Zombies, superpowers and Greek weddings highlight the winter movie season, according to critic Michael Phillips.
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How the world sees Greece
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
France calls for EU crackdown on fake Syrian passports
France has asked the European Union to improve the detection of fake Syrian passports used by people trying to get into Europe after two of the suicide bombers in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks were found carrying such passports. In a letter to the European Commission, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called on the EU to tighten security by improving the quality of equipment used to check travel documents at external borders, notably in Greece and Italy.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.news.yahoo.com |
PPC insists on lignite
Athens, December 29, 2015/ Independent Balkan News Agency By Olga Mavrou According to sources, PPC (the state owned electricity provider in Greece) is planning on new unit for lignite in the area of Florina and is going to upgrade the unit at Kozani. The aim of the company is to have lignite as the provider […]
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.balkaneu.com |
Life-jacket mountain a metaphor for Greece's refugees
More than 450,000 life jackets have accumulated on the Greek island of Lesbos as refugees risk their lives each day.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.aljazeera.com |
You Can't Argue With a Sick Mind ...
"You can't argue with a sick mind" ... Joe Walsh. I think I have stepped into a parallel universe. Nothing makes sense. To understand what is going on in Greece, imagine Bernie Sanders fighting to pass a significant reduction in social security payments in the U.S. in order to continue to prop up a host of insolvent banks. What is even crazier is that the average Greek believes this is a good idea. We have experienced two general strikes in the past three weeks. This is the first time we have seen general strikes in Greece since Tsipras came to power in January. While these strikes have been peaceful and have very little impact on day-to-day living in Athens, it is a reminder of how things were and how they could be. What is even stranger is that the strikes are being organized by Tsipras's own party ... Syriza, to protest its own government. Now Greece is starting up the cry for reducing Greece's debt obligation, despite the fact few actual steps have been taken to implement the list of EU demands, except for raising the VAT to 23%, further strangling an economy that is on its last breath. Greece argues that they complying with the EU's demands, but it seems there is no intention of ever implementing the prerequisites. Tsipras's hold on the parliament is tenuous at best. His own party is beginning to show cracks and he is unable to gather any active support from the opposition. Normally, one would expect new elections in January, but the fact is that there are no credible candidates to run against Tsipras. New Democracy is in a state of complete disarray (they could not even hold elections to elect new leadership in November) and Pasok is a shadow of its former self. New Democracy will hold elections for new leadership on January 10, but at this point the party is approaching irrelevancy. The banks successfully completed a capital raise of €14.4 billion. The usual casts of characters are still big investors in the banks. In our piece on October 9, 2015 ("Yet Another Deadline in Athens") the market value of the four systemic banks was €4 billion. The banks raised €14.4 billion, so one would conclude the market value of the banks would be €18.4 billion. The total market value for the same banks is now approximately €11.6 billion; €6.8 billion of market cap has disappeared in the last six weeks. This analysis suffers a bit from an apples and oranges comparison (most of the €5.5billon contribution by European Stability Mechanism was in contingent convertible notes). However, if we simply look at the price performance since the reverse splits (which were 1 for 100, or in the case of Alpha, 1 for 50) the stocks on average are down on average 35% since the offering. The Greek ETF ("GREK") hit an all time low on December 15. Of course, now that the banks have raised their funds, they are finally being to admit just how bad the NPL problem really is. The Hellenic Stability Fund announced that they think one-third of the NPLs are "unmanageable" and should be sold immediately. I assume this is code for, "These loans are worthless." Who is going to buy this junk? That leaves 67% of the NPLs, which the