Stories from around the globe show how a united world is already in motion. This platform highlights experiences, initiatives, and projects from people and communities working for unity and peace. Explore what’s happening and get inspired.
<p><em>UN chief Ban Ki-moon has invited Iran to take part in preliminary Syrian peace talks this week in Switzerland, an offer Tehran has accepted.</em></p> <p><strong>Mr Ban said he had received</strong> assurances that Iran would play a positive role in securing a transitional government. But Syria's main opposition group said it would withdraw from the talks unless Mr Ban retracted the offer to Iran.</p> <p><strong>And the US said the offer</strong> must be conditional on Iran's support for the 2012 deal on Syria's transition. The Syria peace conference has been more than a year in the making and now it is in disarray before it has even started, reports the BBC's Kim Ghattas.
<p><em>Deal will see creation of medicine faculty in Red Sea city.</em></p> <p><strong>The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority</strong> (ASEZA), represented by Chief Commissioner Kamel Mahadin, the Aqaba Development Corporation, represented by its CEO Ghassan Ghanem, and Italy's University of Palermo, represented by Chancellor Roberto Lagalla, signed a cooperation agreement on Tuesday in Aqaba, Jordan.</p> <p><strong>"This agreement is a result</strong> of, and a continuation of, our efforts to develop cooperation with Italy that were launched as part of my recent visit to Sicily where we signed three agreements with different entities," Professor Mahadin said. "Our efforts were rewarded by the signing of an agreement that will eventually see the establishment of a faculty of medicine at the university of Jordan in Aqaba".</p>
<p> </p> <p><em>A delegation of 15 Argentine Jewish leaders was hosted Thursday for an informal kosher lunch at the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse by Pope Francis.</em></p> <p><strong>Pope Francis conversing</strong> with members of the Jewish community of Argentina at the Santa Marta guesthouse<br />Latin American Jewish Congress Executive Director Claudio Epelman, who organized the meeting together with Argentine Rabbi Abraham Skorka, said it was an “extraordinary gesture by Pope Francis to take more than two hours out of his busy schedule for a conversation with Jewish leaders from his native Argentina.” Epelman said that the conversations with the Catholic pontiff focused on strengthening inter-faith dialogue.</p>
<div style="font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; color: #6b6b6b; margin-top: 2px; margin-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 8px;"><br /><em><span face="Arial, sans-serif" size="2" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">A Lebanese family who could have escaped to safer surroundings, decides to remain in their country to support their own people and spread hope.</span></span></em></div> <div> <p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; margin: 0px;"><strong></strong></p> <p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; margin: 0px;"><strong>Samir:</strong> <strong>In 1989, during the war in Lebanon</strong>, the situation became dramatic with death and destruction all around us: no work; no school; offices closed . . . We moved to the United States where my brother was living. As a university lecturer I was entitled to a sabbatical year.</p> <p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; margin: 0px;"><strong>Daisy:</strong> It was an intense year with many trials that led us to experience God's love that kept us together. We often wondered which choice was better, whether to return to Lebanon or to stay on in a country that had so much to offer. We had both found a job and were eligible for American citizenship. Moreover, our children’s future would be secured.
<p> </p> <p><em>A student from Hull who came to the city after escaping Taliban rule in Afghanistan has secured a place at Eton College.</em></p> <p><strong>Rohid Zamani, who is a student</strong> at Hull's Sirius Academy, won a £30,000-a-year scholarship after beating off competition from hundreds of other applicants.</p> <p><strong>He fled Afghanistan</strong> with his family in 2000 when he was aged three. The 16-year-old said he hoped to pursue a career in medicine.</p> <p><strong>Rohid said that the stories</strong> told to him by his parents of life under the Taliban in the war-torn country had motivated him in his studies.(...)
<p><em>In view of 'Geneva 2' summit, important meeting January 14 between Parolin and Kerry.</em></p> <p><strong>The situation in Syria,</strong> the upcoming 'Geneva 2' summit, and the Holy See's outlook on peace and aid, were the topics discussed on Tuesday by U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the Vatican's Cardinal Secretary of State Monsigneur Pietro Parolin.</p> <p><strong>Father Federico Lombardi</strong>, spokesperson for the Holy See, underlined that Israel-Palestine peace talks had also been discussed.</p>
<p><em><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">The Greek ambassador to Egypt said on Sunday that his country is seeking to use its six-month presidency of the European Union to help foster Egypt’s growth for the future.</span></em><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"></span></p> <p><strong>Christodoulos Lazaris said that Greece’s policy</strong> during the presidency would focus on four areas tackling such issues as growth and employment, further Eurozone integration, illegal immigration and expanding integrated marine maritime policies. The theme of the presidency is “Partnership of Equals”, according to the ambassador. The ambassador stated “business cooperation is going to be our flagship.” Lazaris pointed out that this “is not an empty promise” because Greece is the fifth largest European investor in Egypt, which amounts to $3.2bn of invested capital.
<p>Turks, Greeks, Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots issue joint appeal.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>The business associations</strong> of Turkey, Greece, the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (the latter is recognized only by Turkey, and not at the international level) have issued a joint statement to urge their respective governments to start talks for a peaceful resolution of the longstanding issue on the division of the island, the northern part of which has been occupied by the Turkish military since 1974.</p> <p><strong>For Turkey, as a press release</strong> from the Italian Trade Commission (ICE) office in Istanbul notes, the statement was supported by the Turkey Association of Commercial and Industrial Enterprises (TUSIAD). It was also signed by the leaders of the Federation of Greek Industries (SEV), the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB) and the Association for Northern and Southern Cyprus (ISAD).
<p> </p> <p><em>The commitment of Antonio Mónteiro and his wife in Faira Brava to save Bonelli’s eagles. But protecting the birds has grown into something bigger that has the potential to bring even more people and jobs to a poor region badly in need of both. </em> </p> <p><strong>Figuera De Castelo Rodrigo, Portugal -</strong> On a rainy winter morning, Antonio Mónteiro and two colleagues were pushing and pulling an ailing, reluctant bull along a stony track in the Faia Brava nature reserve in northeast Portugal. Suddenly, Mr. Mónteiro pointed up. “Look! Africa!” he said.</p> <p><strong>A dozen or so griffon vultures,</strong> huge birds with white heads and tawny wings, were wheeling like hang gliders in the gray sky above the boulder-strewn scrubland.
Dialogue & Interculture
New Humanity NGO presented the M.E.D.I.T.erraNEW project — co-financed by the Erasmus Plus Program — to the Youth Section of UNESCO in Paris.
Peace & Human Rights
Amid the rubble of Syria, art becomes an act of resistance. Discover the story of Aeham Ahmad, the “The Pianist of Yarmouk”, who defied the horror of war with the invincible beauty of his musical notes.
Operation Mato Grosso is working on over 100 missions across Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, all rooted in education, hard work, and solidarity. Jacopo Manara, who has been a volunteer for years, tells us their story.
An interview on communication with Michele Zanzucchi, journalist and writer, former director of Città Nuova, professor of communication at Sophia University Institute and at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and author of around forty books.
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