Greek pathologist tells court alleged murder victim had shot herself

Greek pathologist tells court alleged murder victim had shot herselfCyprus MailA Greek pathologist told the Larnaca court on Wednesday that an Aradippou woman had killed herself with a shotgun and that her arrested husband had not murdered her. Former policeman, Nicos Iordanous, 64 is on trial for the alleged the premeditated ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT cyprus-mail.com

New Greek Website Launches for First Time Since 1998

The newly designed Greek Boston.com also has pages for each upcoming Greek festival in the New England region, as well as the Greek Orthodox Church sponsoring the festival, so New England Greeks can keep their events calendar full! Other Greek events can ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.consumerelectronicsnet.com

Scottish referendum: George Galloway on tour to say 'naw' to independence

Galloway appears in town of Glenrothes to debate the referendum as part of his campaign to promote a no vote

The touring attractions soon to hit the town of Glenrothes, in Fife, include Abba Mania, a man named Elio Pace singing the songs of Billy Joel, and something called Pop-up Bowie, whose current incarnation may or may not include a nod to the Thin White Duke's plea for Scotland to "stay with us".

All are advertised at the town's Rothes Hall, along with one very incongruous show, explained in an eight-page pamphlet, which grapples with the looming independence referendum. "Two and a half thousand years ago," it reads, "Socrates declared that he was not an Athenian or a Greek but a simple citizen of the world. Albert Einstein described nationalism as an illness, the measles of mankind." It goes on: "It sickens me that the country of my birth is threatened by such obsolescent dogma. Flags and borders do not matter a jot."

The author of these words arrives in town in the late afternoon, driving a black Volvo 4X4, and dressed in togs that suggest the principal character from some noir thriller yet unmade, most of which match the colour of his car: a fedora hat, waistcoat, and daringly drainpipe trousers, set off with a white wing-collar shirt.

Within half an hour, George Galloway – the native of Dundee, MP for Bradford West, a former Labour MP for inner Glasgow, and figurehead of the Respect party – is sitting in Wetherspoon's, devouring fish and chips and granting about a dozen requests for photographs. Even a group of young people trying to find something to do outside the Poundstretcher do not take much prompting to identify him as a star of Celebrity Big Brother, though their judgment of his famous appearance in a leotard is less than charitable ("disgusting" offers 22-year-old Lyndsay Duncan, though Galloway might be cheered to hear that she and several of her friends are intent on voting against independence).

Tonight's show is another instalment of a sporadic tour titled Just Say Naw, which has been popping up in Scottish towns and cities since late last year. For its latest run, tickets are free, and the format remains simple: for the first 45 minutes, Galloway outlines the case against independence, and after a brief interval, comes back to take questions from the floor.

Such is one part of an ongoing tumult of debate, much of it taking place well outside the official Yes and No campaigns. Glenrothes – a new town, planned in the late 1940s, which residents say is now sorely lacking dependable employment and opportunities – is a particularly interesting place to sample what's going on. It's home to the HQ of Fife council, which changed hands at the 2012 local elections from an SNP-Lib Dem coalition to Labour, and it was the scene of a shock byelection win by Labour over the nationalists. If a spurt of vox-popping is anything to go by, support for the Yes and No campaigns is evenly split here, and the referendum is a hot topic of conversation.

Tonight, in front of a crowd of around 500, Galloway is joined onstage by Brian Wilson: not, rather disappointingly, of the Beach Boys, but the former MP for the now-abolished seat of Cunninghame North, and a minister in Tony Blair's government (or, as he puts it, "a mainstream Labour guy"). The two are apparently long-standing friends, but unlikely allies, both politically and rhetorically: Wilson talks about "the refragmentation of Europe", while Galloway does great circuits of the stage, roaring his contempt for the SNP, his belief in what remains of the socialist dream, and his insistence that class will always trump questions of nationality.

Their basic argument goes something like this. Scotland's presence in the union acts as a brake on the more swivel-eyed free-marketry that runs riot in the Conservative party, partly thanks to the 58 non-Tory MPs it sends to Westminster. If independence comes, what remains of the UK will face Tory government "in perpetuity" and be run on the basis of economic liberalism gone truly mad. The only way for its new neighbour to keep up will be to join in a race to the bottom – which, says Galloway, the SNP will be only too happy to do.

