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Welcome, 77 artists, 40 different points of Attica welcomes you by singing Erotokritos an epic romance written at 1713 by Vitsentzos Kornaros

Friday, August 8, 2014

Obama, UN, EU, Please, We Need a Safe Haven

We have started a worldwide campaign called A Demand For Action and we will rally and call our politicians until the day our people are safe. This picture is from one of the rallies in Sweden. Below is why. Crushing text message received today from Nineveh, Iraq: "Rabi, all crosses are destroyed. All Bibles are burned. It's Seyfo. Kurds could not hold D'ash* back. We wanted to fight. We wanted to stay and protect Nineveh but they are too many, they have many heavy weapon. We are sorry that we could not protect our beloved homeland but we had to protect our children and sisters and wives. Rabi, where is UN? Where is NATO? Where is EU and US? Where is Putin? Nobody cares about us. We are fleeing from one place to another, we are exhausted. Forgive us for not being able to fight for Nineveh. 7th of August the day of our Martyr's in Simeli. I am writing probably the same thing your granddad wrote to mine. We are betrayed. We are being massacred and nobody cares. We speak the language of Jesus, we are the first Christians but the Christian world has forgotten us. We are the indigenous people of Nineveh and everybody wants to see us killed. Please, please do what you can to stop this Genocide." That message came today. This is my people, my story and my legacy. He looks straight into the camera: his hands are tied behind his back. He is on his knees. Raymond, a 21 year old Christian Assyrian, has been accused by Al-Qaida of having worked for the Americans in Mosul, Iraq. After his hooded captors read out his apparent crime, they behead him. The knife is slow. It takes Raymond a while to die. This was 2005, and it was the first video I had seen of a Christian man beheaded in Iraq. Since then, footage of non-Muslims tortured and executed in the Middle East has become increasingly familiar to me, and Middle Eastern refugees fleeing persecution have been arriving weekly to my hometown of Södertälje, Sweden. It is a small community of only 80,000, but it has become a safe haven for Middle Eastern minorities. When I travel in the Middle East, and during phone conversations with Christians or Mandeans* all over the world, it seems like everybody has heard of Södertälje, or has relatives, friends, or former neighbors who live there now. With the emergence of the Islamic State, the persecution and expulsion of the most vulnerable communities of the region has entered an even more extreme phase -- something I have warned for in report after the other for a decade. Now the Islamic State (a.k.a ISIS) has boastfully raped, killed, and pillaged its way through all the territory it has seized, destroying everything and everyone in its path that doesn't conform to its mindless and narrow ideology. In Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, they tagged the homes of the Christians with 'N' for 'Nasrany' ('Christian' in Arabic), the first gesture to demonstrate its intention to get rid of the last remaining Christians in Iraq and Syria. Most Christians fled leaving everything behind them, and the belongings they took with were taken away from them by IS members at checkpoints. As we speak, IS is decimating the Yezidis* of northern Iraq: tens of thousands of these proud people await death on the Sinjar mountain, having been expelled from their homes. How many that have been killed nobody knows. These facts make it likely that the exodus to my little town in Sweden will once again peak. That is, provided those fleeing can even make it to Europe. I came to Södertälje in 1974 from Germany when I was nine years old. My mom and dad were guest workers in Germany: they had two jobs each and worked all day long. They hadn't had time off work in years; they probably didn't even know what a vacation was. After all, they came from Midyat, a small Assyrian/Syriac city, in southeast Turkey. They fled Turkey so their children could have a better life. They didn't want to feel like second or third class citizens any longer. As Assyrians, they lacked the right to work as government officials, they were not allowed to learn or teach their mother tongue, the same language Jesus spoke, and they were forced to list their Christian religion on their ID cards. And they were constantly afraid of being subjected to another genocide. Their parents - my grandparents - were all survivors of the Ottoman genocide of 1915, known in their language as Seyfo ("sword"). Turkish military forces and Kurdish militias tore through my family's city, expelling all Christians and Yezidis and looting their homes. All Christian books were burned: any evidence suggesting that Assyrians actually existed had to be removed. Knowledge and memory had to be eliminated. My grandmother Meyyo (Meryem) was found in a well along with other members of her family. Around ten others were crouched there with her - all of them dead. Meyyo miraculously survived: a Muslim family, among the perpetrators of the Seyfo, heard her sobs, lifted her out and took her to their home. They gave her a new name and raised her as their own daughter. Next year marks the centenary of the genocide of the Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and Yezidis of the Ottoman Empire. And today, on August 7th, it has been 81 years since the 1933 massacre of Assyrians in Simele, Iraq. These are historical tragedies that we will always have to remember and live with. But we had no idea about my grandfather Denho's trauma. He had a stroke in 2007 and lost touch with reality: his mind began to wander back to 1944 and he thought that he was still in a Turkish prison. In the Swedish hospital room my grandfather would start shouting things like "watch out, they are coming, hide!" Denho had been dragged behind a horse for several miles because the Turkish police and courts accused him of being a separatist. His crime was that he wanted to teach his children to read and write in his mother tongue. He was tortured for four years in Turkish prison. My grandparents felt it was important to conceal their wounds and traumas, so that we, their grandchildren, would be protected from fear and grief. The day after we arrived in Södertälje on that summer day in August 1974, the turmoil in Midyat had started again. My grandfather and my mother sat by the phone all day and tried to get a hold of relatives. The war between Turkey and Greece for control of Cyprus had broken out. The Christians of Turkey, Assyrians and Armenians, were exposed to immediate danger. The fact that Greece was a predominantly Christian country rendered them enemies of Turkey even though they had lived there for centuries. In Midyat, Muslims put a cross around the neck of a stray dog that was paraded around the city as an act of symbolic humiliation. Christians were told in no uncertain terms that they had two choices: either flee or be killed. My