“100 Percent Accurate” Recreation of Ancient GREEK Music

GREEK kids listen to such shit music these day. Now GREEKS back in my day, they could rock! Read more at openculture.com.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT theinterrobang.com

International lenders pore over Greek reforms as strike looms

Cash-strapped Greece is facing challenges on various fronts as it struggles to win public approval to overhaul the pension system and cut more costs while its EU peers urge it to tighten controls on the flow of migrants passing through on their way to ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.reuters.com

As children die reaching for Europe's shores, empathy fades

Boats arrive on Europe's shores daily, or sink on the way — like the one that capsized off Turkey's coast on Saturday, killing at least 37 people including babies and other young children. Greek soccer players held a sit-in solidarity protest after the latest refugee drownings. [...] his lifeless, tidily-dressed body — first face-down on the sand, later in the arms of a police officer — captured the collective imagination like no other. The image became shorthand for the refugee crisis and government inaction. [...] two Islamic extremists mixed in with refugees and joined European-born radicals staging deadly attacks in Paris. In one, a boy about Aylan's age is lying on a rocky shore, a pacifier attached to his clothing with a plastic chain, a hat with a pompon on his small head. In Hungary, tabloid newspaper Blikk had a large back-page spread including a small photo of Aylan's body being carried by a rescuer and a close-up of the latest disaster. On Hungarian news website origo.hu, several of the comments from readers blamed the parents for the drownings, saying they were irresponsible for undertaking unsafe journeys. The Italian navy, after a boat capsized last year with about 800 migrants trapped inside, refused to allow or distribute any images of the dead out of respect for their memory.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sfgate.com

Greece Rejects Creditors’ Call for Pension Cuts

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras speaks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 21 (WEF/Valeriano Di Domenico) Pensions are at the center of Greece’s latest dispute with its creditors. The Greek Kathimerini newspaper reports that ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT atlanticsentinel.com

Greek PM to visit Iran on February 7-8

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will travel to Iran for a state visit on February 7-8, the prime minister’s press office said Monday, Sputnik reported. Although the detailed program of Tsipras’ visit has not been disclosed, Iran’s deputy ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT en.trend.az

4 arrested after GREECE burglary call leads to drugs

GREECE, N.Y. - Four people were arrested on drug and gun charges Wednesday after a burglary call. GREECE Police said they were called to a house of ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT 13wham.com