To all intents and purposes, then, Scotland would remain in thrall to Westminster and the City of London. Or, as Galloway puts it: "You get divorced, but your wife's going to keep your credit card, and have control over what you spend it on."

There is but one problem: all this tends to sound like a counsel of despair, when places like Glenrothes could surely do with a little hope. I put that point to Galloway over dinner. By way of inspiration, he offers a vision of "a real Labour government, on both sides of the border … of the kind that we once took for granted". Good luck with that, I tell him. "Well, I'm trying my best," he says.

On stage, Galloway does his best to barnstorm through any weaknesses in his argument. And what he brings to the independence debate is clear from the off: for all that the No side seems to be in front – the most recent poll has support for independence on 28% – the Better Together campaign has been singularly lacking in passion and pizazz; whereas here, it arrives in spades, as the more pro-Galloway sections of the audience agree.

"Brilliant," says 67-year-old John Stark. "This has got real sparkle. But so far, the No campaign has been really insipid."

Ken Allan, 68, adds: "It needs a shot up the bum."

Even if it gets one, there will be plenty of people who remain staunch supporters of the Yes campaign – like the healthy smattering of pro-independence voices who show up to try and take Galloway to task. "It's what I was expecting," says Callum Jenkins, 24, a law student. "Just the usual arguments, really: we're too small and weak to go it alone, so we have to keep things as they are. It's pish."

Once Galloway and Wilson have left the stage, the former takes up residence in the foyer, where he signs copies of two books that shine a light on his singular politics: his Fidel Castro Handbook, and his account of the sectarian ugliness experienced by the Celtic manager, Neil Lennon. According to its blurb, the latter recounts "the history of Scotland's shame, anti-Irish Catholic racism and bigotry" – which, Galloway somewhat controversially claims, could be reawakened if Scotland secedes.

Once again, there are serial requests for selfies, before Galloway gets back in his 4X4 and drives into the night. On his own terms, then, a win: as the Pop-up Bowie show would have it, he manages to look like a hero – at least for one day.

George GallowayScottish independenceScotlandJohn Harristheguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com

Greek Independence Day reception held in Belgrade

This is an important day for us, our national holiday by which we celebrate the ... that it waged against the Ottoman Empire, which ended in founding the modern Greek state. The Revolution was declared on March 25, 1821 by Metropolitan Germanos, who ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT inserbia.info

BC-AS--Asian News Digest, AS

by  Associated Press BC-AS--Asian News Digest, AS Associated Press - 26 March 2014 08:15-04:00

ASIA:

MALAYSIA-PLANE

PERTH, Australia — A French satellite scanning the Indian Ocean for remnants of a missing jetliner found a possible plane debris field containing 122 objects, a top Malaysian official says, calling it "the most credible lead that we have." Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the objects were more than 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Australia, near where other satellites previously detected objects. The objects ranged in length from one meter (yard) to 23 meters (25 yards). By Todd Pitman and Rob Griffith. SENT: 1,200 words, photos, video.

MALAYSIA-PLANE-ENDURING MYSTERY

Over an extraordinary 17 days and nights, until the moment Malaysia's prime minister stepped to a lectern to deliver investigators' sobering new findings, the fate of vanished Flight 370 hung on morbid conjecture and fragile hope. Many previous tragedies have transfixed us by revealing their power in cruel detail. But the disappearance of the Beijing-bound Boeing 777 without warning or explanation captivated imaginations around the world in no small part because of the near vacuum of firm information or solid leads. By Adam Heller and Kristen Gelineau. SENT: 1,300 words, photos.

— MALAYSIA-PLANE-RELATIVES — Chinese relatives still skeptical after Malaysia says plane lost at sea. By Didi Tang and Christopher Bodeen. UPCOMING: 800 words by 1300 GMT, photos.

— MALAYSIA-PLANE-SEARCH — A list of the countries taking part in the search for the missing plane and what they have sent to help. SENT: 130 words, photos.

— MALAYSIA-AIRLINE INCIDENT — A plane from a new Malaysian airline is forced to turn back on a domestic flight because one of its engines caught fire. Malindo Air says the plane landed safely and no one was hurt. SENT: 160 words.

— MALAYSIA-PLANE-FILM SHELVED — A disaster movie about a jet that crashes into the ocean on its way to Beijing has been put on hold because of its similarities to the missing Malaysian plane. Arclight Films, the company behind "Deep Water," says pre-production has been halted for the time being. SENT: 320 words.

