I. CHINA VIEW - Ancient Greek artifacts discovered in southern Gaza
A number of ancient Greek relics were discovered in southern Gaza Strip, a Hamas official in Gaza said Monday. "These pieces include pottery fragments, black basalt rocks and a piece painted with the Red Cross, in addition to the discovery of some walls and arches and a large number of ancient coins," said Asa'ad Ashour, protection director in the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of the deposed Hamas government. The Ministry had put its grip on the site of ancient ruins on the border town of Rafah after it was found by accident. The Ministry also launched a project to excavate and document "Tel Zo'rob" Archaeological site, when it found a long narrow basement under the ground end up with a large rock. "The site was discovered by workers by coincidence, so we came and put our grip on it because it's considered an ancient ruins site," said Ashour, adding that "it still requires a lot of hard work and exploration. It's like a narrow passage located underground which is built in a sort of descending stairs, at the end of this passage is the border line with Egypt and we discovered some ancient letters on the rock," he added. Around 1,500 ancient coins belonging to the Greek era have been found in the site. The coins were in an earthen pot buried since that period.
II. SOFIA ECHO - Greece, Cyprus reject Turkey’s call for five-party summit on Cyprus
Exchanges between Greek prime minister George Papandreou and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan are raising some hopes of a new dynamic in negotiations on Cyprus, but Athens and Nicosia have made it clear that they do not accept Ankara’s call for five-party talks on the future of the island. Cyprus has been divided since the 1974 invasion by Turkey, which continues to maintain a military deployment in the part designated "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" which Ankara is alone in recognising. On October 30, Erdogan wrote to Papandreou with a series of proposals on solving bilateral disputes including Cyprus and the long-standing row about air space in the Aegean. Media reports said that Papandreou had composed a reply, underlining that he welcomed Ankara’s readiness to solve the problems but, among other things, rejecting the idea of a multilateral summit on Cyprus outside the existing UN-backed process. Turkish media said earlier that Ankara wanted a summit involving Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, the "Northern Cyprus" state on the future of the island, with some reports saying that Ankara also wanted the United Kingdom to participate. While there had been a positive sign in the October 9 meeting between Erdogan and Papandreou, Greece’s alternate foreign minister Dimitris Droutsas has made clear that Athens wants to see Turkey make genuine progress on a number of reforms if it wants to make progress in its EU hopes. "(Turkey) must fully respect international law and Greece’s territorial integrity; it must respect human and minority rights; it must protect the rights of the Greek minority in Turkey; it must respect religious freedoms and protect the Ecumenical Patriarchate rather than obstruct its operation; it must cooperate effectively on tackling illegal migration; it must contribute constructively to the resolution of the Cyprus issue. it must have good neighbourly relations with everyone; it must normalise its relations with the Republic of Cyprus and of course, since we’re talking about December, it must implement the Protocol on the Customs Union vis-a-vis the Republic of Cyprus. At the European Council, we will judge Turkey based on the actions it has taken or not taken – rigorously and objectively. All the options are on the table and no one should take us for granted," Droutsas said. Meanwhile, against a background of Cypriots being unable to access their property in the Turkish-occupied north, one of the several key elements of the dispute, the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus has announced court action because of inability to access and worship at churches and monasteries in the occupied north.
III. FINANCIAL MIRROR - EU President to visit Cyprus
EU President Herman van Rompuy will visit Cyprus as part of his tour to the capitals of EU countries where he will meet with leaders of EU member states to prepare the informal European Council Summit, on February 11. Rompuy will arrive in Cyprus on January 21 and will have a working lunch with President Demetris Christofias. Today he visited Romania where he met with the President of the country Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Emil Boc. On Tuesday he will visit London to have a working breakfast with British PM Gordon Brown.
IV. EXAMINER - Luxembourg is richest country in the world by GDP
Luxembourg heads the list with more than two and a half times the EU27 average (276%), while Ireland (135%) and the Netherlands (134%) recorded levels about one third above average. Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium were between 15% and 25% above the EU average. France, Spain and Italy registered GDP per inhabitant between 0% and 10% above the EU average, while Cyprus, Greece and Slovenia were between 0% and 10% below the average. The Czech Republic, Malta, Portugal, and Slovakia were between 20% and 30% lower than the EU average. Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland were between 30% and 50% lower, while Romania and Bulgaria were between 50% and 60% below the EU average. Luxembourg $113,044; Norway $95,062; Switzerland $67,385; Denmark $62,626; Ireland $61,810; Iceland $55,462; Sweden $52,790; Netherlands $52,019; Finland $51,989; Austria $50,098; Belgium $47,108; France $46,016; Germany $44,660; UK $43,785; Italy $38,996; Spain $35,332; Cyprus $32,772; Greece $32,005; Slovenia $27,149; Portugal $22,997; Czech Rep. $21,028; Malta $20,202; Slovak Rep. $17,630; Estonia $17,299; Croatia $15,628; Hungary $15,542; Latvia $14,997; Lithuania $14,086; Poland $13,799; Russia $11,807; Turkey $10,472; Romania $9,292; Bulgaria $6,857; Serbia $6,782; Belarus $6,234; Macedonia $4,657; Bosnia $4,625; Albania $4,074; Ukraine $3,920; Montenegro $3,800; Moldova $1,809. The GDP has traditionally been the benchmark for determining the health of an economy and every country strives to achieve higher growth rates. However the GDP overlooks one major fact which is how much are the benefits of the economic growth percolating to the weakest sections of society.
