More than 1.3 million laid-off workers won't get their unemployment benefits reinstated before Congress goes on a weeklong vacation for Independence Day. An additional 200,000 people who have been without a job for at least six months stand to lose their benefits each week, unless Congress acts. For the third time in as many weeks, Republicans in the Senate successfully filibustered a bill Wednesday night that would have continued unemployment checks to people who have been laid off for long stretches. The House is slated to vote on a similar measure Thursday, though the Senate's action renders the vote a futile gesture as Congress prepares to depart Washington for its holiday recess. A little more than 1.3 million people have already lost benefits since the last extension ran out at the end of May. Unable to deliver more stimulus spending for President Barack Obama, Democrats in Congress had hoped to at least restore the jobless benefits. Obama has urged lawmakers to spend about $50 billion to help states pay for Medicaid programs and to avoid teacher layoffs, but Democrats in Congress have been unable to come up with the votes. Many Democrats see state aid and unemployment benefits as insurance against the economy sliding back into recession. However, many Republicans and some Democrats worry about adding to the growing national debt. Republicans offered to support the unemployment bill if it was paid for with unspent money from last year's massive economic recovery package. Democrats rejected the offer, saying the money was needed for jobs programs. The unemployment bill would have provided up to a total of 99 weekly unemployment checks averaging $335 to people whose 26 weeks of state-paid benefits have run out. The benefits would be available through the end of November, at a cost of $33.9 billion. The money would be borrowed, adding to the budget deficit.
A dozen Portland churches are building, brick by brick, a New City, a modern twist on a fourth-century idea. Paul Schroeder, an Orthodox Christian and a former priest, oversees the work from his desk at JOIN, a Portland nonprofit connecting the homeless to permanent housing and standing by them as they adjust to their new lives. Schroeder, faith-based resources coordinator at JOIN, has created a six-week course for churches that want to understand homelessness and make a genuine difference in the lives of people struggling with it. He was inspired as he worked on a book about Basil of Caesarea, the fourth-century founder of a Christian community where the poor and people living in voluntary simplicity shared their gifts with each other. Schroeder saw similar principles at work in CUSINA, an acronym for Culinary Utensils, Skills, Information and Nutrition Alliance, an outreach program at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Northeast Portland. With grants from the Louisville Institute, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and private contributions, Schroeder pulled together biblical texts, excerpts from Basil's writing and the stories of homeless men and women from JOIN. He created questions to help a congregation discern its passion, find a way to share it and be open to receiving gifts from the homeless themselves. In an interview, Schroeder talks about "Building the New City," which he calls "a work in progress." His answers have been edited for length and clarity. To read the interivew transcript, click here. To learn more about JOIN, click here.
Turkish General Staff said Wednesday in a statement that Greek jets intercepted Turkish jets over the Aegean Sea. According to the statement, Greek M-2000 and F-4 jets had intercepted Turkish F-16 jets twice in the north and northwest of Greek island of Psara when the Turkish jets were making training flights in international air space over the Aegean Sea. The Greek jets took off from Greece's air bases of Tanagra and Skyros, added the statement. Greek F-16 jets which took off from Limni air base intercepted the Turkish F-16 jets in the southwest of the island of Lesbos. Turkey and Greece have had disputes over airspace rights, boundaries on the Aegean Sea and the Cyprus issue, but bilateral ties have improved significantly in recent years.
IV. WASHINGTONTIMES - Serbia firm against recognition of Kosovo
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said Wednesday that his country continues to reject Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, even as the International Court of Justice prepares to rule on the matter. "The UDI - the unilateral declaration of independence - is something that Serbia is not going to accept," Mr. Jeremic told a small group of reporters at the Serbian Embassy. "This is the truth - and it's a truth that it is not going to change. We're a democratic country, and our position on the UDI is based on our constitution, it's based on the binding decisions of the Serbian national parliament, and it is supported by the vast majority of our citizens inside a democratic system," he said. The International Court of Justice could issue its advisory opinion as early as late July, and the Serbs, who requested the court's involvement, have much riding on the outcome. Since Kosovo divorced itself from Serbia in February 2008, after almost nine years under U.N. receivership, Mr. Jeremic and others have sought with limited success to convince the world that the breakaway province remains a rightful part of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo has gained recognition from 69 U.N. member states, including the U.S. and most other Western nations. But Serbia has enlisted support from countries with strong secessionist movements - such as Russia, China, and Spain - who fear that Kosovo could set a dangerous precedent.
V. JPOST - Iran gives Syria new radar
Iran has provided Syria with an advanced radar system which could provide it with early warning of an Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, quoting Israeli and US officials. According to the report, information gathered by the radar could also be used by Hizbullah to increase its defenses and improve missile accuracy. Iran and Syria denied the occurrence of any radar transfer. "Iran is engaged in developing Syrian intelligence and aerial detection capabilities, and Iranian representatives are present in Syria for that express purpose," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit told the paper. "Radar assistance is only one expression of that cooperation." Placing advanced radar in Syria is strongly in Iran's interest, the officials said, as it would provide Iran with better visibility of Israeli air space and could serve as an early warning of a developing Israeli air strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Syria's interest in advanced radar was probably enhanced by the IAF raid on an alleged nuclear reactor being built in Syrian territory in 2007, when Syria's own air defenses failed to repel the attack.
VI. RIANOVOSTI - Russia says ready to send helicopters to help NATO in Afghanistan
Russia is willing to provide transport helicopters to assist the NATO-led military contingent fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan, a defense industry official said on Thursday. Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, deputy head of Russia's Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, said Russian An-124 Condor cargo planes had transported over 88,000 metric tons of cargo for NATO troops in Afghanistan under the successful Strategic Airlift Interim Solution (SALIS) project. "The aircraft leasing mechanism successfully used in the SALIS project could be applied to heavy-lift transport helicopters for NATO forces carrying out missions in remote areas [of Afghanistan]," Dzirkaln said at a roundtable meeting on cooperation between Russia and NATO. "Russian Mi-26T Halo helicopters of this class have already demonstrated their unique capabilities and performed well in Afghanistan," the official added. In December 2009, a Russian Mi-26T helicopter successfully returned a NATO Cougar helicopter to its airbase in Kandahar after the craft had come under attack. The Mi-26T has been serving NATO troops in Afghanistan for more than three years. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has about 120,000 troops in Afghanistan. A total of 46 countries are involved in security efforts in the war-ravaged country.
VII. INTERFAX - Russian Church official suggests outlining special protection of churches and clerics in international law
Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for Church and Society Relations, suggested introducing amendments in international legislation that would fix special protection of cult buildings and priests as especially exposed to violence and vandalism. Speaking at the OSCE High-Level Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Conference in Kazakh capital he mentioned that acts of vandalism against cult buildings and cemeteries had become more frequent as well as attacks on clerics of various confessions. Fr. Vsevolod also paid attention to the problem of spreading religious and political ideologies fraught with violence and destabilization of society. "It is generally accepted, the speaker said, that only direct appeals to violence such as "Kill these or those" are unlawful. However connection between ideology and action sometimes is less direct, but still real. Many countries of the world banned promotion of Nazism and it's fair as Nazism resulted in abundant blood and countless sufferings. But to the same extent social life should rule out all ideologies, including religious and political, that don't exclude forceful change of social order and thus can lead to blood and sufferings." The speaker also urged to fix this provision in corpus of the international law.