I. IOCC - Haiti: Resources for How You Can Help
Here’s how you and your parish can speed relief to the people of Haiti today. The suffering of the people of Haiti following this week’s earthquake is beyond words – tens of thousands have perished, untold numbers are homeless, without water, shelter or life-saving medical care. The first few days of a humanitarian crisis of this magnitude are absolutely critical. IOCC NEEDS YOUR HELP. 1) Pray for the people of Haiti and those who have lost loved ones in this disaster and for the safety of those who are working to assist them. See www.iocc.org/prayers. 2) Send a gift to assist the victims of disasters around the world, like the Haiti Earthquake, by giving to the IOCC International Emergency Response Fund, at www.iocc.org or by sending them to IOCC, P.O. Box 630225, Baltimore, MD 21263-0225. 3) Assemble hygiene kits and emergency clean-up buckets to be shipped to places like Haiti – or wherever disasters strike. There is a critical shortage of these supplies and we need your help to provide this aid. For information on hygiene kits, go to www.iocc.org/kits. 4) Alert your fellow parishioners on the important work of IOCC in Haiti by downloading this Sunday bulletin insert. Thank you for providing this critical support for thousands who are waiting for our response now.
II. NYT - The Balkan Burger Unites All Factions
Americans might think themselves masters of the all-beef patty, and Germans may claim bragging rights for its point of origin. But there is no burger passion greater than the one for pljeskavica. Pronounced PLYESS-ka-vee-tsa, this burger as wide as a birthday cake is beloved in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Montenegro; and more recently in Italy, Germany, Chicago as well as Queens. Throughout the western Balkan region, ground meat is raised to an art form. Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is famous for sausage-shaped cevapi, the size of a fat pinky finger, served piled on bread or eaten by hand. Since the breakup of Yugoslavia, many young people from the region have arrived in New York seeking work, education and adventure. Charcoal-grilled pljeskavica and cevapi, pronounced chay-VOP-ee, have become common in neighborhoods like Astoria and Ridgewood in Queens, where Bosnians and Croatians, Serbs and Montenegrins now open businesses side by side. For pljeskavica and cevapi, the entire animal is fair game. Formulas including beef, veal, lamb and — except for Muslims — pork are part of the butcher’s mystique. Even in New York, each butcher harbors secrets, like adding fat from around the beef kidneys, grinding in a little pork neck, or adding baking soda or mineral water to lighten the mix. Pljeskavica are formed from ground meat and minced onion, pounded thin, then grilled on both sides to a smoky brown. The word pljeskavica comes from pljesak, a regional word for clapping the hands, the motion used to press the burger into a thin round. They were originally served flopped onto a plate, but as the American burger assumed global dominance, it became standard to sandwich pljeskavica between the two halves of a fluffy, spongy pita-style bread called lepinja. These days, in Belgrade, the capital of the pljeskavica cult, the burger itself might be stuffed with mushrooms and mozzarella, or ham and cheese. Depending on where you are in the Balkans, and the taste of the locals, the meat mixtures might be ruddy with paprika and served with fresh minced onions or cucumbers for crunch. When all the elements are put together, the perfect pljeskavica tastes like the wholesome Mediterranean ancestor of a Big Mac.
President Boris Tadić will be in New York on January 22 where he will attend a UN Security Council session dedicated to Kosovo. This is according to a report in Belgrade daily Politika, which says that Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić will also attend the debate. Tadić will address the Security Council, according to the newspaper. Politika says that “while awaiting the decision of the International Court of Justice on the legal validity of the decision to unilaterally declare independence of Kosovo, clearly confrontation is gearing up”. The newspaper concludes that Tadić’s decision to travel to New York for the session should be seen in this context.
IV. BALKANS BUSINESS NEWS - Cyprus coin wins first prize in world numismatics competition
The Cyprus 2-euro coin won the Best Trade Coin 2010 award in a competition organised by the publication World Coin News. “This year's trade coin category winner is a bimetallic 2-euro coin issued by the Central Bank of Cyprus . The coin depicts an ancient statue cross,” World Coin News said in a statement. “Our aim was to create a coin which showed the character of Cyprus as a whole, rather than focus on one town or location,” Tatiana Soteropoulos, who co-designed the image, told Balkans.com Business News. The annual competition, whose awards will be presented at the World Money Fair in Berlin Jan.30, was judged by international experts and online public voting. World Coin News (www.worldcoinnews.net) is part of the US-based F+ W Media group (www.fwmedia.com) which operates in print, digital and video media.
