Wednesday, June 29, 2016

His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Messinia,Church of Greece,celebrated the Divine Liturgy of Sts.Peter & Paul on 29 June - photo album Ο Μητροπολίτης Μεσσηνίας στο προσκύνημα των Αγ. Αποστόλων Καλαμάτας|Amen.gr

Ο Μητροπολίτης Μεσσηνίας στο προσκύνημα των Αγ. Αποστόλων Καλαμάτας|Amen.gr: Με λαμπρότητα εορτάσθηκε η μνήμη των Πρωτοκορυφαίων Αποστόλων Πέτρου και Παύλου στην Ι. Μητρόπολη Μεσσηνίας.

Aerospace Engineering:Critical Design Review Completed for ESA Orion Service Module

NASA and the ESA completed a critical design review culminating in a final review board on 16 June 2016 for the European-built Orion Service Module.The OSM,manufactured by Airbus Group SE,will power,propel and cool the Orion capsule in deep space,along with providing air,water and storage capacity for Orion's crew.
No new major issues were identified during an initial scan of the review,NASA said.Indeed,numerous items were processed and closed out,assuring engineers the OSM design is mature enough to continue with fabrication,assembly,integration and testing.While Airbus builds the OSM,Lockheed Martin is serving as prime contractor of the Orion spacecraft itself.*
The CDR set April 2017 as the target for OSM delivery to Kennedy Space Center for final processng for its late 2018 launch on the unmanned Exploration Mission-1,when it will be stacked atop the new Space Launch System rocket and beneath the Orion spacecraft.
Orion and its Ground Systems Development Program that provides the facilities and ground support at KSC to prepare SLS and Orion for deep space missions,successfully completed their own joint CDR in March 2016.*
Airbus Group SE (Euronext:EAD),Lockheed Martin (LMT)

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Opening Session: Holy & Great Council - His Beatitude Archbishop Rastisl...


Patriarch Irinej of Serbia serves Divine Liturgy, Crete


What's Happening Inside the Holy and Great Council:Day 3

On Wednesday,22 June 2016,the third day of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church began with a Divine Liturgy presided by His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia at the Sacred Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery of Gonia in Kolymvari,Crete.Then the heirarchs held the sixth through eighth sessions of the Council,according to the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Press Release.
Session VI:The heirarchs continued their discussion of the Orthodox Diaspora.
Session VII:They focused on Autonomy and the Means by which it is Declared.
Session VIII:They reviewed The Importance of Fasting and its Observance Today.*
After extensive discussion,various suggestions and clarifications were proposed by the Primates and by individual heirarchs of the local Autocephalous Orthodox Churches.It is expected that revised texts that have been accepted by the Council will be signed shortly.*
The Council meetings will continue through 25 June and it will conclude with a Divine Liturgy on 26 June.
A constructive and irenic tone is reportedly prevailing in the sessions.The Patriarchate of Serbia has dismissed the notion that it would walk out of the Council.It can safely be said that the worst fears of those who failed to attend this historic week in the life of the Church are not being realised.

Archbishop Demetrios of America Visits USS TRUMAN in Souda Bay Naval Base — Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Archbishop Demetrios of America Visits USS TRUMAN in Souda Bay Naval Base — Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

UEFA Euro 2016:Iceland's Unforgettable Day

The tiny Nordic outpost of Iceland will not be erased from the annals of football anytime soon,having sent the much larger and more experienced Austria packing Wednesday evening with their 2-1 victory at Saint-Denis,France.In injury time,substitute Arnor Ingvi Traustason sealed the deal for Iceland after Austria's Alessandro Schopf,a substitute himself,had equalised with Iceland's Jon Dadi Bodvarsson.Now Iceland travels on to face England in Nice on Monday in the knockout Round of 16 as Austria retreats to their scenic homeland.*
An estimated 8% of the Icelandic population of 333,000 was present to view the game at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.Seemingly much of the rest of the country rejoiced at a Reykjavik outdoor viewing party.*
In other progress,Hungary goes on to face Croatia in the Round of 16,having drawn even with Portugal 3-3 simultaneously with Iceland's conquest of Austria.Portugal,aided by an awakening of their famous Ronaldo,also goes through.*
Sponsors of the Iceland-Austria match included Coca-Cola;McDonald's;Turkish Airlines;Energy of Azerbaijan;Continental Tyres;Kia Motors;Hisense TV;and Adidas.

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Pan-Orthodox Council Begins Tomorrow as Scheduled

On the eve of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church in Chania,Crete,the Ecumenical Patriarchate continues to insist it will begin with the Orthros and Divine Liturgy of Pentecost on Sunday morning 19 June 2016;and that its decisions will be binding on all Orthodox Christians,regardless of whether their Primates and delegations are present or not.Four Churches,those of Antioch,Russia,Georgia and Bulgaria,have suddenly reversed their course of more than two years and now decline to attend.They express an odd assortment of concerns,from seating arrangements to the way the Council was prepared.*
Because all 14 Primates and their Churches approved by consensus of the convening of the Council and promised to attend it as early as March 2014,their withdrawal,though painful to those who are attending,does not change the Pan-Orthodox validity of the Council or the Pan-Orthodox authority of its decisions,said Very Rev.Dr.John Chryssavgis,Archdeacon of the Ecumenical Throne.*
Although some Church leaders from certain regions are absent,Eastern Europe is still represented by His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia;His Holiness Patriarch Daniel of Romania;His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland;and His Beatitude Metropolitan Rastislav of the Czech Lands and Slovakia and their delegations;while the Middle East and Africa are still represented by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and All Palestine and His Beatitude Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria and All Africa and their delegations.Hundreds of bishops and academics from all over the world will still be fully and vigorously participating in the prayerful deliberations of the historic event.More than 1,000 Orthodox Scholars from across the Orthodox Churches,including all the Churches that withdrew from the Council,have signed a petition urging full attendance of the event.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

