JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.
Pope seeks to bring faith to "ends of the Earth"-By NICOLE WINFIELD -APR 19,14-YahooNews
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis baptized 10 people Saturday and urged them to bring their faith "to the ends of the Earth" as he presided over an Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica.The vigil is among the Vatican's most solemn services. Francis entered the darkened basilica with a lone candle, which he then shared with others to slowly illuminate the church. The symbolic service commemorates the darkness of the faithful over the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday and their joy and light at his resurrection on Easter Sunday.Francis urged the priests, bishops, cardinals and ordinary Catholics gathered for the late night service to remember when they first found their faith. "Do I remember it? Have I forgotten it? Look for it. You'll find it. The Lord is waiting."Trying to remember isn't an act of nostalgia but rather a way to bring the "fire" of faith "to all people, to the very ends of the Earth," he said.After his homily, Francis proceeded to baptize each of the 10, starting with Italian brothers Giorgio and Jacopo Capezzuoli, aged 8 and 10. "Do you want to be baptized?" he asked each one as he smiled.He asked the same of the adult converts, who hailed from Vietnam, Belarus, Senegal, Lebanon, Italy and France.It was the second late night for Francis after the long Good Friday Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum. Francis, 77, will get a few hours of rest before celebrating Easter Sunday Mass in the flower-strewn St. Peter's Square.He then has a week to prepare for the other major celebration of this year's Easter season: the April 27 canonizations of Pope John XXIII and John Paul II. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend.___Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield
Holy fire ceremony draws thousands in Jerusalem
By IAN DEITCH -APR 19,14-YahooNews
JERUSALEM (AP) — The dark hall inside Christianity's holiest shrine was illuminated with the flames from thousands of candles on Saturday as worshippers participated in the holy fire ceremony, a momentous spiritual event in Orthodox Easter rites.Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected at the site where the Church of the Holy Sepulcher now stands in the Old City of Jerusalem. While the source of the holy fire is a closely guarded secret, believers say the flame appears spontaneously from his tomb on the day before Easter to show Jesus has not forgotten his followers.The ritual dates back at least 1,200 years.Thousands of Christians waited outside the church for it to open Saturday morning. Custody of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is shared by a number of denominations that jealously guard their responsibilities under a fragile network of agreements hammered out over the last millennia. In accordance with tradition, the church's doors were unlocked by a member of a Muslim family, who for centuries has been the keeper of the ancient key that is passed on within the family from generation to generation.Once inside, clergymen from the various Orthodox denominations in robes and hoods jostled for space with local worshippers and pilgrims from around the world.Top Orthodox clergymen descended into the small chamber marking the site of Jesus' tomb as worshippers eagerly waited in the dim church clutching bundles of unlit candles and torches.After a while, candles emerged lit with "holy fire" — said to have been lit by a miracle as a message to the faithful from heaven.Bells rang as worshippers rushed to use the flames to ignite their own candles.In mere seconds, the bursts of light spread throughout the cavernous church as flames jumped from one candle to another. Clouds of smoke wafted through the crammed hall as flashes from cameras and mobile phones documented what is for many, the spiritual event of a lifetime.Some held light from the "holy fire" to their faces to bask in the glow while others dripped wax on their bodies.Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said tens of thousands of worshippers participated in the ceremony.Many couldn't fit inside the church and the narrow winding streets of the Old City were lined with pilgrims.The "holy fire" was passed among worshippers outside the Church and then taken to the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, where tradition holds Jesus was born, and from there to other Christian communities in Israel and the West Bank.Later it is taken aboard special flights to Athens and other cities, linking many of the 200 million Orthodox worldwide.