Outgoing Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said that he would send the military to cripple RS if it called a secession referendum. The Croatian military, according to Mesić, would incapacitate the Republic of Srpska (RS) in case there was a referendum on independence in this Bosnian entity. Mesić said, according to Rijeka daily Novi List, that if Republic of Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Milorad Dodik was to call a referendum for toppling the Dayton Agreement, he would send the Croatian military immediately, which would cripple the RS, “which would then have to disappear”, by closing the corridor by near the northern town of Brčko. At Tuesday’s informal meeting with journalists, Mesić said that Croatia is a Dayton Agreement guarantor, and that if he were the president at the time that such a referendum was announced, he would use the military against RS in the corridor near the Sava River.
VI. WORLD FAITH NEWS - Fox Business Network to feature St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary
The TV show “The Economic Repor t,” hosted by Greg Gumbel, will feature St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, in Yonkers, NY, on Fox Business Network, Saturday, January 30, 2010. The program is part of a segment on trends and issues related to “Leading Developments in Faith Based Higher Education” as part of the show Focus on Emerging Issues series. The segment highlights St. Vladimir's as an exemplary Christian institution that is making creative adjustments to the economic downturn. Recently, St. Vladimir's established a “Going Green” campus initiative to provi de a response to the growing ecological crisis and to address the issue of institutional sustainability. "Orthodox Christianity ecologically involves the relationship with the inhabited earth, the human community, and the natural eco-system in which we live," says The Very Rev. Dr. Chad Hatfield, chancellor and CEO of the seminary. "We are implementing sustainable practices across our twelve-acre campus, exploring alternative energy sources, and caring for God’s creation." Likewise, Very Rev. Dr. John Behr, dean of the seminary, notes, "Theology and education for ministry are not simply academic pursuits. An Orthodox theological education is far more encompassing and demanding than offered in a typical institution of higher learning.” Beyond being a graduate school of theology, the seminary is also a center for theological research and reflection. Established in 1938, the seminary prepares students for ministry as bishops, priests, deacons, lay leaders, and scholars in Orthodox churches in the U.S. and worldwide. Among its graduates are the current patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, His Holiness Abune Paulos, and the current head of the Orthodox Church in America, His Beatitude Metropolitan Jonah. Airtimes for the program are: 2:30 p.m. ET; 1:30 p.m. CT; 12:30 p.m. MT; and 11:30 a.m. PT.
VII. RIANOVOSTI - Russians bathe in icy cold water to celebrate Epiphany
Russia is celebrating Epiphany on Tuesday, with thousands of believers across the country taking dips in icy cold water - a ceremony believed to cleanse them of sin and heal their illnesses. Epiphany is one of the Great Feasts, marking the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist in the Jordan River and the beginning of his ministry, and the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates it on January 19 in line with the Julian calendar. The feast’s peculiar feature is the rite of the Great Blessing of Water, performed in Russian churches twice - on January 18, on the eve of the feast, and on Epiphany proper, after Divine Liturgy. Holy water is then given to believers, who store it for long periods and use it to cure illnesses and bless themselves or things and premises around them. Some people think any water - even from the taps on the kitchen sink - poured or bottled on Epiphany becomes holy. Western Christians observe it January 6 in line with the Gregorian calendar, or, in some countries on the Sunday after January 1. On that day Western Christian tradition commemorates the visit of the Magi to the child Jesus. Epiphany is also known in the Orthodox Church as Theophany, which means the shining forth and manifestation of God. On that day, according to Gospels, the Holy Trinity manifested itself to mankind: Jesus, the Son of God, dipped himself in the Jordan, the voice of his Father was heard from Heaven, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove. Honoring an old Russian tradition, believers dive into ice holes, usually made in the form of a cross, in lakes, rivers and other water bodies, as temperatures across Russia vary from zero to minus sixty degrees Celsius, the figures for the Moscow Region ranging these days from -10 to -25. The bathing, also popular among nonbelievers, can be performed in 37 special places in the Russian capital after waters there are blessed by Orthodox priests. The Emergency Situations Ministry said over 60,000 people are expected to make their ice dives after midnight and during the day on Tuesday, adding that 260 ministry rescuers will monitor the safety of swimming. The president of Russia’s Cold Treatment and Sports Winter Swimming Federation said it is impossible to fall ill after dipping into icy water on Epiphany. “Physicists have established that on Epiphany the crystalline structure of water changes on Earth, including in the human organism that consists of 75% water. Water self-purifies, so even an unprepared person won’t catch a cold when swimming in cold water on Epiphany,” Vladimir Grebyonkin said.