HFSF thinks should be managed and then sold. That begs the question ... What have the banks been doing for the past five years with these loans? If the remaining NPLs are worth 20 cents on the Euro, the total recovery of the NPLs would be expected to be 13%; the total reserve for the NPLs at the banks is €54 billion. As a reminder, the banks have identified €113 billion of NPLs as of September 30, 2015, and HFSF has stated the total amount of NPLs could reach as much as 60% of total loans, putting the number at €135 billion. Forgetting tax benefits, potential loan revivals, and other financial gymnastics, the current shortfall (after the last round of financing) could reach €64 billion (€135 billion - 54 million of reserves = €81 billion of total exposure - €17.5 billion of recovery (€135 billion x 13%) = €63.5 billion). Another troubling data point is Alpha Bank has leaked that they believe 60+% of their business loans are unmanageable. One has to wonder if they told their investors this before the equity offering or are they just now waking up to reality. In any event, our calculations, while seemingly absurd, are likely in the ballpark of reality. I like real life examples, so here is another one ... one of the banks has a €160 million loan on seven buildings. The tenants are all household names (several of them are multi-nationals). The rents on the building is €6 million annually (the rates are slightly above market on average). The leases expire and the loans come due in seven years (the bonds do not amortize). The interest payments on the loans is €2 million. The loans are performing (so these loans are not included in the NPL total), but there is zero chance the loans will be repaid. What would be a fair price to pay for this performing loan? €20 million? Remember, these are performing loans (although they could be included in the broader "non-performing exposure" definition, due to collateral value deterioration). The one bright spot in our continuing analysis is our view on primary residences. The government is continuing to scare the average Greek, claiming that there will be massive foreclosures if the home mortgages are sold. Nothing could be further from the truth. For starters, there are 4.1 million residences in Greece; 3.1 million homes in Greece are owned (76% of Greeks own their own homes). Of these 3.1 million homes, only 550,000 are mortgaged (18%) (Note: these numbers come from Eurostat). 220,000 of these loans are expected to be non-performing. Even if 20% of these loans are foreclosed, this represents 1.4% of primary residences. Greece is careening toward a complete meltdown. Yet the government steadfastly refuses to sell NPLs. The big announcement on December 18 that Greece is going to allow the sale of NPLs was just another fairytale. As it turns out, this only applies to non-primary residences and companies above €50 million in revenues (approximately 95 corporate loans). Of course, "selling" NPLs means the banks can now inform these particular delinquent loans and the borrowers have 12 months to come up with a plan, after which they can be sold. Greece also wants to throw the IMF out of the group negotiating for the never-ending Greek bailout. Ironically, the IMF has been the only outside party who has publicly stated that Greece's sovereign debt should be reduced. However, the IMF is pushing for Greece to sell the non-performing loans, which the government adamantly objects. The government will say they have no problem selling business loans, but most of the business loans are either for insolvent entities or involve real estate loans that the government is desperately trying to protect. The Greeks did not even get coal in the Christmas stocking this year. I am getting tired of writing the same depressing pieces over and over. However, ignoring the plight of Greece is irresponsible. It is also irresponsible for the investors in the last round of financing for the banks to claim the banks are healthy (as they were doing at Greek investing conference in New York in December). These investors are encouraging Greece not to sell NPLs until the prices rebound to the area of 70 cents on the Euro. Promoting such an idea is dangerous. If Greece waits another year, we will not be talking about NPLs of €135 billion, we will be talking about €200 billion. Here is hoping for a New Year with a sane mind and a real plan. -- 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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9 mind-blowing archaeological discoveries that transformed history in 2015