father's Kurdish friend and his family managed to prevent any killings in Midyat, but Assyrians across the country were terrified. Many are also the Turks that faced imprisonment for protecting their Christian friends in Turkey during the 70's. We never went back to Germany. My grandfather decided to gather his family in Sweden in order to save money to send back to Turkey and help our relatives flee. We managed to do that. My sister and I were 7 and 9 years old respectively and we held two jobs. We helped mom and one of my uncles clean a large nightclub and we handed out newspapers. And more Assyrians/Syriacs/Chaldeans from Turkey began to arrive in Södertälje. Forty years later, Assyrian refugees still come to Södertälje: at least 20 every week, now predominantly from Syria and Iraq. Often, academics and professionals in their own countries - engineers, for example, figure highly in the refugee population - are now forced to work as taxi drivers to make ends meet. Every other inhabitant of Södertälje is said to be a Christian or Mandaean from the Middle East. Turkey has been nearly emptied of its non-Muslim population. Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, over half of the country's non-Muslims - Christians, Mandaeans and Yezidis - have fled the country. Now it is Syria's turn to undergo its non-Muslim exodus. For 12 years, I have reported on the persecution of non-Muslims in this region of the world dominated by Islam. I have interviewed thousands of people, collecting facts and documentation that should spur the world to act. The experiences of my parents and grandparents are being repeated daily in Iraq and Syria. 40,000 Assyrians were forced to flee the city Qarakosh in northern Iraq when the news spread that IS were approaching. The pictures that were sent to me by my friends in the area were illustrations of what my grandfather and others have told me about their experiences in Turkey. The residents of Qaraqosh fled in sheer panic. Traffic was chaotic: thousands of packed cars, at least seven people in each vehicle. Those who could not be accommodated were running between cars, some carrying their children in their arms and some on their backs. Old people were exhausted and stood shaking. They fled to Dohuk and Erbil in Kurdistan. But they did not feel secure there either, for they knew of the terrible persecution which had visited those cities too. In late 2011, an Islamist mob attacked a range of businesses in Zakho, Dohuk, and surrounding villages owned by Christians and Yezidis - liquor stores, restaurants, beauty parlours - labeling them infidel pigs who must be punished for not following the Quran. In November of last year I was in constant contact with a friend in the town of Sadad in Syria who told me of the horrors facing Christians there. 45 Assyrians of the Syriac Orthodox Church, mostly women and children, were found in two mass graves. A week later, a stench began to emerge from a well. When it was opened, a family was discovered. They were believed to have fled the invasion of Islamists along with many others. Six people aged between 16 and 90 had started to rot. And just like in the early 1900s in Turkey, churches in the town were destroyed. Last year all the Armenian inhabitants of the Syrian town of Kassab were forced to flee with nothing but the clothes on their body. Their churches were looted. This time the perpetrators are named the Islamic State. Dora, a neighborhood in Baghdad whose population was almost entirely Christian before the war in 2003, is today a shadow of its former self. Cinemas, theaters, restaurants and cafes have been closed or destroyed. Assyrians and others have been victims of persecution and violence perpetrated by both Shia and Sunni militias. Over 70 churches across Iraq have been bombed or attacked by jihadists. On September 11th 2007, then Senator Barack Obama wrote a letter to the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in which he asked her what the US government intended to do about the persecution of minorities in Iraq. His letter presented an account of abuse and violence tantamount to genocide. Almost seven years have passed since that letter was written. On 19th June this year, 55 congressmen wrote to the President asking him to immediately take action: to work with the Iraqi government and the KRG to protect Christians and other minorities in Iraq. On the 16th of July, I spoke to one of the priests in Mosul, Iraq's second city, which was invaded by IS in June this year. For the first time in over 1600 years, the church bells of Mosul were silent: for six Sundays in a row no church service has been held. Instead, so great has the rush been to cover female bodies following the newly introduced laws of Shari'a requiring that all women wear niqab that Mosul has run out of black cloth. On the 19 of July ISIS distributed flyers with a message for the Christians of Mosul: "Convert, Die, or Leave." All the Christians left; their houses were given to Jihadists, members of IS from all over the world. All of their belongings, down to their watches, necklaces and cell phones, were taken from them before they departed. This week, nine years after Raymond's murder, I received another video, this time showing the Islamic State beheading an Assyrian. My question to President Obama and the United Nations is this: how many more recorded executions must take place before non-Muslims in the Middle East are granted a safe haven? Södertãlje is too small to house all those who are fleeing. Even Sweden, previously renowned as the European nation most receptive to Middle Eastern refugees, has reversed its policy towards granting asylum for Christian Iraqis in recent years. And the destruction of the irreplaceable and priceless Assyrian heritage is devastating. Museums have had their archaeological artefacts stolen; most notably, the Baghdad museum after the invasion in 2003. In Syria, IS are destroying churches and other historic buildings, and according to UNESCO the same destruction of cultural heritage is going on in Iraq. Assyrians and other minorities in the Middle East must be granted a safe haven in the places where they still constitute a demographic majority, such as Nineveh in Iraq and the city of Qamishly and its environs in northern Syria. If the members of the Security Council of UN do not address the crisis facing non-Muslims in Iraq and Syria and put a stop to ethno-religious cleansing and the destruction of the invaluable cultural heritage of its victims, the organization will have lost its credibility and had its authority undermined once and for all. *Mandeans are a small reclusive, religious community concentrated in southern Iraq and Iran whose origins predate Christianity. *Yezidis are an ancient religious minority whose roots are in pre-Islamic Zoroastrianism but also combine certain elements of Christianity and Islam. Denigrated as "devil worshippers" by their persecutors throughout history, they are concentrated primarily in northern Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Armenia.


