The Baltic-region based Saber Strike military exercises have been an annual part of NATO’s Allied Shield training exercises since 2010. This year they began in Latvia at 10 am at the Adazi military base in Latvia on 8 June. Present at the ceremony were recently elected Latvian President (currently Defence Minister), Raimonds Vejonis, of the Greens and Farmers Union, and National Armed Forces Commander Raimonds Graube. The exercises will take place in all three Baltic States and Poland. The joint exercises will host more than 6,000 troops from the United States, Great Britain, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Poland, Norway, Denmark and Slovenia. According to Allied Command Operations, this military exercise will see the involvement of approximately 11,000 troops from nineteen different Allies and three partner nations. These training events are part of Nato's assurance measures in response to challenges on its southern and eastern periphery.See also
Five European Union member states that have not recognised the 2008 unilateral declaration of Kosovo’s independence are under pressure to change their position. Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Spain were ‘targeted by great powers,” Vecernje novosti newspaper claims. The Belgrade daily adds that some Latin American and Caribbean countries are also under pressure. Pristina recently claimed that Nigeria could soon recognise Kosovo. On the other hand, Serbia will intensify its diplomatic efforts in order to prevent new recognitions. The issue will be discussed by the Serbian government; more than 100 countries have recognised Kosovo as a state while Pristina strives to reach the majority in UN General Assembly.
Italy: 1,200 rescued migrants
09 Jun 2015
On Monday Royal Navy warship HMS Bulwark arrived in an Italian port, carrying 1,200 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean Sea. The ship docked at Catania, in Sicily, where the migrants will be handed over to the Italian authorities. Bulwark has been on a search and rescue mission in the area for the past month. Captain Nick Cooke-Priest said the people traffickers were committing acts ‘tantamount to murder’. BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale, who was on board Bulwark during the rescue, said a small, wooden vessel had been packed with about 400 people. There had also been two rubber dinghies, each carrying about 100 people. The fact that many didn't even have life jackets was another reminder that the gangs who trafficked them had little regard for their lives. Five of the men rescued are going to be questioned by Italian police about possible links to the smuggling gangs.
Whichever view we took on the referendum proposition, the result gives all of us in the Church pause for thought. I know that in this, throughout our Church of Ireland in this Republic, there were people who were on either side of this debate. People who journey in faith, and who, each day, do their utmost to put the same Jesus Christ, the living Word of God, and the written word, at the heart of their lives,came to different conclusions and voted in different ways. As we move forward in the churches we can be assured that there are and will continue to be issues on which, in faith, we will be united or divided: abortion, gender issues, other aspects of sexuality, economic policy, political engagement, conflict and military engagement, peace-keeping, the plight of ancient Christian communities in the Middle East,environmental issues, climate change. We have much to learn from listening to one another, learning from one another.
Icelanders will soon be able to publicly worship at a shrine to Thor, Odin and Frigg with construction already started in February on the island's first major temple to the Norse gods since the Viking age. Worship of the gods in Scandinavia gave way to Christianity around 1,000 years ago but a modern version of Norse paganism has been gaining popularity in Iceland. ‘I don't think anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,’ said Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, the high priest of 'Asatruarfelagid', an association that promotes faith in the Norse gods. ‘We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology’. There are approximately 2,400 members, out of a total population of 330,000. The temple will be circular and 13 feet down into a hill overlooking the Icelandic capital Reykjavik.
Hungary: Europe losing Christian identity
09 Jun 2015
Hungary's prime minister Victor Orban, who has expressed fears that migration will undermine Europe's Christian identity, told Egypt's visiting president on Friday that he nonetheless respects Islam ‘as one of the great intellectual and spiritual creations of humanity. In many places in Europe today there is fear of Islam, moreover there are places where it is considered an enemy. Hungary is not such a country.’ Orban also told the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi that Egypt was necessary for stability in the Arab world and ‘since distances in the modern world have shrunk there is no stability in Europe without a stable Egypt.’ During their meeting, the two countries signed several cooperation agreements and Orban said Hungary would provide scholarships to 100 Egyptian students.
Pope Francis has warned of the dangers of allowing children to have computers in their bedrooms, saying it can lead to them watching pornography. He approved of parents putting them in a communal room in the house, saying there are things that parents can do to prevent their children accessing websites containing sexually explicit or violent material. The Argentinian pontiff said children were becoming far too attached to digital media: ‘It harms the soul and curtails freedom - it makes you a slave of the computer’. He said that while it was important for younger generations to master digital technology, computers and other devices should be used with moderation.
Greece: Leaders lash out as tempers fray
09 Jun 2015
As talks between Greece and its creditors drag on and pressure mounts on both sides to find a deal, relations between Athens and its European partners are getting worse. Tensions over reforms-for-aid negotiations came to a head on Sunday when European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker accused the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of distorting what the creditors had proposed to make some headway in securing a deal for the country. Tsipras said he was ‘unpleasantly surprised’ by the offer made by Juncker, who - as head of one of the three institutions overseeing Greece's bailout programme, along with the International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank - had helped to craft the proposals. It was reported by Reuters that Juncker refused a request from Tsipras to meet him on Saturday, feeling that there was little left to discuss. Expectations are rising that Greece could default on its debt and leave the eurozone altogether.