Getty Images/Matt Cardy When they aren't digging up ancient graves or unearthing the body parts of early human ancestors, archaeologists are combing the Earth for clues about how the people who came before us worked, played, and died. This year, researchers across the globe have found evidence of everything from the earliest humans to walk the planet to the lavish tomb of an ancient Greek warrior — and even a set of mysterious, giant earthworks only visible from space. Here's a look at some of the most monumental findings of 2015: SIGNS OF A NEW TOMB HIDDEN DEEP INSIDE THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZA. Shutterstock / Waj As part of a larger project using drones to analyze the ancient Egyptian pyramids, scientists working in November uncovered surprising "thermal anomalies" along the eastern side of the Great Pyramid of Giza. While scanning the lower level of the pyramid, researchers noticed a temperature variance that hinted that instead of a solid row of limestone blocks, they were looking at a gap of air (air doesn't hold heat as well as solid rock). The team isn't sure what the gap is yet, but they've theorized that it could be a passage, a tomb, or simply a gash in the rock. THE HOUSE WHERE JESUS MAY HAVE GROWN UP. Ken Dark Archaeologists working in Nazareth in modern-day Israel uncovered a house dating to the first century that they believe may have belonged to Mary and Joseph, who allegedly raised Jesus. The structure was first discovered in the 1880s, but wasn't dated or identified as Jesus' potential home until 2006, and a feature story in the Biblical Archaeology Review in March 2015 brought the most recent work on the site to light. A MASSIVE UNDERGROUND RITUAL ARENA WHERE THE PREDECESSORS OF STONEHENGE LIKELY FEASTED. Flickr/Adriano Aurelio Araujo During a cursory underground radar scan of the infamous Stonehenge site, researchers suddenly noticed the signs of huge, rigid, underground features. Looking more closely, the researchers found that the features — which they now suspect to be the perimeter of a 4,500-year old ritual arena — formed a rough C-shape. The site is 2 miles northeast of Stonehenge, buried beneath the already-famous site Durrington Walls. SEE THE REST OF THE STORY AT BUSINESS INSIDER
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Albuquerque food truck operator transitions to brick-and-mortar restaurant
Seabrook opened GREEK Geek food truck in 2013. Known for its GREEK food as much as the truck's unorthodox paint job, the brand quickly gained ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.bizjournals.com |
314 Architecture Studio designs GREEK optometrist's store to look like a gallery
Athens-based 314 Architecture Studio has converted a listed building in Chalkida, Greece, into an eyewear store, pairing mirrored furniture with white ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.dezeen.com |
Greek Salad Quinoa Bowl
Whenever I find myself feeling a bit run down after a busy holiday season, I take a “mental vacation,” usually to the Greek islands. I’ve never been ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT sdjewishjournal.com |
Afghan refugee girl cuts off ponytail for safe trip on dinghy
Reporters on a beach in western Turkey on Tuesday found an unusual item left behind by a family who took the risky Aegean route to GREECE: the ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.todayszaman.com |
Recipe for spicy feta-harissa spread
Harissa, the Moroccan red pepper paste available at special markets, is beaten into feta cheese here with a little grated onion and GREEK yogurt.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.bostonglobe.com |
EU Border Agency Sends More Guards to GREEK Islands
The EU border agency Frontex said on Tuesday it had sent 293 guards and 15 boats to the GREEK islands to help Athens deal with migrant pressure.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.naharnet.com |
Q3 marked by drop in GREEK labor productivity
The 0.92 percent contraction in the GREEK economy during the third quarter of the year was marked by a reduction in labor productivity and an increase ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
Aegean Breeze founder remembered fondly
Varvouris, founder of the authentic GREEK restaurant Aegean Breeze in Gulf ... His standing room-only funeral Monday at the Annunciation GREEK ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.pnj.com |
CNBC update: 12-foot long squid
More than 1,100 migrants and refugees arrived by ferry today near Athens, Greece; and a huge squid was captured on video, reports CNBC's Sue Herera.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.msn.com |
4 hot Penny Stocks in review: National Bank of GREECE (NBGGY), Federal National Mortgage ...
