In response to a growing need for content and materials geared towards young adult and college ministry, the Orthodox Church in America's Department of Youth, Young Adult and Campus Ministries has launched a new blog, "Wonder." The blog, accessible at www.ocawonder.com, is also of value to those who minister to this age group. "It is our hope that this project will give our youth a 'good defense' for the tough questions and harsh realities that this world offers," said Protodeacon Joseph Matusiak, department chair. "We hope these articles will spur discussion and provide material for those engaged in campus and young adult ministry." Every month, "Wonder" will feature four articles on a specific theme, blending theological and academic articles with practical ideas for ministry. "Suggestions and submissions from readers are always welcome," said Mr. Andrew Boyd, a department member who co-moderates the blog. "We're hoping that the blog will generate dialogue and two-way communications.
II. YAHOONEWS - Turkey warns US over Armenia genocide bill
Turkey warned US lawmakers Monday against passing a bill that brands World War One-era massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks "genocide," saying ties between Washington and Ankara would suffer. The Turkish foreign ministry, which also said Turkey-Armenia reconciliation efforts would be damaged, delivered its tough message three days before a key US House of Representatives panel is due to take up the non-binding measure. The US House Foreign Affairs Committee was scheduled to vote Thursday on the symbolic resolution, and approval would send the bill to the full House for consideration. "We expect the committee to reject the resolution which will harm Turkish-US ties and impede efforts on normalizing ties between Turkey and Armenia," the ministry said in a statement. "We would like to believe that the members of the committee are aware of the damage... the endorsement of the resolution will bring and, in this context, act responsibly," it added. The United States has traditionally condemned the 1915-1918 mass killings of Armenians, but refrained from dubbing them a "genocide", wary not to strain relations with Turkey, a NATO member and a key ally in the Middle East. US President Barack Obama pledged during his election campaign that he would recognise the killings as genocide, but disappointed Armenian-American supporters when he refrained from using the term in his message last year to commemorate the killings. "His view of that history has not changed," said US National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer. The resolution, which does not have force of law, calls on Obama to ensure that US foreign policy reflects an understanding of the "genocide" and to label the mass killings as such in his annual statement on the issue. Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed as the Ottoman Empire, Turkey's predecessor, fell apart, a claim supported by several other countries. Turkey rejects the genocide label and says the number of Armenians who died is grossly inflated. The border between the two countries has been closed since 1993 when Turkey ordered it shut in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan, then at war with Armenia over the Nagorny-Karabakh enclave.
III. KATHIMERINI - Greek Diplomats talk before US visit
The scheduled visit to Washington next Tuesday by Prime Minister George Papandreou, for talks with US President Barack Obama on Greece’s financial problems, dominated a discussion yesterday between Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas and US Ambassador in Athens Daniel Speckhard. The ambassador said that talks would touch on “a range of strategic issues” as well as Greece’s fiscal problems, noting that “President Obama is very much looking forward to this meeting with the Greek prime minister.” According to Greek diplomats, the “strategic issues” on the talks agenda include ongoing efforts to solve a dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia regarding the latter’s official name, stalled peace talks aimed at reunifying Cyprus and tensions in the Aegean. The diplomats said that Papandreou would seek closer cooperation between Athens and Washington in attempts to solve these and other regional issues.
Minister of Labour and Social Policy Rasim Ljajic met today with Cypriot Ambassador to Serbia Homer Mavromatis and representatives from the Cypriot Ministry of Labour and Social Issues and discussed the conclusion of the social insurance agreement between the two countries. The Ministry says in a statement that representatives from the Cypriot Ministry, headed by Director of the Social Insurance Services Theofanis Tryfonos, briefed Minister Ljajic about the progress of talks, stressing that almost all provisions of the agreement have been harmonised, therefore it will most likely be signed in June, during the final round of talks. Ljajic stressed how important the agreement will be for around 2,000 Serbian citizens temporarily working in Cyprus, as well as for Cypriot businessmen doing business in Serbia. The conclusion of the agreement on social insurance between Serbia and Cyprus will enable persons living or working in these two countries to have a unhindered right to pensions, disability and health insurance, as well as unemployment insurance, the statement adds.
