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Wednesday, February 24, 2016

EU survival on line as Austria, Balkan states balk at refugee swarm, snub flooded gateway Greece

VIENNA – Overwhelmed by a wave of refugees and what they call indecision in the European Union, Austria and its southern neighbors along the Balkan migrant route agreed Wednesday to tighter border controls — and warned that sooner or later they will ...


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As Europe continues to lock down its borders, what hope for migrant crisis?

The migrant crisis in Europe has taken another turn in its tortured path, as a meeting between Austria and Balkan states concluded with increased restrictions on migrants trying to enter their countries. As the barriers to entry seem to be growing higher and more robust throughout Europe, with entry points for migrants diminishing both in size and number, is there a way forward? “What is happening in Greece today is extremely concerning,” says Yves Pascouau, director of migration policy at the European Policy Centre think-tank in Belgium, in a telephone interview with The Christian Science Monitor.


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The Irish election and what it means for GREECE

In November 2010, Ireland followed GREECE to become only the second eurozone member to seek financial assistance from the troika, agreeing the ...


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GREECE'S neighborly relations strained as refugees wait

Refugees are seen on the Macedonia - GREECE border in Gevgelija, Macedonia after 730 Iraqi and Syrian refugees sent to the Tabanovce town of ...


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EU Pushes Program Review

BRUSSELS– Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission’s  Vice-President, believes the refugee crisis makes the completion the first program review very urgent. Dombrovskis made his comments during a press conference on Feb. 24. “Dombrovskis noted that because Greece is facing difficulties with the refugee issue, it would be good to have some results in the implementation of the […]


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Finally, John Rigas in released

It was a case that rocked the Greek-American community. John Rigas, the founder of the fifth-largest cable TV network in the US, was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in 2005 for fraud and a series of other offenses. The justice system rendered its verdict and declared its sentence. But was justice truly blind in this […]


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Joint statements of Foreign Minister Kotzias and the Foreign Minister of Egypt, Sameh Shoukry, ...

S. SHOUKRY: Today it is a great pleasure for me, as Foreign Minister of Egypt, to be receiving the Foreign Minister of Greece on his first visit to Egypt. The Minister and I maintain friendly relations, as do the two countries.Greece and Egypt enjoy a great and long common history and cooperation. The political ties that have been developed over time have contributed to the forging of excellent relations of historical importance.Over the past 18 months, there has been intensive cooperation between Greece and Egypt, with exchanges of high-level visits. There were many meetings with the Foreign Minister of Greece...


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Father and son visit GREEK refugee camps to distribute food and clothing

A father and his 12-year-old son visited refugee camps on GREEK islands this half term to help distribute food and clothing. Malik and Zakariah Awan, ...


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Russian, Italian, GREEK Companies Sign Deal on Black Sea Gas Supplies to EU

Russia's energy giant Gazprom, Italy's Edison SpA and GREEK gas company DEPA SA signed on Wednesday a memorandum of understanding on ...


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ATHEX: GREEK bourse benchmark gives up 4 pct

In recent weeks GREEK stocks have got into the habit of crawling up before tumbling down, and on Wednesday – true to form – the benchmark fell ...


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Dr. John G. Siolas Honored at GREEK Teachers Association “Prometheus” Luncheon in NY

Dr. John G. Siolas will be recognized for his service as past president of the GREEK Teachers Association “Prometheus” at their Fortieth Anniversary ...


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Gazprom, DEPA, Edison to revive GREEK pipe to Italy

On February 24, the chief executives of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, Italy's Edison and GREEK state gas supplier DEPA – Alexey Miller, Marc ...


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GREEK PM pledges to fight Austrian-led shutdown and meet party leaders

GREEK Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras threatened Wednesday to reject European Union agreements if other countries continue to take action that would ...


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Gazprom revives GREEK-Italian pipeline plan

The GREEK-Italian gas pipeline project, dubbed Poseidon, is returning to the forefront despite having lost to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in the ...


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Balkans border closures cause chaos as refugees find ‘too few places’ to go, UN agency chief warns

Europe is backing into an even greater refugee crisis by tightening border restrictions on the hundreds of thousands fleeing conflicts elsewhere, the head of the United Nations refugee agency has said on a visit to the island of Lesvos in Greece.


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Migrants block Greek motorway demanding passage to Macedonia

Migrants have blocked a motorway in Greece as authorities step up measures to control the flow of people heading to northern Europe. Migrants cradling young children have blocked a motorway in central Greece demanding onward passage to Macedonia, part of a ...


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Afghan Refugees Find Friends in Lesbos, Greece

"There are good people in every place," says a young migrant. Macedonia announced today that its border with Greece has been permanently closed for all Afghan people, citing the fact that Serbia made similar moves, which adds yet another group to the list ...