National Bank of GREECE (OTCMKTS:NBGGY) percentage change mounted +0.002% to reach at $0.374 with the total traded volume of 501,845 ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.investorwired.com |
137.000 tickets for Star Wars in Greece
Athens, December 29, 2015/ Independent Balkan News Agency By Olga Mavrou The sequel of Star Wars was not as impressive in Greece, since there were sold 137.000 tickets. For the Greek film “Another World” (“Enas allos kosmos” in Greek) there were sold 95.434 tickets. Also, 11.312 tickets for “Joy” and 8.840 for “Point Break”. Box […]
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.balkaneu.com |
Spiegel: This Holiday Greeks Will Recieve Fewer Gifts
“The Greeks are getting less” is the title of an article on the website of German paper Spiegel. The article claims that this holiday, Greeks will receive far fewer gifts due to the fall in turnover of Greek stores during this Christmas season. The Deutsche Welle on the same topic similarly states “Poor gifts: Holiday gifts for
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
GREEK and Turkish jets in dogfight over Aegean
GREEK and Turkish jets engaged in a brief dogfight over the Aegean Sea on Tuesday after Turkish aircraft violated GREEK national air space several ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com |
GREEK Government Council Meeting Ends Without Update
maximos-mansion A meeting of the government council on social policy, in which the imminent social security and pension reforms were discussed, ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
2015 Swammy Awards: Jordan Wilimovsky, Male OWS Of The Year
Spyridon Gianniotis, GREECE – The 2013 10K World Champ, Spyridon Gianniotis of GREECE, also finished within the top 10 in the men's 10k race in ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT swimswam.com |
GREECE sees more than 800000 migrants in 2015
(Vatican Radio) More than 830,000 Middle Eastern migrants and refugees entered Europe through GREECE in 2015, according to the country's border ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT en.radiovaticana.va |
Susan Sarandon's Christmas with refugees: 'I want to humanise the issue'
The actor and activist journeys to Lesbos, Greece to publicise the plight of those fleeing into Europe and lend her services to organisations helping refugees Susan Sarandon had an unusual Christmas. The Oscar-winning actor skipped the family dinner, packed her bags with emergency blankets and booked a flight to Lesbos, Greece, for a week-long visit. Just 10 kilometers from Turkey, the island is a landing spot for refugees escaping war-torn countries across the Aegean Sea. Over one million refugees have fled to Europe this year, according to the International Organization for Migration, while 7,575 refugees arrived in Greece on Boxing Day alone. Continue reading...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com |
Cypriana to open 150-seat restaurant in North Baltimore ...
The tiny north Baltimore neighborhood of Tuscany-Canterbury is about to go Greek. A Mediterranean restaurant that started out humbly in 1990 as a food cart serving ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.bizjournals.com |
GREEK Cypriot teachers plant trees for peace
GREEK Cypriot teachers visited schools in the north on Tuesday and planted three olive trees as a sign of peace. The 60 teachers, accompanied by ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT cyprus-mail.com |
Northcote City Welcomes Michalis Karvouniaris
Michalis Karvouniaris, former player of Panahaiki, a GREEK soccer team which is now facing challenging economic problems, will be welcomed to ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT au.greekreporter.com |
Frontex Launches New Operation on Greek Islands With More ...
Frontex, the European Union's border patrol agency, announced that it has deployed additional staff and equipment to Greek islands for improved external border
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
2016 budget: Nigeria going the way of GREECE – PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the N6.08 trillion budget proposal for 2016 by the Federal Government, may throw the country into ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT thenationonlineng.net |
Year in Review: The EU and GREECE
When GREECE finally missed such a deadline in early June, however, it was seen initially as a technicality, since Athens had until the end of the month ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT sofiaglobe.com |
Drastic temperature decrease, snow on New Year’s Eve
The sunshine all through December was rather exceptional. Now the beautiful “spring” in winter with temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius is over. A cold weather front coming from Siberia is expected to reach first the North-Eastern of Greece and quickly spread across the country as of the early hours of […]
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.keeptalkinggreece.com |
Why Have Comedians (Until David Spade) Skipped Mocking Obama's GREEK-Temple Ego?
