Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts
Monday, August 09, 2021
Thousands Flee Greek Island as Wildfires Raze Forest and Homes
THE GUARDIAN: Firefighters tackle blazes on two fronts on Evia as heatwave-driven devastation across southern Europe continues
Thousands of people have fled wildfires that are destroying vast swathes of pine forest and razing homes on Greece’s second-largest island, Evia, as devastating summer blazes rage from southern Europe to Siberia.
“We have ahead of us another difficult evening, another difficult night,” Greece’s deputy civil protection minister, Nikos Hardalias, said on Sunday, adding that nearly a week after the blazes started, strong winds were driving two major fire fronts in the north and south of the island.
Seventeen firefighting planes and helicopters were in action on the island, just north-east of the capital, Athens, where fires in a northern suburb and the nearby Peloponnese region were stable, although the risk of rekindling remained high.
Wildfires have devastated large areas in southern Europe for a fortnight as the region endures its most extreme heatwave in three decades. Ten have died in Greece and Turkey, with many admitted to hospital. Italy has also suffered million[s] of euros of damage.
Huge fires also have been burning across Siberia in northern Russia for several weeks, forcing the evacuation on Saturday of a dozen villages. Wildfires have burned nearly 6m hectares (15m acres) of land this year in Russia, while hot, dry and windy conditions have also fuelled devastating blazes in California. » | Jon Henley, Bethan McKernan, and Helena Smith in Athens | Sunday, August 8, 2021
Thursday, August 05, 2021
Greece Fires: 150 Houses Destroyed by Wildfires as Monks Refuse to Leave Stricken Island
THE GUARDIAN: Villages on Evia are evacuated as blaze rages across the island, and fires also threaten suburbs of Athens and historic Olympia
At least 150 houses have been destroyed by a raging fire that surrounded a monastery and a dozen villages on the Greek island of Evia, one of over 100 blazes burning in the country.
Firefighters were also continuing to battle a blaze near Athens on Thursday morning, while the mayor of Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, pleaded for help as flames threatened the site.
The blazes erupted as Greece is in the grip of a heatwave.
“We’re waging a battle of the titans!” deputy minister for civil protection Nikos Hardalias told journalists. “The hardest is still to come.”
Experts have warned that global heating is increasing both the frequency and intensity of such fires. » | Agence France-Presse | Thursday, August 5, 2021
Saturday, July 03, 2021
In Greece, It’s Almost Normal
THE NEW YORK TIMES: In Athens and on the island of Paros, a visitor joins other international travelers in search of that idyllic European vacation they’ve been yearning for.
The plaster-cast heads of Dionysus were back. The unblinking blue Mati evil eyes and Parthenon refrigerator magnets hung once more outside the souvenir shops of Plaka and Monastiraki, where shopkeepers tended to rows upon rows of leather sandals, silver meander rings, dried spices and Cretan mountain tea. The tourists were back, too, if not quite so many as one might expect in the historic heart of Athens on a similarly brilliant, blue June day of years past.
They strolled Pandrossou Street in their masks, filling the restaurant terraces that line the sinuous alleyways of the Psiri neighborhood as the sun set to share plates of mashed fava beans, grilled octopus and Greek salad. The streets hummed with the din of voices and clinking glasses, but no music. Music would not be allowed for one more week. The masks were mostly off now, revealing contented, sun-dazzled faces — and maybe the slightest flicker of lingering unease. » | Charly Wilder | Thursday, July 1, 2021
The plaster-cast heads of Dionysus were back. The unblinking blue Mati evil eyes and Parthenon refrigerator magnets hung once more outside the souvenir shops of Plaka and Monastiraki, where shopkeepers tended to rows upon rows of leather sandals, silver meander rings, dried spices and Cretan mountain tea. The tourists were back, too, if not quite so many as one might expect in the historic heart of Athens on a similarly brilliant, blue June day of years past.
They strolled Pandrossou Street in their masks, filling the restaurant terraces that line the sinuous alleyways of the Psiri neighborhood as the sun set to share plates of mashed fava beans, grilled octopus and Greek salad. The streets hummed with the din of voices and clinking glasses, but no music. Music would not be allowed for one more week. The masks were mostly off now, revealing contented, sun-dazzled faces — and maybe the slightest flicker of lingering unease. » | Charly Wilder | Thursday, July 1, 2021
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Tuesday, February 09, 2021
What Did Ancient Greece Look Like? (Cinematic Animation)
Labels:
Greece
Friday, October 30, 2020
Turkey's Izmir Hit with Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake | DW News
Earthquake Rattles Western Turkey and Greece, Killing at Least 4 »
Labels:
earthquake,
Greece,
Turkey
Sunday, August 04, 2019
Athos | Feature Documentary
A Visit to the Holy Mountain Athos, Greece
Monday, July 29, 2019
Nine Years On, Greek MPs Agree to Abide by Own Anti-smoking Law
Until not so very long ago Greek MPs thought nothing of lighting up in the august halls of the Athens parliament.
So common was the habit that a thick fog of cigarette smoke often hovered over the building’s cafe, a few metres from the legislative chamber where deputies had once voted to ban smoking in all public spaces, including the 300-seat House.
Nine years, 10 months and 26 days after that ban came into effect, lawmakers are finally being forced to abide by it too.
“There’s definitely been a change,” said Dimitris Tarantsas, who has waited on MPs from behind the cafe’s bench-top bar for the past 18 years. “The law, for the first time, is being upheld.”