Mexico slapped with embarrassing corruption score

[corruption in americas]El Daily Post The OECD is a global club of industrial democracies organized for cooperation and development. Mexico is its most corrupt member, ranking 34th out of 34. The G-20 is a forum for advanced economies. Mexico is the third most-corrupt nation in that group, outranking only Russia and Argentina. NAFTA is a trinational free trade agreement. One of its three signatories — Mexico —ranks 95th among 167 nations on the corruption scale (lowest the cleanest). That’s 86 and 79 places worse than NAFTA partners Canada (ninth) and the United States (16th). Mexico’s corruption score on a 0-100 scale — 100 being the cleanest — is 35. Anything under 50, says Transparency International, the global anti-corruption NGO, indicates “a serious corruption problem.” Mexico, then, has a serious corruption problem. But so does most of the world. Two-thirds of the countries graded by Transparency International (TI) in its 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index released this week came in under 50. That word “perception” is key here. The rankings are based more on opinions than data, the opinions coming from “experts,” according to the TI description of its methodology. But perceptions count for something, and few would deny that Mexico’s reputation for corruption is based on reality, and is impeding progress. “Public sector corruption isn’t simply about taxpayer money going missing,” the TI report reads. “Broken institutions and corrupt officials fuel inequality and exploitation, keeping wealth in the hands of an elite few and trapping many more in poverty.” [Pena Nieto Mexico president]El Daily Post In fact, the report singles out Mexico, along with Venezuela andArgentina, as an example of a resource-rich nation held back by corruption: “Longstanding corruption (in those three countries) has led to a desperate lack of investment in security, education and health. Until these weaknesses are addressed, corruption will continue to be the norm and citizens’ quality of life will not improve.” TI sees correlations between corruption scores and structural characteristics. Top performers generally have solid press freedom, public access to budget information, high levels of integrity among people in power; and independent. The more corrupt countries have the opposite. CORRUPTION, BIG-TIME [corruption]El Daily PostThe corruption experience for most Mexicans is at the everyday level — mordidas demanded by cops, for example — but the Index seems to give extra weight to major public corruption scandals. Brazil, for example, was the biggest decliner among the 168 nations, with its score falling by five points and its ranking by seven positions. ThePetrobras mega-scandal was specifically cited as the reason, not any overall rise in common corruption. (Brazil is still 19 places ahead of Mexico, however, despite its dropping score.) For similar reasons, presumably, the TI report runs down a laundry list of high-profile corruption scandals to explain Mexico’s low (but relatively steady) ranking: “Casa Blanca”,Oceanografía, OHL, among others, and the accumulatingaccusations against former governors in such states as Aguascalientes, Coahuila, Guerrero, Nuevo León, Sonora and Tabasco. Mexico can take some solace in how much better it scores on the corruption scale than the worst of the lot. Its grade of 35 may be a far cry from the 91 of Denmark (the cleanest country in the world, according to the TI Index), but it’s considerably more respectable than the lowest scorers — No. Korea and Somalia at 8. And , for what it’s worth, Mexico (according to the TI Index) hasn’t been getting more corrupt, at least not in the last year. It’s held the same position — 95 out of 168 — two years running. That’s in contrast to those on a downward trend. Besides Brazil, the decliners over the past four years include Libya, Australia, Spain and Turkey. Notable improvers include Greece, Senegal and the United Kingdom. [Guatemala corruption protest]El Daily PostWhile concluding that corruption is rife worldwide, Transparency International did find a bright spot. And they found it right next door to Mexico. “In places like Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Ghana, citizen activists in groups and on their own worked hard to drive out the corrupt, sending a strong message that should encourage others to take decisive action in 2016,” said TI chair José Ugaz. The reference was to the conviction and jailing of Guatemala’s outgoing president in 2014 on corruption charges, as a result of citizen pressure and United Nations assistance. “Corruption can be beaten if we work together,” Ugaz said. “To stamp out the abuse of power, bribery and shed light on secret deals, citizens must together tell their governments they have had enough.” NOW WATCH: Watch newly released video of 'El Chapo' being booked by Mexican authorities

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com

My favorite trick to save money on travel is a single decision that saves hundreds of dollars

[fira santorini sunset greece]Libby Kane / Business Insider There is nothing more tedious than spending hours scouring the internet trying to find the best price on every element of your vacation. So I don't. Instead, I make a single decision that saves me a fortune: I choose to travel in shoulder season. "Shoulder season" is the months leading toward or away from the high season. In most places, the high season is obvious. In the Caribbean, it's the winter. In most of Europe, it's the summer. It's the time when that place is best shown to its advantage, so people go see it. It's also the most expensive time to go, because the tourism industry knows what's up. By choosing to travel six to eight weeks before or after high season, I save money on flights, accommodations, car rentals, and most everything else by making one simple decision and never thinking about it again. It seems obvious, but a lot of people don't do it. It isn't the off-season. I'm not going during monsoon season or blizzards. Really, the only difference is a few degrees — a light sweater (or removal thereof).  And the financial benefits are huge. For instance, a friend and I went to the Cyclades Islands in Greece a few years ago, choosing to go in early May instead of summer, the peak season. When I plug a 12-day trip for the same dates into Kayak (leaving on the last day of April, the same days we traveled), the most expensive flight with one layover is $562: [kayak may]Libby Kane / Business Insider In early August, the results are nearly twice the price, even though we'd be booking further in advance: [kayak august]Libby Kane / Business Insider Bear in mind that isn't a perfect comparison. It involved no acrobatics to find the cheapest possible flight, nor direct comparisons of flights leaving and arriving at the exact same time on the exact same day of the week, nor analyses of how airline prices fluctuate. It took me all of five minutes — which is kind of the point. Here's another basic illustration: Accommodations were cheaper, too. On Santorini, we stayed at (the marvelous) Atlantis Hotel in Fira, which charges €240 (about $262) per night for our incredible caldera-view room in early May. [atlantis may]Libby Kane / Business Insider Using the same Sunday through Wednesday dates in August, that hotel is asking €320 (about $350) per night:  [atlantis august]Libby Kane / Business Insider Admittedly, I don't have children and am not limited by the school calendar, and my job isn't so highly seasonal that I wouldn't be able to travel in May rather than August, so I'm lucky enough that this strategy is easily doable. Plus, I generally don't mind that I have to put a windbreaker over my bikini to see the cliffs of Santorini or the town of Mykonos. It's more affordable, less crowded, and just as beautiful. If you have your heart absolutely set on tanning on a yacht, I concede that this strategy might not be for you. (Although if we're talking Mediterranean, you could try September!) I could keep giving examples — I used the same strategy when I went to the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain in late May/early June last year with another friend — but there's really no need. By traveling in the shoulder season instead of high season, I've consistently been able to save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on incredible trips by making a two-minute choice. NOW WATCH: Here’s Mark Cuban’s advice for whoever wins the $1.5 billion Powerball