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USA basketball gets by Greece in FIBA U17 World Championship opener

Though the United States won comfortably in its opener Friday over Greece at the FIBA U17 World Championship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the ...


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Greek Dance!

Tonight everybody, including our guests from China and Build America, joined together to have a big dance to close out the week! Being Greek Week ...


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Actaeon

Greek Myth Comix Actaeon words by Peter le Couteur, comix by LEJ.


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Diamond Stone powers USA U17 team to win over Greece

Greece fought the Americans hard and stayed within eight to 14 points for much of the game as 7-foot-1 center Giorgios Papagiannis — a former top ...


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Riyadi to face Greek giants Olympiakos

BEIRUT: Lebanese champions Riyadi Beirut are set to face 2013 Euroleague Champions and Greek giants Olympiakos in October, during a friendly ...


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Dining out: Greektown Grille

Mike Kourlas and his chef brother Pete bring the same welcoming vibe and the authentic flavors of the Greek taverna to downtown Greenville with the ...


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Chinese evacuees from Libya arrive safe in Greece to return to China in 3 days

Chinese Ambassador to Greece Zou Xiaoli (C) shakes hands with captains of Frigate Salamis at Piraeus port, Greece, on Aug 2, 2014. Greek frigate Salamis with Greeks and foreign nationals evacuated ...


