On this day in ...... 1999 (10 years ago today), NATO defended the overnight bombing of Serbia's state television station, asserting that the building was a legitimate target and a "'ministry of lies.'" (photo credit) The Belgrade bombardment, reported to have caused 10 deaths and 18 injuries, was said to have been appropriate for the reason that the station gave propaganda support to the militaristic endeavors of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Banković and Others v. Belgium and 16 Other Contracting States (1999), an application for relief filed by victims' survivors, was ruled inadmissible by the European Court of Human Rights. I've written about that decision in my article entitled Guantánamo.
... 2003, Cypriots were permitted to cross the "Green Line" that had separated the northern and southern portions of the island of Cyprus for nearly 3 decades. "The Turkish Cypriots announced ... that they were easing the restrictions to build confidence between the divided communities," the BBC reported. (map credit)