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com

Cyprus president warns UN chief no rush to reach peace deal

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus' president has warned U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that time is needed to negotiate a deal reunifying the ethnically-split island without "deficiencies, gaps and ambiguities" that may lead Greek and Turkish Cypriots to reject it in referendums.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.news.yahoo.com

Disruptions due to the general strike on February 4 in Greece

Athens, February 1, 2016/Independent Balkan News Agency By Olga Mavrou Almost all unions in Greece participate in the general strike against the social security bill – and the farmers, who protest also against the tax bill, participate by planning to drive their  tractors to Athens and block the capital of the country too. Thursday will be […]

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.balkaneu.com

Merkel, Greek islanders among Nobel Peace Prize nominees

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is understood to have been nominated for the prestigious accolade. All recommendations must be posted to Norway by Monday and the prize will be awarded in October.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.dw.com

Ai Weiwei Hits New Low By Crassly Recreating Photo Of Drowned Syrian Toddler

> #chineseartist #Aiweiwei >  > A photo posted by Tamana Faizy (@faizy.tamana) on Jan 31, 2016 at > 12:34am PST _This article originally appeared on artnet News._ The Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has come under criticism for recreating the tragic image of the the drowned three-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi, whose lifeless body washed up on a beach near the Turkish town of Bodrum in September 2015. Ai's reenactment was taken by the Indian photojournalist Rohit Chawla for India Today_. _A print of the image was also exhibited at the India Art Fair in New Delhi, as part of a curated exhibition simply titled “The Artists." In the photo, Ai lies facedown on a pebble beach on the Greek island of Lesbos, where the artist has set up a studio to work on several projects dealing with the European migration crisis. Speaking to the Washington Post, Chawla admitted that Ai and his assistants “actively helped in staging this photograph for us." Meanwhile, India Art Fair co-owner Sandy Angus defended the project. “It is an iconic image because it is very political, human and involves an incredibly important artist like Ai Weiwei," Angus told the Washington Post. "The image is haunting and represents the whole immigration crisis and the hopelessness of the people who have tried to escape their pasts for a better future," he added. > Just because its by a famous artist doesn't mean it is a) art or b) > good. This is neither cool nor good. / https://t.co/P26WSWwOpF > — ಠ╭╮ಠ (@designerror) February 1, 2016 The reaction on social media was markedly different, however. Referring to Ai's version of the image, one Twitter user remarked: “Just because its by a famous artist doesn't mean it is a) art or b) good." > I have never understood modern/contemporary 'art', and after seeing > Ai Weiwei pose as a dead Syrian child, I understand it even less. > :-/ > — Nigel Britto (@NigelBritto) February 1, 2016 Twitter user Nigel Britto agreed. “I have never understood modern/contemporary 'art', and after seeing Ai Weiwei pose as a dead Syrian child, I understand it even less," he wrote. > Lazy, cheap, crass: Ai Weiwei poses as drowned Syrian infant refugee > in 'haunting' photo https://t.co/B0b628zjOp > — David Batty (@David_Batty) February 1, 2016 Meanwhile, Guardian editor David Batty called the stunt “lazy, cheap, crass," while academic Heather D'Cruz said the image was “disrespecting Aylan Kurdi." > Ai Weiwei poses as drowned Syrian infant refugee in 'haunting' photo > @guardian still disrespecting #aylankurdi https://t.co/pVlYfaPKE4 > — Heather D'Cruz (@HmdcruzD) February 1, 2016 On Instagram, Sascha Kurfiss wrote: “[…] Not sure about my feelings. Is it art? Is it just populistic? For sure it is PR…and now I know why he is posting all those pictures from Lesbos the last weeks…to prepare this stunt." > Ai Weiwei in a photo for the Indian Today magazin pointing on the > refugee crisis... well not sure about my feelings. Is it art? Is it > just populistic? For sure it is PR...and now I know why he is > posting all those pictures from Lesbos the last weeks... to prepare > this stunt (and of course to collect more material for some refugee > installations) AAAHHhhh... this year seems to get awesomely weird in > a strange way. #aiww #aiweiwei #refugees #refugeeswelcome > #refugeecrisis #contemporaryart #indiantoday #art #politics #kunst > #modernartist #photo #bw #bw_photooftheday #blackandwhite > #popularpic >  > A photo posted by Sascha Kurfiss (@chinaartlover) on Jan 31, 2016 at > 7:53am PST Contrary to what Angus said, it is the original image, taken by the young Turkish photojournalist Nilüfer Demir, that “represents the whole immigration crisis," and not Ai's copy. The artist's attempt to capitalize on the heartbreaking fate of a young child is truly tasteless. It is important to raise awareness on an undoubtedly urgent issue, but this is not the right way to do it. _Follow artnet News on Facebook._ -- 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.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.huffingtonpost.com