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Who Are the Yazidi?

ISIS has attacked the Yazidi people -- a sect of the Kurds -- in Iraq. The jihadists have driven the survivors to the slopes of Mt. Sinjar, where the Yazidi are running out of food, water and hope, while the ISIS militants advance to wipe them out in what would be a genocide. The White House has just authorized air drops and airstrikes to save the Yazidi and to help the Kurds. Who are the Yazidi? Why is ISIS after them, why have Sunni and Shi'a attacked them in the past, and why are they at risk of genocide now? Yazidi on Mt. Sinjar, Iraqi/Syrian Border -- 1920's Historically, the Yazidis are a religious minority of the Kurds. They are said to have existed since 2000 BCE. Estimates of the number of Yazidis vary between 100,000 and 800,000, the latter being the claim of their website. According to the same site, Yazidi refugees in Germany number 30,000. Researchers believe that the Yazidi religion has elements from Zoroastrianism, Manicheism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Yazidis call themselves Dasin, not Yazidi. The term "Yazidism" comes from the Persian word "īzed", "angel". The name Yazidism is connected to the 6th caliph, Yazid (680-83), who, from Shi'a point of view, is one of world history's most hated men, and is highly disliked by most Sunnis, as well. There is little evidence to show what role, if any, Yazid played in the founding or development of Yazidism. The Yazidis don't call themselves Yazidis and they're not attached to the 6th Caliph. That hasn't stopped the Sunni and Shi'a from hating them for the name they don't call themselves, as well as for the rumors that they worship the devil. What are their true beliefs? In the Yazidi -- or more correctly, Dasin -- world view, God created the world, which is now in the care of a Heptad of seven Holy Beings, often known as Angels or heft sirr (the Seven Mysteries). Preeminent among these is Melek Taus (Tawûsê Melek in Kurdish), the Peacock Angel, who is equated with Satan or Devil by some Muslims and Christians because of a similarity in a name. "The reason for the Yazidis reputation of being devil worshipers, is connected to the other name of Melek Taus, Shaytan, the same name as the Koran's for Satan." According to the Kurdish linguist, Jamal Nebez, the word Taus is most probably derived from the Greek and is related to the words Zeus and Theos, alluding to the meaning of God. In the Yazidi religion, God stands above all, but only as a creator, not as a current force. Divine power is represented by Shaykh Adii, the benevolent deity and Malak Ta'us, the peacock angel who once fell into disgrace, but then repented with seven jars of tears collected over 7,000 years that were used to extinguish the fires of hell. There are six minor deities. The two listed above are the focus of their theology, which looks to heaven, but no longer believes in hell, as it is seen as a uneventful place since the fires were put out. So, not only no devil worship, they don't have a hell. The Yazidi culture has its problems in the treatment of women, honor killing, and prohibition of intermarriage. This became public after the stoning death of a Yazidi teen when she converted to Sunni Muslim to marry outside her faith. But it's not the honor killing that has led to ISIS's horrific violence toward the Yazidi, nor has it stopped others from using the misunderstanding of their religion to both isolate them political advantage as when, during the regime of Saddam Hussein, Yazidis were considered to be Arabs and maneuvered to oppose the Kurds, in order to tilt the ethnic balance in northern Iraq. The Yazidi MP in the Iraqi Parliament broke down when describing what is happening to her people (this was just before President Obama authorized air drops to the mountain). 40,000 Iraqis stranded on mountain as ISIS jihadists threaten death. Members of minority Yazidi sect face slaughter if they go down and dehydration if they stay, while 130,000 fled to Kurdish north. The Yazidi's unique identity, despite being ethnically Kurdish, was used by the Baathist regime to isolate one from the other during Saddam's reign. Both groups changed that when the Kurds became semi-autonomous and they fought together against Baathist troops in joint Peshmerga units. Since the 2003, the Kurds have recognized the Yazidi as ethnic Kurds though that didn't always help the Yazidi: Vying for a Voice, Tribe in N. Iraq Feels Let Down: KHARSI, Iraq -- When the 101st Airborne first reached this remote village in Iraq's northwestern Sinjar Mountains in 2003, elderly Yazidi tribesmen were thrilled: Their ancient religious prophesy had come true.  "We believed that Jesus Christ was coming with a force from overseas to save us," said the village leader, Khalil Sadoon Haji Jundu, wrapping his gold-trimmed cloak around him against the morning chill. [snip]. But more than two years later, as the Yazidis struggle for a political voice and an escape from the poverty they suffered during decades of oppression under President Saddam Hussein, tribesmen such as Jundu say they feel let down. The Yazidi were concentrated around the town of Bashika. ISIS has moved in on that area. The Yazidis that didn't make it behind Kurdish lines are stuck and dying on their historical refuge on Mt. Sinjar where they're without food, water or help. The Iraqi Kurds know the Yazidi faith is not devil worship. ISIS wants to wipe out the Yazidi in what can only be called genocide. They also want to draw out the Kurds to fight on ground to ISIS's advantage and to draw in the rest of the world for their holy war. Forty Yazidi children are reported to have died already on the mountain. This is a crisis whose response will need to be decided in hours, not days. The White House is weighing air drops of food and water, which would save some lives, and air strikes to keep ISIS off the mountain. ISIS are jihadists, they are terrorists, they shouldn't be underestimated. They have the initial goal of a caliphate from Iraq to Palestine and Turkey. The Arab League is, rightfully, terrified of them. The rest of the world has been trying to figure out how to deal with this new enemy that will not be ignored. With the Yazidi, they've come up with a way to make it impossible for the world to ignore them. France has noticed, as has the U.S. Others will follow. We're not done with Iraq yet.