10 more bodies found inside sunken ferry by divers
By FOSTER KLUG and HYUNG-JIN KIM - APR 19,14-YahooNews
MOKPO, South Korea (AP) — Divers recovered 13 bodies from inside a ferry that sank off South Korea, pushing the confirmed death toll to 46, officials said Sunday. The discovery came after rescuers finally gained access to the inside of the ship following three days of failure and frustration caused by strong currents and bad visibility due to inclement weather.More than 300 people are missing or dead, and the captain of the ferry has been arrested on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need. Two crew members also were taken into custody, including a rookie third mate who a prosecutor said was steering in challenging waters unfamiliar to her when the accident occurred.Late Saturday, divers broke a window in the submerged ferry and initially retrieved three bodies, said Kim Kwang-hyun, a coast guard official. These apparently were the first bodies recovered from inside the ferry since it sank Wednesday. Later Sunday, government officials announced that 10 more bodies had been found inside the ferry, bringing the confirmed toll to 46. Officials said 256 people were missing, most of them high school students on a holiday trip.Details about how divers managed to enter the ship and where exactly the bodies were found or their identities weren't clear.Hundreds of civilian, government and military divers were involved in the search.The ferry's captain, Lee Joon-seok, 68, was arrested along with one of the Sewol's three helmsmen and the 25-year-old third mate, prosecutors said."I am sorry to the people of South Korea for causing a disturbance and I bow my head in apology to the families of the victims," Lee told reporters Saturday morning as he left the Mokpo Branch of Gwangju District Court to be jailed. But he defended his much-criticized decision to wait about 30 minutes before ordering an evacuation."At the time, the current was very strong, the temperature of the ocean water was cold, and I thought that if people left the ferry without (proper) judgment, if they were not wearing a life jacket, and even if they were, they would drift away and face many other difficulties," Lee said. "The rescue boats had not arrived yet, nor were there any civilian fishing ships or other boats nearby at that time."The Sewol had left the northwestern port of Incheon on Tuesday with 476 passengers on an overnight journey to the holiday island of Jeju in the south, including 323 students from Danwon High School in Ansan. It capsized within hours of the crew making a distress call to the shore a little before 9 a.m. Wednesday. Most of the missing passengers are believed to be trapped inside the 6,852-ton vessel.With the chances of survival increasingly slim, it is shaping up to be one of South Korea's worst disasters. The loss is more keenly felt because of so many young people, aged 16 or 17, on board. The country's last major ferry disaster was in 1993, when 292 people were killed.By the time the evacuation order was issued, the ship was listing at too steep an angle for many people to escape the tight hallways and stairs inside. Several survivors told The Associated Press that they never heard any evacuation order.Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin told reporters that the third mate was steering the ship Wednesday morning as it passed through an area with lots of islands clustered close together and fast currents. According to investigators, the accident came at a point where the ship had to make a turn. Prosecutor Park Jae-eok said investigators were looking at whether the third mate ordered a turn so sharp that it caused the vessel to list.Yang said the third mate has six months of experience, and hadn't steered in the area before because another mate usually handles those duties. She took the wheel this time because heavy fog caused a departure delay, Yang said, adding that investigators do not know whether the ship was going faster than usual.Helmsman Park Kyung-nam identified the third mate as Park Han-kyul. The helmsman who was arrested, 55-year-old Cho Joon-ki, spoke to reporters outside court and accepted some responsibility." There was a mistake on my part as well, but the steering had been turned much more than usual," Cho said.Lee has four decades of experience at sea. He had been captaining ferries for 10 years by the time he was interviewed by the Jeju Today website in 2004, and said he had sailed on ocean freighters for 20 years before that.But he was not the Sewol's main captain, and worked on the ship about 