Europe’s refugee story has hardly begun

With a million new refugees expected in Europe this year, Greece faces a diplomatic onslaught and an existential crisis The refugee story has hardly begun. There will be, on conservative estimates, another million arriving via Turkey this year – and maybe more. The distribution quotas proposed by Germany, and resisted by many states in eastern Europe, are already a fiction and will fade into insignificance as the next wave comes. Germany itself will face critical choices: if you’re suddenly running a budget deficit to meet the needs of asylum seekers, how do you justify not spending on the infrastructure that’s supposed to serve German citizens, which has crumbled through underinvestment in the Angela Merkel era? Continue reading...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com

GREEK stocks rise in very thin trading

GREEK stocks continued their slow recovery on Monday, helped by the notable decline in sovereign bond yields. The benchmark advanced 0.78 ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

EU to propose GREEK border control measures

Syrian and Afghan migrants and refugees wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on January 27, 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.dailystar.com.lb

The GREEK Youth's Nightmare in the Years of the Crisis

During the last six years many media of the west world have constructed the myth of the "Lazy GREEK guy" who likes working as little as he can and ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.huffingtonpost.com

Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei Recreates Drowned Refugee Child Picture from GREECE

Aylan Kurdi was the three-year-old child that drowned off the coast of the Greek island of Kos, in September 2015, along with his five-year-old brother ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT world.greekreporter.com

Greece on strike: schedule for public transport, taxis, ferries Feb 2. & Feb 4-5/2016

Workers in Athens public transport means will hold two work stoppage this week. Taxi drivers will also join the protests against the pensions reforms on Thursday, February 4th 2016 with a 24-hour strike. Tuesday, Feb 2/2016: work stoppage from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m = blue buses, trolley buses, metro, […]

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.keeptalkinggreece.com

Reminder: Just 13 days left to help KTG alive also for 2016

I started KeepTalkingGreece in spring 2010, as an alternative to Greek-bashing by international media shortly before Greece capitulated without battle into the hands of the International Monetary Fund. From the very first moment, the main aim of this website and blog was to inform the English-speaking expats living in Greece […]

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.keeptalkinggreece.com

Report: UM Director of GREEK Life to retire

Mary Beth Seiler will retire after nearly four decades in the University of Michigan's Office of GREEK Life, according to a report from the Michigan Daily.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.mlive.com

