian Defense Minister later denied reports that the plane was searched.
Snowden, a former contractor for the US National Security Agency, is wanted by the United States for disclosing a top-secret surveillance program. He is now reportedly in the transit section of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.
Bolivia accused France, Italy, Spain and Portugal of violating international law by closing their airspace to the presidential aircraft, and said the United States instigated the action by the nations involved.
The United States has not commented on the accusation.
NYT: Ambassador Becomes Focus of Egyptians’ Mistrust of U.S.
By MARK LANDLER
WASHINGTON — Her image has been plastered on banners in Tahrir Square, crossed out with a blood-red X or distorted and smeared with insults. She is too cozy with Egypt’s deposed pr
Anne W. Patterson, a press-shy career diplomat who has been American ambassador to Cairo since 2011, suddenly finds herself a target in a dangerous political upheaval, a symbol for angry young Egyptians of America’s meddlesome role in their country’s affairs.
With the Egyptian military ousting President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday, Ms. Patterson will have to navigate a perilous course between Mr. Morsi’s opponents and his enraged Islamist supporters, both of whom have grievances with the United States.
That she has become such a lightning rod for American policy speaks to the legacy of American involvement in Egypt and to the comparatively low level of attention Egypt has received from the Obama administration since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak two and a half years ago — at least until this week’s turmoil.
As her bosses in Washington struggle to exert even modest influence over the events in Cairo, Ms. Patterson, 63, has been portrayed as a sinister force by pro- and antigovernment protesters alike: a defender of the status quo as well as a troublemaker who schemes with the opposition.
“She’s being lambasted because she’s the face of America,” said Vali Nasr, a former State Department official who worked with Ms. Patterson when she was ambassador to Pakistan. “But the fact that she’s being excoriated instead of the president only represents the fact that the rest of the American administration is absent.”
In his first reaction to Mr. Morsi’s ouster, Mr. Obama warned of the dangers of violence and tried to steer Egypt’s military toward a prompt resumption of democratic rule. But the flurry of White House meetings and phone calls on Wednesday served to underscore the lack of leverage the United States has over Egypt, once a crucial strategic ally in the Middle East but lately just another headache.
Ms. Patterson’s problems started on June 18 when she was invited, at a time of mushrooming demonstrations against Mr. Morsi’s government, to speak to an audience in Cairo about the United States’ relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood. It was, she said, a welcome chance to “set the record straight.”
esident and the Muslim Brotherhood, the signs say, and should leave the country.
China State Media Blames Syria Rebels for Xinjiang Violence
Reuters
Chinese state media on Monday blamed Syrian opposition forces, in unusually specific finger-pointing, for training Muslim extremists responsible for the deadliest unrest in four years in China’s far-western region of Xinjiang.
China traditionally has blamed violence in Xinjiang, home to Muslim Uighurs, on Islamic separatists who want to establish an independent state of “East Turkestan.”
This appears to mark the first time Beijing has blamed a group in Syria, and fits a common narrative of the government portraying Xinjiang’s violence as coming from abroad, such as Pakistan, and not due to homegrown anger.
Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over a forum in Beijing last Saturday on maintaining stability in Xinjiang. Paramilitary police have flooded the streets of the regional capital Urumqi after 35 people were killed in two attacks last week, which China has blamed on a gang engaged in “religious extremist activities.”
Many Uighurs in Xinjiang resent what they call Chinese government restrictions on their culture, language and religion.
The Global Times, a tabloid owned by the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, said that some members of the East Turkestan faction had moved from Turkey into Syria.
“This Global Times reporter has recently exclusively learned from the Chinese anti-terrorism authorities that since 2012, some members of the ‘East Turkestan’ faction have entered Syria from Turkey, participated in extremist, religious and terrorist organizations within the Syrian opposition forces and fought against the Syrian army,” the newspaper said.
“At the same time, these elements from ‘East Turkestan’ have identified candidates to sneak into Chinese territory to plan and execute terrorist attacks.”
Differing reports
Authorities had arrested a 23-year-old “terrorist,” known in Chinese as Maimaiti Aili, belonging to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement [ETIM], the report said, adding that he had taken part in the Syrian war.
Dilxat Raxit, the Sweden-based spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, called the report unrealistic.
“Uighurs already find it very difficult to get passports, how can they run off to Syria?” Raxit told Reuters by telephone.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying declined to directly answer questions on whether Syrian rebels had joined forces with the East Turkestan movement.
Hua only said at a regular briefing that China has “also noted that in recent years East Turkestan terrorist forces and international terrorist organizations have been uniting, not only threatening China’s national security but also the peace and stability of relevant countries and regions.”
Officials in Xinjiang and China’s ministry of public security were not immediately available for comment.
Evolving approach
Pan Zhiping, a retired expert on Central Asia at Xinjiang’s Academy of Social Science, said it was possible that the attackers in Xinjiang were involved in the Syrian war, citing members of the East Turkestan movement who had taken part in the Chechnya war, and were extradited by Russia to go on trial in China.
“They are definitely more dangerous, these people, we can call them desperados. They are highly trained and not ordinary citizens,” said Pan.
The report by The Global Times follows attempts by China to take a more proactive role in solving the crisis in Syria. China, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has been keen to show it is not taking sides, and it has urged the Syrian government to talk to the opposition.
Police in Xinjiang have detained 19 people for spreading online rumors that triggered Wednesday’s attack in northern Shanshan county, state media said on Monday.
The increased security comes four days before the fourth anniversary of the July 2009 riots in Xinjiang that pitted Uighurs against ethnic Chinese, resulting in nearly 200 people being killed.
Two days after the deadly attack, more than 100 people riding motorbikes and wielding knives attacked a police station in Xinjiang, state media reported.
