Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I will attend Patriarch Pavle’s funeral on Thursday, said Bishop of Bačka Irinej. The high Serb Orthodox Church (SPC) dignitary said that all representatives of Orthodox and other Christian churches, [head of the autonomous Albanian Orthodox Church episcope Anastasios, as well as archbishop of Czech and Slovakia, metropolitan Christofor] and those from Islamic and Jewish communities in the country were expected at the patriarch’s funeral. The Serbian Patriarchy sent official notifications all those invited are expected to attend. Vitaliy Tarsev, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belgrade, says that this Church will specify today who will attend the funeral on its behalf.
Turkey must contribute to the solution of the Cyprus problem based on the relevant UN resolutions and the EU principles and values, House President Marios Garoyian has stressed. Garoyian noted that Cyprus supports Turkey’s EU accession course, provided that Ankara fulfills its EU obligations, including the ones concerning the Republic of Cyprus. The House President was speaking Monday after a meeting he held with the President of the Committee of Occupied Municipalities, Mayor of Famagusta Alexis Galanos, and its foreign guests, who participated in an anti-occupation events, organised by the Committee. During the meeting, they exchanged views on the recent developments regarding the Cyprus issue as well developments ahead of the assessment of Turkey’s EU accession negotiations, at the coming December European Council. According to an official press release, the foreign guests expressed their full support towards the Cypriot political leadership and its efforts at the ongoing Cyprus negotiations, which aim at reaching a solution of the Cyprus problem, and expressed readiness to contribute to those efforts. At the meeting they also expressed views on how to better coordinate international enlightenment efforts for justice in Cyprus. The delegation of foreign guests comprised Greek Members of the European Parliament Spyros Danellis and George Koumoutsakos, First Vice President of the Hellenic Parliament Gregoris Niotis, Dutch MP Henricus Van Bommel, representatives from Greek and other European municipalities and others.
European nations must help resolve disputes between Greece and Turkey that are holding up a deal for improved security cooperation in Afghanistan, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday. "We need to find pragmatic solutions for that," Fogh Rasmussen said. Frustrated in its attempts to join the EU, Turkey does not allow formal relations between NATO and the EU, making it impossible for NATO to provide protection for EU trainers in Afghanistan. NATO member Turkey also does not recognize the Greek Cypriot-led government on the divided island of Cyprus, a member of the EU. Turkey retains 35,000 troops in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north. NATO has deployed about 71,000 troops in Afghanistan, nearly half of them Americans, while most of the others come from European allies including Turkey. And the EU has deployed a police training mission whose goal is to professionalize and eliminate corruption within the 90,000-strong Afghan National Police. NATO and EU commanders have complained about the lack of formal ties between the two organizations due to the Turkish veto. In August, the new NATO chief traveled to Athens and Ankara to urge their governments to end the political deadlock because it was having an adverse effect on allied operations in Afghanistan. "It is really one of my priorities to improve the relations between NATO and the EU. We desperately need that," said Fogh Rasmussen, who was attending a rare joint meeting of all European Union foreign and defense ministers. He said that both NATO and the EU urgently needed a formal security arrangement that would regulate their cooperation in Afghanistan.
British soldiers should buy off potential Taliban recruits in Afghanistan with cash, a new army field manual says. Details of the manual emerged after the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, offered to host an international conference on Afghanistan to consider a time frame for a military handover to Afghan forces starting next year. The manual, whose contents were published in The Times yesterday, said army commanders should talk to Taliban leaders to speed up the end of the drawn-out conflict in Afghanistan. The new edicts say commanders should give away enough money to dissuade Afghans from joining the Taliban, who are known to pay about $US10 ($10.70) a day to recruit fighters. The paper quoted Major-General Paul Newton as saying: ''The best weapons to counter insurgents don't shoot. In other words, use bags of gold in the short term to change the security dynamics. But you don't just chuck gold at them, this has to be done wisely.''
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that it was too early to say that diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff with Iran had failed. Referring to international efforts to get Iran to agree on a United Nations-brokered nuclear fuel deal, Lavrov said: “I would say that it is premature to say that these efforts have not been crowned with success.” Speaking to reporters in Moscow, the foreign minister said that world powers were aiming all their efforts at ensuring that the agreement that was reached last month in Vienna is “fully implemented”, reports AFP. He refused to set a deadline for Iran to sign off on the plan, under which Iran would ship most of its low-enriched uranium abroad for further processing, for end use in a research reactor in Tehran. Iran has yet to give a formal response to the plan, and has come under mounting pressure from the international community to comply with it. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that he was “not completely happy” with the pace of Iran’s response. Meanwhile, Lavrov said that there was no connection between the ongoing nuclear row and a delay in the startup of a Russian-built nuclear power plant in Iran. “This is not politics; technological issues are being addressed,” he was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency. Iranian lawmakers yesterday strongly criticized the latest delay, accusing Russia of “playing games” with Iran.
Israel's prime minister has warned about the dangers of a nuclear Iran after touring an submarine believed capable of firing nuclear-tipped missiles. Benjamin Netanyahu also visited a missile ship that led the seizure earlier this month of a ship Israel says was loaded with Iranian weapons bound for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Hezbollah denied the allegation. Netanyahu told sailors aboard the ship INS Eilat "the threat that Iran poses is very grave for the state of Israel, for peace in the Middle East and the whole world." He said Israel would undoubtedly be the "first target, but not the last" in case of an Iranian attack. Iran denies its nuclear program is aimed at building weapons.
The community of St. Vladimir's Seminary solemnly marked the death of Patriarch Pavle (Paul) of Serbia on Sunday, November 15, 2009. With the chanting of the funeral hymn "Memory Eternal" following the Divine Liturgy, worshippers remembered the 44th Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church and his courageous actions as the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Serbs from 1990 until his death--especially his peacemaking efforts during the Yugoslav Wars. Many in the seminary community also recalled the patriarch's cherished visit to the St. Vladimir's in 1992, when the seminary conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity honoris causa. Prior to his election as patriarch, Pavle had served as bishop in Kosovo and Metohija for thirty-four years. St. Savva, the prince-become-archbishop who founded Serbian Christianity, had established his diocese in 1219. The Kosovo region of Serbia--the "cradle" of Serbian Christianity and national self-identity--includes the ancient patriarchal see of Pec, the place where the Serbian patriarch has traditionally been enthroned. The patriarch's full title was His Holiness the Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, Serbian Patriarch Pavle. Upon his death at age 95, Patriarch Pavle was the oldest living leader of an Eastern Orthodox Church. Due to poor health, he had spent his last years in the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade, while Archbishop Amfilohije of Cetinje, metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, carried out his duties. At least forty days must pass after the patriarch's death before his successor can be elected. Meanwhile, the Holy Synod will hold the authority of the patriarch while Metropolitan Amfilohije will serve as acting head of church. The entire community of St. Vladimir's Seminary prays for our departed father in Christ, Pavle. Memory Eternal!