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MUST SEE: The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek

BENDIGO Art Gallery's The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greek is this week's must see attraction. Officially opened by Victoria's Premier Denis Napthine ...


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Roanoke Greek Festival

Along with delicious food and drink, there will be traditional Greek music and other displays of Greek culture. Check the schedule of events for special ...


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Greek suspected of carrying Ebola tests negative: ministry

FILE. Medical tests have cleared a Greek man, suspected of having contracted the ebola virus on a recent trip to Nigeria. He has, instead, been ...


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University of Alabama's Greek System is Finally Integrated, But Will It Hold Up in the New School ...

Though separate black sororities, which do not fall under the Panhellenic Council, exist on campus, the main Greek system on campus was known for ...


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Good signs for private sector employment

New hirings outstripped firings by 13,275 job positions in July, figures published by the Labor Ministry on Friday from its Ergani database have shown. The database, which records inflows and outflows in all sectors of the Greek labor market, also showed ... ...


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Greeks feared to have Ebola test positive for malaria

A Greek man who was suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus has tested positive for malaria, health authorities said Friday. The man, who had recently traveled to Nigeria, was tested at the capital’s Sotiria Hospital after coming down with a feve... ...


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The Four Pillars of Greek Wine

But, comprised of over 300 indigenous varieties as well as numerous international grapes, the pantheon of Greek wines can be overwhelming.


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New College St. spot dishes out Greek favourites

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Museums, sites around Attica to stay open for Sunday's full moon

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Russia's sanctions diet, Apple-Samsung patent truce and Greece's moment in the sun

Russia responded to Western sanctions by banning food imports from the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway. For one ...


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In Greece, New York, 3 held captive while jewelry store robbed, authorities say

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Gov't prepares for fallout of Russian embargo despite hopes of exemption

Government officials on Friday were said to be preparing for the potential impact of a Russian ban on food imports from the European Union despite earlier reports of reassurances from Moscow that many Greek products would be exempted from the embargo. The... ...


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Missing boy found safe in Thessaloniki

Police in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, said a 5-year-old boy was found safe in an abandoned car a few hours after a thief stole the vehicle. The child’s father told police he had left the boy inside the car while he went into a shop at around 2.30 p.m. ... ...


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Drop in cruise traffic expected to continue

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Voice of America to terminate Greek service

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Cameras put up outside feared terrorist targets

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Homeowner opens fire at burglars

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Maziotis taken to hospital for medical checks

Nikos Maziotis, the head of the Revolutionary Struggle terrorist group who is being held at Diavata Prison in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, was on Friday taken to the city’s Papanikolaou Hospital for a medical check. Maziotis sustained injuries to his ri... ...


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Geopolitics, luckluster banks weigh on stocks for 10th day

The persisting gloomy outlook sent Greek stocks south for a tenth straight session on Friday. The strong pressure on stocks, which doesn’t look like abating anytime soon, is considered a combined result of geopolitical tensions, uncertainty over banks in ... ...


