How the world sees Greece
Fourteen years ago, My Big, Fat Greek Wedding was released, and became the biggest-grossing romantic comedy and biggest-grossing wedding-themed movie of all time. The sequel, My Big, Fat Greek Wedding 2, is topping social media with its hilarious two-and-a-half-minute trailer. The post My Big, Fat Greek Sequel is Here with Big Blast! appeared first on The National Herald.
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The impact of closed pharmacies—including disruption to patients' access to medications—may not be widely covered, as GREEK journalists are ...
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Then, on July 13 after 17 hours of negotiations Tsipras had to agree to a really bad plan in order to avoid a total destruction of the GREEK economy and ...
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National Bank of GREECE stock edges close to 52-week low as many Greeks went on a strike on Thursday in protest against the Syriza-led government.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri's governing board on Thursday appointed a recently-retired senior administrator from its flagship campus to be the university system's interim president. Michael Middleton, 68, takes over for Tim Wolfe, who resigned abruptly on Monday amid student-led protests over his administration's handling of racial complaints. Middleton, who is black, resigned as deputy chancellor of the Columbia campus in August and took on the role of deputy chancellor emeritus. He had been working part-time with the campus' chancellor, R. Bowen Loftin, on a plan to increase inclusion and diversity at the school. Loftin also announced Monday he would be stepping down at the end of the year for a different role at the school. His and Wolfe's resignations came after 30 black members of the football team gave a big boost to the protest movement by vowing not to take part in team activities until Wolfe was gone. MU Policy Now, a student group made up of graduate and professional students, had been pushing for Middleton's appointment. "Given the recent turmoil, Deputy Chancellor Emeritus Middleton is a strong transitional figure," the group wrote in a letter of endorsement posted on its Facebook page and sent to curators. Several student organizations signed the recommendation letter, including the Legion of Black Collegians. Middleton has a bachelor's degree from Missouri and became one of the first black graduates of the law school in 1971. He worked with the federal government in Washington and was a trial attorney in the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division before joining the university law faculty in 1985. He also helped found the Legion of Black Collegians, a student group involved in the current protest, and himself participated in previous campus protests for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. He was interim vice provost for minority affairs and faculty development starting in 1997, and a year later was named deputy chancellor. In that role, he was credited with turning women's studies and black studies programs into their own departments. Meanwhile, a 19-year-old man accused of posting online threats to shoot blacks on the Columbia campus was expected to appear in court via a video link from jail, where he's being held on bond. Hunter M. Park, a 19-year-old sophomore at one of the other University of Missouri System campuses in Rolla, is charged with making a terroristic threat, which is punishable by up to seven years in prison. The threatening posts showed up Tuesday on the anonymous location-based messaging app Yik Yak, and were concerning enough that some classes were canceled and some Columbia businesses closed for the day. They were made during a time of racial unrest on campus that resulted in the resignations Monday of the university system president and the Columbia campus chancellor. One of the threats said: "Some of you are alright. Don't go to campus tomorrow" — a warning campus police Officer Dustin Heckmaster said in a probable cause statement that he recognized as one that appeared ahead of last month's Oregon college shooting involving a gunman who killed nine people and himself. Heckmaster wrote that Yik Yak willingly gave him the cellphone number that Tuesday's poster had used to create the account from which the threats originated. AT&T later told investigators that the number was Park's and that cellphone towers showed that the postings came from the Rolla area, the officer wrote. University of Missouri-Columbia police records show the department had contact with Park last January, Heckmaster wrote without elaborating. Those records noted that Park was a student at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, where Heckmaster confronted Park early Wednesday in the sophomore computer science major's dorm room. Heckmaster wrote that Park admitted the posts were "inappropriate." He said he asked if the threats amounted to "saber rattling," and Park responded, "pretty much." When questioned specifically what he meant by the phrase, "Some of you are alright. Don't go to campus tomorrow," Park "smiled and stated, 'I was quoting something,'" Heckmaster wrote. When pressed whether it was mimicking the Oregon shooting's posting, Park replied, "Mmhmm." When asked why, Park said, "I don't know. I just ... deep interest," Heckmaster wrote. A message left on Park's mother's cellphone was not returned, and there was no response to knocks on the door of the family's home in the affluent St. Louis suburb of Lake St. Louis. A second student was arrested at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville