A top NATO commander says an al-Qaida-linked plot that triggered the terror alert for Europe underlines the need for the alliance's mission in Afghanistan. U.S. Adm. James Stavridis, NATO's top commander in Europe, said Friday that terrorists are still trying to target Europe and this justifies a war that has grown unpopular in many places. The U.S. advised American citizens in Europe last weekend to take more precautions about their personal security. France and Britain have since issued similar warnings to their citizens. The U.S. believes a cell of Germans and Britons are at the heart of a terror plot against European cities, a plan they link to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Greece and Israel will resume a joint military exercise next week which was postponed after the deadly Israeli assault on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May, the Greek defence ministry said on Thursday. The two countries will stage four days of joint aerial training manoeuvres on October 11-14 around the island of Crete and the western Peloponnese peninsula, which were part of May's "Minoas 2010" exercise, the ministry said. Eight Greek combat helicopters will take part in the drills, including three Black Hawk UH-60 helicopters and three Apaches, the ministry said. The exercise was interrupted after an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May. Traditionally pro-Arab, Greece has improved relations with Israel and in August Benjamin Netanyahu became the first Israeli prime minister to visit Greece. Greece and Israel began limited military co-operation in 1994, and the first joint manoeuvres involving combat aircraft took place in 2008.
The Chinese government has not changed its stand regarding Kosovo and continues to respect Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is according to Chinese Ambassador to Belgrade Wei Jinghua has stated. In an interview for the Thursday edition of the Belgrade-based daily Večernje Novosti, the Chinese ambassador said that his country is consistent in its support to a dialogue between Belgrade and Priština which would render a mutually acceptable solution to the Kosovo issue. Wei pointed out that China will back all actions aimed at re-initiation of the dialogue and talks, and added that Beijing believes that UN Security Council Resolution 1244 provides a basis for solving the Kosovo issue. He assessed that it would be best to use the opportunity which has presented itself with the adoption of the Serbia-EU resolution on the ICJ advisory opinion on Kosovo in the UN General Assembly and restart talks between the Serbian and the Albanian side concerning all relevant matters.
IV. FINANCIALMIRROR - Medvedev in Cyprus: Double taxation agreement to boost Russia investments
Minister of Finance Charilaos Stavrakis said today that investment from Cyprus to Russia will mark an increase, after the signing of an agreement to avoid double taxation between the two countries. The Minister described the agreement as “very important” and “very beneficial for the two countries”. Speaking at the Cyprus-Russia Business Forum held today in Nicosia, Stavrakis mentioned that Cyprus comprises one of the biggest foreign investors in Russia. He also referred to the financial benefits of Cyprus as a financial hub and spoke about the potential of Cypriot economy. According to the Minister, growth rates at the end of 2010 will stand at 0,5 - 1%, while inflation will remain low, at 2,5-3%. Moreover, unemployment rates will not exceed 6,5%. Stavrakis added that, according to his expectations, the economy will grow by 1,5% within 2011, while the International Monetary Fund predicts a 1,8% growth. President of the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency Phidias Pilides, addressing the Forum said that the agreement between Cyprus and Russia to avoid double taxation will give a new impetus in the financial cooperation between the two countries and is expected to increase flow of investment. Pilides added that Cyprus’ taxation policy is considered as the most advantageous among EU countries, for those businesses establishing their parent companies, or investing, financial, shipping or copyright companies in the island. Cyprus has been put in the white list of OECD and the G20 on April 2009, CIPA President added, saying that this fact confirms Cyprus’ reputation as a respectable international business center.
V. POLITICO - Russia to refund Iran for cancelled S-300 sale
In a move the Obama administration highlighted as a sign that Russia is once and for all canceling the sale of sophisticated anti-air missiles to Iran, Russia announced Thursday that it will refund Iran the down-payment it paid for the S-300 air defense system. "We should return them all the funds," Russian Technologies chief Sergei Chemezov was cited by AFP Thursday from Cyprus, where he was traveling with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. "Of course, they are not very pleased. We do not have a choice." "Medvedev signed a decree last month banning supplies of S-300 missiles and other arms to Iran in a long-awaited move after weeks of deliberations by Russian officials," the AFP reported. "Under the decree, supplies of any tanks, fighter jets, helicopters, ships and missile systems are forbidden." Russia signed a contract in 2005 to provide Iran the S-300 ground-to-air missiles, but has repeatedly stalled on delivery, before announcing this summer it would cancel the sale, which has been vehemently opposed by the United States and Israel. The Russian announcement that it would refund Iran is among the strongest statements yet that Russia intends to undo the deal -- although Chemezov said it was unlikely all the money would be returned by the end of the year. Iran has repeatedly complained that one reason it is dubious about a possible nuclear fuel swap deal with the west is because in the past it has made agreements for nuclear fuel to be provided to Iran and then had the foreign country both cancel the delivery and, Iran says, refuse to refund them. The U.S., Russia, and France are discussing a possibly updated nuclear fuel swap deal with Iran in conjunction with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. It wasn't clear if the Russian announcement that it would refund Iran for the S-300s was a sign Moscow was trying to show good faith in order to not scuttle the possibility of an updated nuclear fuel swap arrangement. Iranian press reports said Iran was threatening to sue Moscow for breach of contract.