He addressed the crowd in front of what Reuters dubbed “a miniature GREEK temple.” The scene should have made satirists salivate. Instead, the ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.newsbusters.org |
ISIS Ruling Aims To Settle Who Can Have Sex With Female Slaves: Report
WASHINGTON, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Islamic State theologians have issued an extremely detailed ruling on when "owners" of women enslaved by the extremist group can have sex with them, in an apparent bid to curb what they called violations in the treatment of captured females. The ruling or fatwa has the force of law and appears to go beyond the Islamic State's previous known utterances on the subject, a leading Islamic State scholar said. It sheds new light on how the group is trying to reinterpret centuries-old teachings to justify the sexual slavery of women in the swaths of Syria and Iraq it controls. _To read the fatwa click here. _ The fatwa was among a huge trove of documents captured by U.S. Special Operations Forces during a raid targeting a top Islamic State official in Syria in May. Reuters has reviewed some of the documents, which have not been previously published. Among the religious rulings are bans on a father and son having sex with the same female slave; and the owner of a mother and daughter having sex with both. Joint owners of a female captive are similarly enjoined from intercourse because she is viewed as "part of a joint ownership." The United Nations and human rights groups have accused the Islamic State of the systematic abduction and rape of thousands of women and girls as young as 12, especially members of the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq. Many have been given to fighters as a reward or sold as sex slaves. Far from trying to conceal the practice, Islamic State has boasted about it and established a department of "war spoils" to manage slavery. Reuters reported on the existence of the department on Monday. In an April report, Human Rights Watch interviewed 20 female escapees who recounted howIslamic State fighters separated young women and girls from men and boys and older women. They were moved "in an organized and methodical fashion to various places in Iraq and Syria." They were then sold or given as gifts and repeatedly raped or subjected to sexual violence. DOS AND DON'TS Fatwa No. 64, dated Jan. 29, 2015, and issued by Islamic State's Committee of Research and Fatwas, appears to codify sexual relations between IS fighters and their female captives for the first time, going further than a pamphlet issued by the group in 2014 on how to treat slaves. The fatwa starts with a question: "Some of the brothers have committed violations in the matter of the treatment of the female slaves. These violations are not permitted by Sharia law because these rules have not been dealt with in ages. Are there any warnings pertaining to this matter?" It then lists 15 injunctions, which in some instances go into explicit detail. For example: "If the owner of a female captive, who has a daughter suitable for intercourse, has sexual relations with the latter, he is not permitted to have intercourse with her mother and she is permanently off limits to him. Should he have intercourse with her mother then he is not permitted to have intercourse with her daughter and she is to be off limits to him." Islamic State's sexual exploitation of female captives has been well documented, but a leading IS expert at Princeton University, Cole Bunzel, who has reviewed many of the group's writings, said the fatwa went beyond what has previously been published by the militants on how to treat female slaves. "It reveals the actual concerns of IS slave owners," he said in an email. Still, he cautioned that not "everything dealt with in the fatwa is indicative of a relevant violation. It doesn't mean father and son were necessarily sharing a girl. They're at least being 'warned' not to. But I bet some of these violations were being committed." The fatwa also instructs owners of female slaves to "show compassion towards her, be kind to her, not humiliate her, and not assign her work she is unable to perform." An owner should also not sell her to an individual whom he knows will mistreat her. Professor Abdel Fattah Alawari, dean of Islamic Theology at Al-Azhar University, a 1,000-year-old Egyptian center for Islamic learning, said Islamic State "has nothing to do with Islam" and was deliberately misreading centuries-old verses and sayings that were originally designed to end, rather than encourage, slavery. "Islam preaches freedom to slaves, not slavery. Slavery was the status quo when Islam came around," he said. "Judaism, Christianity, Greek, Roman, and Persian civilizations all practiced it and took the females of their enemies as sex slaves. So Islam found this abhorrent practice and worked to gradually remove it." In September 2014 more than 120 Islamic scholars from around the world issued an open letter to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi refuting the group's religious arguments to justify many of its actions. The scholars noted that the "reintroduction of slavery is forbidden in Islam." _ (Additional reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Cairo and William Maclean in Dubai, editing by Ross Colvin)_ _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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Greek State Owed 83.6 Billion Euros in Overdue Payments
Greek taxpayers, including individuals and businesses continue to pile on debt to the Greek state, as newly released data by the General Secretariat of Public Revenue revealed that overdue tax payments increased by 1.453 billion euros in the month of November alone. Since the beginning of the year overdue payments to the state have risen by
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Underdog Faros Keratsiniou Knocks Out PAOK to Reach Greek Cup Final
An A2 division team caused a great upset in the semi-finals of the Greek basketball cup. Faros Keratsiniou defeated PAOK on Monday evening by 69-65 in their home court to secure a ticket to the cup final against heavyweights and cup holders Panathinaikos, having been only the third A2 team to reach the final in the
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Greek Museums and Archaeological Sites Remain Closed on Weekends Due to Strike
Museum and archaeological site guards continue to strike indefinitely on weekends protesting against the new pay scales. As a result, museums, monuments and archaeological sites will remain closed on weekends. According to a Kathimerini report, a hand-written, misspelled sign on the entrance of Acropolis reads “The archaeological site will ramain closed on Sunday 27/12/2015.” The
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
Alternate FM Xydakis meets with Indian Ambassador Murugesan Manimekalai (Foreign Ministry, 29 ...
The Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, met at the Foreign Ministry today with the Indian Ambassador to Greece, Murugesan Manimekalai.The meeting, which took place in a very friendly atmosphere, reaffirmed the traditionally excellent bilateral relations between Greece and India, as well as Greece’s support for the dialogue between India and the EU.Also stressed was the very good cooperation between the two countries in the economic sector and the potential for expansion of this cooperation into sectors such as shipping, civil aviation and pharmaceuticals, particularly ahead of the meeting of the Greek-Indian Joint Interministerial Committee slated for 2016.Special...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.mfa.gr |
ISIS has issued a disturbing ruling detailing who can have sex with female slaves
Reuters/Stringer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Islamic State theologians have issued an extremely detailed ruling on when "owners" of women enslaved by the extremist group can have sex with them, in an apparent bid to curb what they called violations in the treatment of captured females. The ruling or fatwa has the force of law and appears to go beyond the Islamic State's previous known utterances on the subject, a leading Islamic State scholar said. It sheds new light on how the group is trying to reinterpret centuries-old teachings to justify the sexual slavery of women in the swaths of Syria and Iraq it controls. To read the fatwa click here. The fatwa was among a huge trove of documents captured by U.S. Special Operations Forces during a raid targeting a top Islamic State official in Syria in May. Reuters has reviewed some of the documents, which have not been previously published. Among the religious rulings are bans on a father and son having sex with the same female slave; and the owner of a mother and daughter having sex with both. Joint owners of a female captive are similarly enjoined from intercourse because she is viewed as "part of a joint ownership." The United Nations and human rights groups have accused the Islamic State of the systematic abduction and rape of thousands of women and girls as young as 12, especially members of the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq. Many have been given to fighters as a reward or sold as sex slaves. Far from trying to conceal the practice, Islamic State has boasted about it and established a department of "war spoils" to manage slavery. Reuters reported on the existence of the department on Monday. In an April report, Human Rights Watch interviewed 20 female escapees who recounted how Islamic State fighters separated young women and girls from men and boys and older women. They were moved "in an organized and methodical fashion to various places in Iraq and Syria." They were then sold or given as gifts and repeatedly raped or subjected to sexual violence. DO'S AND DONT'S Fatwa No. 64, dated Jan. 29, 2015, and issued by Islamic State's Committee of Research and Fatwas, appears to codify sexual relations between IS fighters and their female captives for the first time, going further than a pamphlet issued by the group in 2014 on how to treat slaves. The fatwa starts with a question: "Some of the brothers have committed violations in the matter of the treatment of the female slaves. These violations are not permitted by Sharia law because these rules have not been dealt with in ages. Are there any warnings pertaining to this matter?" Reuters/Stringer It then lists 15 injunctions, which in some instances go into explicit detail. For example: "If the owner of a female captive, who has a daughter suitable for intercourse, has sexual relations with the latter, he is not permitted to have intercourse with her mother and she is permanently off limits to him. Should he have intercourse with her mother then he is not permitted to have intercourse with her daughter and she is to be off limits to him." Islamic State's sexual exploitation of female captives has been well documented, but a leading IS expert at Princeton University, Cole Bunzel, who has reviewed many of the group's writings, said the fatwa went beyond what has previously been published by the militants on how to treat female slaves. "It reveals the actual concerns of IS slave owners," he said in an email. Still, he cautioned that not "everything dealt with in the fatwa is indicative of a relevant violation. It doesn't mean father and son were necessarily sharing a girl. They're at least being 'warned' not to. But I bet some of these violations were being committed." Reuters/Stringer The fatwa also instructs owners of female slaves to "show compassion towards her, be kind to her, not humiliate her, and not assign her work she is unable to perform." An owner should also not sell her to an individual