for allegedly posting a threat on Yik Yak that read, "I'm gonna shoot any black people tomorrow, so be ready." Northwest Missouri State spokesman Mark Hornickel told several media outlets that authorities hadn't linked the incident to threats at the University of Missouri's Columbia campus. Authorities also are investigating another threat on Yik Yak, this one leveled at the Rolla campus by someone saying, "I'm gonna shoot up this school." And police at the Columbia campus say someone spray-painted over part of a sign early Thursday at the black culture center. They were reviewing video surveillance from the area, a school spokesman said. On Wednesday, the university said an employee who was among those who clashed with a student photographer during campus protests was placed on administrative leave while her actions are investigated. Janna Basler is the school's director of Greek life. The videotaped clash helped fan a debate about the free press. Basler did not return a message seeking comment. A communication professor also drew criticism for trying to stop a photographer from taking pictures. Melissa Click apologized Tuesday. Months of protests culminated in a tumultuous week on the Columbia campus. Back in September, the student government president reported that people shouted racial slurs at him from a passing pickup truck, galvanizing the protest movement. Last week, a graduate student went on a hunger strike to demand the resignation of Wolfe over his handling of racial complaints. Then more than 30 members of the Missouri football team refused to practice or play in support of the hunger striker. Those developments came to a head Monday with the resignation of Wolfe and Loftin, the top administrator of the Columbia campus. ___ Associated Press writers Jim Suhr and Jim Salter in St. Louis and AP researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report. Join the conversation about this story »
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Norwegian national Rannveig Aamodt is a 31-year-old professional rock climber, author, photographer, and speaker who splits her time between Norway and Colorado. She also coaches a youth climbing team in Norway and is a certified yoga instructor. She has spent many years in school studying alternative veterinary medicine. In April 2012, the fearless climber broke
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Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades briefed Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on the results of his meetings in Jordan, on Thursday. The two leaders had this discussion, during a meeting they had in Malta, addressing the current phase of the Cyprus problem, ahead of Tsipras’s forthcoming visit to Turkey. Government Spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said, in a
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Greek Leaders Take Stand Against Sexual Assault “Even if you’re initiating a conversation, just one, then that’s one more conversation than was happening ...
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The eurozone will only release them once the GREEK parliament has passed 48 “milestones”, mostly leftover pledges from Greece's previous two ...
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Police have a man in custody Thursday after being led on a chase that started in Rochester and ended in GREECE. GREECE police, with the assistance ...
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Clashes have briefly broken out between riot police and youths in Athens during the first general strike since the country's left-led government came to ...
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WASHINGTON: International creditors of Greece could take into account the massive influx of migrants that is further burdening its economy in their discussions, an ...
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By Alastair Macdonald VALLETTA (Reuters) - European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to invite Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to a summit very soon as they seek his help to stem a chaotic flow of migrants that threatens Europe's unity and open borders. Donald Tusk, the European Council president who chaired the emergency meeting of EU leaders on Malta, warned that they must win a "race against time" to slow arrivals via Greece if Europe is to save the Schengen zone of passport-free travel inside the bloc from being throttled by new national barriers and controls. At the meeting, which followed a summit on the same topic with African counterparts, leaders were briefed on negotiations with Ankara the EU executive launched a month ago and gave the green light to wrapping them up.
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A massive general strike brought Greece to a standstill on Thursday, as tens of thousands of people protested spending cuts pushed through by the country's leftist government in exchange for European bailout money.
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Clashes briefly broke out Thursday between riot police and youths in central Athens during the first general strike since the country's left-led ...
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GREEK 24-hour general strike as protesters demonstrate against austerity ... Traffic ground to a standstill as protesters made their way to the GREEK ...
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Teargas surrounds a statue on Syntagma square during clashes between police and protesters in Athens. 'Enough already with the taxes,' said one ...