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EU banking watchdog launches stress test, GREEK big four exempt

European Union banks will be tested on their ability to raise funds in thin bond markets in a shrinking economy hit by tumbling commodities and ...


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Breaking Live TV News Broadcast Stormed By Greek Anarchists Demanding Air Time

A breaking live news broadcast on Greek television station ERT TV was cut short by a group of anarchists under the name Rubicon who stormed the stage and demanded to be given some air time. Breaking down barriers, anarchy is hitting live TV news in Greece ...


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The Latest: Greece threatens to block EU summit decisions

VIENNA (AP) — The Latest on the influx of migrants into Europe all times local): 8:40 p.m. Greece has threatened to block decisions at a forthcoming EU migration summit if sharing of the refugee burden is not made obligatory for member states. Prime ...


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Greece threatens to block EU summit decisions if refugee burden sharing isn't made obligatory

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece threatens to block EU summit decisions if refugee burden sharing isn't made obligatory.


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Vienna migration summit snubs GREECE and Germany

F oreign and interior ministers from countries along Europe's so-called West Balkans migration trail will meet in Vienna, Austria, on Wednesday.


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Gazprom, Edison and DEPA sign memorandum on gas supplies over Black Sea bottom

The agreement reflects interests of the parties in the route of Russian natural gas deliveries across the Black Sea via third countries to Greece and from Greece to Italy


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The Latest: Greece to demand EU members share migrant burden

VIENNA (AP) — The Latest on the influx of migrants into Europe all times local): 8:30 p.m. Greece's prime minister has proposed that European Union members should be forced to share the burden of handling the continent's migrant crisis. Alexis Tsipras ...


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Tims upscales GREEK Style with Raspberry into big pots

Tims Dairy has launched a big pot variant of its GREEK Style Yogurt with Raspberry. The 450g pots (rsp: £1.95) enter selected Asdas on 29 February ...


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Defiant Austria, Balkan states agree further steps to turn away migrants

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria, defying criticism from Greek and U.N. refugee officials, took further steps on Wednesday to coordinate a slew of border restrictions spanning the Balkans that have caused a worsening logjam of migrants in Greece.


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Alternate FM Xydakis meets with the Norwegian Minister for the European Economic Area and ...

Following his meeting today with the Norwegian Minister for the European Economic Area and European Affairs, Elisabeth Aspaker, the Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, stated that “Norway is a country that speaks through its actions and teaches us how we need to confront global issues, how we can contribute to bringing peace and stability to the region of the Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa. The Greek government and I, personally, are grateful for the visit and the talks. We know that support will follow.”The meeting between the two Ministers, which was carried out within the...


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McDonald's is testing a ton of new ingredients including chorizo and Greek yogurt

McDonald's is adding two new breakfast bowls: scrambled egg and chorizo (left) and egg whites and turkey sausage (right). McDonald's is testing a ton of new menu items in California. The burger chain added Chobani Greek yogurt to the menu this week as ...


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European Commission Observes GREECE'S Progress in Creating Refugee Centers

GREECE has made significant progress regarding the construction of centers to accept refugees, Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue Valdis ...


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Best Beaches in GREECE

No other beach destination in Europe, and perhaps the world, has the charm, the majesty, the history, and the sheer sexiness of GREECE. Maybe it's ...


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Super Heroes: The New Greek Gods

Whenever a super hero movie comes out, many of the same criticisms are heard throughout the reviewing world about super heroes being too whiny, angsty or sad. We’ve seen this recently with Man of Steel, but the Tobey McGuire Spiderman movies received ...


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GREECE-Cyprus sea cable route mapped out

The first phase of the reconnaissance study and seabed mapping to identify the optimum route for a proposed high-voltage subsea power cable, ...


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Says Government Sources Have Verbally Confirmed Crete Backing

… Greek government approval of its resort project on the island of Crete … there have been reports in Greek travel media that the remaining … , particularly at this time when Greece is grappling with many major …


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Minoan Group shares skyrocket on Greek media rumours

… Greek media that the requisite signatories required Presidential Decree for its Crete … confirmation from sources within the Greek government. "The importance of … when Greece is grappling with many major issues," he added. Greece …


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Phone Conference Between Greek PM Tsipras and Merkel on Refugee Crisis

A phone conference between PM Alexis Tsipras and Angela Merkel took place on Wednesday morning. The PM’s intention was to express his displeasure for the non-observance of the agreement on the handling of the refugee and migrant crisis. Tsipras demanded ...


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Seeking refuge in Germany, stuck in Greece

Longing for refuge in Germany but stuck in limbo in Greece: That could be the fate of masses of new migrants to Europe, the United Nations warned on Wednesday.


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Opa! GREEK Fest Fort Myers celebrates 41 years

FORT MYERS, Fla. – GREEK Fest returns to the Annunciation GREEK Orthodox Church of Fort Myers for the 41st year, bigger and better than ever.