By Monday, he says, even the metal ashtrays still gracing the one place where smoking is allowed – a vestibule off the cafe – will have been relocated to the dustbin of history as the building officially becomes a smoke-free zone. » | Helena Smith in Athens | Monday, July 29, 2019
Sunday, April 21, 2019
Greece to Ask Germany for Billions in War Reparations
Greece is poised to send Germany a formal diplomatic note detailing its demand for billions of euros in wartime reparations after MPs voted overwhelmingly for the emotive issue to be raised officially.
In a move bound to stir sentiment ahead of crucial European parliament elections, Athens vowed to pile pressure on Berlin, taking legal and diplomatic steps that will throw the spotlight on crimes committed during the brutal Nazi occupation.
“It is an open issue that must be resolved,” Greece’s deputy foreign minister, Markos Bolaris, told the Guardian, hitting back at German insistence that compensation claims had been conclusively settled.
“For matters of this kind there is international justice,” he said on Friday. “In all disputes the EU abides by it, on principle. Germany may say it has been resolved but what counts is international law.” » | Helena Smith in Athens | Sunday, April 21, 2019
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Appeal: Could You Help This Genuine Man Out of a Predicament?
This is his story:
I am a British citizen, living in Greece, under the sprectre of Brexit & until recently working from home as a freelance translator from 5/6 continental European languages into English.
I have lived in over 10 countries, over 4 continents, and consider myself a global citizen.
I became homeless at the end of last week (27 October 2018) as a result of not being able to meet my rent, due to an interruption of my income stream as a result of a lightning strike on Saturday 16. June that laid waste to all my IT equipment while I was in the middle of a commission that was to be delivered on the following Monday. Needless to say, panic ensued in order to complete the assignment, but all the remedial action that I took was not enough to save the project in question, let alone further smooth continuation of work.
Once I had directed my resources to replicating my lost equipment, summer holidays were in full swing and commissions rare on the ground. I struggled on with a replacement second-hand laptop and other new equipment but was unable to restore myself to my previous stability. To further add to my already deleterious conditions, I had taken what I considered a wise proactive measure and ordered a new battery for my phone, in order to extend its deteriorating autonomy. Once I had installed the new battery, the phone would no longer work and all my personal contacts (via Whatsapp) became inaccessible, together with all my usernames/passwords and other functionalities such as the camera to photograph ID documents and e-mail them. To illustrate this new folly, I had an older model wherein I inserted my SIM card and could use it solely for telephonic functions. However, all my contact details were lost and when I wanted to get in touch with a friend on the island, I had to ride to his house and restore contact with him. All my Whatsapp contacts remained inaccessible.
With this in mind, my field of contacts is now limited in scope and accessibility to those that had been fortuitously stored on a cloud in my browser settings - but these are merely professional contacts with clients and my Twitter account.
Having moved my household items to an acquaintance's doorless, cement garage (that also serves as my sleeping quarters), I have "set up office" with my replacement laptop at a friend's shop where he grants me space to use his internet in a hope to arrest the current situation.
I would very much appreciate any help you can give me. With many thanks. Neil
Thursday, June 14, 2018
Macedonia: What Is in a Name? | Inside Story
Thousands of people in both countries took to the streets to protest against a deal they say is tantamount to a humiliating defeat. A far-right Greek newspaper went so far as to run a front-page graphic - showing Greece's prime minister, foreign minister and president being shot by firing squad for treason.
Between the end of World War Two and the early 1990s, Macedonia was one of six republics comprising the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It declared independence in 1991 under the name -- the Republic of Macedonia. Greece immediately opposed it, seeing it as a veiled challenge to Greek sovereignty over its northern province that's also called Macedonia.
Presenter: Elizabeth Puranam | Guests: Borjan Jovanovski, Chief Editor of NOVA TV; Panos Polyzoidis, Political Analyst and Journalist; Dimitar Bechev, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council
Labels:
Greece,
Inside Story,
Macedonia
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Is Greek Democracy Dead?
Labels:
democracy,
Greece,
The Real News
Friday, April 14, 2017
Greek Orthodox Bishop Calls on Erdogan to Denounce Islam and Be Baptised
Greek Orthodox Bishop, Metropolit Seraphim of Piraeus has caused controversy by urging Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to convert to Orthodoxy with Russian President Vladimir Putin as his godfather. And no, it's not a joke.
In a 37-page letter to Erdogan written in Greek, Metropolit Seraphim asks the Turkish leader to denounce his Islamic faith and be baptised in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
"If you want to save yourself and your family you should convert to Greek Orthodox Church, the only real faith," Seraphim writes, reports Keep Talking Greece.
"We propose and we advise you to come to the arms of the Greek Orthodox Church before the end of your life on earth. » | Thursday, April 13, 2017
Letter of His Eminence Metropolitan of Piraeus Mr. Seraphim to the President of the Turkish Republic Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan (In Greek) »
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Faith Goldy: How the EU Made Greece a Muslim Ghetto
Labels:
EU,
Faith Goldy,
Greece,
Muslim ghettos
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Let's Talk About Greece
Friday, December 02, 2016
Greek Patriots Occupy Site of Proposed Mosque Construction
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
President Obama: Trump and I "Could Not Be More Different"
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Live: Greeks Protest Obama’s Visit to Athens
Labels:
Athens,
Barack Obama,
Greece
Thursday, July 07, 2016
Greeks Disillusioned with Austerity Measures
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