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PARIS -- The "clash of civilizations" is no longer a phantasmagoric tale spun by a lone author. In the post-9/11 world, it is an unfolding reality where colliding forces are active at both political and social levels. This is certainly true of the Muslim world and the West. The underlying political tensions have found religious expression as an icon of the cycles of aggression and resistance. In the process, the religion itself has become an unsuspected victim, as opposed to the prevailing misperception about its alleged role as _agent provocateur._ Intolerance in the name of religion is a denial of both freedom and tolerance. Freedom and tolerance cannot be mutually exclusive. Neither can they be the sole prerogative of a single dominating entity. Similarly, discrimination in words and deeds on account of freedom and tolerance are anathema to the spirit of co-existence. From Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" and the Danish Jyllands-Posten cartoons to the shoddy movie _Innocence of Muslims,_ the public square in the Muslim world has presented little beyond the spectacles of self-annihilation. Many precious human lives have been lost and properties destroyed. The mocking Islamophobic crowds now routinely label it as "Muslim violence." Some 3 million Google search results indicate a steady rise in Islamophobia. The ever-increasing Islamophobia in the West demands an informed response from the Muslim world and not the self-immolation behavior some Muslims have displayed so far. Similarly, the interdiction of websites becomes an oxymoron in the wake of alternative technologies for access. It only stands to reinforce views held by the West about Islam and Muslims. The self-destructive emotive response also acts to strengthen extremist attitudes among the masses and moves them away from the pristine teachings of Islam. > In the post-9/11 world, Islam itself has become an unsuspected > victim, as opposed to the prevailing misperception about its alleged > role as _agent provocateur_. The freedom of expression, it would appear, is not simply an "us and them" issue. Its complexities touch the boundaries of state ideology, constitutional matrix, religious liberty and individual choices, among others. It is in an increasingly globalized world where, courtesy of the Internet, instantaneity of information has become its hallmark, that the Islamophobia stands magnified. Of course, compared to the medieval period, there are a myriad of reasons for its massive proliferation. Under these circumstances, it is difficult to restrain emotive responses. This alone underlines the utmost significance of initiating and sustaining interfaith dialogue and harmony. Interfaith ethics face the daunting challenge of contextual ethics vs. global ethics as they get translated into moral relativism. Obviously, the contextual ethics emanate from a specific context -- such as the Greek era virtue ethics -- but they fail to cater for the evolving global socio-economic systems. The same could be true for the relativity of moral values across societies. The transition beyond the nation-state to a global existence necessitates a holistic approach to the human condition such as the Islamic proclamation on gender equality or planetary stewardship -- _khilafah_. The search for a common core for human moral action, therefore, must remain the focus of our relentless quest for harmony. Yet, it would be a folly to assume that cultural diversity would be amenable to a monolithic human existence. Within the Islamic framework, recognition and acceptance of diversity is a divine injunction: > O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made > you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest > of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is > Knowing, Aware._ Quran Surah 49, Al-Hujurat:13_ The Quran pronounces gender equality; it informs us of the creation of nations and tribes; and exhorts us to know one another. Above all, rejecting gender bias and racial superiority, the Quran makes moral conduct as the principal yardstick for humankind. The essence of diversity, as conveyed by the Quranic message, is the human struggle for goodness, beyond racial and gender boundaries. For Islamic civilization, therefore, moral conduct is the rationale for its existence. It is this fundamental value that distinguishes it from any other civilization in history. The argument that other civilizations, too, have a moral core is countered by the fact that Islam is a way of life _ -- ad-Deen -- _ and not simply a religion. The Quranic paradigm of diversity negates the existence of a monolithic structure of civilization. By divine decree, humankind is fated for diversity. This implies that any human attempt to monopolize or, for that matter, imperialize human society and culture in any of their diverse manifestations is a contradiction of the Quranic verdict. Within the Quranic paradigm, recognition of diversity is an implicit recognition of freedom. The same could be true for the value of justice. Similarly, other values such as tolerance and harmony are the natural fallouts of diversity where morality reigns supreme. In that sense, Islam can claim universality. Islamoph > uddenly uncovered by social media on the Internet. Islamophobia is > as old as Islam itself. Yet, Islam can be rightly credited as a > trendsetter in interfaith harmony. > > Recognition of diversity leads to tole mony -- two prerequisites for dialogue. If history is any guide, the medieval period in the life of Islam and the West was not all that hostile. There was Convivencia. It was a period of free flowering of intellect where the three Abrahamic faiths co-existed in a mutually beneficial manner. Courage to accept and offer constructive criticism was the hallmark of that society. It was a powerful transition in the history of human ideas that spanned nearly five centuries in medieval Spain, only to be ruined by the forces of Reconquista. The historical spectrum of the two civilizations indeed is in dire contradiction to what