VI. CATHOLICONLINE - Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Predicts Christian Springtime, Healing of Divisions
Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk is expressing the conviction that the 21st century will see a flowering of Christianity, without divisions between the followers of Jesus. The chairman of the Department of External Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate made these comments Thursday in a ceremony in which he was given an honorary doctorate by the faculty of theology of Catalonia, which is under the patronage of the Gregorian University of Rome. The ceremony took place in the Conciliar Seminary of Barcelona. "A Christian spring is just about to arrive," he said. "The 21st century will see the divisions between Christians healed and a rebirth of the faith, gift of God, just as it was preached by the Apostles and preserved by the Fathers." The prelate described as "erroneous" the consideration of the present time as a "post-Christian" era, and those claims that Christianity will disappear from the religious map in the third millennium and be absorbed by Islam. "I am sure that Christians will resist together and preserve their teachings, their Church and their tradition," he said. He centered his address on the timeliness of the legacy of the Fathers in today's world. "Knowledge of the Fathers enables the Christian not to lose his way amid the multitude of tendencies of modern philosophy" or to "let himself be drawn by complicated and strange doctrines," Archbishop Hilarion said. He added that "knowledge of the Fathers helps Christians to understand themselves, to build a firm relationship with God, to order their spiritual life." He continued, "Contrary to the recipes of modern teachings such as psychoanalysis, the advice of the Fathers exhales a healthy spirit, founded as it is on the solid understanding of the human spirit, and the need to combat one's own sinful tendencies and put goodness into practice... The counsels of the Fathers are much more universal than the basic postulates of Freudianism, and can be applied to people who live in the most diverse cultural and temporal contexts," the archbishop said. Moreover, he added, it is "a favorable moment for our faculty and the rest of the ecclesial academic institutions of the Catholic Church to reaffirm their commitment to study and appraise the Fathers of the Eastern Church" in studying theology "in the present moment and in the concrete context of 21st century Europe." Archbishop Hilarion is the author of works on the Fathers of the Church and topics of present-day Orthodox theology, and he maintains a firm and constant commitment and presence in the ecumenical realm.
VII. CATHOLICCULTURE - U.S. Orthodox-Catholic dialogue outlines vision of unity: Filioque, Pascaha, Primacy of Pope
The Pope would no longer select most bishops in a vision of restored Christian unity outlined by the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation. The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation is the official Orthodox-Catholic dialogue in the US and Canada. Last year, participants in this dialogue criticized the work of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which is the official Orthodox-Catholic dialogue at the international level. “Steps Towards a Reunited Church: A Sketch of an Orthodox-Catholic Vision for the Future” was issued by the North American dialogue following a September 30-October 2 meeting in Washington. The dialogue also issued a second document, “Celebrating Easter/Pascha Together.” The vision of restored unity in “Steps Towards a Reunited Church” includes the mutual adoption of the original version of the Nicene-Constantinopalitan Creed, which did not include the word Filioque (the original version said that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father,” rather than “from the Father and the Son”). A “renewed Roman primacy” would be essential to Christian unity, according to the document. The document also called for a significant change in the relationship of the Pope and the Roman Curia to the rest of the Church in the West. Most significantly, the Pope would no longer select bishops in the West. The new documents from the North American Orthodox-Catholic dialogue, chaired by Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans and Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh, come less than a year after the North American dialogue criticized the Ravenna document, a modest consensus document on the papacy developed by the international Orthodox-Catholic dialogue. “Steps Towards a Reunited Church” appears to backtrack from this criticism by citing the Ravenna document in a positive manner. To read the documents in full, click the links below. Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue Lays Out a Vision of Unity in Unprecedented Document (USCCB); Steps Towards a Reunited Church: A Sketch of an Orthodox-Catholic Vision for the Future (USCCB); Celebrating Easter/Pascha Together (USCCB). To find all documents from The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation, please visit the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) website, by clicking here.