The Security Council today extended by six months the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Cyprus, where the world body is facilitating talks aimed at reunifying the Mediterranean island. The mission, known as UNFICYP, was set up in March 1964 following the outbreak of violence between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. In a meeting this morning, 14 Council members backed the resolution to extend the mission’s mandate until 15 December and one member, Turkey, voted against it. As part of the resolution the Council welcomed the progress made in talks between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots and encouraged them to reach a comprehensive, durable settlement. The text called for “full exploitation of this opportunity, including by intensifying the momentum of negotiations, preserving the current atmosphere of trust and goodwill, and engaging in the process in a constructive and open manner.”
Greece continues its efforts for trying to find a solution to the name dispute with Skopje and its position remains the same – trying to find a geographically defined name for comprehensive use. Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas has announced the country’s position regarding the name dispute, during the summit of EU foreign Ministers in Luxembourg yesterday. The fact that all 27 member states need to approve the start of the EU pre-accession talks with Macedonia made the foreign ministers not include the topic during their summit, as not only Greece, but other EU member states had a negative position regarding the perspectives of Skopje, before the name issue is resolved. Droutsas has expressed the readiness of his country to resolve the name dispute.
More than ten years after the end of the conflict, there has been a systematic failure in prioritizing war crimes cases in Kosovo. This is according to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), that presented its report in Priština on Tuesday. "This failure runs counter to the expectations of the public and to the interests of justice and reconciliation. War crimes, due to their nature, gravity and importance to the reconciliation process, were not regarded with due consideration by the judicial institutions," reads the report. In the document entitled, “Kosovo's War Crimes Trials: An Assessment Ten Years On”, the OSCE said that the timely delivery of justice in war crimes cases is of special importance because it alleviates the perception of impunity in these cases. The OSCE also notes with concern that for the relatively small number of war crimes cases that have made it into the justice system, there have been repeated delays at each stage of criminal proceedings.
IV. RT - Humanitarian aid for Kyrgyzstan
The United Nations, the United States and Russia are sending humanitarian aid to help those caught in the intense inter-ethnic fighting in the Krygyz cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad. United Nations emergency teams will be sent to Uzbekistan to assist about 83,000 refugees who crossed the border to escape deadly clashes in neighbouring southern Kyrgyzstan. Meantime, the United States and Russia, which both have military airbases near the capital, Bishkek, are airlifting in humanitarian aid. The United States committed over $800,000 for immediate humanitarian assistance to be provided through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), according to the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek. Russia will send three planeloads of humanitarian aid to Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday, a Russian emergencies ministry official said. The World Health Organization has already sent humanitarian help to Osh. Several planes arrived at Osh's airport with tons of medical supplies. Trucks carried supplies into the city with an armed escort. In Bishkek, volunteer paramilitaries prepared to depart for Osh as part of a peacekeeping effort.
V. SFGATE - Divided Iraqi leaders delay choosing president
More than three months after Iraq's national elections, parliament convened for less than 20 minutes Monday as the country awaited a new government. The session opened, and members took their oaths. But they then postponed their first order of business: choosing the president. Political blocs are still deep in negotiations over who gets Iraq's top government jobs. The government that emerges will be the one that rules as the United States pulls out of Iraq. By the end of the summer, only about 50,000 U.S. troops will remain in Iraq despite the lack of a government. Analysts and officials estimate that the political factions are probably months away from forming a government. When Iraq's last parliament convened, it took more than a month to choose a president. In the March 7 elections, the Iraqiya bloc of secular Shiite Ayad Allawi narrowly won a plurality of parliamentary seats. But Shiite incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose party came in a close second, is battling to keep his job. The deeper issues of the nation were apparent in the short session. The followers of fiery Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who strongly opposes the U.S. military role in Iraq, threatened to walk out in the days before Monday's session to protest the presence of U.S. Ambassador.
President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the U.S. military is on track to complete its roughly seven-year combat mission in Iraq -- part of a redeployment of forces in response to changing needs at home and abroad. The armed forces are poised to end their "combat mission in Iraq this summer -- on schedule," Obama declared. "You've earned your place among the greatest of generations."
The "Hellenism & Orthodoxy" symposium, held on the seminary campus June 10–12, 2010, generated frank and lively discussion concerning the unity of, and relations between, Orthodox churches in North America. Conference speakers and participants respectfully wrestled with a myriad of sticky points related to the ecclesial structure of Orthodoxy on this continent: the interpretation of Canon 28, the definition of "diaspora," ethnic identity, and especially, the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). Presenters at the symposium first explored the historical roots of Hellenism and then noted its lasting and profound effects on the cultural, linguistic, and canonical history of the Orthodox Church. Most intriguing were the keynote addresses given by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, titled "Hellenism and Orthodoxy: A Linguistic and Spiritual Journey," and by Archimandrite Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, chief secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, titled "Greek Orthodoxy, the Ecumenical Patriarachate, and the Church in the USA." We invite our Web audience to read the cogent Opening Remarks of Dr. Peter C. Bouteneff, Associate Professor in Systematic Theology at St. Vladimir's and conference organizer. We also invite our Web community to view the full schedule of the symposium and to listen to the Podcasts of the symposium on Orthodox Christian Network. See the gallery of photos of this historic symposium!