Why Angela Merkel's Political Survival Is Crucial to Europe's Center-Left

One year is a long time in politics. Few know this better than German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who went from champion of the right and villain of the left in the Greek crisis to champion of the left and villain of the right in the refugee crisis in 2015. Declared _Time_'s Person of the Year just months ago, the "Chancellor of the Free World" is now fighting for her political survival. Media and political insiders are openly speculating about her future - ironically, at the same time that she is the "firm favorite" for the Nobel Peace Prize for those same refugee policies. Angela Merkel is a fairly accidental leader. Just like her former mentor, Helmut Kohl, she was broadly perceived as a temporary stand, in when she took over the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 2000. The party was in disarray and several (male) crown princes decided to wait it out before taking a shot at the party leadership -- i.e. wait until the CDU was back up in the polls and party leadership meant German Chancellorship. To most people's surprise, Merkel did not only hold on to her party position, but she brought the CDU back into power in 2005, and is currently the third-longest serving (democratic) German Chancellor -- after the iconic Konrad Adenauer and the _Kanzler der Wiedervereinigung_ (Chancellor of the Re-Unification) Kohl -- and the longest-serving political leader in the European Union (EU). During most of her more than ten years in power Merkel has been described as a weak leader, lacking power and vision. While this is largely due to enduring sexism in media coverage of female leaders, Merkel is first and foremost a centrist politician leading a pragmatic rather than ideological party; in fact, Kohl was a very similar leader, even if he was mostly described as powerful and with a strong (European) vision. Like the party she leads, Merkel is a small "c" conservative, i.e. a pragmatic politician who wants to _conserve_ rather than shape. That said, she has a strong belief in the ideological foundations of German Christian democracy, most notably European integration and the _soziale Marktwirtschaft_ (social market economy), and has never wavered from these core values. In fact, both her staunch pro-austerity position in the Greek crisis and her initially equally staunch pro-refugees position in the refugee crisis are deeply rooted in German Christian democracy. But whereas she found broad support for her economic policies, both within her party and among other European leaders, this was not the case with her immigration policies. While making a strict distinction between (economic) immigrants and (political) refugees, taking a hard position on the former and a soft position on the latter, she was harshly criticized within her party - most notably by the youth branch, the Young Union (JU), and by the more conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) in Bavaria - and ignored by her usual allies, such as the prime ministers of the Northern European countries (with the initial exception of Sweden). Today, the position of the nine-times "most powerful woman in the world" (according to _Forbes_) is more embattled than ever. After months of xenophobic campaigns in the media, politics, and streets, more and more leading members of her own party, as well as from her Social Democratic coalition partner, are attacking her proposed _Willkommenskultur_ (welcome culture). They are strengthened by the media frenzy that has followed the New Year's Eve sexual assaults in some German cities. These campaigns have left their mark on the population too. A new poll shows that 40 percent of Germans want Merkel to resign because of her handling of the refugee crisis. While the numbers are much lower among CDU supporters, the fact that just 45 percent of Germans said she didn't have to resign, means that her position is significantly weakened and more and harsher attacks are to be expected in the weeks to come. Merkel's political survival is not just important for Germany, it is crucial to politics across Europe too. Not in the sense of the EU, as any successor within the CDU will roughly continue her EU politics. It is crucial in terms of the _Rechtsrück_ (turn to the right) in Europe, which has been ongoing for at least a decade, but has received a particularly strong push in 2015. The only reason Merkel is in political trouble today is her open position towards refugees - remember that her approval rating was sky-high during the Greek crisis (peaking at 75 percent in April 2015). European politicians of the left and right are following Merkel's political struggle with intense interest. Should she be forced to resign, they will conclude that if the most powerful politician in Europe can be toppled because of a tolerant immigration policy, they stand no chance of surviving such a position themselves. Hence, what happens to Merkel has enormous ramifications for politics across the European continent. If Merkel loses, the left will be faced with an increasingly homogeneous right-wing bloc, which in most countries has the support of the majority of the voters. Moreover, radical right parties are fast approaching electoral, ideological, and therefore political dominance within these right-wing blocs in several European countries (e.g. Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden) -- not to speak of the radical right transformation of East Central European right-wing parties like Fidesz in Hungary and Law and Justice (PiS) in Poland. In other words, Merkel's survival, assuming she remains loyal to the core of her political program, is essential to the continuation of centrist coalition politics and centrist socio-cultural policies, like immigration and integration. It is ironic that the political survival of Merkel has become key to the political future of pro-immigration policies in Europe. After all, it was Merkel who in October 2010 famously said that "the multicultural approach ... has failed, utterly." But it illustrates the broader transformation of European politics, in which the center-left has become largely irrelevant and the center-right is increasingly embracing radical right positions and rhetoric. It is only within this specific political context that Angela Merkel, a classic German center-right politician in ideas and actions, holds the key to the political future of Europe's center-left. -- 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.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.huffingtonpost.com

How the ancient Greeks contributed to Martin Luther King Jr.’s fight against racism