NATO Plans Steady Course in Afghanistan

The NATO Defence Ministers have decided to fund the Alliance's Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan until at least 2020.They will also maintain troops across Afghanistan,NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of Norway said.*
At the same time,the US is reviewing its plans to nearly cut its troop strength in half next year,in light of the Alliance's strong support for the Mission.*
Before the Defence Ministers' meeting,President Barack Obama has ordered greater use of US airpower against the Taliban militants,including close air support for the Afghan National Defence and Security forces.This is because the Taliban Islamist extremists have increased attacks of late mostly in the southern provinces of Helmand,Kandahar and Uruzgan;while also increasing their strikes in the northern city of Kunduz.*
The NATO combat mission in Afghanistan ended on 31 December 2014.Today its Resolute Support Mission includes counterterrorist operations by US troops;and training Afghan soldiers and police by both the US and its NATO Allies and partners,NATO said.The US share of Resolute Support is called Operation Freedom's Sentinel.*
Besides the Taliban,the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant has become a significant threat to Afghan security.On Saturday,ISIL militants stormed a police base in Eastern Afghanistan,killing at least six.Among those killed in Haska Mina District in Nangarhar Province were District police chief Shah Mahmood,as well as five policemen and 11 ISIL militants.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Syria: Kurdish militias supported by US Special Forces close in on strat...


Caught on camera: US Special Forces on ISIS frontline in Syria


US Commandos Active in Northern Syria

The first of 250 more US Special Operations Forces,in addition to the 50 already there,are arriving in Syria.Agence France-Presse photos show US troops in a Syrian town,bearded and in the back of a pickup truck mounted with a MK 47 Striker grenade launcher.Other photos show them patrolling the village of Fatisah with their weapons.Some wore Kurdish Forces patches.They were north of the ISIL stronghold of Raqqa advising and assisting the Syrian Democratic Forces who are Kurds,Arabs and Turkomen,in the struggle against ISIL.*
The Kurdish patches were a sign of partnership and solidarity,said Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Colonel Steve Warren,US Army.*
Baraa Al-Ghanem,Commander SDF,said that US troops are present at all positions along the front.They are taking part on the ground and in the air.*
The US SOFs have advanced and costly communications equipment and non-traditional small arms,as well as unique camouflage patterns and their low profile helmets.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Crisis Builds as Pan-Orthodox Council Faces Last Minute Tussles

Two of the 14 autocephalous Orthodox Churches have threatened to stay away from the immanent Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church if their demands aren't met;however,they remain open to negotiations.If even one Orthodox Church failed to attend the Council,it would lose its legitimacy as an historic event and so would have to be postponed at the very least.*
.The Church of Bulgaria is dissatisfied with such things as the seating arrangements at the Council.At the same time,the Church of Antioch is displeased by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople's plan for a conference to resolve jurisdictional conflict between Antioch and the Church of Jerusalem immediately after the Council,rather than before it,as Antioch desires.
The Church of Georgia wants to amend the proposed Council document on Marriage and the Impediments to it.
*
The very fact of these late hour problems emerging shows how critical it is to hold this Council.The distance between the local Churches has become wider than perhaps was realised to this point,after so many centuries without a large assembly of all the Orthodox Christian Churches.*
At a meeting of the Russian Orthodox Church's Holy Synod on 3 June 2016,it was proposed:
1.that the way out of the present emergency situation could be found in holding an extraordinary Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council conference to address the present situation and examine the amendments to the Council's documents presented by Orthodox Churches with the aim to work out agreed proposals;
2.that considering the great amount of work and the importance of problems raised,such a conference needs to convene urgently,no later than on 10 June 2016,so that on the basis of its resolution the Orthodox Churches could make a decision as to the possibility of convening the Pan-Orthodox Council at the stated date;
3.that His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia address His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with an appropriate proposal;
4.and that the proposals be immediately sent t the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches.*
The Council is scheduled to be held at the Orthodox Academy of Crete from 19-26 June in Kolymbari,Chania.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Η ΠΑΡΑΣΗΜΟΦΟΡΗΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΚΟΥΣΤΩΔΟΥ ΤΗΣ ΑΓΙΑΣ ΓΗΣ Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III Decorates Franciscan Father Pierrebattista Pizzaballa


An introduction to the 2016 NATO Summit in Warsaw


India's Internet Prominence Increases

With its 277 million users,India has surged past the US to become the world's second biggest Internet user market behind China.Global Internet usage expanded 9% this year to reach 42% of the world's population,or 3 billion users,said Mary Meeker,partner at Kleiner Perkins,at the Code Conference in Rancho Mirage,California.
As developed markets become well-penetrated,it becomes more difficult to locate new Internet users and the emerging markets become more critical for growth of the medium.

Archbishop Irenaios of Crete Arrives on Santorini Άφιξη Αρχιεπισκόπου Κρήτης κ Ειρηναίου στην Σαντορίνη 27.5.2016