Huntington has painted as cultural fault lines. Inquisition, genocide, the Holocaust, imperial missionary and similar acts have no parallel in Islamic history. Islamophobia is not a new phenomenon, suddenly uncovered by social media on the Internet. Islamophobia is as old as Islam itself. Yet, Islam can be rightly credited as a trendsetter in interfaith harmony. Inspired by the covenants of the blessed prophet with the Christians of Mount Sinai, Najran, Persia and others, the spirit is still alive in the name of A Common Word and the Dialogue among Civilizations. They all signify harmony as the essence of Islamic core values. Today, there prevails a sense of planetary responsibility embedded in the rise of ecological consciousness. Collective intelligence appears to be at work. At the same time, technological convergence is shaping the lives of billions of people on this Earth. Perhaps, ecological and technological convergence can both serve as auxiliary forces to provide interfaith dialogue a greater momentum and impact. May the universal foundational ethics, sans moral relativism, evolve under the umbrella of some of the core values of Islamic worldview -- tolerance, acceptance, humility and harmony. We all need to articulate that universal fact for the sake of humanity. _ALSO ON WORLDPOST: _ -- 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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Not long ago my wife and I attended a concert which featured the music of the folksinger and political activist Pete Seeger. A palpable magic transcended and unified the audience in the room, echoing the words and message of Seeger. During Seeger's career the words on his banjo were, "This Machine Surrounds Hate and Forces It to Surrender." The challenge we face is that the forces and voices of violence, hate, and division are much better at knowing how to be heard. The song of peace, goodwill, and cooperation must be sung much louder. This is true of many conflicts in the world. It is certainly true of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and particularly now during this recent wave of violence we are witnessing. Those voices of discord are not afraid to murder. They kill kings (Jordanian King Abdullah I), and presidents (Sadat), and prime ministers (Rabin), and U.S. presidential candidates (Robert F. Kennedy was killed for his support of Israel). And as we know they don't stop there. Civilians, Palestinians and Israelis are their favorite murdered targets. Those killings not only perpetuate the conflict, but they have another result; they intimidate those who favor the two state solution. The slow evaporation of support for that resolution of the conflict shows the power of that force. More and more we see civil society intimidated and attacked in this conflict. Violence is not the only tactic used. Palestinians deny the historical connection of the Jewish people to the Temple Mount, while at the same time Israelis dismiss Palestinian claims to the land. Both actions threaten and take away the identity and dignity of Israelis and Palestinians. The response of each is to feel vulnerable as core identities are perceived to be imperiled and jeopardized. In such a state there is a circling of the wagons with no sense there is anyone reasonable on the other side to talk with. Related, Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas have become masters of sleight of hand diplomacy. On the one hand they both say they are for a two-state solution. But at the same time, with the other hand, their actions and words create the conditions so the other side feels they have no real partner for peace. The Prime Minister's policies of continued building on the West Bank, combined with the daily humiliating and frustrating encounters Palestinians are forced to put up with in a life under occupation, and deadly force the IDF uses in too many encounters with Palestinians, sends a clear message to Palestinians that the Prime Minister's words in support of a two-state solution are meaningless. President Abbas continued inflaming passions around the Temple Mount without clearly acknowledging Jewish claims, combined with a celebration of "martyrs" and payments to their families, as well as an endless culture of hate and incitement within Palestinian institutions, such as the claim by Abbas that a Palestinian teenager had been executed by the Israelis only to be seen alive in an Israeli hospital, is seen by Israelis as a showing of the true colors of Abbas. The Bible begins with God creating the world by words. It conveys the extremely important message that words create worlds, realities, and conditions. That lesson has been lost by both sides and the violence we see today is a direct result of the abuse of the power of words. The longer this conflict goes on it becomes easier for radical elements to become strengthened and increase in numbers, while at the same time it allows for a spiral downward drawing the two sides further apart. The present violence is but another reminder that the status quo can not hold, and greater violence and loss of life will become the only path both sides will be condemned to. In its own way a closed loop of hate, lies, and violence has been created that is a self-fulfilling prophecy to nowhere. Such a dynamic allows both sides to convince themselves that they are correct and justified in their actions. A black and white approach closes off all other possibilities. With those glasses on Netanyahu sees all Palestinians as supporting the destruction of the State of Israel. With such limited vision he refuses to differentiate between Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Abbas, stone throwers, peaceful demonstrators, everyday Palestinians, and Palestinians who work with Israeli-Palestinian People2People organizations. Yes, there are Palestinians who want to see Israel annihilated. For many Palestinians they are frustrated and angry at the stifling occupation that appears to have no end in sight. Netanyahu is unable to see that for the vast majority of Palestinians they simply want the occupation to