I. CBSNEWS - GlobalPost: U.S. and allies ignore Kosovo's Mafia
The war of Kosovo, which the U.S. framed as a needed war of humanitarian intervention, is no hamstrung by corruption and intimidation. U.S. and NATO allied themselves with Kosovo Liberation (KLA) leader Hashim Thaci [former leader of KLA and current "Prime Minister" of Kosovo], as well as his fellow Kosovo Albanian leaders in 1999 and while they are still clinging to power today, they are facing numerous allegations of criminal wrongdoing. In just three months of reporting, GlobalPost has found that these concerns among Kosovo's ruling political class went largely ignored by the U.S. and NATO, as well as the UN.
Spanish State Secretary for EU Affairs Diego Lopez Garrido, while in Belgrade on Monday, said that his country was the first to ratify the Serbia-EU Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), and that Madrid supports further, accelerated integrations. Garrido said he had traveled to Belgrade with a message, "First, Spain is a friend of Serbia and supports Serbia on its European path. Second, Serbia should speed up implementing the reforms the EU insists on, so that it can receive candidate status and open up EU membership negotiations." He also reaffirmed his country's stance not to recognize the Kosovo Albanian unilateral declaration of independence made in early 2008. "We cannot accept unilateral political decisions that are in violation of international law. For that reason we remain strongly on our position regarding Kosovo's independence, and will not change it...."
NATO's secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, ruled out arming Libyan rebels Monday as the alliance continued to take over command and control of the entire Libyan mission. Rasmussen said, "The U.N. mandate authorizes the enforcement of an arms embargo," and that NATO has decided to participate. "We are not in Libya to arm people, but to protect people." Some NATO sources acknowledged to CNN that they expect the scope of the rules of engagement to be more narrow than the coalition's thus far, but they caution that as the situation on the ground changes, so too will the character of the NATO mission. "Our mandate is very clear: We are there to protect civilians against attacks, no more, no less, and that will be our focus," Rasmussen said. He was unwilling to further characterize the nature of the rules of engagement.
IV. RIANOVOSTI - Russia: Intervention in Libya at odds with UN resolution
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the military intervention by the Western-led coalition force in Libya is out of tune with the relevant UN Security Council resolution. "We believe that the coalition's intervention in the civil war [in Libya] has not, essentially, been sanctioned by the UN Security Council resolution." Russia abstained from the Security Council vote. Libyan television has reported that at least 100 civilians have been killed and over 150 wounded in the strikes and that many health and education facilities have been destroyed. Coalition commanders deny this.
V. SIFY - Billions to pay if Cyprus talks fail
If talks fail to reunify divided Cyprus, property claims will reach "tens of billions of euros," said United Nations envoy Alexander Downer. The latest round of reunification talks, now in its third year, have produced only limited progress. [Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded in 1974 and illegally occupies the northern half of the country.]
A bomb, which consisted of about two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of TNT that exploded Sunday night, was placed at the side entrance of St. Mary's Syriac Orthodox Church. No injuries have been reported and no one has claimed responsibility. The church is located in an industrial part of town, where earlier this week, seven Estonians were kidnapped by armed men. These men have yet to be located. Lebanon has been without a government since January, when the powerful Shiite militant group Hezbollah toppled premier Saad Hariri over his refusal to cut ties with a UN court probing the 2005 assassination of his father Rafiq Hariri.
[Text as posted on byztex blog explaining this feast] On the Third Sunday of Great and Holy Lent, the Orthodox Church commemorates the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Services include a special veneration of the Cross, which prepares the faithful for the commemoration of the Crucifixion during Holy Week. The commemoration and ceremonies of the Third Sunday of Lent are closely parallel to the feasts of the Veneration of the Cross (September 14) and the Procession of the Cross (August 1). Not only does the Sunday of the Holy Cross prepare us for commemoration of the Crucifixion, but it also reminds us that the whole of Lent is a period when we are crucified with Christ. As we have “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24), and will have mortified ourselves during these forty days of the Fast, the precious and life-giving Cross is now placed before us to refresh our souls and encourage us who may be filled with a sense of bitterness, resentment, and depression. The Cross reminds us of the Passion of our Lord, and by presenting to us His example, it encourages us to follow Him in struggle and sacrifice, being refreshed, assured, and comforted. In other words, we must experience what the Lord experienced during His Passion - being humiliated in a shameful manner. The Cross teaches us that through pain and suffering we shall see the fulfillment of our hopes: the heavenly inheritance and eternal glory.