PAKISTAN

ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani government team is en route to a secret location in the country's northwest for the first-ever direct talks with the Taliban, according to a cleric representing the militants. The negotiations are part of a push by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban that would end a bloody insurgency that has killed thousands of people in recent years. By Munir Ahmed. SENT: 360 words, photos.

KOREAS-TENSIONS

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea test-fires two medium-range ballistic missiles, South Korea and the U.S. say, a defiant challenge to a rare three-way summit of its rivals Seoul, Tokyo and Washington that focused on the North's security threat. By Jung-Yoon Choi and Foster Klug. SENT: 750 words, photos.

CHINA-MICHELLE OBAMA

BEIJING — Michelle Obama ends her weeklong trip to China with a Tibetan theme, having lunch in a Tibetan restaurant, meeting students who presented her with a Tibetan silk scarf and tapping Tibetan prayer wheels. Her staff said the restaurant choice in Chengdu city in southwest Sichuan province, which borders the Tibetan region, was in accordance with the American first lady's interest in the rights of minorities in China. SENT: 210 words, photos.

FRANCE-CHINA

LYON, France — Chinese President Xi Jinping is the toast of France as he embarks on a state visit — and what better time just days after China ended an anti-dumping, anti-subsidy investigation of French wine. By Laurent Cipriani. SENT: 460 words, photos.

CHINA-LAND SEIZURES

BEIJING — A real estate developer and a village official in eastern China directed the arsonists who set a fire in which a farmer burned to death in a tent that he had pitched to guard his land against development, police say. By Louise Watt. SENT: 390 words.

AFGHAN-ELECTIONS

KABUL, Afghanistan — When Afghans select their new president next month, it will largely be up to tens of thousands of Afghan poll watchers to catch signs of ballot box stuffing and other vote-rigging that tarnished Hamid Karzai's re-election five years ago. The international observer mission is far smaller this time, and relentless violence has driven away many foreigners who signed up. By Kim Gamel. SENT: 950 words, photos.

UNITED STATES-ASIA-MILITARY

WASHINGTON — Top U.S. military officers in the Asia-Pacific say budget cuts could hurt the ability of American forces to respond to a security crisis, including on the Korean Peninsula. By Matthew Pennington. SENT: 500 words.

MYANMAR-CENSUS

YANGON, Myanmar — As Myanmar continues its transition from decades of military rule and self-imposed isolation, it is about to carry out a census that experts say is crucial for national planning and development, but also likely to inflame already soaring ethnic and religious tensions. By Aye Aye Win. SENT: 800 words, photos.

UNITED STATES-MYANMAR-ROHINGYA

WASHINGTON — The House Foreign Affairs Committee calls for an end to persecution of Myanmar's minority Rohingya Muslims in one of the strongest U.S. congressional criticisms yet of Myanmar's reformist government. By Matthew Pennington. SENT: 400 words.

BUSINESS AND FINANCE:

PHILIPPINES-BRACING FOR DISASTER

CALAMBA, Philippines — The aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines has added urgency to finding a solution to a longstanding problem: less than 10 percent of farmers have crop insurance, and while its advantages are widely understood, few can afford it. Raymundo dela Vina, an 81-year-old farmer in Laguna province near Manila, likened raising crops to betting in a lottery: you go against so many odds including pests and an average of 20 typhoons that pummel the country each year, flooding small rice paddies like his. The country's 10.8 million farmers are the second poorest industry after fishermen. Many are tenant tillers who share their harvest with land owners and go into debt to pay for seeds, fertilizer and pest control. Crop insurance is the least of priorities when there is often not even enough money for food. By Teresa Cerojano. SENT: 870 words, photos.

WORLD DISASTERS-INSURANCE

GENEVA — A leading Swiss firm says insurance claims paid out because of natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2013 totaled $45 billion globally, much of it due to floods in Europe and Typhoon Haiyan in Asia. Zurich-based Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd., known as Swiss Re, says the tab covered by insurance companies represents only about a third of the $140 billion in economic losses, not to mention 26,000 lives lost, from 308 catastrophes worldwide last year. SENT: 330 words.