10 days a month, helmsman Oh Yong-seok said.Lee was not on the bridge when the ship began to list. "I gave instructions on the route, then briefly went to the bedroom when it happened," he told reporters. According to the court, Lee faces five charges, including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law, and the two other crew members each face three related charges.Lee was required by law to be on the bridge helping his crew when the ferry passed through tough-to-navigate areas, said Yang, the senior prosecutor.Yang said Lee also abandoned people in need of help and rescue, saying, "The captain escaped before the passengers." Video aired by Yonhap showed Lee among the first people to reach the shore by rescue boat.Yang said the two crew members arrested failed to reduce speed near the islands and failed to carry out necessary measures to save lives.It's not clear why the two crew members made the sharp turn, Yang said. He said prosecutors would continue to look into whether something other than the turn could have made the ferry sink, but he added that there were no strong waves that could have knocked down the ferry at the time.Prosecutors will have 10 days to decide whether to indict the captain and crew, but can request a 10-day extension from the court.Also on Saturday, angry relatives of missing passengers expressed outrage at officials who were holding a briefing on the disaster in a gymnasium on Jindo island where hundreds of family members are waiting for word about their loved ones. A few dozen relatives surged toward the stage, hurling rapid-fire questions at the officials. One man tried to choke a coast guard lieutenant and punch a maritime policeman, but missed." The government should have hurried up and done something, but they just wasted four days, which led to this point. I think this is more like a man-made disaster," said Lee Jong-eui, a businessman whose 17-year-old nephew, Nam Hyun-chul, is among the missing.Three vessels with cranes arrived at the accident site to prepare to salvage the ferry, but they will not hoist the ship before getting approval from family members of those still believed inside because the lifting could endanger any survivors, said a coast guard officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.___Klug reported from Seoul. Associated Press writers Youkyung Lee and Jung-yoon Choi in Seoul and Gillian Wong in Jindo, South Korea, contributed to this report.
U.N. peace envoy criticizes Israeli Easter security in Jerusalem
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan APR 19,14-YahooNews
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police refused to let the U.N.'s peace envoy to the Middle East, other diplomats and a crowd of Palestinians pass through a barricade to attend a pre-Easter ritual in the Jerusalem church that Christians revere as the burial site of Jesus, the U.N. official said on Saturday.The incident, following two days of violence at a separate holy site known as a flashpoint for Jews and Muslims, underscored rising tensions in the politically charged city ahead of Pope Francis's Holy Land visit next month.Israel dismissed the U.N. complaint, calling it an attempt to inflate a "micro-incident" and saying police at the barricade keep people back as a crowd-control measure while there was no reported violence among the tens of thousands of Christians who thronged to the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem's old walled city to witness the "Holy Fire" ritual.Holy Fire is a traditional Orthodox Christian ceremony at which worshippers believe a miraculous fire appears at the site identified as Jesus's tomb every year on the day before Easter. Robert Serry, the United Nation's peace envoy to the Middle East, said in a statement Israeli security officers had stopped a group of Palestinian worshippers and diplomats in a procession near the church, "claiming they had orders to that effect".Serry added in separate remarks to Reuters he had waited with Italian, Norwegian and Dutch diplomats for up to a half hour, crushed by a crowd against a barricade, while Israeli officers ignored his appeals to speak with a superior."It became really dangerous because there was a big crowd and I was pushed against a metal fence the police put up there, the crowd tried to push really hard," Serry said, adding they might have been trampled had police not finally let them pass."I don't understand why this happened," he added. "I'm not saying I felt my life was in imminent danger, but this wasn't something you associate with a peaceful procession for Easter."