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Greek FM calls for return to Gaza truce

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Tacos or Greek.

Tacos or Greek. . . “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.


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Proposed “Anti-Racism” Bill Does Not Include Denial of the Greek or Armenian Genocides

In what can only be described as an unbelievable omission, the Greek government is set to vote on a bill that is only “anti-racist” in name, as it will ...


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Schedules for property tax form corrections

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Greek Fest returns on August 21

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Greek banks bracing for dynamic stress tests

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Former army sergeant Arthur Jones 'died of heat exhaustion' at war memorial in Crete

The body of Arthur Jones, an army cadet instructor, was found near a war memorial in Crete dedicated to the Greek cadets killed as they fought the Nazi invasion.


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Got to be cruel to be kind

Every finance minister appointed in Greece must play the role of the bad guy and be able to resist pressure from deputies, other ministers, unionists, powerful lobbies and all sorts of others who demand more money, special privileges or exemption from cer... ...


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WHO declares Ebola 'international health emergency' as death toll nears 1000

Warning comes after US authorities warn disease will 'inevitably' spread beyond region and reach America; Greece says it is testing suspected case


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Meet NASA's Greek “Planet Doctor”

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Former army sergeant, 73, 'died of heat exhaustion' while paying his respects at remote war ...

The body of 73-year-old Arthur Jones, an army cadet instructor, was found on Monday near a war memorial dedicated to the Greek cadets killed as ...


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Greece testing a man for Ebola at Athens hospital

GREECE WAS TODAY running tests on a man suspected of carrying the Ebola virus. The Greek man, an architect who had recently travelled to Nigeria, was undergoing tests at an Athens hospital, a health ministry spokesman said. “It is likely that the man ...


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Non-profit group saves Greece multi-million USD of debts

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Greece testing potential Ebola case

Greece said on Friday it was running tests on a Nigerian man suspected of carrying the Ebola virus. The man was undergoing tests at an Athens ...


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First Ebola case suspected in Greece

Ebola is spreading with cases suspected outside of Africa, Aug 8, 2014. — Reuters picATHENS, Aug 8 — Greece said today it was running tests on a ...


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Eye Catching Stocks : National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE:NBG), NeuStar (NYSE:NSR), LeMaitre ...

On Thursday National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE:NBG) share price closed at $3.00. Company net profit margin stands at 10.10% whereas its return on ...


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Greek Politicians Won’t Go Down With The Ship

Recently, as I was passing through the Athens airport, I met a politician I know. He walked with his head lowered, as if to hide. The post Greek Politicians Won’t Go Down With The Ship appeared first on The National Herald.


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BC-AP News Coverage Advisory