end, just like Jews wanted the Greek and Roman occupations to end two thousand plus years ago; occupations Jews violently fought against and that are celebrated to this day. The longer there is no political solution both sides will birth greater violent radicalization. Too often we are told that this conflict needs to be left to the younger generation to solve it. The problem with that assumption is that we know there is less and less buy in by younger Palestinians and Israelis. Their hearts have been hardened by only knowing conflict with the other. Most of the present violence is perpetrated by individuals in their twenties and teens. The present situation reads like "Knots" by R.D. Laing: the situation on the ground needs to improve violence is caused because the situation on the ground has not improved the situation on the ground will not improve until the violence ends calls to end the violence will not work until the situation on the ground improves the situation on the ground needs to improve The second half of this essay will explore an approach to breaking out of this cycle. _(a variation of this essay appeared International Policy Digest, October 29, 2015)_ -- 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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Danc'letics of Rochester wins GREECE Chamber Microenterprise of the Year award and Critics on the Mall wins Small Business of the Year award.
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GREECE, N.Y. -- A robbery suspect is in police custody after leading authorities on a car chase through Rochester and GREECE Thursday morning.
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NEW HAVEN, CT – Silliman College is one of 12 residential colleges at Yale University, the third-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States (behind Harvard and William & Mary), and one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Founded in 1718, Yale is actually older than the United States of America. […] The post Greeks in Center of Yale Costume Controversy appeared first on The National Herald.
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It must have been an awesome experience: to be a SYRIZA supporter, to have joined the anti-austerity protest and to be teargassed by the same government that you support. This interpretation of the incidents as it appeared in several Greek media is wrong. Police did not fired teargas against the […]
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A Polish teacher has apologized after giving his students this physics assignment: calculate how many Syrian refuges would have to be pushed off a raft for it to remain afloat and reach Greece.
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The E-Edition includes all of the news, comics, classifieds and advertisements of the newspaper. And it's available to subscribers before 6 a.m. every ...
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Will Portugal go the way of GREECE? Its leftist coalition is expected to take power after the center-right government's austerity plan was rejected on ...
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It kicks off with a gentle introduction from the lovely Toula, who calmly narrates the clip: "A long time ago, I had a big fat GREEK wedding. Now my ...
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While GREECE languishes under economic and political chaos, Ireland's stunning recovery continues. With declining debt and unemployment, rising ...
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International Monetary Fund (IMF) spokesperson Gerry Rice claimed during a news brief on Thursday, that the IMF is working with Greece’s European creditors‘ to access the 86 billion euro bailout‘s development, Reuters reports. “We are working with our European partners to assess progress on policy implementation under the ESM – European Stability Mechanism – program, looking
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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will meet with both Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Ankara on November 18th, Greek media reports. The primary goal of his state visit to Turkey is to discuss with Davutoglu cooperation between the two countries on the ongoing refugee crisis. Tsipras has expressed his intention to work with Turkey
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An acrimonious argument has started between Greece’s coroners association and the Samos Hospital administration over autopsies and issuing of death certificate procedures. Dead bodies of refugees, with those of children among them, pile up at the mortuary of the Samos public hospital and stay there for days before a doctor confirms a death or orders
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Greece on Thursday said the only effective way to stem a flow of refugees and migrants to Europe from the Middle East and beyond was through Turkey, one of the first points of arrival for thousands after fleeing their homes. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, attending an EU summit in Malta, said he would be discussing the matter with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglou next week. "It is obvious that the only real chance of stopping these flows, these huge flows that no country can manage - let alone Greece which is in crisis ... is reaching an understanding with Turkey," Tsipras said.
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The 24-hour walkout shut down public services, forced the cancellation of flights and disrupted public transportation across the country.
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Thousands of public sector employees, pensioners and jobless workers take part
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It’s a sad circus in Greece: the latest is a general strike Thursday following the “political atmospherics” with European creditors that stalled a ...
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Greece's governing party is supporting industrial action against its austerity policies.