"PROBLEM OF JUDGMENT"
Terry Balata, a Palestinian witness, said she heard the Israeli officer tell Serry, who was with about 30 other diplomats and worshippers, "so what?" when he identified himself as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's envoy to the region.Charging "unacceptable behavior from the Israeli security authorities," Serry demanded in his statement that all parties "respect the right of religious freedom."An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman denied Serry's charges and accused him of displaying "a serious problem of judgment" as there was no reported violence during the prayers and a customary torch-lit "Holy Fire" ritual held at the church. Spokesman Yigal Palmor acknowledged though that police took steps to limit the crowd packed into the church and narrow streets outside it. "If there was any pushing and shoving I would say it was a micro-incident," Palmor said.In a statement, the ministry criticized Serry's charges as an "odd communique," adding that Christian officials had thanked Israeli police for their handling of the event."Had any harm come to the pilgrims due to uncontrolled crowd movements, Mr. Serry would have been prompt to cast responsibility on the same police which he now condemns for doing its job properly," the Israeli statement added.Israeli police did not immediately comment on the incident, which came as they grappled with tensions elsewhere in the old city where Jews celebrated a week-long Passover festival at the same time as Christians prepared for Easter.Earlier this week, police confronted Muslim protesters throwing stones near the al-Aqsa Mosque as Jews visited the surrounding area, which Judaism reveres as the place where biblical temples once stood. Pope Francis plans to visit Jerusalem and holy sites in the occupied West Bank such as Bethlehem when he makes his first Holy Land sojourn as pontiff late in May.The increased tension in Jerusalem also coincided with a crisis in U.S.-brokered peace talks, at risk of collapsing unless Israelis and Palestinians agree to extend negotiations to resolve their conflict past an April 29 deadline.(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Tom Heneghan and Tom Brown)
Ukraine Acting Foreign Minister Deshchytsia and OSCE Special Monitoring Mission Chief Apakan meet on implementation of Geneva Statement-Kyiv 19 April 2014-Newsroom
KYIV, Ukraine, 19 April, 2014 –Acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia and the Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), Amb. Ertugrul Apakan, met today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the participants of the 17 April Geneva meeting – the European Union, the Russian Federation and the United States. At the meeting it was agreed to move ahead rapidly with the practical implementation of the Geneva Statement. In this regard the meeting’s participants recognized the need to take immediate concrete steps towards de-escalation. Deshchytsia informed on first steps already taken in this direction. Apakan informed of plans to send the Deputy Chief Monitor to Eastern Ukraine today to work on the practical modalities of the implementation, as well as on the ongoing work of the monitoring teams on the ground.The participants in the meeting agreed to meet regularly in the coming days to co-ordinate implementation of the Geneva Statement as swiftly as possible.
Pope seeks to bring faith to "ends of the Earth"-By NICOLE WINFIELD -APR 19,14-YahooNews
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis baptized 10 people Saturday and urged them to bring their faith "to the ends of the Earth" as he presided over an Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica.The vigil is among the Vatican's most solemn services. Francis entered the darkened basilica with a lone candle, which he then shared with others to slowly illuminate the church. The symbolic service commemorates the darkness of the faithful over the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday and their joy and light at his resurrection on Easter Sunday.Francis urged the priests, bishops, cardinals and ordinary Catholics gathered for the late night service to remember when they first found their faith. "Do I remember it? Have I forgotten it? Look for it. You'll find it. The Lord is waiting."Trying to remember isn't an act of nostalgia but rather a way to bring the "fire" of faith "to all people, to the very ends of the Earth," he said.After his homily, Francis proceeded to baptize each of the 10, starting with Italian brothers Giorgio and Jacopo Capezzuoli, aged 8 and 10. "Do you want to be baptized?" he asked each one as he smiled.He asked the same of the adult converts, who hailed from Vietnam, Belarus, Senegal, Lebanon, Italy and France.It was the second late night for Francis after the long Good Friday Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum. Francis, 77, will get a few hours of rest before celebrating Easter Sunday Mass in the flower-strewn St. Peter's Square.He then has a week to prepare for the other major celebration of this year's Easter season: the April 27 canonizations of Pope John XXIII and John Paul II. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend.___Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield
Holy fire ceremony draws thousands in Jerusalem
By IAN DEITCH -APR 19,14-YahooNews
JERUSALEM (AP) — The dark hall inside Christianity's holiest shrine was illuminated with the flames from thousands of candles on Saturday as worshippers participated in the holy fire ceremony, a momentous spiritual event in Orthodox Easter rites.Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected at the site where the Church of the Holy Sepulcher now stands in the Old City of Jerusalem. While the source of the holy fire is a closely guarded secret, believers say the flame appears spontaneously from his tomb on the day before Easter to show Jesus has not forgotten his followers.The ritual dates back at least 1,200 years.Thousands of Christians waited outside the church for it to open Saturday morning. Custody of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is shared by a number of denominations that jealously guard their responsibilities under a fragile network of agreements hammered out over the last millennia. In accordance with tradition, the church's doors were unlocked by a member of a Muslim family, who for centuries has been the keeper of the ancient key that is passed on within the family from generation to generation.Once inside, clergymen from the various Orthodox denominations in robes and hoods jostled for space with local worshippers and pilgrims from around the world.Top Orthodox clergymen descended into the small chamber marking the site of Jesus' tomb as worshippers eagerly waited in the dim church clutching bundles of unlit candles and torches.After a while, candles emerged lit with "holy fire" — said to have been lit by a miracle as a message to the faithful from heaven.Bells rang as worshippers rushed to use the flames to ignite their own candles.In mere seconds, the bursts of light spread throughout the cavernous church as flames jumped from one candle to another. Clouds of smoke wafted through the crammed hall as flashes from cameras and mobile phones documented what is for many, the spiritual event of a lifetime.Some held light from the "holy fire" to their faces to bask in the glow while others dripped wax on their bodies.Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said tens of thousands of worshippers participated in the ceremony.Many couldn't fit inside the church and the narrow winding streets of the Old City were lined with pilgrims.The "holy fire" was passed among worshippers outside the Church and then taken to the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, where tradition holds Jesus was born, and from there to other Christian communities in Israel and the West Bank.Later it is taken aboard special flights to Athens and other cities, linking many of the 200 million Orthodox worldwide.
10 more bodies found inside sunken ferry by divers
By FOSTER KLUG and HYUNG-JIN KIM - APR 19,14-YahooNews
MOKPO, South Korea (AP) — Divers recovered 13 bodies from inside a ferry that sank off South Korea, pushing the confirmed death toll to 46, officials said Sunday. The discovery came after rescuers finally gained access to the inside of the ship following three days of failure and frustration caused by strong currents and bad visibility due to inclement weather.More than 300 people are missing or dead, and the captain of the ferry has been arrested on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need. Two crew members also were taken into custody, including a rookie third mate who a prosecutor said was steering in challenging waters unfamiliar to her when the accident occurred.Late Saturday, divers broke a window in the submerged ferry and initially retrieved three bodies, said Kim Kwang-hyun, a coast guard official. These apparently were the first bodies recovered from inside the ferry since it sank Wednesday. Later Sunday, government officials announced that 10 more bodies had been found inside the ferry, bringing the confirmed toll to 46. Officials said 256 people were missing, most of them high school students on a holiday trip.Details about how divers managed to enter the ship and where exactly the bodies were found or their identities weren't clear.Hundreds of civilian, government and military divers were involved in the search.The ferry's captain, Lee Joon-seok, 68, was arrested along with one of the Sewol's three helmsmen and the 25-year-old third mate, prosecutors said."I am sorry to the people of South Korea for causing a disturbance and I bow my head in apology to the families of the victims," Lee told reporters Saturday morning as he left the Mokpo Branch of Gwangju District Court to be jailed. But he defended his much-criticized decision to wait about 30 minutes before ordering an evacuation."At the time, the current was very strong, the temperature of the ocean water was