U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL:

WEST RESPONSE-RUSSIA

WAREGEM, Belgium — President Barack Obama reaches back 100 years to reinforce the U.S.-European bond, calling for a recommitment to peace Wednesday during a solemn pilgrimage to a World War I cemetery as European tensions run high over Russia's incursion into Ukraine. By Jim Kuhnhenn. SENT: 800 words, photos, video, interactive.

— UKRAINE — Russia accuses Ukraine of forcing Russian airline crews to stay in planes. SENT: 250 words, photos.

— CONGRESS-UKRAINE — Senate on track to pass bill to aid Ukraine, sanction Russia after Democrats remove roadblock. SENT: 790 words.

— OBAMA-WWI — At Flanders Field, Obama pays tribute to fallen troops from World War I, says "we caught the torch." SENT: 140 words.

MUDSLIDE

ARLINGTON, Wash. — With search and cadaver dogs leading the way, rescuers using small bulldozers and their bare hands pushed through sludge strewn with splintered homes and twisted cars to find 10 more bodies in the debris of a Washington state mudslide, authorities say. Despite the grim discoveries as the search entered its fifth day Wednesday — and the likelihood that more bodies will be found — officials were still hoping to find survivors as the death toll will likely rise to at least 24. By Phuong Le and Manuel Valdes. SENT: 650 words, photos, video.

SECRET SERVICE-MISCONDUCT

WASHINGTON — The Secret Service sends three agents home from the Netherlands just before Obama's arrival after one agent was found inebriated in an Amsterdam hotel, the Secret Service says. The incident represents a fresh blemish for an elite agency struggling to rehabilitate its reputation following a high-profile prostitution scandal and other allegations of misconduct. By Josh Lederman. SENT: 530 words, photo.

NSA SURVEILLANCE

WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee three years ago secretly considered — but ultimately rejected — alternate ways for the National Security Agency to collect and store massive amounts of Americans' phone records, The Associated Press has learned. By Eileen Sullivan. SENT: 880 words, photo, interactive.

TEXAS BAY-OIL SPILL

HOUSTON — A century ago one of the nation's busiest ship channels was nothing more than a bayou meandering into the Gulf of Mexico. Today, massive ocean-going vessels carrying thousands of containers and cargo zip in and out of the Houston Ship Channel, where a barge collided with a ship over the weekend, spilling 170,000 of gooey tar-like oil into the waterway. Though the cause of Saturday's crash is still under investigation, the increase in ship congestion highlights what some operators in the channel say is the need for more maintenance, dredging, high-tech navigation systems and other improvements to ensure ships of all sizes can move safely and that collisions don't become more commonplace. By Ramit Plushnick-Masti. SENT: 860 words, photos, video.

GREAT ALASKA EARTHQUAKE

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Electric clocks on walls in Anchorage shut down at 5:36 p.m. on March 27, 1964. Time stopped at the start of the '64 Great Alaska Earthquake, the second largest recorded at magnitude 9.2. The ground shook for four to five minutes, roughly twice through "I Want to Hold Your Hand," the Beatles No. 1 song that year. Some thought the Russians had attacked. The power outage was a blessing: Anchorage water lines had failed. Fires caused by sparking power lines would have burned out of control. The USGS estimates the property loss in Alaska and elsewhere at $2.3 billion in 2013 dollars. By Dan Joling. SENT: 870 words, photos, video.

FACEBOOK-OCULUS

NEW YORK — Facebook is buying virtual reality company Oculus, betting $2 billion that its technology will become a new way for people to communicate, learn or be entertained. By Technology Writers Barbara Ortutay and Ryan Nakashima. SENT: 630 words, photo.

SPACE STATION

MOSCOW — An engine snag delays the arrival of a Russian spacecraft carrying three astronauts, including one American, to the International Space Station until Thursday. NASA and Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, said shortly before the planned docking that the arrival had been delayed after a 24-second engine burn that was necessary to adjust the Soyuz spacecraft's orbiting path "did not occur as planned." By Nataliya Vasilyeva. SENT: 380 words, photos.

GREECE GRAFFITI-PHOTO GALLERY

ATHENS, Greece — The ancient Greeks chiseled their messages, often rude or boastful, into marble. But they would probably be amazed how the illicit art form had evolved in the country's capital all these centuries later. Graffiti covers entire buildings, trains, and is disrespectfully scrawled on the statues of respected ancestors. SENT: 150 words. AP photos by Dimitri Messinis.