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From Yahoo News: Over 20,000 people demonstrated against fresh spending cuts in Athens Thursday, with a brief flare-up of violence marking the first general strike ...
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As Greece's creditors want a 40 percent pension cut for those under 65, the government wants higher social security taxes to prevent it. The post Creditors Want 40% Pension Cut appeared first on The National Herald.
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A senior Interior Ministry official says Slovenia is "following the configuration of the terrain" in placing a razor-wire fence along the Croatian border to manage an influx of asylum-seekers. Croatia has lodged a formal protest with Slovenia, saying the new fence entered its territory at several places along the winding boundary. German officials say more than 40 migrants have been blocked from boarding ferries to Sweden because of the Scandinavian country's new border restrictions. Ferry operator Stena Line said that it requires all passengers to carry IDs to conform with the Swedish government's decision to temporarily introduce border checks. Swedish news agency TT said Swedish police were boarding trains crossing the Oresund bridge from Denmark and asking passengers for IDs. Swedish officials say the border checks aren't meant to turn away people who want to seek asylum in Sweden, but to make the asylum process more orderly and prevent people from transiting through Sweden to seek asylum in neighboring Finland and Norway. Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar is quoted by the state STA news agency as telling his Croatian counterpart Zoran Milanovic the barrier is on Slovenian land and has nothing to do with the unresolved border issues left over from the 1990s breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Austria's interior minister says a human trafficking ring suspected of smuggling 1,800 people into Austria since February has been broken up, and 11 of 17 suspects are under arrest. Hungary says it has approved two of the nearly 4,900 asylum requests it has received from refugees since it closed its border with Serbia with a razor-wire fence on Sept. 15. Hungary's right-wing government has stopped all migrant traffic through its territory with more than 200 kilometers (120 miles) of fence on its borders with Serbia and Croatia. Hungary's prime minister says his country and others from Eastern Europe will send over 300 police and border guards to Greece to help "stop" the flow of migrants. Viktor Orban, attending a migration summit in Malta, told Hungarian state television that Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — the other countries in the so-called Visegrad Group, or V4 — were also taking part in the initiative set up "in the interests of stopping the refugee wave at the southern borders of Greece." Croatia's foreign minister says she is hopeful Slovenia will move its razor-wire fence from a disputed zone on the border between the two neighboring countries. The leaders of Croatia and Slovenia will meet amid border tensions that erupted after Slovenia started building a razor-wire fence inside disputed territory to stem an influx of migrants. Tensions soared Wednesday as Croatia announced a formal protest note to Slovenia saying sections of the fence are on Croatian territory. Swedish police are urging people traveling to and from neighboring countries on Thursday to bring their passports or other identification documents as the country temporarily reintroduces border controls.
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"We are working with our European partners to assess progress on policy implementation under the ESM - European Stability Mechanism - program, looking at ...
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The head of Europe's top securities watchdog has defended an extension of a ban on the short selling on five GREEK banks, as the state of the ...
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Germany should unilaterally provide aid to Turkey for refugees to help slow the flow across the Aegean Sea to Greece if the EU fails to reach a common deal with Ankara on the issue, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday. Gabriel's comments highlight frustrations in Berlin with the EU's discordant response to the refugee crisis, which has already seen hundreds of thousands pour into Germany this year, straining both local authorities and the coalition government. "If the Europeans can only do it in a limited way, I consider it sensible for Germany to make an advance or pay on its own," Gabriel told a gathering of his Social Democrats, junior partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel's right-left coalition.
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While the demonstrations have been mostly peaceful, GREECE'S 24-hour strike has basically shut down the country. Around 24,000 people marched in ...
