Two separate government reports released yesterday will give health overhaul critics plenty to chew on. One suggests the cost of health care will rise because of the changes, and the other, that millions will face fines because of a controversial requirement that everyone buy health insurance. First, the Congressional Budget Office said 4 million middle class Americans would face fees in the neighborhood on $1,000 a head in 2016 because they will not meet the new requirement to get coverage. Later in the day, the Medicare agency's chief actuary circulated a report concluding the health law would increase spending by 1 percent rather than rein costs in as promised. But, there are a few bright sides. Even as the overhaul may push the costs of health care up for many, Medicare patients may get lower premium rates out of the deal, the Los Angeles Times reports. Foster also said that the bill may curb costs in the long run, but that savings over the next 10 years could be washed away by a flood of new spending. So basically Congress needs to stick to the planned cuts into the future, or face unpopular price increases.
II. JPOST - Israel seriously committed to peace
President Shimon Peres assured US Middle East envoy George Mitchell on Friday that Israel was committed to peace. Peres told Mitchell that whoever doubted Israel seriousness about achieving peace was making an error in judgment. The president said that the Israelis, Palestinians and Americans are standing before a “green light” regarding the peace process. Peres added that Mitchell’s arrival in Israel was “essential” and that the Israeli government would like to see him succeed on his mission. Earlier Friday, amid high hopes regarding the start of "proximity" Middle East peace negotiations, Mitchell reaffirmed the unshakable bond between Washington and Jerusalem during a meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, saying the special ties would only get stronger. Mitchell stressed that the Obama administration was working to advance mutual Israeli and US interests, which he said were led by a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians based on the two-state solution, Israel Radio reported. The US envoy is expected to head to Ramallah in the evening for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Anticipation of a breakthrough was high on Thursday night, despite Netanyahu’s reiterated refusal to halt construction in Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem as the Palestinian Authority has been demanding.
III. NYT - Belgium: Government Falls
The government collapsed Thursday over an ongoing dispute on language rights in a bilingual voting district. Prime Minister Yves Leterme offered the government's resignation to King Albert II after the Flemish-speaking Liberals quit the five-party coalition, blaming French-speaking politicians. The king did not accept the resignation, but began talks with key politicians.
IV. BLOOMBERG - Turkey's prime minister to visit Athens next month
A Greek official says Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Athens next month. Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas says the May 14-15 visit "will be the beginning of a new era" in the two neighbors' often tense relations. He says economic cooperation will figure prominently on the agenda. The dates were announced Friday after Droutsas met Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Tallinn, Estonia. Greece and Turkey have improved historically hostile relations over the past decade, but remain at odds over the divided island of Cyprus and maritime boundaries in the Aegean Sea. The disputes have further complicated Turkey's troubled bid to join the EU -- a bid Athens supports.
V. RIANOVOSTI - NATO chief says Russia-Ukraine base deal won't affect ties
The extension of Russia's lease on its Black Sea Fleet base in Ukraine will not affect NATO's relations with Moscow and Kiev, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday. "It's a bilateral agreement and it will not have an impact on our relationship neither with Russia nor with Ukraine," he said. He also said the extension of the base deal made no difference to the prospects of Ukraine joining NATO. On Wednesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych signed an agreement on terms of the Russian Black Sea Fleet presence in Ukraine's Crimea on the Black Sea to be extended for 25 years after 2017, when the current lease is due to expire. Under the new agreement, the lease on the Sevastopol base may be further extended by another five years after 2047. The agreement has already drawn a very negative response from the Ukrainian opposition.
PM Mirko Cvetković urged on Friday the representatives of “the UN peacekeeping missions” to prevent incidents against Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. “The pressure that extremists exert on the returnees and the disabling of the Serbian mobile service providers by the Kosovo interim institutions have engendered new pressure and the atmosphere of insecurity and fear among the Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija,” he was quoted as saying. Cvetković underlined that the cutting of communication lines between the Serb-populated areas in the province and the world represents an attempt of new isolation of Serbs in Kosovo. “The Serbian government insists that the UN peacekeeping missions, UNMIK and EULEX, should take emergency measures to prevent such incidents and contribute to the establishment of a lasting peace in Serbia's southern province,” Cvetković stated
VII. OCA - Registration now open for 2010 Parish Ministries Conference, Young Adult Rally June 27-30
Registration is now open for the 2010 Parish Ministries Conference and Young Adult Rally to be hosted by three Orthodox Church in America departments on the campus of Baldwin-Wallace College, just minutes from the Cleveland airport, June 27-30, 2010. The conference and rally theme is "Equipping the Saints," based on Ephesians 4:11-13, in which Saint Paul challenges every member of the Church to use his or her unique gifts to minister for the "building up the Body of Christ." Joining the DCE in hosting the event are the OCA's Departments of Liturgical Music and Translation and Youth, Young Adults and Campus Ministry, and the Diocese of the Midwest's Parish Health Ministry, a flagship effort in the field of evangelization, growth, and parish ministry. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah will be the featured speaker. Other presenters include His Grace, Bishop Melchizedek of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania; and Mark Bailey, Archpriest John Behr, Prof. David Drillock, Joseph Kormos, Kenneth Kovach, Archpriest John Matusiak, Vladimir Morosan, Daria Petrykowski, Anna Strelka, and Matushka Valerie Zahirsky. Workshops will be repeated throughout the conference to enable participants to attend several tracts, while discussions and sessions during which attendees will be able to share their ideas will punctuate the schedule. Registration forms, schedules and program descriptions, speaker lists, directions, and other pertinent information on the ministries conference may be found at by clicking the "Equipping the Saints" logo on the OCA web site at www.oca.org.