V. MFA - Greece submits its counter-memorial in the case of FYROM’s application against Greece before the ICJ
Greece’s counter-memorial in the case of FYROM’s application against Greece was filed today with the International Court of Justice in The Hague, within the time-limit fixed by the Court. The counter-memorial of Greece was submitted by Greece’s Agents in this case, Ambassador Mr. George Savvaides and the Legal Advisor and Head of the Public International Law Section of the Legal Department, Ms. Maria Telalian, both senior officials at the Foreign Ministry, with rich experience in these issues, both from the political and legal aspect, and who were appointed as Greece’s Agents in November 2008. Four eminent foreign Professors specialized in International Law and with wide experience in defending cases before the ICJ have also been appointed as Greece’s legal advisers in the present case. Furthermore the support team also includes Greek Professors of Public International Law and Historians. It should be recalled that our country has appointed as Ad Hoc judge in this case Professor and Member of the Academy of Athens, Mr. Emmanuel Roucounas, presently President of the Institute of International Law. As is well known on 17 November 2008, FYROM instituted proceedings against Greece before the ICJ alleging violation by Greece of article 11 of the interim Accord of 1995, due to Greece’s supposed objection to FYROM’s invitation for accession to NATO. Greece’s counter-memorial, which sets out in a detailed manner and with corresponding documentation Greece’s legal argumentation in this case, is the result of painstaking collaboration between the Greek and foreign Counsels for over a year. The Greek counter-memorial dismisses in toto the arguments submitted by FYROM in its memorial and develops in a thorough and substantiated manner the legal, political and historic arguments of the Greek side in this case. Following the submission of our counter-memorial, the follow up to this case will be determined by the Court and, at a second phase, there will be an oral hearing during which both parties will expose orally their arguments before the Court. According to the ICJ’s Rules of Procedure FYROM’s memorial and Greece’s counter-memorial will remain confidential and may not be released until the oral hearing before the Court.
VI. RIANOVOSTI - Russia, NATO top generals to meet in Brussels on January 26
Russian and NATO Chiefs of Staffs will meet in Brussels on January 26 for the first time since the improvement in ties between Russia and the alliance, Russia's envoy to NATO said on Wednesday. "Head of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, First Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Makarov will participate," Dmitry Rogozin said. NATO froze ties with Russia following the brief armed conflict with Georgia and the recognition by Moscow of Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but relations have improved in recent months. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen expressed hope in December that the alliance and Russia would establish a joint missile defense system by 2020. Addressing students at the Moscow State University of International Relations, Rasmussen said the joint shield would unite Russia and NATO politically and ensure nuclear security between the two parties. Earlier in December, Rogozin said that the military alliance and Russia had formed a working group on missile defense issues and the first meeting would be held in January.
Members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America will meet at Saint Nicholas Cathedral here on Wednesday, January 20, 2010. The purpose of the special session will be to review the deliberations and decisions of the Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference in Chambésy-Geneva, Switzerland, June 6-12, 2009 and the forthcoming North American Episcopal Assembly, slated to convene in mid-2010. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, will chair the special, day-long session. The Pan-Orthodox Conference was held in response to the Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches convened by His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, in October 2008. During that meeting, the Primates expressed their "desire for the swift healing of every canonical anomaly that has arisen from historical circumstances and pastoral requirements, such as the so-called Orthodox diaspora, with a view to overcoming every possible influence that is foreign to Orthodox ecclesiology." In observations shared at the annual Conference on Missions and Evangelism held at Antiochian Village in the fall of 2009, Metropolitan Jonah commented that the processes outlined in the statement issued at the conclusion of the Chambésy meeting were "a way to spur us to unity.... If we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, it will come together in a way that will honor God and be in accordance with His will." [A detailed report on Metropolitan Jonah's presentations on unity and mission is posted at www.oca.org.] In order to share the Orthodox Church in America’s positions on a variety of human rights and related issues, the hierarchs will meet with Congressman Christopher “Chris” Smith [R-NJ] and other members of Congress on Thursday, January 21. Among the topics to be discussed are the situation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey in light of Patriarch Bartholomew’s widely acclaimed recent interview on "60 Minutes"; the plight of Orthodox Christians in Kosovo; growing concerns for Egypt’s Coptic Christians; pro-life concerns; and related issues, including human trafficking, that affect traditionally Orthodox Christian and other lands. Congressman Smith, widely known for his pro-life and pro-human rights positions, chairs the House International Relations Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations Subcommittee and serves as vice-chair of the Committee on International Relations and as co-chair of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (also known as the US Helsinki Commission), which works to promote and foster democracy, human rights, and stability in Eastern and Central Europe.