… Empire.” These considerations of ancient Greece and Rome, in what would … also informed by the Greeks – or, rather, one Greek in particular. Three … fantasy of living in ancient Greece or Rome. Ultimately, he declares …

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT world.einnews.com

GREECE woman charged with aggravated DWI

Henrietta, N.Y. - State Police arrested a GREECE woman and charged her with aggravated DWI Sunday. Troopers said they stopped around 4:35 a.m. ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT 13wham.com

Trump & Greek islanders in running for Nobel Prize

Greek fisherman Stratis Valiamos and US Republican presidential candiate Donald Trump have both been nominated for the 2016 Nobel peace prize Photo: Reuters/AFP (AFP) Donald Trump, Greek islanders helping desperate migrants, Angela Merkel and the pope ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.wort.lu

Greek Hoteliers Optimistic for 2016 According to the GBR Consulting Barometer

If you are a member of GBR Consulting you may be interested in learning how to optimize your content on our network. Hotel News Resource has a very loyal audience and many companies take advantage of our ability to fine tune information about your ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.hotelnewsresource.com

JRS Greece: hard conditions for asylum seekers in Athens

People wait for a ferry to take them to Athens on the Greek island of Lesbos (Photo: JRS Greece). “JRS staff is regularly visiting detention centers around Athens. There are problems with hygiene and food while many migrants do not have proper clothing.”

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.jrsusa.org

Greek-Turkish Joint Working Group on the migration/refugee crisis convenes (Foreign Ministry, 1 ...

The second meeting of the Greek-Turkish Joint Working Group on the migration/refugee crisis convened at the Foreign Ministry today, Monday, 1 February.The talks focused on ways to strengthen cooperation between the two sides with the aim of reducing migration flows and combatting human trafficking rings. Emphasis was put on the need to implement the bilateral readmission protocol as well as the measures agreed upon between the EU and Turkey for effectively reducing the unprecedented refugee and migration flows.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.mfa.gr

Greek-TurkishForeign Minister Kotzias to visit Baku, participate in the Amsterdam ‘Gymnich’ ...

Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias departs tomorrow, Tuesday, 2 February, for Baku, where he will carry out an official visit at the invitation of his counterpart the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov.Tomorrow, Tuesday, Mr. Kotzias will have a one-on-one meeting with Azeri Foreign Minister Mammadyarov, followed by expanded talks between the two countries’ delegation. Following the meetings, the two Ministers will hold a joint press conference.On Wednesday, 3 February, Mr. Kotzias will be received by the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and Speaker of Parliament Ogtay Asadov, and he will meet with the Greek-Azeri parliamentary friendship group. Mr. Kotzias will...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.mfa.gr

Migrant crisis: Greek volunteers welcome Nobel nomination

The leader of a volunteer group on the Greek island of Kos has welcomed news that islanders have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. George Chertofilis, the president of the Kos Solidarity Group, said a win would "give meaning to the work we do".

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.bbc.com

Greece Needs Additional Austerity Measures and Reforms to Get Debt Relief, Says ESM Managing Director Klaus Regling

While the voices calling for the “haircut” on the Greek debt are growing ever stronger, European Union (EU) officials remain steadfast, sticking to their position that what is of the utmost importance right now is the implementation of the new bailout ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com

10,000 young migrants unaccounted for, EU police agency says

[Refugees check their cell phones as a child runs atop of a cement wall at a small refugee camp at Pothia port, on the southeastern Greek island of Kalymnos, Monday, Feb. 1, 2016. European countries have been strained by the influx of migrants, leading to disagreements over what to do with the large number of new arrivals and how to share the burden. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)]THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The European Union police agency says authorities dealing with Europe's migrant crisis have lost track of about 10,000 unaccompanied children over the last 18 months amid fears that organized crime gangs are beginning to exploit the vulnerable youngsters.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.news.yahoo.com

Stepping up to GREEK tradition

The presence of the “Divine Nine” — the nine original GREEK organizations founded by African-American college students denied access to traditional ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.kykernel.com

Snowden, Greek islander among tips for 2016 peace prize

Former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, peace negotiators in Colombia or Greek islanders helping Syrian refugees were among tips for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize at the deadline for nominations on Monday. Nobel watchers also speculated that ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.todayszaman.com