cold, and I thought that if people left the ferry without (proper) judgment, if they were not wearing a life jacket, and even if they were, they would drift away and face many other difficulties," Lee said. "The rescue boats had not arrived yet, nor were there any civilian fishing ships or other boats nearby at that time."The Sewol had left the northwestern port of Incheon on Tuesday with 476 passengers on an overnight journey to the holiday island of Jeju in the south, including 323 students from Danwon High School in Ansan. It capsized within hours of the crew making a distress call to the shore a little before 9 a.m. Wednesday. Most of the missing passengers are believed to be trapped inside the 6,852-ton vessel.With the chances of survival increasingly slim, it is shaping up to be one of South Korea's worst disasters. The loss is more keenly felt because of so many young people, aged 16 or 17, on board. The country's last major ferry disaster was in 1993, when 292 people were killed.By the time the evacuation order was issued, the ship was listing at too steep an angle for many people to escape the tight hallways and stairs inside. Several survivors told The Associated Press that they never heard any evacuation order.Senior prosecutor Yang Jung-jin told reporters that the third mate was steering the ship Wednesday morning as it passed through an area with lots of islands clustered close together and fast currents. According to investigators, the accident came at a point where the ship had to make a turn. Prosecutor Park Jae-eok said investigators were looking at whether the third mate ordered a turn so sharp that it caused the vessel to list.Yang said the third mate has six months of experience, and hadn't steered in the area before because another mate usually handles those duties. She took the wheel this time because heavy fog caused a departure delay, Yang said, adding that investigators do not know whether the ship was going faster than usual.Helmsman Park Kyung-nam identified the third mate as Park Han-kyul. The helmsman who was arrested, 55-year-old Cho Joon-ki, spoke to reporters outside court and accepted some responsibility." There was a mistake on my part as well, but the steering had been turned much more than usual," Cho said.Lee has four decades of experience at sea. He had been captaining ferries for 10 years by the time he was interviewed by the Jeju Today website in 2004, and said he had sailed on ocean freighters for 20 years before that.But he was not the Sewol's main captain, and worked on the ship about 10 days a month, helmsman Oh Yong-seok said.Lee was not on the bridge when the ship began to list. "I gave instructions on the route, then briefly went to the bedroom when it happened," he told reporters. According to the court, Lee faces five charges, including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law, and the two other crew members each face three related charges.Lee was required by law to be on the bridge helping his crew when the ferry passed through tough-to-navigate areas, said Yang, the senior prosecutor.Yang said Lee also abandoned people in need of help and rescue, saying, "The captain escaped before the passengers." Video aired by Yonhap showed Lee among the first people to reach the shore by rescue boat.Yang said the two crew members arrested failed to reduce speed near the islands and failed to carry out necessary measures to save lives.It's not clear why the two crew members made the sharp turn, Yang said. He said prosecutors would continue to look into whether something other than the turn could have made the ferry sink, but he added that there were no strong waves that could have knocked down the ferry at the time.Prosecutors will have 10 days to decide whether to indict the captain and crew, but can request a 10-day extension from the court.Also on Saturday, angry relatives of missing passengers expressed outrage at officials who were holding a briefing on the disaster in a gymnasium on Jindo island where hundreds of family members are waiting for word about their loved ones. A few dozen relatives surged toward the stage, hurling rapid-fire questions at the officials. One man tried to choke a coast guard lieutenant and punch a maritime policeman, but missed." The government should have hurried up and done something, but they just wasted four days, which led to this point. I think this is more like a man-made disaster," said Lee Jong-eui, a businessman whose 17-year-old nephew, Nam Hyun-chul, is among the missing.Three vessels with cranes arrived at the accident site to prepare to salvage the ferry, but they will not hoist the ship before getting approval from family members of those still believed inside because the lifting could endanger any survivors, said a coast guard officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing department rules.___Klug reported from Seoul. Associated Press writers Youkyung Lee and Jung-yoon Choi in Seoul and Gillian Wong in Jindo, South Korea, contributed to this report.