CUBA-RODEO-PHOTO GALLERY

HAVANA — Cuba's eight-day international rodeo festival is half party and half a cowboy-skill showcase that would seem right at home in Nevada, Wyoming or anywhere else in the American West. By Peter Orsi. SENT: 390 words, photos. AP photos by Ramon Espinosa.

SOCIAL PAINTING

PHILADELPHIA — The Fox and Hound pub in downtown Philadelphia boasts all the fixings of a standard sports bar: huge TVs, numerous beers on draft and a menu filled with burgers, wings and nachos. So what are all these easels and canvases for? Welcome to Paint Nite, an opportunity to tap your inner van Gogh. Just order a drink, put on a smock and lighten up as a friendly instructor takes you step-by-step through the brush strokes of a landscape, still life or skyline. "Social painting" is seeing explosive growth in cities across the U.S. as people seek to imbibe and relax while rediscovering their creative side. By Kathy Matheson. SENT: 630 words, photos, video.

GETTING ATTENTION

— NAVY FOOTBALL PLAYER DIES — Navy football player Will McKamey, 19, dies in coma three days after collapsing in practice. SENT: 130 words, photo.

— JUDGE JOE BROWN ARRESTED — Ordered to jail for contempt of court, former TV judge Joe Brown challenging charges. SENT: 200 words, photo.

— MISSOURI EXECUTION-FERGUSON — Missouri executes man for 1989 kidnapping, rape, killing of teen; state's fifth execution in five months. SENT: 680 words, photo.

— HAWAII PROSTITUTION-POLICE SEX — Honolulu police officers approve making it expressly illegal to have sex with prostitutes as long as undercover officers can still say they'll have sex so they can make arrests. SENT: 430 words.

— PAUL WALKER CRASH — The investigation of the crash that killed actor Paul Walker shows the Porsche he was riding in was traveling up to 94 mph when it went out of control on a suburban street. SENT: 640 words, photos.

— PEOPLE-GWYNETH PALTROW-CHRIS MARTIN — Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin announce separation after more than 10 years of marriage. SENT: 290 words, photo.

— BURGER KING BABY — A woman who as a baby just a few hours old was abandoned in the bathroom of a Pennsylvania fast-food restaurant says she has found her birth mother. SENT: 550 words.

___

YOUR QUERIES: The editor in charge at the AP Asia-Pacific Desk in Bangkok is David Thurber. Questions and story requests are welcome. The news desk can be reached at (66) 2632-6911 or by email at asia@ap.org.

The Asia Photo Desk can be reached at (81-3) 6215-8941 or by fax at (81-3) 3574-8850.

Between 1600 GMT and 0000 GMT, please refer queries to the North America Desk in New York at (1) 212-621-1650.

News Topics: General news, International relations, Violations of environmental law, Legislature, Landslides and mudslides, Accidents and disasters, Government and politics, War and unrest, Lost at sea, Intelligence agencies, Crime, Crop farming, Environmental concerns, Environment, Environment and nature, Natural disasters, Accidents, Agriculture, Industries, Business

People, Places and Companies: Nawaz Sharif, Michelle Obama, Xi Jinping, Hamid Karzai, Barack Obama, Paul Walker, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin, China, United States, Myanmar, Malaysia, Beijing, Chengdu, South Korea, Seoul, Afghanistan, Philippines, Southeast Asia, East Asia, France, Cuba, Russia, Anchorage, Ukraine, Washington, Indian Ocean, Philadelphia, Alaska, Greece, Greater China, Asia, North America, Central Asia, Western Europe, Europe, Caribbean, Latin America and Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Pennsylvania

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.neurope.eu

Diaspora Dining: Greek Flavors Down Under

“Traditionally, Greek food is seafood and veggies from the garden, things we’ve grown, like broad beans and artichokes, zucchini and tomatoes. We’ve always had vegetable dishes at Pireaus Blues,” says Lazaros, “we’re just promoting them a lot mor

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.culinarybackstreets.com

Celebrating Greece's Independence Day

Celebrating Greece's Independence DayWBNG-TV"It is the same as July 4th. We celebrate in this country our national Independence Day. In Greece its their National Independence Day and the greek Americans here in this country celebrate such a festive event," said Father Fr. Michael Bahlatzis ...and more »

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.wbng.com