whom he knows will mistreat her. Professor Abdel Fattah Alawari, dean of Islamic Theology at Al-Azhar University, a 1,000-year-old Egyptian center for Islamic learning, said Islamic State "has nothing to do with Islam" and was deliberately misreading centuries-old verses and sayings that were originally designed to end, rather than encourage, slavery. "Islam preaches freedom to slaves, not slavery. Slavery was the status quo when Islam came around," he said. "Judaism, Christianity, Greek, Roman, and Persian civilizations all practiced it and took the females of their enemies as sex slaves. So Islam found this abhorrent practice and worked to gradually remove it.” In September 2014 more than 120 Islamic scholars from around the world issued an open letter to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi refuting the group's religious arguments to justify many of its actions. The scholars noted that the "reintroduction of slavery is forbidden in Islam." (Additional reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Cairo and William Maclean in Dubai, editing by Ross Colvin)
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com |
The Biggest Business Stories Of 2015
From Yahoo News: It’s been a tumultuous year - the FTSE 100 lost nearly £60bn, Greece came within a whisker of leaving the Eurozone, and China threatened to derail ...
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Europe's border agency Frontex sends more guards, ships to ...
World Europe's border agency Frontex sends more guards, ships to Greece amid migrant pressure
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Frontex expands operations in Aegean Sea
The joint operations of Frontex and the GREEK coastal guards, called the Poseidon Rapid Intervention, began on Monday and will continue until March.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.worldbulletin.net |
European Border Guard Agency Sends Reinforcements to Greece
Europe's border agency Frontex sends more guards, ships to Greece amid migrant pressure
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT abcnews.go.com |
BRIEF-Mondo TV signs agreement with GREECE'S Urbaria Nord Ltd
Dec 29 Mondo TV SpA : * Executes agreement with Urbaria Nord Ltd, based in Athens, for broadcasting on free TV and home video exploitation of ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.reuters.com |
National Bank of GREECE: What to Expect in 2016?
As debt-ridden GREECE leaves behind a year plagued with turbulence and uncertainty, investors seem more hopeful for the coming year. Although the ...
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MLV Mykonos Luxury Villas Introduces its Brand-new Website of Finest Luxury Villas in Mykonos Greece
… in the island of Mykonos Greece chosen according to the highest … villa rental company in Mykonos Greece which was founded in 2009 …
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How can I prove that the Romans are better than the Greeks?
… we teach both the ancient Greeks and the Romans. I have … of their slaves than any Greeks ever did and Virgil is … over Boris at the recent Greece vsRome debate held by Intelligence … over Boris’s defence of Greece. This was the first time …
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Bolton man who was one of UK's 'most wanted' suspected criminals arrested in Greece
… men has been arrested in Greece. Simon Dutton, 39, originally from … violent’, was arrested in the Greek city of Thessaloniki on Sunday … the Hellenic Police service in Greece. Drugs were seized as part …
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT world.einnews.com |
EU agency Frontex sends 300 guards in migrant mission to Greece
EU border agency Frontex said Tuesday it had started to deploy 293 officers and 15 vessels on Greek islands to help Athens cope with the massive influx of migrants to its shores.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.news.yahoo.com |
Leaders say Cyprus solution will cost 30 billion euros
The leaders of the GREEK and Turkish Cypriot communities of Cyprus have said the cost of a solution has been estimated at between 25 billion euros ...
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT famagusta-gazette.com |
Greek Union Fights Retirement Age
Greece’s civil servants union ADEDY has asked the country's highest court to annual a hike in the retirement age to 67, wanting it lowered. The post Greek Union Fights Retirement Age appeared first on The National Herald.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com |
Tides of Refugees in Greece
The post Tides of Refugees in Greece appeared first on The National Herald.
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| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.thenationalherald.com |
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