U.N. peace envoy criticizes Israeli Easter security in Jerusalem
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan APR 19,14-YahooNews
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police refused to let the U.N.'s peace envoy to the Middle East, other diplomats and a crowd of Palestinians pass through a barricade to attend a pre-Easter ritual in the Jerusalem church that Christians revere as the burial site of Jesus, the U.N. official said on Saturday.The incident, following two days of violence at a separate holy site known as a flashpoint for Jews and Muslims, underscored rising tensions in the politically charged city ahead of Pope Francis's Holy Land visit next month.Israel dismissed the U.N. complaint, calling it an attempt to inflate a "micro-incident" and saying police at the barricade keep people back as a crowd-control measure while there was no reported violence among the tens of thousands of Christians who thronged to the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem's old walled city to witness the "Holy Fire" ritual.Holy Fire is a traditional Orthodox Christian ceremony at which worshippers believe a miraculous fire appears at the site identified as Jesus's tomb every year on the day before Easter. Robert Serry, the United Nation's peace envoy to the Middle East, said in a statement Israeli security officers had stopped a group of Palestinian worshippers and diplomats in a procession near the church, "claiming they had orders to that effect".Serry added in separate remarks to Reuters he had waited with Italian, Norwegian and Dutch diplomats for up to a half hour, crushed by a crowd against a barricade, while Israeli officers ignored his appeals to speak with a superior."It became really dangerous because there was a big crowd and I was pushed against a metal fence the police put up there, the crowd tried to push really hard," Serry said, adding they might have been trampled had police not finally let them pass."I don't understand why this happened," he added. "I'm not saying I felt my life was in imminent danger, but this wasn't something you associate with a peaceful procession for Easter."
"PROBLEM OF JUDGMENT"
Terry Balata, a Palestinian witness, said she heard the Israeli officer tell Serry, who was with about 30 other diplomats and worshippers, "so what?" when he identified himself as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's envoy to the region.Charging "unacceptable behavior from the Israeli security authorities," Serry demanded in his statement that all parties "respect the right of religious freedom."An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman denied Serry's charges and accused him of displaying "a serious problem of judgment" as there was no reported violence during the prayers and a customary torch-lit "Holy Fire" ritual held at the church. Spokesman Yigal Palmor acknowledged though that police took steps to limit the crowd packed into the church and narrow streets outside it. "If there was any pushing and shoving I would say it was a micro-incident," Palmor said.In a statement, the ministry criticized Serry's charges as an "odd communique," adding that Christian officials had thanked Israeli police for their handling of the event."Had any harm come to the pilgrims due to uncontrolled crowd movements, Mr. Serry would have been prompt to cast responsibility on the same police which he now condemns for doing its job properly," the Israeli statement added.Israeli police did not immediately comment on the incident, which came as they grappled with tensions elsewhere in the old city where Jews celebrated a week-long Passover festival at the same time as Christians prepared for Easter.Earlier this week, police confronted Muslim protesters throwing stones near the al-Aqsa Mosque as Jews visited the surrounding area, which Judaism reveres as the place where biblical temples once stood. Pope Francis plans to visit Jerusalem and holy sites in the occupied West Bank such as Bethlehem when he makes his first Holy Land sojourn as pontiff late in May.The increased tension in Jerusalem also coincided with a crisis in U.S.-brokered peace talks, at risk of collapsing unless Israelis and Palestinians agree to extend negotiations to resolve their conflict past an April 29 deadline.(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Tom Heneghan and Tom Brown)
Ukraine Acting Foreign Minister Deshchytsia and OSCE Special Monitoring Mission Chief Apakan meet on implementation of Geneva Statement-Kyiv 19 April 2014-Newsroom
KYIV, Ukraine, 19 April, 2014 –Acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia and the Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM), Amb. Ertugrul Apakan, met today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the participants of the 17 April Geneva meeting – the European Union, the Russian Federation and the United States. At the meeting it was agreed to move ahead rapidly with the practical implementation of the Geneva Statement. In this regard the meeting’s participants recognized the need to take immediate concrete steps towards de-escalation. Deshchytsia informed on first steps already taken in this direction. Apakan informed of plans to send the Deputy Chief Monitor to Eastern Ukraine today to work on the practical modalities of the implementation, as well as on the ongoing work of the monitoring teams on the ground.The participants in the meeting agreed to meet regularly in the coming days to co-ordinate implementation of the Geneva Statement as swiftly as possible.
