How the world sees Greece
The 37th annual Yiasou Greek Festival the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Charlotte, NC opens on Thursday, September 4 at 11 AM. The annual event featuress Hellenic cultural exhibits, entertainment, art, shopping and food. it isopen 11 AM-11 PM Friday and Saturday and noon to 8 PM. on Sunday. The Yiasou Greek Festival began […] The post Yiasou Greek Festival Opens in Charlotte appeared first on The National Herald.
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As the special islands summit draws to a close here in Samoa, I hope global leaders have not only seen for themselves the beauty of our islands but also that they have heard our calls for durable partnerships to deal with the major global problem of our time -- climate change. We did not greet leaders in Apia with our hands out for aid -- we extended our hands in friendship and as invitations for lasting partnerships to forge hands-on solutions needed to vault the barriers facing Small Island Developing States (SIDS), all of which are connected to oceans and climate change. In an increasingly interrelated world climate problems recognize no borders and ride rough-shod over sovereignty so the big problems of small islands will be your problems in very short order. But, we do not want to be the proverbial canary on the miner's shoulder. Asphyxiated canaries, after all, can't do much so we want solutions we can all sing about for a long time, together. We also want you in the larger countries to recognize that the quality of the advice given is not determined by size of the giver. Don't forget, it was we islanders, 22 years ago at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, through our Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) who fought fierce resistance, to place climate change on the international agenda -- where it has grown to be the defining global issue of our age. Our message is the same today as it was in Rio in 1992: we small islanders contribute the least to climate changing emissions -- yet we suffer most from the effects of climate change. We do not want your pity or your donor dollars -- we want you industrialized countries to partner effectively with us to beat back these challenges. Our oceans, which absorb most of carbon emitted by industrialized nations, are suffering and sea-levels continue to rise as the hopes of many island states diminish. However, we believe there are still opportunities to curb the problem if we work together with the world community. After all, we are not disconnected: the word "ocean" derives from the Greek "okeanus" which means a great river encircling the world -- carrying our small island problems onto your big continental foreshores. And don't forget, most of your populations live within the deadly reach of a small tsunami, and certainly well within reach of the "silent tsunami" of sea-level rise. The Samoa sessions were not meetings hosted by my small island state for other small island developing states, rather, the representatives drawn from the United Nations membership of 193 countries gathered in Apia to discuss ways and means of dealing with the threats to our ways of life on this planet we all share. Small island countries are the front lines in this global battle for sustainability in the face of climate change, and like all vanguards, small island developing states absorb the biggest assaults and require the most rapid reinforcement. My thanks go out to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon for dignifying our meetings by staying for most of the summit. The Secretary General knows the climate debates in small islands are not about the finer points of science, but they are about shattered communities and forced evacuation as rising seas drown the hopes and aspirations of entire nations. We are hoping the outcomes of our historic conference this week in Samoa will influence the Secretary-General's Climate Change Summit in New York on September 23. And, here's hoping the eloquence and articulate passion of the island voices heard over the last few days will be heard by the rest of the international community as they make the global choices we have to make together to beat back the rising tides of climate change. This post is part of a month-long series produced by The Huffington Post in conjunction with a variety of events being held in September recognizing the threats posed by climate change. Those events include the UN's Climate Summit 2014 (to be held Sept. 23, 2014, at UN headquarters in New York) and Climate Week NYC (Sept. 22-28, 2014, throughout New York City). To see all the posts in the series, read here.
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ATHENS, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Greece's main opposition radical left coalition SYRIZA party has gained a 3.6 percent lead over the ruling conservative ...
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The Mayor of the Greek northern city of Thessaloniki, Yiannis Boutaris, who has been reelected, wore a yellow Star of David at his swearing-in ...
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Iraq has filed a case against Greek shipping company Marine Management Services (MMS) for its role in the "illegal" export of crude from the ...
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Greek police have tortured four robbery suspects. The young men, aged between 20 and 24, were hooked and severely beaten during detention.
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by Aaron Pellish The Global Commission on Drug Policy announced a new report on the impact of drug policy on drug use around the world. The new report, titled, “Taking Control: Pathways to Drug Policies that Work,” will be released at a press conference in New York City on Tuesday. It is the third in a series of groundbreaking studies released by the Global Commission on Drug Policy that researched hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS and how public health policy affected the spread of transmissible diseases around the world. The findings of those reports led to the implementation of a harm reduction program designed to reduce the spreading of hepatitis C in Greece that implemented, among other things, a public health and awareness program sponsored by the Greek government geared toward intravenous drug users to using drugs in a clean and healthy fashion. Frank Vanbiervliet, the European advocacy coordinator for Doctors of the World International, said the unique policy emphasizes the facet of drug use that public health advocates can actually affect. “Our first priority is not to prevent these people from doing drugs,” Vanbiervliet said. “But that it is done safely, with clean needles in a safe environment.” The program has gone as far as to implement government subsidized “drug rooms,” or supervised and sanitized areas where drug users in Greece can cleanly use intravenous drugs without the risk of contracting hepatitis C or HIV. Vanbiervliet also said that since the implementation of the program, the cases of hepatitis C and HIV have decreased significantly and the number of drug users has remained stable. Luis Mendao, an advocate for hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS awareness with GAT Portugal, said the program is naturally prone to controversy but stresses that the rights to health care for drug users should be the same as any other person. “When someone gets (a transmissible disease) from injecting drugs, it’s considered their own fault,” Mendao said. “So, it is looked on as not important. But people need to help people.” Mendao, a victim of both HIV and Hepatitis C, also said that the best way to corral transmissible diseases that permeate specific demographics is to treat them within those demographic, or else the entire population is at a greater risk of infection. The Global Commission on Drug Policy press conference will be live-streamed at 1:45 GMT on Tuesday, September 9th and will feature United Nations and national politicians from around the world.
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