V. B92 - Kouchner calls reporter "lunatic"
French FM Bernard Kouchner has referred to a VOA reporter in Kosovo as "a lunatic", when asked to comment on the human organ trafficking. According to a KIM Radio report from the Serb enclave of Gračanica today, journalist Budimir Ničić asked the French minister about his position regarding the human organ trafficking allegations. The case, investigated by the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution, a Council of Europe rapporteur, and recently addressed by a high-ranking UN official, is known informally as the Yellow House. Kouncher was asked to comment on the case, and claims of the families of the kidnapped and murdered Serbs, who accused him of participating in the human organ trafficking. When Ničić posed his question, Kouchner reportedly "laughed", and said: "You are sick. You are a lunatic, don't be saying nonsense like that". Kounchner then went on to say that he "cannot believe that someone was asking such a nonsensical question". "What's the yellow house? Why yellow? Sir, you should see your doctor. People who talk about things like that are bums and murderers," the radio quoted the top French diplomat as saying. The organ trafficking case is investigating claims, also mentioned in a book published by former Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, that hundreds of Serb civilians were kidnapped in Kosovo in 1999 by the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), to be taken to northern Albania, where their vital organs were removed and sold in the black market. One of the locations mentioned as the possible place where the kidnapped civilians were operated on was a house with a yellow façade. Kouncher, who was UN administrator in Kosovo from 1999 until 2001, today visited the newly formed municipality of Gračanica, the nearby Serb monastery and the local healthcare center, where he met with Radmila Trajković. Kouncher was visiting Belgrade on Monday for talks with top Serbian state officials.
France remains a priority partner for Russia, and cooperation between the two is impossible without strong economic ties, Medvedev told French business leaders in Paris. The Russian president noted that over the course of the last several years, the trade turnover between the two countries has grown fivefold. Perhaps more importantly, Russia has accumulated a large amount of French investments, exceeding 10 billion dollars, of which more than half that amount is in the processing industry. Dmitry Medvedev also stressed the importance of contracts in banking and the energy sector. Medvedev expressed hope that partnering with France would provide yet another avenue of escape for Russia from its “resource curse,” that is, its over-reliance on the gas and oil sector, and further modernize the Russian economy with a vast arsenal of state-of-the-art technologies and practices. President Medvedev then extended an invitation to French businessmen to visit Russia in the summer for an economic forum St. Petersburg. He also expressed hope that 2010, which happens to be the Year of France in Russia and the Year of Russia in France, will provide additional incentive for closer economic and cultural ties between the two nations.
Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople Bartholemew I received a message from Pope Benedict XVI for his 70th birthday, which falls on Feb. 29. The Pope included words of thanks, prayer and encouragement for further unity between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. In the letter to Patriarch Bartholomew, released by the Holy See's Press Office, Pope Benedict conveyed his "warm good wishes" to the Archbishop of Constantinople, and thanked God for the abundant blessings bestowed upon him. The Holy Father added that he is praying for strength and grace for the ministry of Bartholomew I. Benedict XVI closed the message by expressing his " prayerful confidence that the Spirit of God will continue to enlighten and guide our path towards the full communion willed by Christ for all his disciples." Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, also greeted the Patriarch on the occasion. In his message, he remembered the "friendship, mutual confidence and frankness" that characterize their discussions and are "a great gift and a sign of progress in the relations between our Churches." Cardinal Kasper expressed his hope that the Patriarch's commitment to an "ever deeper understanding and profitable collaboration between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church," will be untiring, so that they might "offer a common witness to the world of our faith in Our Single Lord Jesus Christ." The Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople was born on the island of Imbros, in Turkey, on Feb. 29, 1940.