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The 'Shady Ladies' Hiding In The Metropolitan Museum Of Art

Walk through the halls of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art on your own and you're sure to receive at least an afternoon's worth of a history lesson. Beside the centuries-old paintings and sculptures hang placards that give a quick glimpse into the stories behind the art. Many tell tales of myth or allegory, others of well-to-do figures of the past, patrons of the great artists we study today. Very few mention sex at all, especially as it pertains to women. "Some art is about religion," Professor Andrew Lear, founder of Shady Ladies Tours, writes on his website. "Some art is about power. But lots of the greatest art is about sex and sexiness, and the Met has a bordello-full of racy artworks, art that tells the history of human sexuality." You just might not know it. Lear is on a mission to bring these juicy tales of sexuality to the forefront. As the self-proclaimed polar opposite of Sister Wendy, he's launched Shady Ladies as an alternative tour service at the Met, one that embraces the untold tales of courtesans, royal mistresses and otherwise scandalous women whose faces -- and nude bodies -- populate the halls of the museum. "My goal is to reconnect people with the sexy side of art history," Lear explained on a recent visit with The Huffington Post. His tour moves through the familiar wings of the behemoth institute, where he waxes poetic on the dramatic histories behind the hetaerae of Greek vase painting, the naked sculptures of Praxiteles, and the work of well-known painters like Titian, Manet and Degas. As it stands, these works depict the faces of both nameless and infamous women -- from mythic figures like Venus and Salome to very real ladies like Madame X and Grace Dalrymple Elliott. Yet their biographies are virtually absent from the historical material available to museum-goers. Lear, founder of similarly tantalizing tours devoted to Oscar Wilde and "Gay Secrets," is out to correct this historical imbalance. Standing in front of a painting by Edgar Degas, occupied by his signature subject, ballerinas, Lear points out the shadowy figure of a man in a top hat watching the women as they prepare for the stage. History buffs know that ballets were originally performed by men; like Shakespearean plays, the male dancers playing women acted in drag. When women finally entered into the profession, they were not paid much. Yet, as categorically pleasing bodies and artistically-inclined minds, they drew the attention of suitors with money to spend. The shadowy figure, Lear explained, is likely one of the women's patron. So were these ballerinas, who fraternized with monied male patrons, courtesans? No, we have no idea as to whether the patron relationship involved sex. But Degas' image plays with the conservative attitude that obscured 19th century sexuality. Degas renders the man amongst the ballerinas as a blurry, dark figure, barely articulated, as though his presence behind the stage was never really advertised. The women appear at ease, though one can be seen shirking behind the figure, perhaps listening in on the conversation being had. It's a mysterious setting, one hardly explained in the small, white rectangle of information the Met provides. Lear is eager to share more stories like this: the tale of Elizabeth Farren, a late 18th century actress painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence; Victorine-Louise Meurent, the painter and model of Edouard Manet; Madame de Pompadour, the official chief mistress of Louis XV and the woman who commissioned portraits from François Boucher. Beyond the names, he speculates on the role of hetaerae in art -- referring to a specific type of sex worker in ancient Greece -- and the relationship between courtesans, dancers, actresses and the artists commissioned to paint them. As male was, more often than not, the gender responsible for documenting sexuality on canvas throughout history, Shady Ladies accordingly focuses on the women displayed. There are non-heteronormative gems amongst the bunch though. Take, for example, "The Horse Fair" by Rosa Bonheur, a "New Woman" of the 19th century who wore men's clothing and preferred female "companions." During our tour, Lear dramatically revealed that the figure in the center of her painting, donning a blue jacket, nearly obscured by a bucking horse, is in fact Bonheur herself.  Secrets abound. Lear also runs a broader Sexy Secrets tour, which combines tidbits from his Gay Secrets segment (think: the shady boys of Caravaggio's paintings) with the gems of Shady Ladies. Both of these tours veer outside of the mostly Western purview of Shady Ladies, telling tales of sex in India, China, Korea, Japan and more. But there's something particularly intriguing about Shady Ladies, especially given the fact that 85 percent of the nudes at the Met are female. Their stories deserve to be told.  At the end of the day, the "Shady" of Lear's title seems to refer less to the "disreputable" occupations of the women and more to the dubious ways institutions gloss over their contributions to art history. For what it's worth, Dr. Ruth, sex therapist extraordinaire, enjoyed her visit. For those not of the prudish heart, a field trip to the Met might be in order. _For more information on Shady Ladies Tours, check out the ticketing website. The next tour will be held on Friday, Feb. 26. See a preview of the paintings discussed in the tour below._ ALSO ON HUFFPOST: -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


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Greece Continues to Have a Serious Tax Evasion Problem

Greek government authorities assigned with the responsibility to combat black money have identified over 3,500 cases of tax evasion which amount to over 5 billion euros. The local tax authorities have been informed of these cases since 2014, but it appears ...