by  Associated Press BC-AP News Coverage Advisory Associated Press - 8 August 2014 10:19-04:00 Here's a look at how AP's general news coverage is shaping up today. Some plans are subject to change. HIGHLIGHTING: Among today's coverage highlights as we see them: -- IRAQ (sent; developing) -- UNITED STATES-IRAQ (sent; developing) -- ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS (sent; developing) -- EBOLA EMERGENCY (sent; developing) -- UKRAINE (sent; developing) -- PISTORIUS TRIAL (sent) -- UNITED STATES-AFGHANISTAN (sent; developing) -- TROPICAL WEATHER (sent; developing) -- MYANMAR-MALNOURISHED ROHINGYA -- LOVING TELEVISION (sent) -- MUSIC-MEGHAN TRAINOR (sent) -- OBIT-WWII VET-HITLER'S HAT (sent) PHOTOS: IRAQ (sent; developing); TROPICAL WEATHER (sent; developing); GREECE CINEMA-PHOTO GALLERY (sent) VIDEO: IRAQ (sent; developing); TROPICAL WEATHER (sent; developing); ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS (sent; developing) Here are details of those stories, plus others we have in the works for today and notable pieces that we sent in the past 10 hours (all times GMT): WORLD IRAQ - Iraqis on Friday welcomed the U.S. airlift of emergency aid to thousands of people who fled to the mountains to escape Islamic extremists and called for greater intervention, as U.S. warplanes struck the militants for the first time. SENT: 910 words, photos, video. UNITED STATES-IRAQ — Two FA-18s drop two bombs on ISIL artillery and the truck towing it outside Irbil near US personnel in Iraq, with Obama making good on threat to renew military action there as the Islamic State group threatens American interests in northern Iraq and threatens what he called "genocide" on religious minorities. SENT: 1,050 words, photos, videos. HAGEL-IRAQ — He says that if Islamic militants threaten U.S. interests in Iraq or the thousands of refugees who fled to a mountaintop, the U.S. military has enough intelligence resources to clearly single out the attackers and launch effective airstrikes. SENT: 200 words. UPCOMING: 500 words by 1800 GMT. and then likely will be folded into United States-Iraq as the day goes on. OBAMA-IRAQ-ANALYSIS - The president's authorization of airstrikes against militants in Iraq threatens to upend his legacy as the commander in chief who ended the long, unpopular war. SENT: 900 words, photos. ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS - Gaza militants resumed rocket attacks on Israel on Friday, refusing to extend a three-day truce after Egyptian-brokered talks between Israel and Hamas on a new border deal for blockaded Gaza hit a deadlock. SENT: 940 words, photos, videos, interactive. EBOLA EMERGENCY - The World Health Organization declares the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to be an international public health emergency that requires an extraordinary response to stop its spread. . SENT: 640 words, photos, videos. EBOLA-PREVIOUS OUTBREAKS - When Ebola hit Uganda two years ago — the third outbreak in a dozen years — the quick reactions by authorities and ordinary people helped snuff out that outbreak in East Africa with only 16 deaths. UPCOMING: 900 words, photos by 1700 GMT. UKRAINE - At least three civilians were killed and 10 others were wounded in overnight shelling of the main rebel stronghold in eastern Ukraine. SENT: 700 words, photos. UPCOMING: Analytical look at the insurgency, details and timing TBD. SOUTH SUDAN - South Sudan residents residing in a U.N. camp are living in knee-deep, sewage-contaminated floodwater, forcing some families to sleep standing up so they can hold their children out of the water, an aid group said Friday. SENT: 490 words, photos. MYANMAR-MALNOURISHED ROHINGYA - Myanmar's child malnutrition rate was already among the region's highest, but it's an increasingly familiar sight in the country's westernmost state of Rakhine, which is home to almost all of the country's 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims. SENT: 1,210 words, photos. UNITED STATES-AFGHANISTAN — Feuding candidates in Afghanistan's presidential election have agreed at U.S. prodding to resolve their differences in what appears a diplomatic victory for Washington. SENT: 700 words. UPCOMING: 850 words by 2 p.m. PISTORIUS-TRIAL - The chief defense lawyer delivers final arguments in the athlete's murder trial. SENT: 730 words, photos, video. TURKEY-PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION - For the first time in its history, Turkey is directly electing its president on Sunday in a contest considered a turning point for the country of 76 million people. SENT: 930 words, photos. With TURKEY-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES - SENT: 660 words, photos and TURKEY-ELECTORAL PROCESS - SENT: 520 words. CHINA-INVESTIGATORS TRIAL - A British investigator who is on trial with his American wife on charges of illegally trading in personal details of Chinese nationals testifies Friday that he bought such information from other consulting companies. SENT: 870 words. ASIA-SECURITY TALKS - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and top diplomats from Europe and Asia are meeting to discuss regional security issues this weekend. SENT: 830 words, photos. THAILAND-POLITICS - Thailand's military-dominated interim legislature holds its first meeting since it was appointed by the junta following a coup more than two months