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ATHENS, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Striking Greeks took to the streets on Thursday to protest austerity measures, setting Alexis Tsipras' government its biggest domestic challenge since he was re-elected in September promising to cushion the impact of economic hardship. Flights were grounded, hospitals ran on skeleton staff, ships were docked at port and public offices stayed shut across the country in the first nationwide walkout called by Greece's largest private and public sector unions in a year. As Greece's foreign lenders prepared to meet in central Athens to review compliance with its latest bailout, thousands marched in protest at the relentless round of tax hikes and pension cutbacks that the rescue packages have entailed. Tensions briefly boiled over in the city's main Syntagma Square, where a Reuters witness saw riot police fire tear gas at dozens of black-clad youths who broke off from the march to hurl petrol bombs and stones and smash shop windows near parliament. Some bombs struck the frontage of the Greek central bank. Police sources said three people were detained before order was restored. Five years of austerity since the first bailout was signed in 2010 have sapped economic activity and left about a quarter of the population out of work. "My salary is not enough to cover even my basic needs. My students are starving," said Dimitris Nomikos, 52, a protesting teacher told Reuters. "They are destroying the social security system ... I don't know if we will ever see our pensions." Tsipras came to power in January promising to end the austerity. He then accepted the unpopular terms of Greece's third bailout when faced with the prospect of an exit from the euro zone. Illustrating the political juggling act the prime minister is trying to pull off, his own Syriza party came out in support of Thursday's strike, saying industrial action strengthened the government's hand in talks with lenders. The bailout review talks with the EU and IMF inspectors resumed on Wednesday. 'WE HAVE TURNED INTO BEGGARS' Government spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili denied suggestions that leftist Syriza, which fought against austerity when it was in opposition, was trying to play both sides in supporting the anti-austerity strike. The party has said it will implement its side of the bargain with lenders, but has long maintained that the bailout terms are excessively harsh. "We are implementing an agreement which includes (bailout) measures which are unfair," Gerovasili said. But Syriza's dilemma cut little ice with some of the thousands of protesters who converged on the city's main Syntagma Square. "It's a tactic of Syriza to disorientate the people from targeting the party," said Ilias Leggeris, 63, a retired bank worker. Some demonstrators held pink balloons with "The Promises of Alexis" written on them, suggesting his words were empty. Municipal workers in the crowd wore florescent vests with a "not for sale" sign stamped on their backs. A group of musicians added a surreal touch with a rendition of the 50s classic "Rock Around the Clock" as they marched through the square. "I cannot take any more," said Irini Kasidokosta, 72, a retired teacher who has seen her pension cut by 50 percent over six years. She directed her anger against both Tsipras and the lenders. "I wish Tsipras had done what he promised (to overturn austerity) but they didn't let him," she said. "Now we have turned into beggars for a plate of food." Visiting tourists were disappointed to find monuments shut. "We didn't really know that there was going to be a strike, we just kind of arrived and we planned for this one day in Athens and we kind of wanted to see that thing (the Parthenon)," one tourist from Alaska said. (Additional reporting by Phoebe Fronista, Michele Kambas and Karolina Tagaris; editing by John Stonestreet) -- 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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ATHENS, GREECE -- Clashes briefly broke out Thursday between riot police and protesters in central Athens during the first general strike since the ...
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Violent clashes briefly broke out in Athens during the first general strike since Greece's left-led government came to power in January. Masked youths broke away from a protest march as it passed outside parliament and threw Molotov cocktails at police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades. Nearly 25,000 people had been participating in three separate demonstrations in central Athens, according to police figures, protesting a new round of bailout-related tax increases and spending cuts.
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… . The violence broke out as Greek workers staged a general strike … to accept unpopular terms of Greece’s third bailout. The government …
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_Note: Our accounts contain the personal recollections and opinions of the individual interviewed. The views expressed should not be considered official statements of the U.S. government or the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. ADST conducts oral history interviews with retired U.S. diplomats, and uses their accounts to form narratives around specific events or concepts, in order to further the study of American diplomatic history and provide the historical perspective of those directly involved._ This is a story about a demanding ambassador's wife, who was "an ogre and an alcoholic," a demanding ambassador, and a cat in Vienna which in 1968 almost caused a military crisis. This account was compiled from an interview by ADST with Frederick Irving, who was the Deputy Chief of Mission in Vienna at the time. You can read the entire account on ADST.org. IRVING: The wife of the American Ambassador to Austria...can best be described by all who knew her as an ogre and an alcoholic. Not an ordinary alcoholic, but one who drank only champagne. Not just any champagne, but only [Veuve] Cliquot