UAE jails scores of people in coup trial
International media have been barred from attending court hearings, which have been taking place since March [EPA]
Court sentences members of group state says was “attempting to overthrow government” in trial where media was banned.
A United Arab Emirates court has convicted and jailed most of the 94 Emiratis accused of plotting a coup, Abu Dhabi television said.
The television report said the Federal Supreme Court handed down the sentences on Tuesday. Fifty-six suspects were given jail terms ranging between three and 10 years.
Eight suspects were sentenced in absentia to 15 years in jail and another 26 were acquitted.
Among those sentenced were academics, lawyers and members of prominent UAE families.
Sheikh Sultan bin Kayed Al-Qassimi, a member of the ruling family of the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, and prominent human rights lawyer Mohammed al-Roken, were among the 56, Abu Dhabi television said.
The television report gave no further details.
State news agency WAM described the group as “a secret organisation accused of attempting to overthrow the government,” on its website, in a post promoting the television station’s coverage.
Police blocked roads outside the court in Abu Dhabi and kept reporters away from the building.
Dozens have been detained in a crackdown on people suspected of belonging to Islamic political parties in the past year, amid heightened worries among officials about a spillover of unrest in other Arab countries.
The trial, which human rights groups say has included “flagrant flaws” in procedure, is widely seen as an attempt by the Gulf Arab state to address what it says is a threat from the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
“These verdicts cement the UAE’s reputation as a serious abuser of basic human rights,” said Nicholas McGeehan, Gulf researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Today’s judgements mark yet another low point for the UAE’s worsening human rights record.”
No media allowed
The defendants had denied the charges, and some said they had been abused in detention, an accusation the state denies.
Many of the 94 who have been on trial since March are members of the al-Islah group, which the UAE says has links to Egypt’s Brotherhood. Al-Islah says it shares some of the Brotherhood’s ideology but has no organisational links to it.
Attorney General Salem Saeed Kubaish said in January the members had sought to infiltrate institutions of the state, including schools, universities and ministries.
“The case is important for the UAE because it targets its security and we have full confidence in the UAE judiciary to issue sentences they see fit,” a UAE official, who declined to be named, told the Reuters news agency. “The UAE considers the trial to have taken place in a fair and legal manner.”
International media have been barred from attending court hearings, which have been taking place since March.
Rights groups have urged authorities to grant full public access to the trial.
A source close to the UAE government said the trial had taken place in a “very transparent manner”.
In a separate case, last month the UAE said it would put on trial 30 Emiratis and Egyptians accused of setting up an illegal branch of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, further straining ties between the two countries.
BREAKING NEWS NYT report Morsi Is Out as President, Egyptian State Media Says
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, BEN HUBBARD and ALAN COWELL
CAIRO — Egypt’s military moved forcefully to seize power from President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday, deploying tanks and troops in Cairo and other cities, restricting his travel and convening an emergency meeting of top civilian and religious leaders to devise an interim government and lay the groundwork for new elections.
Ahramonline, the government’s official English-language Web site, said the military had informed Mr. Morsi that he was no longer head of state. There was no word on Mr. Morsi’s whereabouts.
The military’s actions came as enormous crowds of the president’s supporters and opponents filled the streets of the capital and soldiers were deployed in significant numbers to keep the spiraling political crisis from going out of complete control.
State radio said that the emergency meeting, which included Mohamed ElBaradei, a prominent Egyptian statesman who has emerged as a leading critic of Mr. Morsi, along with top Muslim and Christian leaders, had adjourned after several hours and a “road map” for a post-Morsi government would be announced later.
The developments followed the lapse of a 48-hour deadline imposed by the military generals on the increasingly isolated president to meet the demands of millions of Egyptians disaffected with the one-year-old governance of Mr. Morsi, the first democratically elected leader of Egypt.
By 6:30 p.m. military forces began moving around Cairo. Tanks and troops headed for the presidential palace — although it was unclear whether Mr. Morsi was inside — while other soldiers ringed the nearby square where tens of thousands of the president’s supporters were rallying.
Many of the Islamists had armed themselves with makeshift clubs, shields made of potcovers or metal scraps and plastic hard hats, and there were small scuffles with the better-armed soldiers. Some soldiers fired their weapons in the air. But the military forces held back.
Soldiers also were seen erecting barbed-wire fences and barriers around a barracks were President Morsi may have been working, Reuters reported, quoting witnesses.
Mr. Morsi’s senior foreign policy adviser, Essam el-Haddad, issued an open letter Wednesday afternoon on his official Web page lamenting what he called the imminent takeover of Egypt’s first freely elected government.
“As I write these lines I am fully aware that these may be the last lines I get to post on this page,” he wrote. “For the sake of Egypt and for historical accuracy, let’s call what is happening by its real name: Military coup.”
Security officials said the military’s intelligence service had banned any travel by President Morsi and senior Islamist aides, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, and his influential deputy, Khairat el-Shater.
People close to the president said at around the same time that talks with the generals continued but looked increasingly futile. A decisive move was expected within hours, these people said, although the president and his advisers remained at liberty.
With millions of Egyptians waiting to see what the military would do, Mr. Morsi reiterated in a Facebook posting what he had said in a long and rambling televised speech Tuesday night, vowing to stay in power as Egypt’s first democratically elected president following the 2011 revolution that overthrew Hosni Mubarak.
“The presidency reaffirms that violating constitutional legitimacy threatens democratic practice by veering off the right track and threatens the freedom of expression that Egypt has lived since the revolution,” the statement said.
Among those called to the meeting with the generals was Mohamed ElBaradei, the former United Nations diplomat who has been tapped by the protesters demanding Mr. Morsi’s ouster as one of their negotiators over a new interim government, Reuters reported, citing unnamed official sources.