Europe Needs to Stop Blaming Greece for the Refugee Crisis

Thousands of migrants and refugees arrive in the port of Piraeus from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios on February 1, 2016. Last summer, Greece narrowly avoided being kicked out of the Eurozone after reaching a bailout deal with its European creditors ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.slate.com

Greek Singer Haris Alexiou to Perform in Izmir, Turkey

A concert organized by the Agia Foteini community, will take place on Feb 6 in Izmir, Turkey, featuring Haris Alexiou. The famous Greek singer will be performing live with the musical group Takim. The concert is unique since it is the first concert in ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT eu.greekreporter.com

The Latest: Church, mosque demolished at Calais migrant camp

In a protest that has gone viral online, Greek soccer players sat down on the field over the weekend to protest the growing death toll of refugees trying to reach the Greek islands from nearby Turkey. Players from second-division host team Larissa and away team Acharnaikos, from near Athens, sat down for two minutes after the match started and supporters of both clubs clapped during the protest. Germany's interior minister is meeting officials in Kabul as his country tries to reduce the number of Afghans heading to Europe and considers how to get some of those who have arrived to return home. Thomas de Maiziere's ministry said he visited Afghanistan Monday to confer with Afghan officials on longstanding efforts to train Afghan police and on the migration issue. De Maiziere told German news agency dpa that the security situation in Afghanistan is "complicated" but "there are unsafe and safe areas." Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said Monday that suspects must be investigated but "what we do not want to see is the stigmatizing of an entire people because of those actions." Labor Minister Andrea Nahles wrote in Monday's edition of the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that "all people who live in Germany, no matter what their ethnic origin, must make an effort, seek work and support themselves and their families as well as they can."

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sfgate.com

Greece submits Nobel Peace Prize nominees: A Lesvos Granny, a fisherman and a US-actress

It’s official. Greece submitted a request to the Nobel committee asking the nomination of Greek islanders who have helped Syrian and other refugees for the Nobel Peace Prize 2016. The relevant campaign was organized by international campaign by grassroots group Avaaz that has collected more than 638,000 signatures online asking […]

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.keeptalkinggreece.com

An AT&T spokesperson and former refugee is now helping Syrian refugees in Greece

You might know Milana Vayntrub as Lily from AT&T commercials. A refugee herself, Vayntrub is now using her fame to help Syrian refugees. She recently traveled to the Greek island of Lesbos where she made a video of her trip and started the Can't Do ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com

GREEK government entering a new round of negotiations with international creditors

ATHENS, Greece — The GREEK government is entering a new round of negotiations with the country's creditors over the course of the latest bailout ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.therepublic.com

Petition calling for GREEK islanders to win Nobel Prize signed by more than 600000

More than 600,000 people have put their names to an online petition calling for GREEK islanders on the frontline of Europe's migrant crisis to be ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Greece v austerity Greece’s far-left Syriza government is...

… the Greek people’s continuing misery on the opposition. Meanwhile Greece’s … , fixed the economy and made Greece an international symbol of dignity … finance ministers to convince them Greece had met its obligations. But …

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT world.einnews.com

Greece’s lenders to start first review of $93 billion bailout

ATHENS — Greek officials and international creditors on … further rescue funding. Representatives from Greece’s creditors — the eurozone and … with Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos. Greece needs to wind up this …

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT world.einnews.com

GREECE arrests man carrying Iraqi passport stolen by ISIS

A European Union report compiled in November said GREECE was failing to properly register and fingerprint migrants, but Athens insists the situation ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.ekathimerini.com

Greek grandmother, fisherman among Nobel Peace nominees

Four months later, she is among three people nominated for the Nobel prize to symbolically represent the "behaviour and attitude of Greece, organisations and volunteers towards the huge refugee crisis". Fisherman Stratis Valiamos, who has rescued scores of refugees from drowning, and Hollywood actress Susan Sarandon, who spent Christmas helping refugees in Greece, were also nominated by Greek academics and the Hellenic Olympic Committee. The Norwegian Nobel Institute does not publish names of nominees, but Nobel watchers have said former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden and peace negotiators in Colombia have also been nominated.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.news.yahoo.com