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Greek Supreme Court Prosecutor Asks for Implementation of Flagrante Delicto Procedure Against Protesting Farmers

The prosecutor of The Court of Cassation, the supreme court of Greece for civil and criminal law, has asked for the implementation of the procedure of flagrante delicto against Greek farmers who continue to protest and block the nation’s major highways.


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Migrants Block Greek Freeway as Border Bottleneck Grows. Las Vegas Blog

IDOMENI, Greece – Migrants cradling young kids blocked a freeway in Greece demanding onward passage to Macedonia Wed., part of a growing bottleneck of refugees stranded by new border restrictions & closures across Europe. Families chanted “We want to ...


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EU-Turkey migration summit on March 7 in Brussels: Tusk

[Migrants arrive on the northern Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on February 23, 2016]EU leaders will hold a special summit with Turkey in Brussels on March 7 to push forward a deal aimed at stemming the flow of migrants into Europe, the bloc's President Donald Tusk said Wednesday.


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Greece's migrant crisis worsens

(Vatican Radio) Greece’s migrant crisis is deteriorating dramatically, as thousands of Middle Eastern refugees are literally trapped in Greece, unable to go on into Europe or go back home. Listen to John Carr's report: There were heart-rending scenes at ...


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Manoli’s broadens scope of Greek scene, one small plate at a time

While Salt Lake is home to many Greek restaurants, most of them fall more into the fast-casual realm instead of fine-dining fare. Manoli's on 9th aims to broaden that scope. Owner and chef Manoli Katsanevas grew up in the restaurant business. His family ...


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Policy Shifts on Refugees Lead to Clashes Between Migrants and Police

The Greek riot police forcibly removed protesters from train tracks at a border camp after Macedonia blocked Afghans from seeking political asylum.


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Friendly Football Match Between Australia and Greece in June

The National Greek football team will face the Australian team in two friendly matches on June 2016 in Sidney. Both matches will take place at the ANZ Stadium, one on June 4 and the other on June 7. The last match between the two teams took place in May ...


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New Houston restaurants top Texas Monthly list

Patricia Sharpe, the magazine's executive editor and restaurant critic, went as far to say that the GREEK tourism bureau needed to hire Evan Turner, ...


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Bulgarian Road Carriers Threaten to Block Border with Greece Permanently

Bulgarian road carriers on Wednesday said they will set up a permanent "counter-blockade" on the border with Greece unless farmers on the other side of the border end their protest. Their announcement was made by Bulgaria's Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski in a press conference at the Kapitan Andreevo border crossing. "We will make sure that the ones suffering are those who have caused us the same infliction," Focus News Agency quoted him as saying.   Drivers of commercial transit trucks are standing ready to renew their counter-blockade, according to Moskovski will only affect haulage vehicles initially. Greek farmers have been blocking intermittently traffic both ways across two key checkpoints (Kulata-Promachonas and Ilinden-Exochi) at the common border for a month, demanding that the government in Athens review its plans for changing social insurance and taxation laws. With haulage services in Bulgaria and elsewhere incurring losses from the blockade which has resulted in kilometers-long queues of trucks carrying goods across the borders, Bulgarian drivers last week decided to stage a "counter-blockade" at all checkpoints, which however was lifted over the weekend. The reasons cited were the agreement by farmers to temporarily lift their blockade and supposed comments in Europe that Bulgaria was responsible for trouble at the border. The Chair of the National Association of Bulgarian Road Carriers, Mirolyub Stolarski, who also took part in the press conference, added carriers are also considering an extension of the blockade to the Bulgaria-Macedonia border to make sure all transit traffic is affected. Drivers are now determined to go on with the  counter-blockade and possibly keep it on Easter unless their demands are heard. Stolarski also told reporters there will be intermittent blockades throughout the summer in the wors case scenario, and between July 15 and August 20 it will be possible to make it through the border only  for five hours a day if the issue is not settled.  


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CMP Representatives Visit Afania Where 100 Missing People Are Reportedly Buried

A delegation of the Committee on Missing Persons on Tuesday visited a site at Afania village in the Turkish occupied areas where during the 90’s, the remains of 100 missing Greek Cypriots are thought to have been moved. The information for the site was given to “Politis” newspaper by a Turkish Cypriot and the newspaper’s


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Greek PM Informs ND’s Leader on State of Affairs Over Migrants

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and New Democracy’s leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke over the phone today, upon the initiative of the PM himself, in order to discuss the latest developments on the migration front. It has been reported that Mr. Tsipras informed Mr. Mitsotakis of where things stand on the migration front following the claims of


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