champagne. Because she was the daughter of the Vice President of the United States [Alben Barkley, in photo with President Truman], she thought she could be demanding to the wives and to the officers of the Embassy. Her husband, whose name was Douglas MacArthur, nephew of the General, and a very senior career Foreign Service Officer, was not an alcoholic, but otherwise just as demanding to the male officers of the Embassy with the exception of his Deputy who, with his wife, spent almost as much time defending the other officers and their wives as the time spent on substantive foreign affairs activities. I was the Deputy and during the period of this story was the Chargé d'affaires. I was not happy serving under this Ambassador, but in those days, a career FSO went where he was assigned, or resigned his FSO commission. Mrs. MacArthur had a cat of which she was very fond. The cat was sick at the time the MacArthurs were invited on a two-week cruise in the Greek islands by some of their Greek military friends. They did not want to turn down the invitation so Mrs. MacArthur put the cat under the care of one of her maids. If the cat had gotten worse, she was to turn the care over to my wife with the proviso that under no circumstances was the cat to have an operation without first consulting her, even if she was sailing in the Greek islands. She was adamant about that. As you might have guessed, the cat had gotten sicker so the maid turned the matter over to my wife. My wife consulted the vet who said that the cat would surely die within days if it did not have the surgery he had recommended. He said that he had often felt the wrath of Mrs. MacArthur, but he would not want to face the wrath of what she was capable of if the cat died. The MacArthurs did not advise anyone at the Embassy how to reach them. My wife tried several possible sources in Vienna and also in Brussels where their daughter lived, but none of them knew. She then tried the American Consul in Athens. He did not know either. She then asked me if I had any ideas. Since they were the guests of an officer in the Greek military establishment, I called in our Embassy's Defense Attaché, and without telling him why I wanted to talk to Ambassador MacArthur, I asked him if he could consult his counterpart in Athens on the possibility that he could find the answer. Later thinking about it, consulting our Defense Attaché was a bad move on my part. I should just have suggested that we give up and authorize the surgery. If word had gotten out that all of this was because of a cat, Ambassador MacArthur would be ridiculed all over Europe. Thinking that he would be a hero, our Defense Attaché contacted the Austrian Army Chief of Staff. The Austrian Chief of Staff wanted to know the reason. Our Defense Attaché replied that he could not say, meaning that he did not know -- a poor choice of words. The Austrian Chief of Staff thought the worst scenario. He put the Austrian army on the alert, and called the Greek Army Chief. Fortunately, I heard about this before the press could have gotten wind of it. I was able immediately to straighten things out, without mentioning the real reason why I was trying to reach the MacArthurs. The cat had the surgery. It was successful. The vet said that recovery would be quicker if he could give the cat certain pills, but he did not think it was available in Europe. He asked my wife if she would get some in the USA for him. A former secretary of mine in Washington had several cats. I volunteered to call her and asked whether she would do me that favor. She consented. The next day she telephoned me to say that those particular pills required a prescription and her vet said he would have to examine the cat first. I thanked her, but told her to forget it because there was no way that I could ship the cat to her. Two days later, I received a package of the pills. I did not dare ask her how she had gotten the pills, and I did not want to know. The next day, I received an excited call from her. She said that the vet had called her that morning to advise her that the pills usually caused cat's hair to change to bright blue, temporarily! By this time my wife and I were so tired of hearing about the cat, that my comment was "GOOD!" Regrettably, its hair did not cooperate; it did not turn blue. After a long two weeks, the MacArthurs telephoned us from Trieste. The first person on the phone was Mrs. MacArthur. She wanted to talk to my wife to ask about the cat. When my wife told her about the operation, but not about the possibility of a hair change, you did not need a phone to hear her! The Ambassador then got on the phone, and among other choice words, said that if I had reached him over a G.D. [goddamn] cat, I would rue the day. Mrs. MacArthur and the Ambassador then started shouting at each other. The Ambassador then asked me whether I had mentioned to anyone that I wanted to reach them over a cat. When I remarked, "Of course not!," he calmed down and said that he was pleased that I was his Deputy. Under my breath, I remarked, "Well, I'm not." When the MacArthurs returned to Vienna, Mrs. MacArthur said to me in a loud voice that she had a lot of clout in Washington and would see to it that I would never become an Ambassador. On the wall in my apartment are hanging five Presidential commissions -- all earned since the cat incident. I want to believe that the cat that did not turn blue had something to do with it. -- 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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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras allegedly knew of ties between his Radical Left SYRIZA party and jailed terrorists but did nothing about it. The post Tsipras Warned of Terrorist Ties appeared first on The National Herald.
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With thousands of refugees and migrants still pouring in, Greece's government is being pressured to do more to deal with them. The post Greece Squeezed Over Refugees appeared first on The National Herald.
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