ago. SENT: 230 words, photos. CAMBODIA-POLITICS - Opposition lawmakers in Cambodia end a 10-month boycott of parliament. SENT: 210 words. US TROPICAL WEATHER - The first storm in a one-two punch heading for Hawaii clamored ashore in the overnight hours Friday as a weakened tropical storm, while a second system close behind it strengthened and was on track to pass north of the islands sometime Sunday morning.SENT: 1,080 words, photos, videos. UPCOMING: Developing; 800 words, photos, video. FACEBOOK-RAPE EVIDENCE — A New Jersey judge will review the Facebook page of an alleged rape victim after a request from the suspect's lawyer. A look at how Facebook is used in criminal court proceedings and privacy concerns. UPCOMING: 400 words by 2000 GMT. OBIT-WWII VET-HITLER'S HAT - WWII vet who found Hitler's top hat dies at 88; New Yorker was subject of a documentary. SENT: 580 words, photo. BUSINESS /ECONOMY DEFENDING THE FDA - As an AIDS activist in the early 1990s, Gregg Gonsalves traveled to Washington to challenge the FDA. His group, ACT UP, staged protests and pressured FDA leaders into speeding up the approval of experimental drugs for patients dying of AIDS. A quarter century later, Gonsalves still travels to Washington, but with a different agenda: to defend the FDA. UPCOMING: 950 words, photo by 1600 GMT. CAN-AM SPYDER INVESTIGATION - U.S. safety regulators are investigating two reports of fires in Can-Am Spyder three-wheeled motorcycles. SENT: 280 words. MALAYSIA-AIRLINE OVERHAUL - Malaysia's state investment company plans to make Malaysia Airlines fully government owned, removing it from the country's stock exchange. SENT: 570 words, photos. MALAYSIA-AIRLINE OVERHAUL-Q&A - Overhauling Malaysia Airlines: What could struggling carrier look like 5 years from now. SENT: 640 words, photos. CHINA-MONOPOLY CRACKDOWN-AUTOS - Toyota Motor Corp. says that Chinese anti-monopoly regulators are looking at its Lexus luxury unit in a spreading investigation of foreign automakers. SENT: 450 words. ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT LOVING TELEVISION - Television is growing in stature, propelled by both art and technology. SENT: 770 words, photos. MUSIC-MEGHAN TRAINOR - Singer Meghan Trainor has breakthrough with body acceptance song 'All About That Bass' SENT: 460 words, photos. MUSIC-MILEY-CYRUS - An all-grown up Miley Cyrus a little naughty, a little nice in return to Nashville. SENT: 600 words, photos. MUSIC-Q&A-FEMI KUTI - Nigerian recording artist Femi Kuti was shaped by his legendary father, but he's a softer version. UPCOMING: 400 words by 1600 GMT, photos. BILL WATTERSON COMIC-AUCTION - Artwork from "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson's three-day return to comics will be auctioned to benefit Parkinson's disease research. SENT: 120 words. PHOTOGRAPHY GREECE CINEMA-PHOTO GALLERY - The global switch to digital projection will cost independent operators here tens of thousands of dollars, with many saying they will be forced out of business. . SENT: 140 words, photos. News Topics: General news, Ebola virus, Disease outbreaks, Visual arts, Militant groups, War and unrest, Presidential elections, Territorial disputes, World War II, Government and politics, Hemorrhagic fever, Infectious diseases, Diseases and conditions, Health, Public health, Arts and entertainment, National elections, Elections, Events People, Places and Companies: Toyota Motor Corp, John Kerry, Miley Cyrus, Femi Kuti, Turkey, Israel, United States, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Ukraine, Iraq, South Sudan, Western Europe, Europe, North America, Central Asia, Asia, Eastern Europe, North Africa, Africa Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Greek authorities on alert over suspected Ebola case, turned out malaria

Greek authorities have been put on alert this week over a suspected Ebola case which eventually turned out to be malaria, according to the Health Ministry Friday.


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Ambassador Pierce Honors Nicholas Gage with Visit to his Village

LIA, GREECE – The U.S. Ambassador to Greece, David Pierce, honored renowned author Nicholas Gage with a visit to his home village of Lia in Greece. Each year, Gage holds a memorial service to honor the death of his mother Eleni, who was executed by communist guerillas in 1948.  As Gage described the event at […] The post Ambassador Pierce Honors Nicholas Gage with Visit to his Village appeared first on The National Herald.


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The 150-year-old Apollo Theater of Syros

Located in the center of Ermoupolis behind Miaoulis Square, the Apollo Municipal Theater of Syros is one of the island’s must see historical sites and architecturally unique venues. Originally built in 1864, the Apollo Theater is one of the oldest opera houses in Greece – a symbol of the islands prosperity and cosmopolitan influence. Up […] The post The 150-year-old Apollo Theater of Syros appeared first on The National Herald.


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Ducking Bills, Greece Builds Surplus

Greece recorded a 1.8-billion euro surplus at the government general level for the first half of the year, by not paying its bills. The post Ducking Bills, Greece Builds Surplus appeared first on The National Herald.


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