I. ECOWORLD - Record Number of Flamingos in Cyprus
Unusually high water levels have led to a record number of flamingos arriving on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, wildlife officials said. Wildlife biologist Nicos Kassinis told the Cyprus Times lakes spilling over their shores were attracting the birds. “We had around 6,000 in January, 3,000 in February, and though we do not have the figures yet, we expect around 1,500 this month,” he said. However, the high water levels have created a deadly problem for the birds around a salt lake in southern Larnaca, Kassinis said. The water has encroached over land that was once used for clay pigeon shooting and is widely littered with lead shot. So far, 35 flamingos have died, and Kassinis said their livers showed lead concentrations several times the toxic level. As far as a remedy, Game Director Pantelis Hadjiyerou said it wasn’t feasible. “I do not think that cleaning will be appropriate, because the destruction to the ecology from the cleaning would be worse than the effects of the lead that is there,” he said.
Greece is following a firm policy on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and sends a positive message of friendship and support to the neighboring people, but is disappointed by the lack of reciprocation on the part of FYROM, foreign ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras told a press briefing on Thursday. "Unfortunately, we have yet to see reciprocation from the other side," he said, adding that "we want the government of Mr. Gruevski (FYROM prime minister) to come to the negotiation with a positive and constructive attitude. We believe that we could immediately reach a solution if the political will exists," the spokesman stressed.
III. REUTERS - Turkish PM threatens to expel Armenians
Turkey's prime minister has threatened to expel thousands of illegal Armenian immigrants after U.S. and Swedish lawmakers passed votes branding World War One-era killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide. Muslim Turkey, a NATO member and candidate to join the European Union, recalled its ambassadors to Washington and Stockholm earlier this month after the non-binding votes and warned they could hurt a fragile effort to reconcile with Christian Armenia after a century of hostility. Asked about the votes in an interview with the BBC Turkish service that was broadcast late Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said: "There are currently 170,000 Armenians living in our country. Only 70,000 of them are Turkish citizens, but we are tolerating the remaining 100,000. "If necessary, I may have to tell these 100,000 to go back to their country because they are not my citizens. I don't have to keep them in my country. Thousands of illegal Armenian immigrants, mostly women from the impoverished countryside, work as cleaning ladies and in other low-skilled jobs in Istanbul, where many settled after an earthquake in their homeland in 1988. The exact number of Armenian immigrants in Turkey is unknown. But Turkish-Armenian groups say Turkish politicians inflate numbers of illegal workers and threaten expulsions whenever tensions escalate between Ankara and Yerevan. Erdogan said Armenian immigrants had been allowed to work in Turkey as a "display of our peaceful approach, but we have to get something in return."
IV. UPI - Serbia icy on Kosovo conference
The Serbian government Thursday reiterated its refusal to attend a weekend conference on the status of Kosovo in Slovenia. Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor proposed hosting the meeting in Ljubljana between Serbia and the breakaway, predominantly Albanian province, but Serbian President Boris Tadic has repeatedly said his government doesn't recognize Kosovo as an independent state. "Serbia neither accepts nor recognizes Kosovo's independence, and it will not do so," Tadic told the Tanjug news agency Thursday. "Therefore, it is not necessary for anyone to try to talk us into it, or blackmail us to do something like that, because that is an impossible mission." Serbia has demanded Kosovar delegates be represented as a United Nations entity. The Slovenian leader proposed all attendees could refrain from sitting by their national flags, but Serbia opposed that as well, the report said. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and so far, 65 countries have diplomatically recognized it.
The city of St. Petersburg, known as the “Venice of the North” and Russia's cultural capital, now boasts another romantic title. Sunday Times Travel Magazine included the city in a list of 12 of the world's most "exotic and erotic" escapes. For a perfect day to keep any couple in the mood, the guide recommends first stripping off at a Russian sauna (banya) before visiting the city's Museum of Erotica. In the evening, they can catch a ballet performance, and then spend a passionate night at the luxurious Astoria Hotel. St. Petersburg shares its steamy status with such cities as Rome, Havana, London, New York, Berlin, Paris, Seville, Tangier, Stockholm and Istanbul.
The U.S. and Russia have been sparring openly today, over the planned launch this summer of Iran's first nuclear power plant -- which is being built by Russia. During a visit to Moscow, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't directly criticize the project. But she said that until Iran reassures the world that it's not trying to build a nuclear weapon, it's "premature to go forward with any project at this time." Russia's foreign minister, at the same news conference, responded that despite the U.S. concerns, his country will finish work on the power plant shortly. Sergei Lavrov said the plant will operate under strict compliance with the requirements of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency. On another issue, Clinton and Lavrov both told reporters that U.S.-Russian negotiations on a new treaty to reduce long-range nuclear weapons are close to completion.
VII. INTERFAX - Communique of the Committee of Representatives of Orthodox Churches to the European Union
The Committee of Representatives of Orthodox Churches to the EU (CROCEU) met in Brussels on March 17, 2010. The meeting was hosted by His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, Representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the EU. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the participation of the Orthodox Churches to the dialogue with the EU institutions in view of the implementation of Article 17(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which reads as follows: "Recognising their identity and their specific contribution, the Union shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with ...Churches". The Committee worked with His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France as Moderator. Those present at the meeting were: Rev. Fr Antony Iljin (Moscow Patriarchate), Rev. Fr Patriciu Vlaicu (Patriarchate of Romania), His Grace Bishop Porphyrios of Neapolis (Church of Cyprus), and His Eminence Metropolitan Athanasios of Achaia (Church of Greece). The Committee would like to underline the commitment of the Orthodox Churches to the dialogue between on the one hand the Churches of different denominations and religious communities sharing common values and on the other hand the EU institutions. This dialogue is considered a service to the human person who faces major challenges in the different areas of Europe today and whose dignity is rooted in the faith that the human person is made according to the image of God. The Orthodox Church has a long experience in dialogue, because it is inherent in its ethos.Particularly, the dialogue between the political community and the Churches underscored by Article 17(3) is very welcome as a manifestation of mutual respect and as a sign of hope for a better Europe and a sustainable world. The Committee considers dialogue in view of the implementation of Article 17(3) a challenge and an opportunity for promoting the fundamental values and principles upon which European culture has based itself and along which it has developed, such as justice, peace, protection of the environment, sensitivity in front of situations of poverty and suffering, reasonable distribution of financial assets, condemnation and avoidance of all sort of violence, protection of children and women, access to education for all, standing in solidarity with one another, freedom of communication and expression, protection of religious freedom concerning both minorities and majorities and the rule of law. The importance of common values and principles for sustaining dignified social life in Europe and in the world make it necessary that the EU institutions ensure a dialogue between them and the Churches within a clear framework, providing for the necessary flexibility as well as for an exchange of views on important topics that need to be seriously tackled and followed-up.