More than 3,000 Syrians have fled to Turkey in the past 3 days alone

[A Syrian refugee child looks on, moments after arriving on a raft with other Syrian refugees on a beach on the Greek island of Lesbos, January 4, 2016. REUTERS/Giorgos Moutafis ]Thomson Reuters ISTANBUL (Reuters) - More than 3,000 Turkmens and Arabs fleeing advances by pro-government Syrian forces in the north of Latakia province have crossed into Turkey over the past three days, Turkish disaster agency AFAD said on Monday. A Turkmen official said several thousand more migrants were expected as a camp mostly sheltering Turkmens in the Syrian village of Yamadi was being evacuated after the pro-government forces backed by Russian air strikes advanced. "After the attacks have spilled over to Yamadi camp, the first group of 731 migrants, mostly babies, children, women and the elderly, have entered our country," AFAD said in a statement. A total of 3,120 people have already crossed through Pulluyazi, a village near the border town of Yayladagi in Turkey's southern Hatay province. The influx has accelerated since Jan. 24, when Rabiya, a rebel-held town in Latakia province, was captured by pro-government forces. The displacement occurred as U.N.-backed peace talks, the first for two years, struggled to get off the ground in Geneva. [A Turkish Coast Guard fast rigid-hulled inflatable boats tow refugees and migrants in a dinghy on the Turkish territorial waters of the North Eagean Sea, following a failed attempt of crossing to the Greek island of Lesbos, off the shores of Canakkale, Turkey, November 9, 2015. REUTERS/Umit Bektas ]Thomson ReutersRepresentatives of the Saudi-backed High Negotiation Committee (HNC), which includes political and militant opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, are seeking a halt to attacks on civilian areas, the release of detainees and a lifting of blockades. Russian air strikes have killed nearly 1,400 civilians since Moscow started its aerial campaign in support of Assad nearly four months ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Saturday. An opposition delegate said bombings intensified before the peace talks. [RussianAirstrikesjan20-25]Thomson Reuters "There was an attack by Russians over the weekend on the camp," a Turkmen official at Yayladagi said. "Thankfully it did not fall right at the heart of the camp, but still 40 people were wounded," he said. "A lot of towns, villages in the north of Latakia have already been emptied. But there's still another 3,000-4,000 civilians there who haven't left," he said. AFAD said more than 150 migrants have been placed at a new camp in Guvecci, on the Turkish side of the border, while others have been sent to refugee camps in the border provinces of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa. Some found refugee with relatives. The Turkmens are ethnic kin of the Turks and Turkey has been particularly angered by what it says is Russian targeting of them in Syria. It has said that Russia's actions in Syria risk exacerbating a refugee crisis soon after it struck a deal with the EU to stem the flow of migrants to Europe. NOW WATCH: Hidden Facebook tricks you need to know

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.businessinsider.com

The Latest: Greek soccer clubs protest refugee drownings

BERLIN (AP) -- The Latest on the huge influx of asylum-seekers to Europe (all times local): 4:20 p.m. In a protest that has gone viral online, Greek soccer players sat down on the field over the weekend to protest the growing death toll of refugees trying ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT sports.yahoo.com

Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei recreates image of drowned Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi

Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei, known for his controversial and creative works has released a new photograph, wherein he recreated the image of the drowned Syrian toddler, Alan Kurdi, whose body washed up on a Turkish beach in September 2015. Weiwei took the place of the three-year old boy in his recreation of the iconic photograph – that made headlines last year – to create awareness regarding the refugee crisis. The sympathy generated by the photograph and the back story of the Kurdi family, however, was short-lived with a number of countries turning their backs on asylum seekers. India Today magazine worked with Weiwei on the shoot, which took place on the Greek island of Lesbos where the artist has a studio.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT uk.news.yahoo.com

GREEK Match Stops As Football Teams Pay Tribute To Drowned Refugees

These GREEK football teams staged a touching protest in honor of the migrants who died at sea, in an effort to mobilize authorities to help refugees.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.carbonated.tv

Horror In Nigeria, Today's Iowa Caucus, GREEK Nobel

Islamist terrorists from Boko Haram razed a small village in northwestern Nigeria, bombing and setting fire to huts in a horrific attack that killed at least ...

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.worldcrunch.com

Macedonian border becomes trap for migrants

As debate raged in Europe over stopping the flow of migrants and refugees from Greece, Macedonia shut the border, providing a sense of what may be to come. Pavlos Zafiropoulos reports from Idomeni.

READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.dw.com